Hieromonk
Saint Martyr Galaktion (in the world Grigory Stanislavovich Urbanovich-Novikov) was born on March 11, 1870, in the village of Pudino, Lida district, Vilna province, into a peasant family. On June 20, 1900, he entered the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior. On March 1, 1908, he was tonsured into monasticism. On March 24, 1911, he was ordained a deacon, and on December 24, 1915, he was ordained a priest. He served in the monastery and after the October Revolution as the economist at the Valaam representation in Moscow. From 1925, he served at the Church of the Rzhev Icon of the Mother of God in Moscow. On June 29, 1927, he was arrested on charges of espionage and imprisoned in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp for a term of 5 years. After returning in 1932, he settled in the village of Verkhniy Posad in the Zvenigorod district of the Moscow region, where he served in one of the district's churches. On November 4, 1936, he was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet agitation. On January 20, 1937, he was sentenced to 5 years of exile in Kazakhstan. In November 1937, he was arrested again on charges of anti-Soviet agitation. On December 4, 1937, Hieromonk Galaktion was sentenced to death by shooting. The sentence was carried out on December 19, 1937. He was buried in a common unmarked grave. He was glorified by the decision of the Holy Synod on December 27, 2000.
