Maria Maksimovna Laktionova was born on January 26, 1884, in the village of Gnezdilovo, Fatezhsky District, Kursk Region. From 1914 to 1918, she was a novice at the Kazan Amvrosiev Monastery, and from 1934, she lived in the city of Belev. On December 16, 1937, she was arrested by the Belev department of the NKVD in connection with the case of Bishop Nikita and accused of being a member of an underground monastery. During the interrogation, Maria stated that she knew nothing about any monastery and had never opposed the authorities. On December 30, 1937, the troika of the U.N.K.V.D. of the USSR for the Tula region sentenced her to the highest measure of punishment — execution by shooting. The sentence was carried out on January 8, 1938. The place of burial for the martyr was a mass grave at the 162nd kilometer of the Simferopol highway.
