Saint Nikolai Petrovich Orlov was born on 15 February 1881 in the Bolshe-Sol district of the Kostroma Governorate. For more than a century, members of his family had served as priests, baptizing, performing marriages, and administering the sacraments for the local population. His father, Archpriest Pyotr Guryevich, served for 44 years at the church of his village.
After graduating from the Yaroslavl Theological School, the saint was appointed to the village of Petropavlovskoye, where he was teaching at the local primary school. In 1911, he was ordained a priest and served at the village church.
In the 1930s, persecution of Nikolai began. In an effort to protect his parishioners, in whose homes he had been hiding, he asked to be provided with a small room beside the church, where he moved together with his family.
The priest was persecuted and arrested three times. His third arrest took place on 5 June 1937. He was charged with “participation in a counter-revolutionary group.” On 25 August 1937, he was sentenced to death and executed the following day, on 26 August.
By a decision of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, Fr Nikolai Orlov was canonized among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
