Venerable Martyr Veniamin was born on January 4, 1868, in the village of Eusevievskaya, Shenkursky district, Arkhangelsk province, in the family of peasants Vasily Egorovich and Pelagia Ilyinichna Kononov. In 1893, he entered the monastery as a laborer, and in 1897 he was accepted as a novice. On June 12, 1903, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Veniamin. On August 28, 1905, he was ordained as hierodeacon, and on July 15, 1908, he became hieromonk. On February 22, 1910, he was appointed spiritual father of the Solovetsky Monastery. On October 30, 1912, he became the abbot of the Antoniev Siy Monastery, and on December 23 of the same year, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. In 1913, turmoil began in the Solovetsky Monastery, which lasted for four years. On August 22, 1917, he was elected abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery. During this time, he faced various temptations and disturbances among the brethren. On the night of December 7-8, 1917, a fire broke out in the monastery, which he attributed to the sins of the brethren. The authorities began to persecute the monastery, and on June 20, 1920, he appealed to the Kemski Food Committee about the need for food for the brethren. However, the authorities ignored his request, and the monastery continued to be plundered. On August 12, 1920, church valuables were found, leading to a new turmoil against him. At the end of 1920, he was arrested on charges of concealing monastic valuables and sent to forced labor. In 1928, he was killed along with hieromonk Nikifor as a result of a bandit attack.
Venerable Martyr Nikifor (in the world Nikolai Ivanovich Kuchin) was born in the Solvychegodsky district of Vologda province. He served in the army and after retiring in 1909, entered the Solovetsky Monastery. In 1913, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Nikifor. He was the closest assistant to Archimandrite Veniamin. After their arrest in 1922, they settled in Arkhangelsk and then moved to the village of Chasovenskoye, where they were killed by bandits in 1928. The murderers were arrested and convicted.
