On October 22 (October 9 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate Saint Peter Vyatkin, hieromartyr under the Communist yoke, who reposed in the Lord in 1918.
On January 16, 1882, a boy was born into the Old Believers peasant family of Dmitry Ermolaevich and Paraskeva Vyatkin in the village of Karabai (Ilyinsky district of Perm province). By that time, the family already had an adult - 17-year-old - son.
The baby was baptized in the village of Krivets with the name Pyotr (Peter). At the age of twelve, Pyotr Vyatkin completed a course at the district zemstvo school. In the village of Krivets, he met his faithful life partner Elena. "Elena was the literate one in the family," relatives recall, "and Pyotr himself was learning to read and write, he was a smart guy. Love paved the way for them to meet each other."
Peter began serving in the church in 1904, serving as a psalm-reader in the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky Church in the village of Sitnikovo, Okhansky District. Three years later, he was ordained a deacon, and a year later, on May 14, 1908, he became a priest of the Old Believers Church. In January 1912, the 30-year-old pastor was sent to the All-Russian Old Believers Congress in Petrograd. In 1914, Bishop Andronik became the head of the Perm Diocese. The bishop paid special attention to Old Believers communities and often served in their churches. By his decree, the archpastor transferred Father Peter to the rector's position. By this time, Peter and Elena already had three children: Raisa (1906-1980), Maria (1911-1977), and Mikhail (1914-1943).
In 1915, the priest served as the dean of the Perm Old Believers District, and in 1917 he was appointed as a full-time dean.
In the autumn of 1918, the family lived in the village of Sretenskoye. Here, the Reds captured the priest Peter and shot him right before his wife's eyes. The children were kept in a room from which they tried to climb out the window. The priest was "buried near the house under the windows of his office." The Old Believers' Church in the village of Voskresenskoye was burned down, and the Orthodox church was destroyed.
In August 2000, the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to include priest Peter Vyatkin in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. October 9/22 is the day of remembrance of this holy martyr, who was killed in 1918.