Presbyter
Saint Theodore Vasilievich Bogoyavlensky was born on June 6, 1894, in the village of Barky, Ryazan Province. His father, Vasily Afanasyevich, was a priest, and his mother, Alexandra Alexeyevna, was a housewife. After receiving an education at a church-parish school, he entered the Tambov Theological Seminary, which he graduated from in 1917. From 1917 to 1918, he worked as a bookkeeper and then served as a psalmist in the church of the village of Chapreno. In 1920, he was ordained a priest. He served in churches of the Voronezh region, including the villages of Novaya Kirsanovka and Sredny Karachan. In 1930, he was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet activity and sentenced to three years in corrective labor camps. After his release, he served in the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky church. In 1937, he was arrested again and sentenced to execution. He was shot on October 10, 1937, and buried in an unmarked grave. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1989. He was canonized on July 17, 2002. Annual processions are held to the site of his execution. A prayer room has been established in the Borisoglebsk prison in memory of the martyrs for the faith.
