Presbyter
Saint Martyr Fr. Nikolai Fyodorovich Kazansky was born in 1874 in the village of Dmitrievka, in the Taurida Governorate. After graduating from the theological seminary, he married and was ordained to the priesthood. At the time of the Russian Revolution, he was serving at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Simferopol.
In 1922, he was arrested after protesting the authorities' confiscation of the church property and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. From 1922 to 1925, he was kept in the prison of Nizhny Novgorod. Upon his release, he returned to serve at the cathedral in Simferopol, where he openly opposed the Renovationist movement, leading to his second arrest.
After spending several more years in captivity, Fr. Nikolai returned to Simferopol in the early 1930s and was appointed to the Church of All Saints. There, he gathered around him a devoted community of clergy and lay faithful, guiding his parish in spiritual growth. During this same period, the chairman of the parish council, who was secretly collaborating with the NKVD, reported the clergy to the Soviet authorities.
Following his third arrest, Fr. Nikolai remained in prison for three months. Upon his release, he spoke openly about the persecution of the Church and urged the faithful to pray for all those who had been imprisoned for their faith. He was arrested yet again and subjected to lengthy interrogations, during which he responded with remarkable courage and unwavering fidelity to the principles of Christianity.
Among his statements, he declared that the Soviet regime was fundamentally anti-Christian, a testimony that resulted in a five-year sentence of exile in the Krasnoyarsk region.
He also refused to remove his priestly vestments, for which he was sentenced, without any trial, to an additional ten years of exile.
Fr. Nikolai's health eventually deteriorated under the harsh conditions of imprisonment. In 1939, he submitted a formal complaint to the head of the NKVD. However, it produced no result. In 1942, while still imprisoned in Ustvytlag, he reposed in the Lord.
