Ηegumen / Abbot
St Philaret was born on 29 August 1880 in the village of Chulkovo, in Ryazan Governorate, into the family of the peasant Trofim Pryakhin. He was baptized and given the name John. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Spasskaya Pronskaya Monastery, where he served in obedience. On 21 April 1913, he was tonsured as a monk and received the name Philaret. On 18 August of the same year, he was ordained a hierodeacon and on 16 November 1914, a hieromonk.
The monastery where he lived in asceticism housed a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God. After the monastery was closed in 1919, Fr Philaret transferred the icon to the church of Sreznevo. Archbishop Benjamin of Ryazan gave him his blessing and permission to revive the monastic tradition of taking the icon to the surrounding villages for veneration. The feast of the icon was established for 29 May (11 June). During this time, as many as eight thousand pilgrims gathered to venerate the icon.
In 1930, the authorities took notice of the large influx of pilgrims to the village of Sreznevo, where Fr Philaret used to serve. The saint foresaw his arrest and warned his parishioners of the danger. On 31 May 1931, he was arrested. During the interrogations, he stated that he did not support the Soviet authorities insofar as they opposed the Orthodox Church.
On 12 November 1931, he was sentenced to five years in a labor camp and sent to work on the construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal. In 1936, after completing his sentence, he returned to Ryazan. At that time, Archbishop Juvenaly advised him to move to Tver for his own safety.
Fr Philaret lived there for about two years before moving in with a distant relative in the village of Trubino. In 1938, following the arrest of Bishop Palladius, he was warned that the authorities intended to arrest him. He therefore fled to the village of Trubino. However, he was soon arrested again and transferred to the Tver prison. During the interrogations, he categorically denied any guilt.
On 4 March 1940, he was sentenced to three years in a forced-labor camp. Archimandrite Philaret reposed on 7 March 1942 in the Novo-Ivanovskoye section of the Mariinsk prison in Kemerovo Oblast and was buried in an unmarked grave.
