Hieromonk
Venerable Jonah (Smirnov Ivan Afanasyevich; March 15, 1870, village of Leonovo, Tver province — January 5, 1938, city of Kashin, Kalinin region) came from a peasant family. Orphaned at the age of 15, he took up the craft of shoemaking. In 1890, he entered the Mefodiev Peshnosk Monastery, where on February 25, 1900, he was accepted into the brotherhood. On August 8, 1908, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Jonah, and on August 3, 1910, he was ordained a deacon, and on July 22, 1914, a priest. Later, he held the position of dean. In 1918, he returned to his native village, where he lived for some time with relatives, and then served as a priest in the village of B. Mikhailovskoye.
On January 4, 1930, he was arrested on charges of participating in an anti-Bolshevik uprising and imprisoned in Kashin. He denied all accusations. On February 3, 1930, he was sentenced to 5 years in forced labor camps, serving his sentence in Ust-Sysolsk and Uhtin-Pechora forced labor camps. On September 23, 1932, he was released and returned to the village of B. Mikhailovskoye, continuing his ministry in the church.
On December 24, 1937, he was arrested again on charges of “anti-Soviet activity” and imprisoned in the Kashin prison, where he did not admit his guilt. On December 30, 1937, by the Special Troika of the NKVD, he was sentenced to death and executed, buried in an unknown common grave. He was glorified by the Archdiocesan Jubilee Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.
