Ioann Petrovich Zemlyanoy

Ioann Petrovich Zemlyanoy was born in 1867 in the village of Petrikovka (Petranovka), Novomoskovsk Uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate.

Since 1915, he served as a psalmist in the village of Dmitrievka, Lozovsky District, East Kazakhstan Region.

In 1917, he was ordained a priest and began serving in the church of the village of Pavlovka, Pavlodar (East Kazakhstan) Region.

In 1928, he was deprived of electoral rights; in 1929, he was arrested, sentenced, and exiled, and the church was closed. The details of his sentencing and punishment are unknown.

Since 1933, he served in the Petropavlovsk church in the village of Petropavlovsk, Tomsk Region.

In 1935, he was arrested. From the case materials: "He said: God exists"... He did not pay taxes: "Take me, even flay me, I will not pay". He had a tax debt of 57 rubles and did not pay the self-taxation of 196 rubles." The special collegium of the city of Tomsk sentenced him to three years of exile.

In 1936, he was released and returned to live in the village of Pavlovka, Pavlodar Region.

On November 25, 1937, he was again arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary agitation, illegal baptisms, and memorial services. During interrogation, he gave the following testimony:

"Upon arrival from exile in 1936, I was initially afraid to baptize children, but in 1937 I started working again and baptized the children of collective farmers in the village of Obraztsovka, for which I received 280 rubles. In the village of Pavlovka, I baptized 7-8 people, for which I received both bread and money... Besides, I said that earlier they would come to me and ask, 'Please, father,' but now we have lived to such a life that they arrest and confiscate things... I accidentally mentioned that under this Soviet power, I was left barefoot and naked. Generally, life has become bad, in old age I wanted to rest, but now I am troubled again."

The indictment stated:

"Being embittered against the Soviet government and the party, Zemlyanoy conducted counter-revolutionary agitation among the collective farmers, saying that life had become bad under Soviet power and that he, as a priest, was left barefoot, naked, and hungry because of the Soviet power: 'They took everything.' Alongside the agitation, he baptized the children of collective farmers and also conducted memorial services, for which he took bread and money."

When charged, the priest said: "I admit guilt in conducting baptisms. I did not agitate among the collective farmers."

On December 2, 1937, he was sentenced by the troika of the NKVD of the North Kazakhstan Region to the highest measure of punishment.

He was executed by shooting on December 30, 1937, at 1 am. His burial place is unknown.

On April 14, 1989, he was rehabilitated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Pavlodar Region for the 1937 repressions.

He was canonized as a New Martyr and Confessor of Russia in August 2000 by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.