On September 8, 1937, clergymen and Orthodox laypeople from the Gagin district of the Nizhny Novgorod region were arrested, a total of ten people. None of the arrested admitted their guilt. They were accused of organizing a solemn service on July 6, which involved four priests and numerous believers. Although no political sermons were delivered after the service, the church service itself was deemed an anti-state event, as it distracted peasants from working in the collective farm. On September 17, 1937, eight people were sentenced to death and executed. Their names have been preserved in the investigative files: Priest Ioann Dmitrievich Romashkin, Priest of the village of Sorochki Petr Ivanovich Lebedinsky, Priest of the village of Yusupovo Nikolai Alexandrovich Khvoschev, Priest of the village of Panova-Osanova Alexander Semenovich Nikolsky, peasants of the village of Pokrov Alexander Ivanovich Blokhin, Petr Vasilyevich Lonskov, Stefan Semenovich Mityushin, and Vasily Kireevich Yezhov.
