Presbyter
On July 3, 1937, by order of Stalin, a mass repression began against the returned kulaks. In the Tver region, priest Andrei Bystrov and peasant Vasily Vinogradov were arrested, accused of counter-revolutionary activities.
Saint Martyr Andrei was born in 1873 in a priest's family. He graduated from the Pskov Teacher's Seminary, was ordained a priest, and served in the Tver province. In 1930, he was arrested and sentenced to two years of imprisonment and five years of exile. He returned in 1935.
Vasily Vinogradov was born in 1891, graduated from the church-parish school, and lived his whole life in his native village. In 1931, he was arrested and exiled.
After their arrest, interrogations began, during which both did not confess to counter-revolutionary agitation. Peasants Semyon Nikanorov, Sergey Mikhailov, and Spiridon Saveliev were also arrested, who likewise did not admit their guilt.
The NKVD troika sentenced priest Andrei Bystrov and laymen Vasily Vinogradov, Sergey Mikhailov, and Spiridon Saveliev to execution by shooting. They were shot on October 7, 1937.
All five were canonized as saints among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in August 2000 at the Jubilee Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
