Presbyter
Hieromartyr Nikolai Nikolayevich Yakhontov was born around 1874. He graduated from a theological seminary and served as a priest in the city of Kovno in the Lithuanian Diocese, after which he was transferred to the city of Kozyansk in Gorodetsky District of Vitebsk Province. From 1903, he served as a priest of the 48th Ukrainian Dragoon Regiment stationed in the city of Serpets in Płock Province (Poland). From 1907 to 1910, he served in the 227th Balash Infantry Reserve Regiment, and from 1910 to 1917 in the 194th Holy Trinity–St. Sergius Infantry Regiment. In 1916, he was appointed dean of the 49th Infantry Division and spent the First World War in active service. In 1918, Father Nikolai was elevated to the rank of archpriest and shortly thereafter appointed rector of the Sergius Church in Perm (formerly the regimental church of the Holy Trinity–St. Sergius Regiment).
Father Nikolai was arrested on December 8, 1918, together with two other priests with whom he had been speaking on the street. After torture and abuse, Archpriest Nikolai Yakhontov was drowned in the Kama River on December 17, 1918, together with another priest, John Pyankov.
He was numbered among the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in August 2000 by the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
