Presbyter
Saint Sergius was born on September 10, 1885, in the village of Voznesenskoye, Yaroslavl Province, into a priest's family. After graduating from the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary, he was ordained a priest and served in the village of Koporye, and then in the village of Voznesenskoye. For his impeccable service, he was elevated to the rank of protopresbyter.
In 1927, he showed cowardice and publicly renounced his priesthood, after which he was appointed in his place. The authorities exerted pressure on him, and he was brought to trial on various charges. Father Sergius was forced to seek help from parishioners and paid the church tax.
OGPU agents collected information about him, hoping to find a pretext for arrest. In 1932, he was accused of anti-Soviet agitation. In the second half of the 1930s, he was increasingly summoned to the NKVD and offered to renounce his priesthood, but he refused.
On October 28, 1937, he was arrested during a service. When asked to renounce his faith, he replied: “I was born with faith and I will die with faith.” His arrest was carried out with a search of his home, and his family was expelled without belongings.
The investigation was completed in one day, and on November 5, 1937, he was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment in a corrective labor camp. Protopresbyter Sergius Zavarin died in custody on April 14, 1938, and was buried in an unmarked grave.
