Mitrophan (Kvanin)

The brother of two bishops, Holy Martyr Mitrophan (in the world, Mikhail Andreyevich Kvanin), was born in the village of Gubkino, Maloarkhangelsk district, Oryol province, in 1875. The Kvanin brothers came from a peasant family, and Mikhail received his education in a rural school. The future archimandrite began his monastic life as a novice at the Vilensky Holy Spirit Monastery. Where he took monastic vows is not precisely known, but in the Samara Nikolaevsky Monastery (the next place where the holy martyr lived from 1914), he is already listed as a monk, and according to some sources, even as a hieromonk.

From 1917, Father Mitrophan assisted at the episcopal house in Taganrog; from 1920, he served as a sacristan in the village of Bolokhovo, Tula province; and from 1923, the hieromonk moved to Moscow, where he served in the Holy Spirit Church at Danilov Cemetery. At some point, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

On February 23, 1933, Archimandrite Mitrophan was arrested as part of a group of priests serving at the Holy Spirit Church. They were all tried in the same case and sentenced to various punishments.

On March 15, the Special Council of the OGPU Collegium sentenced the future holy martyr to three years of exile to the Northern Territory. Arriving at the place of exile, the archimandrite settled in Kargopol (another possible location is the village of Kargapolye in the Kurgan region).

After the term of exile ended in 1936, the monk returned to Moscow. Here he was arrested again. The new sentence was another three years, now requiring the persecuted clergyman to go to Kazakhstan. For about a year, Father Mitrophan lived in the village of Borodulikha, Semipalatinsk region. Together with other clergymen, he endured hardships, praying to God. Many were destined for the glorious crown of martyrdom. The church servants serving their exile in Borodulikha had to go through the group case "Case of Archpriest Dmitry Kuklin and others."

On November 22, 1937, Father Mitrophan was arrested. On the 27th of the same month, he was accused of "undermining the collective farm system, agitating for the formation of a group of believers, and propagandizing the observance of fasts," and was sentenced to the highest measure of punishment. On December 2, 1937, Archimandrite Mitrophan (Kvanin), who never admitted his guilt, was executed in Semipalatinsk.

His place of burial is unknown.

He was rehabilitated by the prosecutor's office of the Semipalatinsk region for the repressions of 1937.

He was canonized as a saint of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000 for general church veneration.