Hieromonk
Saint Martyr Anatoly (in the world Anatoly Ivanovich Botvinnikov) was born on October 15, 1881, in the village of Kopani, Bykhov district of Mogilev province, into a peasant family. After the death of his father at the age of 15, he moved with his mother to Tobolsk province, where he engaged in farming. During the Russo-Japanese War, he was drafted into service, wounded, and captured, spending about a year in captivity. Confronted with death in captivity, he decided to become a monk if he survived. In April 1906, he entered one of the Siberian monasteries, where he performed various obediences. In 1912, he was sent as an Orthodox missionary to China, and later returned to Russia, taking monastic vows in the Nikol-Terebensky Monastery of Tver province.
In 1920, he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and a year later continued his service in the church after the monastery was abolished. In 1928, he was assigned to the church in the village of Sorogozhye, where persecutions against priests began. On October 27, 1930, he was arrested based on a denunciation claiming that he complained about the Soviet government and high taxes. Despite the lack of evidence, on December 10, 1930, the OGPU Troika sentenced him to three years in a labor camp.
After his release in 1934, he continued his ministry in the village of Dubrovsky, remaining faithful to his pastoral calling. On October 15, 1937, he was arrested again, and the investigation could not gather sufficient evidence against him. On November 11, 1937, the NKVD Troika issued a decree for his execution, which took place on November 13, 1937.
