On October 8 (September 25 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate Saint Nicholas Rozov, priest and confessor under the Communist yoke, who reposed in the Lord in 1941.
Archpriest Nikolai (Nicholas) Rozov was born in 1879 in the Yaroslavl province to a priest's family. He was ordained a priest in 1902 and served in various churches in the Yaroslavl province. At the same time, he was the head and teacher of religious studies at the church parish school.
From 1922, Father Nikolai served at the Holy Spirit Church in Yaroslavl. That same year, he graduated from the Archaeological Institute. The following year, Archpriest Nikolai Rozov became the personal secretary of Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh). In 1930, he was arrested.
The charges stated that he "led an illegal sisterhood at the Holy Spirit Church and organized collections for prisoners." He was sentenced to 3 years in a labor camp. The concentration camp where Father Nikolai served his sentence was called the Gigant state farm. At first he was sent to do menial labor, but then, due to illness, he was transferred to work in an office. He worked diligently, so he was released early. Returning home in 1933, he could not get a residence permit for a long time, and settled in Rybinsk with his brother, priest Vasily Rozov.
By that time, Father Nikolai was sick with dystrophy and scurvy, and no longer served. A few years later, he was able to return to his family in Yaroslavl. Archpriest Nikolai Rozov died on October 8, 1941.