Presbyter
Saint Martyr Nicholas Pongilsky was born in 1879 in the family of a clergyman in the Yaroslavl province. After graduating from the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary, he took holy orders and served as a regimental priest in the Russian army. In September 1929, he was arrested in Rybinsk, where he supported Bishop Veniamin of Rybinsk by sending him money.
Father Nicholas was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment in Siberian camps. After his release, he served in the village of Bolshoye Titovskoye, living in the apartment of an elderly parishioner. In 1940, after an indiscreet conversation with Komsomol members, he was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years for 'praising the old tsarist regime' and 'agitation against the measures of the Soviet government.' In 1941, he filed a complaint about the severity of the sentence, but it went unanswered. Saint Martyr Nicholas Pongilsky died in the camp.
