Presbyter
Saint Martyr Vasily was born on March 18, 1890, in the city of Serpukhov. In 1914, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and became a psalmist in the cemetery church of All Saints. In 1920, he was ordained as a priest, and in 1929, he was transferred to the Trinity Church. In 1930, he was arrested for tax evasion and sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp. Upon his return, he resumed serving in the Trinity Church and was elevated to the rank of protopresbyter. In 1936, he was appointed the dean of the parishes of the Serpukhov district.
On April 14, 1937, he was summoned for interrogation, where he was accused of counter-revolutionary activities. Studnitsyn expressed dissatisfaction with the Soviet government and spoke of the difficulties of life under it. On November 26, 1937, he was arrested and interrogated. On December 5, a troika of the NKVD sentenced him to execution. Protopresbyter Vasily was shot on December 9, 1937, and buried in an unmarked grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.
