On October 10 (September 27 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate Saint Demetrius Shishokin, priest and martyr under the Communist yoke, who reposed in the Lord in 1918.
Dimitry (Demetrius) Mikhailovich Shishokin was born in 1880. After graduating from the seminary and receiving his priestly rank in 1904, Dimitry Shishokin was the rector of the church in the village of Tikhy Plyos in the Kazan diocese from 1905, and from January 13, 1913, he was the priest of the church at the provincial prison in the city of Kazan. In himself, Fr. Dimitry was a modest man and far from politics. He was an intelligent conversationalist and a good shepherd, equally beloved among both workers and prisoners, who respected the "people's priest" for his good nature and friendliness, with which Fr. Dimitry met everyone in need and suffering spiritual sorrows.
On September 26, 1918 (16 days after the capture of Kazan by the Red Army), Fr. Dimitry Shishokin was arrested at the Kazan External Defense Headquarters and, after being mocked and insulted, was taken to the Cheka with a note explaining the reason for his arrest. The note, however, was so illiterate (15 grammatical errors alone) that we present here a semi-corrected text (leaving the punctuation and style of the original unchanged):
I request that the Prison White Guard Agitator against the Bolsheviks be immediately arrested. That they are robbers, scoundrels and traitors to the Russian Proletariat. He called for all Bolshevik Commissars to be shot and arrested. All of the above is certified by the Commandant of the Kazan External Defense Headquarters.
Father Dimitry was arrested on the basis of a denunciation by 25-year-old policeman Mikhail Ts-n (although in the protocol of his interrogation, in the column "profession" it is written - "laborer"). According to the testimony of the young man, he was imprisoned by the White Czechs and one Sunday he decided to visit church, where he was recognized by priest Dimitry Shishokin. Having heard that the reason for Ts-n's arrest was that he was a communist, the priest allegedly began to "scold" the young man and - in his words - "offer... as someone who served under the Soviet government to come to him (the priest. - A. Zh.) and confess, and then he will forgive the sin, i.e. service with the Bolsheviks, and give communion." Mikhail Ts-n, of course, refused, then Shishokin addressed those arrested: "Orthodox Christians, whoever of you served with the Bolsheviks - repent...". "On that day," the young man concludes his testimony, "Shishokin was not serving, but was engaged in agitation among those arrested against Soviet power."
Whether serving a godless government is a sin or not is still a very painful question today. So it is clear what kind of crime was found by the Cheka investigators in the fact of demanding repentance for godlessness. And what did the priest himself testify? Let us cite his testimony:
I spoke to the prisoners in prison only as a preacher, explaining during the Divine Service only the contents of the day's regular Gospels. I cannot go to political speeches due to my high rank as a priest. That is why I was equally respected by people of absolutely all convictions... as a tolerant person.
Moreover, Father Dimitry remained perplexed as to how, in fact, he could have harmed the Soviet government, trying in vain to appeal to the logic of the investigators, citing a seemingly indisputable argument in favor of his own innocence:
From Kazan, during the departure of the previous administration, I did not leave my place of service, since I am not guilty in any way, in anything, before anyone. After all, only the guilty run and hide... I do not belong and have never belonged to any organizations against the existing government.
It would seem that it would be easier, for the benefit of the cause, to call more witnesses or "eyewitnesses of the agitation", if such were found (and perhaps they were looking for them, but found no one else?). But, apparently, this was not required.
And yet, what is most shocking in this case is not so much the discrepancy between the gravity of the "guilt" and the sentence handed down - our habit of the abundance of "guilty without guilt" in our national history and our understanding of the inevitability of persecution of Christianity - as the way in which Christian aspirations for truth and the restoration of trampled justice sometimes unexpectedly manifest themselves in people... However, perhaps this was explained by the fact that in two years atheism had not yet managed to completely eradicate from people's minds and hearts what had been instilled in them by the lessons of the Law of God, church attendance and the very national way of life of the pre-revolutionary era. The message in defense of the arrested priest was sent from... the administration and employees of the provincial prison and the Arrest House. How symbolic is this statement from people who, due to the gravity of their duties, would seem incapable of such manifestations of feelings, noble impulses and courage. This statement, from September 29, 1918, would seem capable of convincing anyone of the innocence of the arrested pastor, since it was none other than "their own" (for the investigators), "Soviet" employees who stood up for him:
We, the undersigned, employees of the Kazan Provincial Prison, declare that the priest of the church at the Kazan Provincial Prison, Dmitry Shishokin, arrested on September 26 at 1 o'clock in the afternoon at the Defense Headquarters of the city of Kazan on the groundless denunciation of former prisoners present, never during his entire six-year service acted as a counter-revolutionary and did not touch politics at all. During the presence of White Guard gangs in the city of Kazan, the said priest behaved as befits a true pastor, there were no statements on his part and, as an innocent person, he did not run away from the city of Kazan during the restoration of Soviet power.
