Pyotr Ivanovich Pokrovsky

He was born in 1873 in the village of Kondol, Petrovsky County, Saratov Province, into the family of a priest.

He graduated from the Saratov Theological Seminary. 

Pyotr Ivanovich and his wife, Nadezhda Vasilyevna Shchegoleva-Pokrovskaya, had five children.

Since 1924, the Pokrovsky family lived in the city of Saratov at the Resurrection Cemetery, where Father Pyotr served as a priest in the cemetery church.

On July 25, 1928, he was arrested by the OGPU authorities of the Lower Volga region. During the investigation, he was held in custody in the Saratov detention center. He was accused of being "an opponent of Soviet power and its policy on the separation of church and state, conducting anti-Soviet agitation among believers, accusing the Soviet government of strangling religion and its servants." He did not plead guilty to the charges under Article 58-10, Part 2 of the RSFSR Criminal Code.

By the resolution of the Special Meeting of the Collegium of the OGPU on November 2, 1928, he was released from custody and exiled to live in the city of Tver for three years, starting from July 25, 1928.

After the exile, he returned to Saratov. He lived with his wife at the address: 6th Cemetery Passage, house 3, and served as a priest in the Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.

On October 11, 1936, he was arrested by the NKVD Directorate for the Saratov Region on charges of "conducting anti-Soviet agitation among his surroundings, spreading provocative rumors about alleged persecution of religion by the Soviet government." He was held in custody in the Saratov prison. He did not plead guilty to the charges against him.

Based on the resolution of the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR dated January 9, 1937, "Pokrovsky, previously convicted, priest, for disclosing information not subject to disclosure and anti-Soviet agitation, is sentenced to 5 years in Kazakhstan, starting from October 11, 1936."

He served his sentence in the village of Uspenka, Lozovsky District, East Kazakhstan Region.

On November 24, 1937, he was arrested again. 

At the time of his arrest, he was without specific occupation. To the investigator's questions, who claimed that Father Pyotr conducted counter-revolutionary agitation, he consistently testified that he had never engaged in any counter-revolutionary agitation. The indictment stated: "Being embittered against the Soviet government, Pokrovsky systematically engaged in counter-revolutionary agitation among the collective farmers, for which he systematically visited the homes of collective farmers and, under the guise of memorial meals, organized drinking parties, thereby distracting collective farmers from work. The facts of the activity were fully established by the investigation. The accused partially admitted his guilt" (it referred to his confession during the investigation: "There was one case. I, Pokrovsky, was invited by my landlady to a memorial meal on the occasion of her husband's death. After the meal, I went to my room. I was not at anyone else's place among the collective farmers and did not engage in counter-revolutionary agitation").

On December 2, 1937, at a meeting of the troika of the NKVD of the East Kazakhstan Region, a resolution was issued: "Pokrovsky P. I. to be executed."

On December 30, 1937, at one o'clock in the morning, the sentence was carried out. The place of burial remains unknown.

On July 13, 1962, he was rehabilitated by the resolution of the Presidium of the Saratov Regional Court in connection with the archival criminal case of 1936.

On June 6, 1990, he was rehabilitated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Pavlodar Region in connection with the case of 1937.

On November 12, 1996, he was rehabilitated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov Region in connection with the archival criminal case of 1928.

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