Deacon
Saint Martyr Deacon Alexius (Alexey Vasilievich Vvedensky) was born on February 19, 1903, in the village of Prussovo, Yaroslavl Province, into the family of a priest. He received his education in a three-year school and the Yaroslavl Theological School. In 1925, he was ordained as a deacon and began serving in the church of the village of Petropavlovsk, in the Bolshesol' district of Yaroslavl region. Immediately after this, he was deprived of voting rights, and on February 3, 1930, he was arrested on charges of 'anti-Soviet agitation.' He was sentenced to 5 years in a corrective labor camp with confiscation of property and exile of his family.
After his release in 1934, he returned to his village and resumed his diaconal service, but soon he was arrested again and sentenced to 1 year of forced labor. After serving his sentence, he temporarily worked at an energy plant, hoping to return to church service. The third arrest took place on June 21, 1937, when he was charged with 'anti-Soviet agitation' and 'participation in a counter-revolutionary church group.' He did not confess to his guilt, refusing to sign slander against his neighbors. The troika of the U.N.K.V.D. for the Yaroslavl region sentenced him to the highest measure of punishment.
On August 26, 1937, Deacon Alexius Vvedensky was shot. He was canonized by the Jubilee Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in the year 2000.
