Alexander Solovyev, Presbyter

Saint Alexander was born on August 5, 1893, in the village of Bogorodskoye, Moscow Province. He completed two classes of the Moscow Theological Seminary and began serving as a psalmist in the Pokrovskaya Church. In 1916, he was ordained as a deacon, and in 1921, as a priest. He served in churches, continuing until his martyrdom in 1937. Father Alexander was a strict but fair pastor, and in the conditions of famine, his family survived by gathering mushrooms and preparing bark. In 1936, the church was closed, but after his efforts, it was reopened. On October 9, 1937, he was arrested, and on November 5, he was shot and buried in an unmarked grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.