Hieromonk
Saint martyr Gerasim (in the world Gerasim Fedotovich Sukhov) was born in 1866 in the Chembarsky district of the Penza province into a peasant family. Having been tonsured into monasticism and elevated to the rank of hieromonk, Father Gerasim was arrested in 1936. The 70-year-old monk was accused of participating in a 'counter-revolutionary group' and sentenced to 5 years of exile in Kazakhstan. He ended up in the village of Borodulikha in the Semipalatinsk region along with several other clergymen. On November 22, 1937, hieromonk Gerasim was arrested in exile by the Belyagach NKVD. The charges included 'conducting religious rites and illegal gatherings' and 'spreading anti-Soviet propaganda against the collective farm system.' On November 27, 1937, hieromonk Gerasim (Sukhov) was sentenced to the highest measure of punishment. On December 2, the holy martyr was shot in Semipalatinsk.
