Ioann Mikhailovich Blinov

Ioann Mikhailovich Blinov was born in 1874 in the village of Krasnoye, Vladimir Province. In 1920, he became a psalmist at the Church of the Sign in the village of Krasnoye.

On February 10, 1930, he was arrested along with the priests serving in the churches of Krasnoye and Palekh. He was accused of "anti-Soviet activity" and "opposing the organization of collective farms" and was imprisoned in the city of Shuya. He did not plead guilty. About 50 peasants from Krasnoye petitioned for his release. After the investigation, OGPU officers demanded that the accused, including Ioann Mikhailovich, be sentenced to three years in a labor camp but then offered some of the accused the opportunity to become informers, releasing those who agreed. Ioann Mikhailovich accepted this offer and returned home. From that day, he was required to regularly report to the OGPU and provide information. However, during his visits, he did not give any information and, upon returning home, openly stated that he had been to the OGPU.

On January 21, 1931, he was arrested again on charges of "anti-Soviet agitation" and imprisoned in Shuya. He did not plead guilty, though he did not hide that he spoke about the oppression of the clergy by the authorities: "The Soviet government will take all the priests this way, and there will be no one to serve."

On July 3, 1931, the Special Troika of the OGPU Plenipotentiary Representation for the Ivanovo Industrial Region sentenced him to three years of exile in Kazakhstan, where he served his sentence in East Kazakhstan Region.

He died in exile and was buried in an unmarked mass grave.

The name of Psalmist Ioann was included in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 22, 2001.