Ηegumen / Abbot
Venerable Varlaam (in the world Vasily Mikhailovich Nikolsky) was born in 1872 in the village of Lyutoritsy, Tula province. He graduated from a theological school and in 1895 entered as a novice in the Chudov Monastery in Moscow, where he was soon tonsured into monasticism with the name Varlaam. In 1909, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and later – to the rank of hieromonk.
From 1917 to 1925, he served in the church of Nikola-Plotniki on Arbat, from 1925 to 1929 – in the church of Spas-Peski. In 1929, he was elevated to the rank of igumen. On December 28, 1930, he was arrested. At that time, arrests of clergymen and monks were taking place.
On January 31, 1931, during interrogation, he expressed his views on the existing regime, emphasizing that he was a monk and a supporter of the Tikhonov Church orientation. As a result of the investigation, he was convicted of counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to three years of exile in Kazakhstan.
After returning from exile, he served in the Pokrov Church in the village of Dyakovo, then in the Pokrov Church in the village of Andreevskoye. On November 5, 1937, he was arrested and imprisoned in Taganka prison in Moscow. False witnesses accused him of anti-Soviet agitation and attempts to expand the influence of the Church.
On November 17, the NKVD troika sentenced him to death by shooting. Venerable Varlaam was shot on November 19, 1937, and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.
