Presbyter
He was born on January 3, 1889, in the village of Aleksandrovskoye, Volokolamsk district of the Moscow province, in the family of a psalmist, Peter Nikitsky, and his wife, Ekaterina. In 1905, his father went missing, leaving the family dependent on his mother and older brother. Ekaterina, being deeply religious, placed the children in an orphanage and worked as a cook, raising them in the spirit of faith.
In 1913, he graduated from the Vifanskaya Theological Seminary and became a teacher at the school of the Pavlovsky Posad factory. He married Ekaterina Nechayeva, and they had three children. In December 1915, he was ordained as a priest at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the village of Porechye. In 1920, he was mobilized into the rear militia but soon returned to his ministry.
He enjoyed great authority among the parishioners and helped those in need. In 1929, the authorities attempted to close the church, but he opposed this. On September 4, 1929, he was arrested and imprisoned in Butyrka prison. During interrogations, he claimed that he did not engage in anti-Soviet propaganda.
After the investigation, he was sentenced to three years of exile in the Northern region. Upon his return, he continued his ministry but was soon transferred to other churches. In 1938, amidst the persecution of the Church, he was arrested again on charges of anti-Soviet propaganda. On March 4, 1938, the NKVD troika sentenced him to death. He was executed on March 14, 1938, and buried in an unmarked grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.
