Presbyter
Saint Martyr Sergius was born on July 4, 1896, in the village of Smolnikovo, Klin district of the Moscow province, in the family of a bricklayer, Joseph Skvortsov, and his wife, Catherine. In 1914, he graduated from the teacher's seminary and began working as a teacher. Soon he married Claudia Nikolaevna Mikhailova, and they had three children: Lydia, Nikolai, and Alexander.
In 1918, when the Russian Orthodox Church was declared illegal by the godless Bolsheviks, Sergius was ordained as a deacon, and in 1926, as a priest of the church of the Martyr Paraskeva Friday in the settlement of Drezna. In the early 1930s, he became the rector of this church. The parishioners loved Father Sergius for his selflessness and care for the needy. In 1926, there was an attempt to seize the church by the Renovationists, but Sergius defended the church. The authorities threatened him with arrest, demanding that he renounce his clerical status, but he refused.
In the spring of 1937, his wife Claudia Nikolaevna fell seriously ill, and on April 30, 1937, she passed away, leaving three children behind. On September 28, 1937, Sergius was arrested after the liturgy. Officers of the NKVD entered the house, and he was taken away, leaving his children and grandmother in tears.
Initially, Sergius was held in a prison in the city of Pokrov, then he was transferred to Taganka prison in Moscow. Witnesses testified against him, claiming that he conducted anti-Soviet propaganda. Sergius rejected all accusations. On October 13, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced him to ten years in a correctional labor camp.
From Taganka prison, he was sent to Bamlag, then to Southlag and Bezymyannlag. In Drezna, his children lived with their grandmother, and parishioners helped them. In 1943, they received his last letter, in which he wrote about his illness. Priest Sergius Skvortsov died in Bezymyannlag on March 25, 1943, and was buried in an unmarked grave.
