Vasily Petrovich Sokolsky

Born on January 30, 1878, in the village of Beloe Ozero, Sengileyevsky District, Simbirsk Province, in a priest's family.

In 1902, he graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy with a degree of Candidate of Theology. He got married and was ordained a priest.

In 1905, he was awarded the degree of Master of Theology for his work "The Gospel Ideal of a Christian Pastor" (Kazan, 1905).

He taught Holy Scripture at the Astrakhan and later at the Chernigov Theological Seminaries. Subsequently, he served at the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Vasilyevsky Island in Petrograd, whose parish remained loyal to the canonical Church during the period when the Petrograd Diocesan Administration was seized by the renovationists.

According to Archimandrite Feodosy (Almazov), in Petrograd, "in August-December 1922, negotiations were underway with the leaders... of the renovationists of all kinds... In view of the common enemy (atheism in the form of communism), the Patriarchal Church sincerely sought to unite with the church groups that had split off from it... Although the assembly took a conciliatory stance, no union was achieved. All our members of the conciliation commission were sent into exile... It is clear that our people were exiled based on their denunciation." Father Vasily was among those participating in the negotiations with the renovationists.

In 1923, Father Vasily was arrested and exiled for three years to the town of Berezov in the Tobolsk district. After returning from exile, on August 4, 1926, he was appointed rector of the Leningrad Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Aptekarsky Island. He was elevated to the rank of Archpriest.

In 1929, he was again arrested "for fighting the renovationists" and exiled for three years to the Northern Territory. He served his term in the village of Chekuevo, where he nearly lost his sight.

After returning from exile, he settled with his family in Leningrad and served first at the Church of the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, then at the Church of the Athonite (Vatopedi) Icon of the Mother of God of the former Novodevichy Monastery.

On March 7, 1935, he was again arrested. He did not admit guilt to the charges brought against him. When asked about his political beliefs, he said:

"I am non-partisan and, by my conviction, cannot interfere in political affairs, the only thing I disagree with is the communists' denial of the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and moral responsibility beyond the grave, about which I, like other priests, do not hide from those who come to me for answers to these questions."

On the same day, an NKVD officer wrote a conclusion that the accused "is a socially dangerous element and conducts anti-Soviet agitation. A supporter of Tikhonovism." By the decision of a special meeting at the NKVD on March 9, 1935, Father Vasily and his family were exiled for five years to Northern Kazakhstan. He served his term in the town of Atbasar (now Akmola Region).

On July 8, 1937, he was arrested by the Atbasar District Department of the NKVD on charges of "conducting counter-revolutionary defeatist-slanderous agitation among the population and not ceasing to perform religious rites," and was imprisoned in Atbasar. He did not admit guilt.

On September 5, 1937, he was sentenced to the highest measure of punishment by the decision of the NKVD troika of the North Kazakhstan region.

Executed by shooting on September 10, 1937, buried in an unmarked grave.

On June 9, 1989, he was rehabilitated by the prosecutor's office of the Tselinograd region for the 1937 repressions.

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