Presbyter
Hieromartyr Alexy Sergeyevich Znamensky was born in 1882 in the village of Goryachkino, Mozhaysk County, Moscow Province, into the family of a psalm reader. He graduated from the Bethany Theological Seminary. In 1908 he was ordained a priest, and from 1910 he served in the Resurrection Church in the town of Pavlovsky Posad. In 1920 he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. In 1935 he was assigned to serve in the Dormition Church in the village of Trakhoneyevo, Dmitrov District of the Moscow Region, and in 1936 in the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the village of Vinogradovo of the Vinogradovsky District.
In 1937 Archpriest Alexy was arrested and imprisoned in the Kolomna jail. During interrogations, the investigator questioned him about his preaching activity, which allegedly had an anti-Soviet character. Witnesses were also interrogated; they testified that the pastor addressed the faithful with sermons urging them to strengthen their faith, to attend the church of God more often, and to pray to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins. One of the witnesses testified that the priest reproached her for not coming to church on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, remarking that one could become an unbeliever altogether by behaving this way. Witnesses also stated that the priest lent them money and criticized the kolkhozes.
As a result, Father Alexy was sentenced to ten years in a corrective labor camp and sent to Bamlag. Almost immediately upon arriving in Tayshet, he was placed in the camp hospital. Innocently suffering for the faith of Christ, Hieromartyr Alexy Znamensky reposed on August 2, 1938, in the Tayshet camp and was buried in an unmarked grave. By the decision of the Holy Synod of April 11, 2006, Father Alexy was glorified among the saints. The documents for his canonization were submitted by the Moscow Diocese.
