Neomartyr Anna was born on February 13, 1888, in the village of Pigasikino, Poshekhonsky District of Yaroslavl Province, into the family of the peasant Vasily Shashkin. After finishing school, she intended to enter a monastery and often visited the Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery, where she came into contact with Archimandrite Nikon (Chulkov).
In the mid-1930s, after the return of priests from exile, there started several persecutions against the Orthodox Church. Anna collected signatures from many residents who wished to preserve the Orthodox Christian tradition.
On January 10, 1937, Anna was summoned for interrogation, during which she confirmed her involvement in the petition. The investigator asked her several questions, but she denied any connection with the spread of counter-revolutionary propaganda.
The Neomartyr Anna was arrested on March 4, 1937. Despite her testimony, on August 15 of the same year she was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in a labor camp. She died on May 11, 1940, in the hospital of the Mylga labor camp and was buried in an unmarked grave.
