Ηegumen / Abbot
He was born on August 29, 1880, in the village of Chulkovo, Ryazan province, into the family of a peasant, Trofim Pryakhin, and was baptized with the name John. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Spasskaya Pronskaya Monastery, where he served in obedience. On April 21, 1913, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Philaret, and on August 18 of the same year, he was ordained as hierodeacon, and on November 16, 1914, as hieromonk.
The monastery housed the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Helper of Sinners,” with which processions were held. After the closure of the monastery in 1919, Father Philaret transferred the icon to the church in the village of Sreznevo, where he began to serve. Archbishop of Ryazan Benjamin blessed him to resume the monastic custom of carrying the icon through the villages. On May 29 (June 11), a feast was established in the parish in honor of this icon, which gathered up to eight thousand pilgrims.
In 1930, the Ryazan department of the OGPU reported a mass influx of pilgrims to the village of Sreznevo, where Father Philaret served. He anticipated arrest and warned his parishioners about the impending time of his imprisonment. On May 31, 1931, Igumen Philaret was arrested. During interrogations, he stated that he was an enemy of the Soviet government, as it was against the Orthodox Church.
On November 12, 1931, the OGPU Collegium sentenced him to five years of imprisonment in a concentration camp, and he was sent to work on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. In 1936, after serving his term, he returned to Ryazan, where Archbishop Juvenal advised him to move to Tver for safety.
In Tver, Father Philaret lived for about two years, then moved to a distant relative in the village of Trubino. In 1938, after the arrest of Bishop Palladius, Father Philaret was warned about the intention to arrest him and fled to the village of Trubino. However, he was soon arrested and taken to prison in Tver. During interrogations, he categorically denied his guilt.
On March 4, 1940, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in a correctional labor camp. Igumen Philaret died on March 7, 1942, in the Novo-Ivanovsk section of the Mariinsky camp in Kemerovo region and was buried in an unmarked grave.
