Presbyter
Saint Martyr Ilya Ilyich Benemansky was born in 1883 in Tver in the family of a priest. He graduated from the Tver Theological Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1908. He served in the 13th Grenadier Regiment and participated in World War I. In 1917, he returned to his homeland and began serving in the church of Saint Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky.
In 1920, he was arrested on the basis of a denunciation and imprisoned in a concentration camp, but was released after a month. In 1922, he was arrested during the campaign to seize church valuables. In April 1923, he was arrested again in connection with the disturbances at the cathedral but was soon released.
In September 1923, he was arrested for “using the religious prejudices of the masses to overthrow the Soviet power,” but was also released shortly thereafter. In 1930, after the closure of the Alexander Nevsky Church, he began serving in the Church of Cosmas and Damian.
In August 1930, he was arrested on charges of possessing changeable silver coins and expressing dissatisfaction with the Soviet government. He was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment and sent to Solovki. Upon his return, he served in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, the Unburnt Bush.
In December 1937, he was arrested for the last time based on false testimonies from clergy of the Renovationist movement. On December 29, he was sentenced to death by the NKVD troika and was executed on December 31, 1937.
He was canonized among the ranks of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in August 2000 at the Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. His feast days are December 31 (December 18 according to the Julian calendar), in the Synaxis of the Volhynian Saints, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Solovki, and in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
