Hieromonk
Saint Paphnutius was born in 1866 in the village of Pobedye, in the Oryol Province, into the peasant family of Fyodor Kostin. At birth, he was given the name Boris. He completed his studies at the local village school. At the age of thirty-four, on 5 August 1900, he entered monastic life, receiving the name Paphnutius. On 23 August 1904, he was ordained as a deacon, and on 8 August 1910, he was ordained a hieromonk.
On 26 June 1914, he was appointed a priest to the Administration of the 8th Brigade of the Moscow State Army. Following the First World War, he returned to his monastery, where he served until its closure in 1923. After being expelled from the monastery, he settled in the village of Sosenka in the Kaluga region, where he celebrated the Divine Services at the request of the local peasants.
In 1937, he visited his native village but soon returned to Sosenka. There, he became gravely ill. On 13 December 1937, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Kozelsk district. During the same period, other clergy and nuns were also arrested and accused of counter-revolutionary activities.
The authorities interrogated Father Paphnutius. However, he refused to admit any guilt. On 16 December 1937 his case was forwarded for further examination. On 5 January 1938, the NKVD troika sentenced him to death. Hieromonk Paphnutius was executed at dawn on 19 January 1938 and was buried in an unmarked mass grave.
