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Holymartyr Michael Bogoroditsky, Presbyter

Holymartyr Michael Bogoroditsky, Presbyter

Holymartyr Michael Bogoroditsky, Presbyter

Hieromartyr
Presbyter

Father Mikhail Bogoroditsky was born in 1872 in the village of Studenetskiye Vyselki of the Lipetsk district in the Tambov province. His father served for 33 years in the church of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in the city of Kozlov. Together with his mother Maria, he raised eleven children.

In 1930, he was arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary agitation and imprisoned in the Tambov city jail. On March 19, 1930, he was sentenced by a troika of the OGPU USSR in the Central Black Earth region to 5 years of exile.

After his exile, he could not return to his church, as it had been seized by the Renovationists, and he was appointed to the village of Belomestnaya Dvoynya. At the beginning of October 1937, the chairman of the village council warned him: “Bogoroditsky, you should leave, you are to be arrested.” Father Mikhail replied: “But who will I leave the church and the parishioners to?”

On November 12, 1937, Archpriest Mikhail was arrested and imprisoned, and on November 20, he was sentenced by a troika of the NKVD USSR in the Tambov region. The accusation was: “Systematic counter-revolutionary agitation, discrediting the leader of the VKP(b), inciting religious fanaticism among the believers.” For this accusation, he was sentenced to the highest measure of punishment and shot on December 7, 1937.

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