Veniamin (Zykov)

Hieromartyr Archimandrite Veniamin (in the world – Vasily Iosifovich Zykov) was born in 1869 in a peasant family, in the Verkhneturye district of the Nizhny Tagil volost. Vasily received his education at home and, by his own admission, "as soon as I could walk, I went to the monastery."

On January 1, 1896, he was accepted into the brotherhood of the Verkhoturye Nikolaev Monastery. At that time, the abbot of the monastery was Archimandrite Job, who had arrived from the Valaam Monastery and brought with him two more monks from Valaam: Schema-monk Elijah and Hieromonk Areph. It was to them that the 27-year-old novice Vasily turned for spiritual advice and guidance. Soon, by order of the diocesan authorities, he was assigned to the brotherhood at the Yekaterinburg Archierey House.

In 1899, Novice Vasily Zykov was tonsured a monk with the name Veniamin and was ordained a hierodeacon in the same year.

City life weighed heavily on Father Veniamin, and in 1903 he requested to be returned to the Verkhoturye Monastery. Living in the monastery, Father Veniamin gained universal love and respect. When in 1907 Bishop Mitrofan of Yekaterinburg and Irbit visited the Verkhoturye Monastery, he presented a gift to the abbot, Igumen Xenophon, and to Hierodeacon Veniamin: priestly and deacon vestments of purple color. These vestments had been sent by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who had sewn them herself from her coronation dress.

After 1917, there were mass arrests of the clergy, the opening of relics, and the desecration of churches.

On September 12, 1920, the day of the commemoration of Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye, when up to 15,000 pilgrims arrived at the monastery, the local authorities ordered the opening of the relics of the Righteous Simeon. By their order, the reliquary was taken out of the cathedral onto the porch, and the holy relics were shamelessly dumped out of the reliquary. Then, in the ensuing silence, there was the laughter of several people. The only person who dared to raise his voice in defense of the sanctity was Archdeacon Veniamin, who proclaimed with his strong voice to the entire square in front of the cathedral: "We believed and will continue to believe in the Saint of God, the Righteous Simeon! I ask you, do not blaspheme!"

On the same day, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Xenophon, and Archdeacon Veniamin were arrested. The first for active cooperation with the Whites, the second for resisting the opening of the relics.

In the indictment, the investigator wrote: "It has been proven by witness testimonies that Archimandrite Xenophon and Archdeacon Zykov Veniamin are uncompromising counter-revolutionaries, clearly conducting class struggle against the liberation of humanity. Therefore, I believe that Xenophon Medvedev and Veniamin Zykov fully deserve the application of the highest measure of punishment - execution by shooting."

But by the mercy of God, the case fell into the hands of another Cheka officer, who altered the sentence to 2 years of forced labor in the city of Yekaterinburg. In 1925, Hieromonk Pavel (Ilyin) from the Ufa Monastery came to pray in Verkhoturye. Meeting his like-minded people in the monastery, he gave them a copy of a letter from Bishop Nicholas of San Francisco, calling for loyalty to Patriarch Tikhon and not to support the renovationists. Soon, due to denunciation for spreading this "counter-revolutionary letter," the abbot and several monks were arrested, accused of knowing about the letter and not reporting it.

Father Veniamin spent 5 months in detention in Nizhny Tagil. As a "socially dangerous" element, he was expelled from the Nizhny Tagil region, and Father Veniamin moved to the neighboring Chelyabinsk region, to the city of Kasli, where he began serving in the local church. During this period, Father Veniamin was ordained a hieromonk and later an archimandrite.

In 1937, he was arrested again for "counter-revolutionary activities" and exiled for 5 years to Kazakhstan. While in exile, Father Veniamin settled in the village of Maysk in the Pavlodar region.

In the same year, he was arrested again. When asked by the investigator about his counter-revolutionary work, Archimandrite Veniamin replied: "In the Maysk labor settlement, I lived in the same apartment with exiles, also religious ministers... We often sang divine songs, in conversations remembered the tsarist government, and at the same time condemned the Soviet government." After such a confession, Father Veniamin was convicted as an "enemy of the people" and sentenced to the highest measure of punishment - execution by shooting. The next day, at 2 a.m., a convoy came for the 68-year-old elder, and the sentence was carried out.

The burial place of Hieromartyr Veniamin (Zykov) is unknown.

He was glorified by the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.