Presbyter
Grigory Alekseevich Bronnikov was born in 1876 in the village of Pyeldino, Usty-Sysolsky district of Vologda province. His father, Alexey Ivanovich, served as a deacon in the village church. In 1895, he graduated from two classes of the Vologda Theological Seminary and began to perform the duties of a psalmist, as well as being a singing teacher in zemstvo schools. From 1904, he served as a deacon, and from 1921, as a priest in the Epiphany Church of the village of Selib in the Udor district. In 1930, he was classified as a “kulak” and subjected to an individual tax. The church was closed in 1936 and used as a village club. In August 1937, he was arrested and accused of 'systematic counter-revolutionary agitation against Soviet power,' and was shot on August 31, 1937, in the vicinity of Syktyvkar. He was canonized on October 6, 2001. His brother, priest Ioann Bronnikov, also suffered for his faith, was sentenced to five years of exile, and died in a transit prison after 1933.
