Presbyter
Holy Paul the Newmartyr was born on 24 August 1891 in the village of Chetyre Bugry in the Astrakhan Governorate. He was born into the family of the priest George Ansimov. In 1906, he graduated from the Ecclesiastical School and in 1911 from the Theological School. In 1912, he married Maria, the daughter of the priest Vyacheslav Sollertinsky and was ordained a priest. In 1918, he graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy.
In 1921, he was called to serve at the Church of the Dormition in Kuban, where his family endured severe hardship due to poverty and famine. In 1923, the church was taken over by the Renovationists, forcing the saint to leave the area. From 1924, he served at the Church of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos in Cherkizovo and in 1925 he was transferred to the church on Vvedenskaya Square in Moscow. In 1929, the church was looted and closed.
In 1930, he served at the Church of St Nicholas in Pokrovskoye, where he was arrested on 23 June 1930 on charges of organizing a religious brotherhood. Following his release on 12 August 1930, he returned to his ministry and continued serving the Church, eventually being elevated to the rank of protopresbyter. On the night of 28–29 December 1930, he was arrested again and got imprisoned in Butyrka Prison. He was released on 18 January 1931. That same year, the Church of St Nicholas was closed and subsequently completely demolished. From 1932 to 1935, he served at the Church of the Resurrection in the Semyonovskoye Cemetery and later at the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Izmailovo.
In 1937, he was arrested and accused of anti-Soviet activities. On 19 November 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced him to death. Priest Paul Ansimov was executed on 21 November 1937 and buried in an unknown mass grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.
