Irina Smirnova
Martyr
Saint Irene was born on April 16, 1891, in the village of Rameshki, in the Volokolamsk district of the Moscow Governorate. She served at the Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Cherlenkovo.
In January 1938, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the Soviet government, criticizing the authorities for the arrests of the clergy and the unjust taxation imposed on the Church. In November 1937, she had also spoken publicly about the corruption of the Soviet regime. She was subsequently arrested and charged with anti-revolutionary propaganda.
On February 27, the NKVD troika sentenced her to death. She was executed on March 7, 1938, and buried in an unmarked grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.
