Deacon
Hieromartyr Boris Alexandrovich Semenov was born in 1900 in Saint Petersburg, in the family of a typesetter at a printing house.
He studied at a technical school and then worked for four years at the state printing works Gosznak. In 1920 it was evacuated to Moscow, and the Semenov family moved there as well. Boris Alexandrovich worked for a time as a clerk, was laid off due to staff cuts, and entered a horticultural and market-gardening technical college, while also serving as an altar server in a church. There he met Bishop Augustine (Belyaev), became his subdeacon and cell attendant, and followed him into exile in Central Asia. There Boris Alexandrovich worked as a gardener and assisted the hierarch during private services in his quarters. After the exile they went to Syzran; the devoted subdeacon helped his наставник in everything and traveled to Moscow to deliver his letters to Metropolitan Sergius.
In 1930 Boris was ordained a deacon. Soon he and Bishop Augustine were arrested. They did not conceal their negative attitude toward Soviet authority because of the persecution of believers and were sentenced to three years of imprisonment in a concentration camp. Bishop Augustine and Father Boris served their terms in different camps, located near one another close to the station of Lodeynoye Pole in Leningrad Region.
During imprisonment, Deacon Boris kept the Church fasts and did not eat мясное (meat foods). His spiritual daughters, Anastasia and Nina, came to the camp bringing him food and clothing. Boris died in captivity.
