Presbyter
Saint Martyr Sergius was born in 1882 in the city of Zhitkovichi, Minsk province, in the family of a psalmist, Peter Rodakovsky. In 1904, he graduated from the Minsk Theological Seminary and was ordained as a priest, serving in the Assumption Church of the village of Lavrishevo. In 1915, he moved to the city of Pereslavl, was appointed as the priest of a sanitary train, and in 1916 was sent to the front as the regimental priest of the 4th Dragoon Regiment. In 1918, he became the rector of the Trinity Church in the village of Tal and was elevated to the rank of protodeacon.
Protodeacon Sergius was arrested on February 20, 1933, on charges of counter-revolutionary activity. He did not admit his guilt, asserting that he did not conduct agitation against the Soviet government and had no intention of contradicting the Gospel. In his testimony, he stated that he could not speak out against collectivization, as he considered it unlawful.
On March 24, 1933, he was interrogated for the last time, again rejecting the accusations. On April 21, 1933, the troika of the OGPU sentenced him to death by shooting. He was executed and buried in an unmarked grave.
