Martyr Michael was born on September 6, 1876, in the town of Voskresensk, Moscow province, in the family of Stepan Stroeva. After being left without a father at the age of nine, he began to assist his grandfather, an artist. In 1902, Michael married Anna Grigoryevna. In 1904, he enrolled in the evening courses of the Stroganov School and in 1909 founded the first voluntary fire department in the district.
In 1916, he was drafted into the Astrakhan reserve regiment. Upon returning home, he became the head of the Voskresensk district fire protection. Being a deeply religious man, during the persecutions by the godless Soviet authorities, he served as the elder of the Trinity Church in the village of Troitsk.
In November 1937, both priests of the Trinity Church and Michael Stroeva were arrested. He was accused of participating in a counter-revolutionary group, but he denied all charges. On November 27, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced him to ten years of imprisonment in a labor camp.
Michael Stepanovich passed away in custody on March 16, 1938, and was buried in an unmarked grave.
