Matron Konyukhova
Martyr
Martyr Matrona was born in 1848 in Moscow to a peasant family of Stepan Konyukhov. In the 1930s, she was already held in high esteem among the Orthodox, who revered her as a spiritual guide. On August 26, 1937, she was arrested by NKVD officers at the age of eighty-nine. During the interrogation, she spoke of her admirers who came to her for help and advice. Matrona Stepanovna glorified the priest Valentin Amphitheatrov as a saint and directed her followers to his grave. She was accused of participating in a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group and of glorifying the priest. On December 7, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced her to execution. On December 15, she was shot at the Butovo firing range and buried in an anonymous mass grave.
