Presbyter
Saint John Smolichev was born on January 27, 1889, in the village of Knyazhyche, Chernihiv province, into a priest's family. He graduated from the Chernihiv Theological Seminary in 1912 and then studied for two years at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy. From 1917 to 1920, he lived in Nizhyn and worked as a writer. In 1919, he was drafted into the army of Kolchak, serving as a sanitary soldier.
From 1920 to 1924, he worked as a teacher in Krolevets.
In May 1924, he was ordained as a priest at the church in the city of Glukhiv. In 1930, he was arrested on charges of 'counter-revolutionary activity' and sentenced to 5 years in a labor camp, serving his sentence in Svirlag. In 1933, he was released and continued his ministry in the village of Malaya Suna.
In 1936, he was arrested for the second time, again on charges of 'counter-revolutionary activity.' He was sentenced to 5 years in a labor camp and sent to Karaganda. On August 14, 1937, he was arrested in the camp. On September 10, 1937, a troika of the NKVD sentenced him to the highest measure of punishment. On September 15, he was executed.
