Presbyter
Saint Demetrius was born on October 10, 1883, in the city of Vyshny Volochyok, Tver Province, in the family of priest Mikhail Benevolenko. He studied at the Tver and Saint Petersburg Theological Seminaries, graduating in 1909. In 1911, he was ordained as a priest to the Dmitrievskaya Church in the village of Ostrovno. In 1919, he was transferred to the Trinity Church in the village of Panoshina, where he distinguished himself as a diligent pastor, caring for church singing and the education of the parishioners.
In January 1929, he was arrested for conducting a solemn service, commemorating the ancient tradition of the procession with the icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. The authorities accused him of inciting superstition and anti-Soviet agitation.
Despite petitions from parishioners for his release, he was convicted and sentenced to a fine. In 1930, he was arrested again and exiled for three years to the Northern Territory. Upon his return in 1933, he continued to serve, but in 1937 he was arrested once more.
On November 20, 1937, he was convicted on charges of counter-revolutionary activity and was executed on November 27. The location of his burial remains unknown, but his memory is preserved among the parishioners.
