Venerable Martyr Elena, in the world Elena Vasilievna Astashkina, was born in 1878 (according to some sources, in 1882) in a peasant family in the village of Staroe Drakino, Penza province. From a young age, she sought the monastic life and in 1895 entered the monastery, becoming a novice of the Pokrovsky Shikhansky Monastery. In 1913, she was appointed among the sisters of the monastery. Later, she was transferred to the Kazan Mokshansky Monastery, and after its closure in 1917, she returned to her native village, where she continued her monastic life. In 1932, she moved to the village of Shadym, where she dreamed of the renewal of church services. In 1937, she was arrested and accused of 'active participation in a counter-revolutionary organization.' She did not confess to the charges, and on August 5, 1937, she was sentenced to execution, which was carried out on August 10. At the Jubilee Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, she was canonized as a saint.
