Presbyter
Saint Nikolai was born on December 10, 1893, in the village of Glebovo, Staritsky district of Tver province, in the family of a clergyman, Mikhail Vereshchagin. He received his education at the Tver Theological Seminary and was ordained a priest during the post-revolutionary persecutions. He served in the village of Glebovo, where his father also served.
In the summer of 1937, the persecutions began, and the priest was slandered by false witnesses, claiming that he conducted counter-revolutionary agitation. On September 20, Father Nikolai was arrested and imprisoned in the city of Rzhev. During the interrogation, he refused to admit his guilt, asserting that he did not conduct counter-revolutionary agitation.
On October 15, the NKVD Troika sentenced Father Nikolai to execution. He was shot on October 17, 1937. He was canonized among the ranks of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000 for universal veneration.
