Mother Superior
Saint Tamara was born in 1876 in the village of Ustalo. In 1886, following the death of her parents, she was taken into an orphanage. In 1892, the institution was transformed into the Convent of the Dormition. The saint was tonsured as a nun and given the name Tamara in 1917.
From 1918, she served as the treasurer of the monastic community. In 1926, the convent was closed, although the community itself continued to exist. Tamara carried out the duties of the community’s superior despite the pressure exerted on her by the authorities.
In 1941, she was arrested on false charges of anti-Soviet propaganda and sentenced to ten years in prison. She was subsequently sent to a forced-labour camp, where she endured severe hardships and brutal living conditions. On the 1st of May 1942, she died of heart disease and was buried in an unmarked grave.
On 12 October 2007, she was officially canonised and numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
