Deacon
Saint Elisha was born on June 14, 1883, in Smolensk into a pious family. Due to his father's service, the family moved to Tashkent and then to Moscow. In 1902, he graduated from the Tashkent School and began working as an accountant. During the persecutions against the Church, he decided to dedicate himself to the service of God. On October 20, 1920, he was appointed as a psalmist in the Church of the Nativity of Christ, and on October 25, he was ordained as a deacon.
He continued to combine his service with secular work, but in 1924 he was dismissed for his clerical duties. In 1934, the church in Nemchinovka was closed, and he began serving in the Nikolsky Church in the village of Romashkovo, where he served until his arrest in 1937. The authorities were gathering information about all clergy, and Elisha was accused of anti-Soviet agitation.
On August 8, 1937, he was arrested and imprisoned in Taganka prison. During the interrogation, he denied all accusations of counter-revolutionary activity. On August 19, the NKVD troika sentenced him to execution. Deacon Elisha Shtolder was shot on August 20, 1937, and buried in an unknown mass grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.
