Presbyter
The Holy Hieromartyr Alexy Sergeyevich Znamensky was born in 1882 in the village of Goryachkino in the Mozhaisk District of the Moscow region. He came from the family of a church cantor. He graduated from the Bethany Theological School. In 1908, he was ordained a priest and from 1910 he served at the Church of the Resurrection in the town of Pavlovsky Posad. In 1920, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. In 1935, he was appointed to the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the village of Trakhoneyevo, in the Dmitrov District. In 1936 he was transferred to the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the village of Vinogradovo.
In 1937, he was arrested and imprisoned in Kolomna. During the interrogations, the authorities focused particularly on his sermons, which they claimed to be anti-Soviet. Among those questioned were witnesses who testified that the saint addressed the faithful in allegedly “revolutionary” terms, calling on them to strengthen their faith, attend church more frequently and pray to God for the forgiveness of their sins. One of the witnesses further testified that the priest had reprimanded her for failing to attend the church on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, remarking that this equal to embracing atheism. Finally, the witnesses claimed that the priest lent them money and criticized the collective farms.
Fr Alexy was sentenced to ten years in a forced-labour camp and sent to Bamlag. Almost immediately after his arrival, he was admitted to the camp hospital. He reposed on 2 August 1938 in the Tayshet camp and was buried in an unmarked grave. On 11 April 2006, by decision of the Holy Synod, Fr Alexy was glorified among the Holy New Martyrs.
