Maximilian (Marchenko)

Born on September 30, 1871, in the village of Popovka, Konotop district, Chernihiv region, in a priest's family.

In the late 1920s, he was sentenced to 3 years in a labor camp, serving his term in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp. He was arrested for the second time on October 21, 1935.

On January 8, 1936, by the decree of the Special Council of the NKVD of the USSR, he was sentenced to 3 years of exile in Kazakhstan on the grounds that "he was a member of a counter-revolutionary group, spreading counter-revolutionary rumors about war and the collapse of Soviet power, and kept and distributed a book of counter-revolutionary content by Nilus."

He served his exile in the village of Karmakchi, Kzyl-Orda region, where he was close to the clergy under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Boris (Shipulin) of Tashkent.

On December 25, 1937, he was arrested by the Karmakchin District Department of the NKVD. During the interrogation on December 25, 1937, Monk Michael (Marchenko) did not plead guilty to conducting counter-revolutionary activities: "...While in exile, I never engaged in counter-revolutionary work. Yes, indeed, there was a house of prayer in Karmakchi, which I regularly attended to pray to God, and there were always 4-5 people there, but I did not conduct anti-Soviet agitation among them."

Monk Michael (Marchenko) was charged with "while in exile and remaining hostile to Soviet power, systematically conducting counter-revolutionary agitation, calling on citizens: 'We must unite to preserve the Orthodox faith.'"

On December 30, 1937, at a meeting of the NKVD Troika for the South Kazakhstan region, Monk Michael (Marchenko) was sentenced under Article 58-10 to 10 years in a labor camp.

He served his term in the labor camp in the village of Chemolgan, Almaty region, where he died in 1938.

He was canonized as a holy martyr and confessor by the Russian Orthodox Church at the Jubilee Bishops' Council in August 2000 for general church veneration.