Protodeacon
Hieromartyr Alexei Alexandrovich Drozdov was born in 1883 in the town of Bui, Kostroma Province, into the family of a secretary of the city administration. He completed a theological school and three years of a theological seminary, and worked as a teacher in a rural school. He married, and two daughters were born into the family.
In 1904, Alexei Alexandrovich was ordained a deacon. He served in villages and towns of the Ivanovo, Perm, Podolsk, and Moscow provinces, as well as at the Kungur Convent of St. John the Forerunner.
In 1930, Father Alexei was elevated to the rank of protodeacon. His wife suffered from a heart defect, the elder daughter from a severe form of rheumatism and was bedridden, and the younger daughter from epilepsy. All of them required constant care.
On November 17, 1937, Protodeacon Alexei was arrested, accused of counterrevolutionary activity and anti-Soviet agitation, and imprisoned in Taganka Prison in Moscow. He was sentenced to ten years in a corrective labor camp and sent to Siblag in the Kemerovo Region. Father Alexei and his wife submitted petitions for a review of the case and his release. The falsification of witness testimonies was revealed, and the case was reviewed. As an active church servant, his sentence was reduced to five years; however, due to a negative assessment by the camp administration, the decision to reduce the term of imprisonment was revoked. Protodeacon Alexei Drozdov died on July 14, 1942, in the Suslovsky section of Siblag. He was buried in an unknown grave.
He was glorified among the host of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on April 11, 2006, by decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
