He was born on September 27, 1907, in the village of Andreyevo, in the Zaponor volost of the Bogorodsky district of the Moscow province, into the family of a wealthy peasant, Ivan Pankratevich Demidov. The family was pious, and he became the church elder of the Pokrov Church in the village of Zaponor. In 1929, he was drafted into the army, where he did not hide his faith, for which he faced pressure from political officers.
After returning from the army, he continued to work on his farm and in 1933 agreed to become the elder of the church. In the same year, he was arrested and sentenced to four months in a correctional labor camp for failing to meet agricultural obligations. In 1935, he was arrested again for tax evasion. After his release, he worked on the construction of a school and at a sawmill, continuing to care for church affairs.
On August 22, 1937, he was arrested for organizing worship services and religious propaganda. The investigation accused him of counter-revolutionary activities. On October 11, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced him to ten years in a correctional labor camp. In 1939, he submitted a request to review his case but was denied.
While in custody, he did not hide his faith and continued to pray. On May 1, 1942, he was arrested again and accused of anti-Soviet agitation. At the trial, he did not plead guilty. On November 2, 1942, he was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment with a five-year deprivation of rights after serving his sentence.
He passed away on July 13, 1944, in the central hospital of the camp at the station of Izvestkovaya and was buried in an unmarked grave at the camp cemetery.
