Vasily Kandelyabrov, presbyter

Saint John Sarv, the Hieromartyr, was born in 1867 in the Livonian province. He graduated from the Riga Theological Seminary and was ordained as a priest. He served in various churches, including the Transfiguration Church on the Zabalcan Avenue, where he became the rector in 1912. In the late 1920s, he was expelled from Leningrad and continued his ministry in Tikhvin. In 1934, he was arrested, but after interrogations, he was released. In 1937, he was arrested again along with 14 other clergymen and laypeople, accused of counter-revolutionary activities. All of them were executed on December 3, 1937, demonstrating rare courage and steadfastness in faith.