Presbyter
Saint Martyr Sergius Ivanovich Znamensky was born in 1873 in Chita to a priest's family. He graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy and was ordained as a priest at the cathedral in Chita in 1913. During World War I, he served as a regimental priest and was awarded orders and the George Cross of the 4th class.
After the war, he served in the village of Chufarovo, where he faced hostility from local authorities. In March 1921, he was arrested and sentenced to five years of imprisonment, which was commuted to two years of exile in the Zyryan region. After his release, he served as secretary to Bishop Nectarios in Vyatka, actively opposing the Renovationists.
On April 5, 1925, Bishop Nectarios was arrested, and Father Sergius, unable to find a place to serve, went to the Sarov Monastery. Upon returning to Moscow, he was appointed to Murom, where he was arrested and sentenced to two years in the Solovetsky concentration camp, followed by three years of exile in Uzbekistan.
After his exile, he served in the church of the Martyrs Flora and Laurus in Kashira. In 1937, he was arrested but acquitted. On November 17, 1937, he was arrested again, not admitting guilt in anti-Soviet agitation. He was sentenced to death and was executed on November 27, 1937, and buried in an unmarked grave at the Butovo firing range.
He was canonized among the ranks of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in August 2000. Commemoration days: November 27 (November 14 in the old calendar), in the Sobor of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Solovetsky, in the Sobor of the New Martyrs who suffered in Butovo, and in the Sobor of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
