Archbishop
Saint Nicholas (in the world Nikolai Pavlovich Dobronravov) was born on November 21, 1861, in the village of Ignatovka, Moscow Province, in the family of a priest. In 1881, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary, and in 1885, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy. He served in the church of the Alexandrovsky Military School and taught theology. After the revolution of 1917, he was transferred to the Church of All Saints in Kuliski. The liturgical authorities arrested the priest on August 19, 1918. During the interrogation, he answered that the keys to the church were with the church elder. His diaries contained notes about the uprising of the Bolsheviks. On December 3, 1918, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp, but on April 16, 1919, he was released. In early 1921, he became the rector of the Krutitsky Uspensky Monastery and was tonsured a monk. In 1922, he was arrested and sentenced to one year of exile. After returning to Moscow, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop. On April 16, 1924, he was arrested and imprisoned in Butyrka prison. On June 14, 1924, he was released and appointed Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal. After the death of Patriarch Tikhon, he became the assistant to the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Peter. On November 11, 1925, he was arrested and imprisoned. On December 7, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced him to execution. Archbishop Nicholas was shot on December 10, 1937, and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.
