Presbyter
Saint Paul was born on June 20, 1867, in the village of Borodino, Mozhaysk district of Moscow province. He graduated from a spiritual school and was ordained a deacon at the Ascension Cathedral in the city of Mozhaysk in 1896. In the early 1920s, he was ordained a priest at the same church.
On November 17, 1932, the authorities arrested Father Paul, accusing him of 'organizing a counter-revolutionary anti-Soviet group.' After his arrest, the priest was placed in Mozhaysk prison.
On February 16, 1933, the OGPU troika sentenced Priest Paul Ponyatsky to exile in Kazakhstan for three years. On January 17, 1934, he was released from exile and returned to Mozhaysk. In 1934, the Renovationists seized the Ascension Church, which was closed.
Upon arriving in Mozhaysk, Father Paul did not serve anywhere, lived on the support of his children, but continued to meet with the clergy of the city. On December 5, 1937, he was arrested on charges of 'establishing connections with priests and counter-revolutionary-minded monks.' On December 9, the NKVD troika sentenced him to execution.
Priest Paul Ponyatsky was shot on December 15, 1937, at the Butovo firing range near Moscow and buried in an unknown common grave.
