Vladimir Konstantinovich Smirnov

He was born on February 18, 1885, in Moscow, into a family of a postal worker.

He graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and the Faculty of Law at Moscow University.

In 1911, he was ordained as a priest.

He taught the Law of God in various educational institutions.

In 1924, he served as a legal consultant to Patriarch Tikhon.

In May 1924, he was arrested on charges of "spreading provocative rumors about the difficult living conditions in Soviet Russia and that this would soon end," and placed in Butyrka prison.

On August 8 of the same year, he was released due to lack of evidence of a crime.

Shortly after his release, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest.

On May 4, 1931, he was arrested and released after 14 days.

In the early 1930s, he was deprived of the opportunity to serve in a parish, so the only way to support his family, which included two minor children, was to perform religious services at the request of believers. Sometimes he earned money by performing memorial services at graves in Vagankovo Cemetery, where many displaced priests from Moscow and the Moscow region gathered at that time.

In February 1932, he was arrested in Moscow on charges of "systematic anti-Soviet agitation and spreading provocative rumors." He was involved in the group case "The Case of Ivan Alexeyevich Smirnov; Moscow, 1932." During the investigation, he categorically denied any involvement in "anti-Soviet agitation," stating that he only conducted memorial services at Vagankovo Cemetery. On December 7, 1932, he was sentenced to five years of hard labor and sent to a camp on the banks of the Svir River.

After 11 months, due to his illness, his sentence was commuted to exile in Chimkent.

On June 23, 1937, he was arrested in exile and imprisoned in Chimkent. He was involved in the group case "The Case of Archbishop Alexy (Orlov). City of Chimkent, 1937." The indictment stated: "Smirnov Vladimir - an active participant in the counter-revolutionary center, carried out counter-revolutionary assignments from Kobranov with trips to various cities in the USSR, conducted defeatist agitation, placing hopes on fascist countries that could end communism in the USSR, conducted counter-revolutionary agitation against loans, slandered the Soviet press, distorting published facts about the fulfillment of economic production plans by enterprises in the USSR, and actively carried out anti-defense activities."

He did not plead guilty. On August 23, he was sentenced to death by the troika of the NKVD of the South Kazakhstan region.

He was executed by shooting on August 27, 1937. He was buried in a common unmarked grave in the suburbs of Chimkent.

On May 30, 1989, he was rehabilitated by the Prosecutor's Office of the USSR for the 1932 repressions.

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