Martyr Stephen was born on December 17, 1877, in the village of Naschekino, Bronnitsky district of Moscow province. He received his education in a rural school and then worked as an expediter at a warehouse. In 1920, he returned to his native village, where he was sentenced to three months of imprisonment for not surrendering his bicycle. He regularly attended services at the Transfiguration Church, becoming a regent and psalmist. The authorities deprived him of his voting rights, and his property was confiscated, but he did not abandon the church.
In 1931, due to collectivization, Stephen moved to Moscow, but soon returned to Naschekino, where he worked at a warehouse and served as a psalmist. In 1937, during the second half of the thirties, persecutions against the Church began; he expressed dissatisfaction with the Soviet government and actively agitated for the strengthening of religion. On February 16, 1938, he was arrested and imprisoned in Kolomna prison. During interrogation, he denied anti-Soviet agitation. On February 27, the NKVD troika sentenced him to execution. Stephen was shot on March 7, 1938, and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.
