Presbyter
Saint John was born in 1874 in the village of Aksinyino, Kolomensky district of Moscow province, in the family of priest Semen Pokrovsky. He graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1897. In 1916, he was appointed the rector of the Pokrov Church in the village of Chirkino. For his impeccable service, he was elevated to the rank of protopresbyter and appointed the dean of the churches of the Malinsky district.
On January 27, 1938, the authorities arrested Protopresbyter John. The next day, an interrogation took place, during which the priest denied any anti-Soviet agitation, asserting that he had only called on the faithful to pray for the imprisoned. On February 21, 1938, the NKVD troika sentenced him to execution.
Protopresbyter John Pokrovsky was shot on February 26, 1938, and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.
