Presbyter
By 1936, the Russian Orthodox Church had preserved about 25,000 churches and thousands of priests, despite the persecution and oppression from the Soviet state. On August 15, 1937, the NKVD arrested the psalmist of the village of Yegorye in the Belsky district, who confirmed the accusations against Priest Iakov Leonovich, the church's starosta. On September 3, Priest Georgy Kozlov and church custodian Evdokim Ivanov were arrested. All the arrested denied their guilt, asserting the absurdity of the accusations. Priest Iakov was born on October 23, 1876, in the village of Neelovo in the Smolensk province, received his education at the Theological Seminary, and served in the church of the village of Nikol-Kremyanoe. In the early 1930s, he and his wife were arrested for not handing over small coins received from the peasants. Iakov was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in correctional labor camps. After his release, he resumed serving in the church of the village of Yegorye. In the autumn of 1937, he was arrested and imprisoned in Smolensk prison. On September 10, the investigator interrogated him, accusing him of counter-revolutionary activities, to which Iakov replied that he had never engaged in such activities. Ten days later, the NKVD Troika sentenced him to death by shooting, while the starosta and custodian of the church received eight years of imprisonment. Iakov Leonovich was shot on September 28, 1937. He was canonized among the ranks of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in August 2000.
