Hieromartyr Sergius Gortinsky

Saint Sergius of Gortin, born on March 10, 1889, in Ryazan, was ordained as a deacon in 1916. He served in various churches, including in the villages of Bogoyavlenskoye and Malkovo, and in 1920 was ordained as a priest. In the 1920s, under the law of separation of Church and State, he insisted on the importance of ecclesiastical blessing for marriage, which led to his arrest and exile to Voronezh.

In 1930, he was arrested again, accused of anti-Soviet agitation and, not admitting to the charges, was sentenced to death. On August 2, 1930, after the announcement of the verdict, he and his associates were shot in the vicinity of Voronezh.