St. Peter Cheltsov (1972)

On September 12 (August 30 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate St Peter Cheltsov of Smolensk, Hiero-confessor and archpriest, who reposed in the Lord in 1972.

Early Life

The future priest confessor Peter (Pyotr Alekseevich Cheltsov) was born in 1888 into the family of a psalm-reader (who later became a priest). He graduated from the Ryazan Theological School (1904), the Ryazan Theological Seminary (1910) and the Kiev Theological Academy with a doctoral degree in theology (1915). In 1911, Father Peter began his priestly service. He taught at the Smolensk Theological Seminary and participated in the Local Council of 1917-1918.

After the closure of theological educational institutions in 1918, Father Peter, lacking a parish, was conscripted as a soldier into the "rear militia," a government-sanctioned citizens' brigade for "non-working elements" (kulaks [wealthy peasants], clergy, former nobles, etc.) who were not subject to conscription for service in the regular Red Army. Soon afterward, the parish council of the Ilyinskaya Church in Smolensk elected Father Peter as the parish priest of their church and confirmed him in this position by the diocesan authorities. 

In November 1918, Father Peter was released from the militia at the request of the parishioners. On April 18, 1921, Father Peter was elevated to the rank of archpriest. He taught homiletics and liturgics in the pastoral courses organized in 1921 by the Smolensk diocesan authorities, and was also an examiner of candidates for deacons and priests.

On April 6, 1922, Father Peter was arrested on suspicion of resisting the confiscation of church valuables. This arrest marked the beginning of the confessor's path of the future Velikodvorsky saint. After being kept in prison for two months, the priest was released "for lack of evidence of a crime."

In 1921, the Smolensk Diocesan Authority organized pastoral courses. Father Peter taught homiletics and liturgics there, and was also an examiner of candidates for deacons and priests. From 1921, the priest served as the dean of the Smolensk city churches. On April 18 of the same year, on Thomas Sunday, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest.

Family Life

Father Peter's wife, Matushka Maria Ivanovna, was a worthy companion in life for her husband, distinguished by her special piety. They loved each other tenderly, but did not have marital relations, in this way emulating the Righteous St John of Kronstadt and his wife Elizabeth. Living as brother and sister they raised their adopted daughter Maria Sakharuk, 

Matushka Maria often visited the staretsi (elders) and encouraged Father Peter to do the same. In particular they often visited Matushka Maria's spiritual father, Elder Nektary, in the Optina Pustyn Monastery, During one of his visits, Elder Nektary took down the “Assuage My Sorrows” icon and, handing it to Matushka Maria, said: “Here is my blessing for you, my dears. Your training will soon begin.”

The young couple did not understand what this meant, because before the revolution it was impossible to imagine what would happen to churches, priests and all believers in the future. And only after the arrest of Father Peter did the meaning of this gift become clear. The “Assuage My Sorrows” icon became spiritual support for Mother Maria in her endless fears, anguish and expectations. An icon of the spouses' heavenly patrons, Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, and Saint Mary of Egypt, painted in Shamordino (the monastery stamp is on the back), has also been preserved. Both of these icons are currently in the church in the village of Pyatnitsa.

Imprisonment

Father Peter's path as a confessor began in 1922. On April 6, 1922, Archpriest Peter was arrested on suspicion of resisting the confiscation of church valuables. During the search, the keys to the Ilyinskaya Church were seized and handed over to the Chairman of the Smolensk Commission for the Confiscation of Church Valuables. The charge of agitation against the confiscation of church valuables was not confirmed, and on June 5, 1922, the investigative unit of the Revolutionary Military Tribunal of the Western Front concluded that the case against Father Peter was closed due to the lack of evidence.

In 1924, Father Peter was again arrested, and investigated for ten days: in connection with the congress of the renovationist clergy that was taking place in Smolensk, it was considered necessary to isolate him, as a zealous follower of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, whose open condemnation of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, and his protestations against the Bolshevik attacks on the Church, had made him an enemy of the state.

In 1927, Father Peter was arrested yet again. This time he was accused of group anti-Soviet activity and dissemination of counter-revolutionary literature. The priest was sentenced to 3 years in a concentration camp, which he spent on Solovki. Father Peter later recalled that he was even drowned in the sea on Solovki, but the Lord saved him. From the camp, Father Peter sent Matushka Maria Ivanovna and his brother's wife Maria Nikolaevna his photograph with the following inscription:

On October 24, 1929, Father Peter was released early from the camp and exiled for three years to the city of Kadnikov in the Vologda region, where he worked as a shoemaker. But his freedom did not last long; in 1933 he was arrested and given three years. Father Peter was then arrested in 1941, in 1943, and on June 18, 1949, he was arrested again for anti-Soviet speeches and possession of monarchist literature. During the search, 46 books, two portraits of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, and personal correspondence were confiscated. This time, he was sentenced to 10 years in a correctional labor camp.

