Presbyter
Priest Vladimir came from the Piksanov family, several generations of which dedicated their lives to serving God. His great-grandfather, Philip of Arkhangelsk, was a deacon in the village of Piksanovka in the Saratov province. In 1818, Ermil Piksanov was ordained as a priest and served in various villages, passing away in 1874 in the village of Spasskoye.
In 1872, the son of priest Timofey Piksanov was born, named Vladimir. In 1892, he graduated from the Saratov Theological Seminary and began his ministry in the village of Alexeyevka, where he actively worked with dissenters. In 1893, he was appointed to a priestly position in the village of Novospasskoye, where he served until his martyr's death.
In 1899, Father Vladimir was awarded the medal. In 1900, he became the law teacher at the Pavlovsk two-class school and taught the Law of God in the parish school. In 1917, after the October Revolution, persecutions against the Church began. Father Vladimir became a victim of the Red Guards, who accused him of supporting the White Guards.
On April 2, 1918, he was arrested and brutally beaten. The next morning, he was taken again and, despite the protests of the parishioners, was shot near the church. Before his death, he uttered: “Lord! Receive my soul.” His body was thrown into a sleigh and buried in the churchyard.
The name of Priest Vladimir Piksanov is included in the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, with his memory commemorated on April 2 (March 20) by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on July 15, 2016.
