Presbyter
He was born on January 30, 1874, in the village of Zaponorye, Bogorodsky district of the Moscow province, in the family of a priest, Peter Chestnov. In 1904, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and became a teacher at a church-parish school. He served as a psalmist in the Znamenskaya church in the village of Amerevo, and then in the Cross Exaltation church in the village of Novoe. In 1908, he was ordained as a deacon and appointed to the Resurrection cemetery church in the city of Podolsk. Since 1910, he was also a legal expert in the male and female schools of the city.
In 1920, he was ordained as a priest and appointed to the Znamensky church in the village of Zakharyino. In 1921, he was transferred again to the Resurrection cemetery church. In 1928, he was sent to the Archangel Michael church in the village of Vertlinskoe, where he was arrested in 1929 but released after five and a half weeks. Due to taxes, his property was confiscated, and he requested a transfer to another parish.
On January 24, 1930, he was transferred to the Assumption church in the village of Gzhel. At the beginning of 1930, the authorities attempted to remove the bells from the church, but the rector and parishioners opposed this. In 1930, he was arrested on false charges of anti-Soviet agitation and sentenced to three years of exile in Kazakhstan.
After his exile, he returned to the Moscow region, but due to a ban on residing within a 100-kilometer zone from Moscow, he settled in the city of Mozhaysk, where he served in the Ascension church. In 1934, the authorities closed the church, and the parishioners defended it. Father Ioann appealed to the archbishops of neighboring dioceses with a request for an appointment to a parish.
In 1935, he was appointed to the Archangel Michael church in the city of Taldom. On Easter 1935, the authorities prohibited him from making house visits with prayers. On May 19, 1935, he was arrested for discussing political topics in which he expressed concern about the state of the Orthodox faith and patriotism in Russia.
On June 8, 1935, the NKVD troika sentenced him to three years of exile in Kazakhstan. On November 23, 1937, he was arrested again and accused of anti-Soviet agitation. On December 10, 1937, the troika of the Almaty region's NKVD sentenced him to execution. He was shot on December 13, 1937, and buried in an unknown common grave. He was canonized among the new martyrs and confessors of Russia on July 17, 2002.
