(1866 - 1937) – Hieromonk, Venerable Martyr
Commemoration Day: November 2 (October 20, O.S.), in the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
Venerable Martyr Gerasim (in the world Gerasim Fedotovich Sukhov) was born in 1866 in the Chembarsky County of the Penza Province to a peasant family. After being tonsured as a monk and ordained as a hieromonk, Father Gerasim was arrested in 1936.
The 70-year-old monk was accused of participating "in a counter-revolutionary group" and sentenced to 5 years of exile in Kazakhstan. He ended up in the village of Borodulikha, Semipalatinsk Region, along with several other clergymen.
On November 22, 1937, Hieromonk Gerasim was arrested in exile by the Bel-Agach NKVD District Department. The charges against him were formulated as follows: "conducting religious rites and illegal gatherings" and "spreading anti-Soviet propaganda against the collective farm system."
On November 27, 1937, Hieromonk Gerasim (Sukhov) was sentenced to the highest measure of punishment.
On December 2, the venerable martyr was executed by shooting in Semipalatinsk.
Father Gerasim's name was included in the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia by a decision of the Holy Synod on December 27, 2000.
Saints of Kazakhstan