This statement was signed by 17 employees of the Kazan Provincial Prison and 19 wardens of the Kazan Correctional Department, whose signatures were certified by the seals and signatures of the commissars (!) of the Provincial Prison and the Arrest House. An amazing document!
The parishioners of the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Church, located not far from the priest's house (10 Nagornaya Street), also spoke out in defense of the arrested Fr. Dimitri. The petition addressed to the city commandant from the "workers of the Pyatnitsky parish" was written in simple and laconic language, but at the same time, there was so much love and gratitude to Fr. Dimitri in this petition, so much respect and sincere ignorance of the good pastor's guilt, so much even naive conviction in the power of popular intercession, that, truly, the simplicity of the word is redeemed by the cordiality contained in it:
We, the workers of the Pyatnitsky parish, having learned of the arrest of the priest of the Prison Church, O. Shishokin, are very saddened. We know this priest, he is a real people's priest, he often served in our Pyatnitsky parish, performed various services and walked on patronal feasts with the Holy Cross, we can say nothing but good things about him, and therefore we earnestly ask the priest Fr. Shishokin to be released. During the occupation of the city of Kazan, Fr. Shishokin did not run away anywhere, this alone already testifies that he has no guilt, once again we ask the release of the priest Fr. Dimitry Shishokin.
It should be noted that for a long time the people of Kazan could not forgive the city clergy who had left their parishes for such "betrayal," and the feelings of gratitude, appreciation and love that the believers felt towards each of the pastors who remained in their place are even more understandable. There were few of them, and one of them was Fr. Dimitry Shishokin.
All these are documents of the investigation case, but it is known that not everything can be preserved on paper. An oral tradition has been preserved about the last days of Fr. Dimitry's earthly life. According to his granddaughter, Elena Konstantinovna Varfolomeeva, the Cheka demanded that Fr. Dimitry divulge the secret of confession. This is understandable, since who else but the prison priest (in which everyone was imprisoned!) could know the mood of the prisoners. They wanted to use the priest to identify "anti-revolutionary sentiments." However, Fr. Dimitry refused such cooperation, compromise with the godless government. Relatives, as Fr. Dimitry's wife Anna Mikhailovna said, were indignant, saying that Fr. Dimitry had lost his mind, since he only had to say one word of agreement, and he would have remained alive... But Fr. Dimitry: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the slayers...", believed that "the Kingdom of Heaven is for those who are cast out for the sake of righteousness", understood from his many years of experience in pastoral service the justice of David's wisdom: "Do not be jealous of him who is making progress in his way, of a man who commits transgression..." And the life of Fr. Dimitry - the life of a man who did not transgress God's commandments, precisely because of this was so hateful, so alien to the fallen world and the world intoxicated with its fall.
Father Dimitri's courageous opposition to the lawlessness that prevailed in those days is convincingly demonstrated by his only letter that came from the prison walls:
Dear Anechka! The choice has been made, everything will be decided in a few days. Their conditions are impossible to fulfill. I owe it to trouble (…), but apparently it is God's will. I ask you not to go anywhere, do not bother or ask anyone about me, it is all useless, you will only bring additional troubles upon yourself and the children. All the troubles about me are useless, I feel and know this, no one and nothing will save me anymore. I cannot be different. I console myself with the thought that such is the Will of God, and you will all survive by His grace. Do not inquire about me, do not find out anything, they will not tell, and this is dangerous. When they take me out of Kazan with the verdict, look along the wall for a piece of chemical pencil, Dmitry.
According to rumors, a group of prisoners, including Father Dimitry, were taken somewhere along the Volga on a barge. There is evidence that in Sviyazhsk in 1917-1920 there was a slaughterhouse, where in 1918 prisoners from the Kazan prison, sentenced to death by the Cheka, were brought for execution. The slaughterhouse was not chosen by chance: it was a convenient place for executions - the dirt and blood of animals hid the pools of human blood. After the executions, the monks of the surrounding monasteries secretly buried the clergy at night near the walls of their monasteries. Who knows, perhaps Father Dimitry Shishokin was among those who found their earthly refuge near the monastery wall. However, only one thing is known for sure: on October 9, 1918 (on the 14th day after the arrest), the chairman of the Cheka for the fight against counter-revolution on the Czechoslovak front, Lacis, approved the resolution presented by investigator Babkevich: "To subject Dmitry Shishokin, as an ardent counter-revolutionary who agitated among those arrested against the Soviet government, to the highest measure of punishment," and on October 10 the sentence was carried out. The widow of Dmitry's father was left with four young children...
In 2000, by decision of the jubilee Bishops' Council, priest Dmitry Shishokin was canonized as an all-Russian saint along with other new martyrs and confessors of Russia.
His memory is celebrated on September 27/October 10, the day of his martyrdom, on October 4 (17), the day of the celebration of the Council of all Kazan Saints, and also on the day when the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia is celebrated.