On November 28, 1955, he obtained an early release as an elderly invalid, and left for the village of Zakolpye under the guardianship of Matushka Maria, who had previously been asked for written consent to take her elderly disabled husband into her care. After Father Peter's arrest, Matushka Maria had been thrown out of their house, her firewood taken away, but the Lord, through good people, helped her survive.

Release, Later Life, and Repose

In December 1955, Fr. Peter settled in Velikodvorie, Pyatnitsa village. Later, Father Peter began to serve in the church in Pyatnitsa village. Having learned about this, old friends and new people began to come to him, attracted by the love and compassion of the elder, convinced of the healing power of his prayers. The authorities were irritated by his sermons, delivered without regard for Soviet censorship. "Informers" and secret KGB agents were constantly sent to him.

A day in Father Peter's life in the village of Pyatnitsa was structured like this: at three o'clock in the morning, the priest got up for home prayer. At half past four in the morning he was in the church - he heard confession, received people. Then he served the Divine Liturgy, a water-blessing service with an akathist, and a full panikhida. He prayed fervently, with tears. Around 12 o'clock in the afternoon, exhausted to the limit, he went home. An hour later, Father Peter was called to the church again - to serve custom-made water-blessing services. Parishioners often brought the dead here for funeral services. If the next day was a holiday, then from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., or even longer, there was an all-night vigil. In the evening, the priest again talked with people or answered numerous letters. He rested very little.

Father Peter's services were magnificent and solemn. He had special care for the beauty of the church, and involved parishioners in these efforts. The church was repaired, the fence around it was restored, the walls and ceiling were decorated with paintings on canvas. Father served without abbreviations (despite the entreaties of the choir singers who pitied him), and did not allow distortions or haste. The reading was clear, the singing harmonious, they sang in two choirs. When there was an opportunity, Father Peter himself sang in the choir (he was very musical, had a pleasant soft voice, and at home he performed church hymns to the accompaniment of a harmonium). In the last years of his life, Father blessed the choir singers after the Liturgy to sing Psalm 41 with the words: "I say to God: My protector, why have you forgotten me..." During this singing, he wept bitterly. Father Peter served often, always on Saturday and Sunday, and during the week, in addition to holidays, also on the days of saints especially revered by him and his Matushka, of which there were many: for example, the martyr Tryphon, the martyr John the warrior (an akathist was read to him daily). He especially revered the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear".

In 1970, after kneeling prayers on the Day of the Holy Trinity, the priest lost consciousness, fell in the altar, and injured his leg (apparently, there was a hidden fracture). He could not finish the service, and did not serve for three months, until the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, only with great difficulty celebrating the Liturgy on the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. At that time, with the blessing of Archbishop Onisim, the retired archpriest Alexei Simonov served in the church. He later helped Father Peter, since he could not recover from his illness for a long time.

In the summer of 1972, Father Peter fell seriously ill, but, overcoming his illness, he continued to conduct Divine Services. The last time he served was on the feast day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, on July 21. When he closed the Royal Doors after the service, tears rolled down his cheeks.

Before his death, Father Peter suffered greatly, spending much time without food or sleep. This suffering is reminiscent of the death of the venerable elder Leo of Optina. In a semi-conscious state, he prayed, served prayers, requiems, and funeral services. He especially prayed for the Fatherland. Mother Maria was paralyzed, and schema-nun Elikonida looked after Father Peter.

Father Peter died on September 12, 1972, on the day of the memory of the holy blessed prince Alexander Nevsky, at 8:45 am. He died peacefully, with a prayer on his lips. At the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, held on August 13-16, 2000, Father Peter was glorified in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. On October 22, 2000, his holy relics were uncovered and placed in the Pyatnitsky Church. 

Hymns

Troparion, Tone 3

Adornment of the Russian land, / you lived piously in the righteous faith, / teaching and comforting the faithful in times of persecution, / enduring bonds, persecution and sorrows, / we pray to you, Righteous Father Peter, / save us, by your prayers // from all troubles and sorrows.

Kontakion, Tone 4