On October 7 (September 24 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate Saints Andrei (Andrew) Bystrov, Pavel (Paul) Berezin, Vitaly Kokorev, Vasily (Basil) Vinogradov, Sergei (Sergius) Mikhailov and Spiridon Savelyev, martyrs of the Communist yoke, who reposed in the Lord in 1937.
On July 3, 1937, Stalin ordered the following telegram to be sent to the secretaries of the regional and territorial committees of the Central Committee of the Communist Party:
The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) proposes that all secretaries of regional and territorial organizations and all regional, territorial and republican representatives of the NKVD take into account all kulaks who have returned to their homeland... so that the most hostile of them are immediately arrested and shot in accordance with the administrative conduct of their cases through the Troikas...
The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) proposes that within five days the composition of the Troikas, as well as the number of those subject to execution, as well as the number of those subject to exile, be submitted to the Central Committee.
Already on July 22, the head of the Ploskoshsky district department of the NKVD of the Tver region, Popov, drew up a certificate for the arrest of the priest Andrei Bystrov and the peasant Vasily Vinogradov. According to the certificate, they were accused of having previously been deprived of their voting rights, arrested, knowing each other, visiting each other, and, in addition, Andrei Bystrov was a priest.
At the request of the NKVD, the Zhidulinsky village council, represented by its chairman and secretary, drew up a character reference for the priest. In it, they wrote that before the revolution, the priest had:
...one hundred and fifty hectares of land, and had livestock: eight cows, three horses, ten sheep, and four pigs. He hired labor. After the revolution in 1930, he was taken away by the NKVD and exiled to Arkhangelsk for three years for counterrevolutionary activity, that is, for speaking out against Soviet power and collective farm construction. Upon his return from exile in 1934, Bystrov also carried out counterrevolutionary work, such as: in 1935-36-37, he summoned the kulaks Vinogradov and others to Nikandrov's apartment, where they held secret meetings on the preparation of counterrevolutionary actions on the ground within the collective farms, on the decomposition of collective farm construction, as a result of which, in the Pervomaisky collective farm in 1936, they finally destroyed labor discipline and removed seven poor farms from the collective farm, and also raised the question of preparing for a new war, agitating among the collective farmers that there must be a war in the near future, that Soviet power and all collective farm construction will be destroyed, and the power of capitalism will be restored, and they also carried out subversive work among the collective farmers that all the confiscated property will be returned to them and the collective farmers will be driven out of the kulak houses not through the door, but through the windows.
At that time, such a certificate was quite sufficient for arrest; on July 23, 1937, Vasily Vinogradov was arrested, the next day the NKVD arrested priest Andrei Bystrov, and they were imprisoned in Toropetsk prison.
Hieromartyr Andrei was born in 1873 in the village of Zalesye, Pecherskaya Volost, Pskov District, to the family of priest Pyotr Bystrov. He graduated from the Pskov Teachers' Seminary and worked as a teacher. In 1897, he was ordained a deacon, and two years later a priest and served in the Tver Province in the church in the village of Zuyevo. In 1930, Fr. Andrei was arrested and sentenced to two years in a camp and five years of exile in the Urals. He returned home in 1935.
Immediately after the arrest, the authorized representative of the State Security Department of the Ploskoshsky District Department of the NKVD interrogated the priest.
The investigation knows that you are conducting counter-revolutionary agitation. Do you plead guilty to this?
- I did not conduct counter-revolutionary agitation against the Soviet power, I am doing what I need along my own lines, that is, in relation to religious rites, since the new constitution gives us the right. If someone spoke against the power, he would say that the power must be obeyed, because all power comes from God. I do not admit my guilt in this.
On the same day, the investigator interrogated the peasant Vasily Vinogradov. Martyr Vasily was born in 1891 in the village of Ivantsevo, Ploskoshsky district, Tver province, to the family of the peasant Korniliy Vinogradov. He graduated from a parish school. He lived his entire life in his native village until he was arrested and exiled in 1931. Having lost his home in the village, he lived on the Bor farm several kilometers from the village.
The investigation knows that you are conducting counter-revolutionary agitation; do you plead guilty to this?
- I am not conducting any campaigning and I do not admit my guilt in this.
Do you know the citizen of the village of Pikachi, Spiridon Savelyev, and what is your relationship with him?
- I know Spiridon Savelyev, a citizen of the village of Pikachi, he is currently a private farmer. I have good relations with him, I have no quarrels or personal scores to settle with him. I used to visit him sometimes, but I haven't been there for a long time now. He also sometimes came to see me on business, he visited me last week, that is, a week ago; he came in, asked me for a newspaper with a loan table, which I gave him, and he went off to an unknown destination. And I have no more conversations with him.
Do you know citizen Nikandrov Semyon from the village of Ivantsevo?
- I know Nikandrov Semyon, who lives in the village of Ivantsevo, well, because I was born in the village of Ivantsevo and lived there until the time of dispossession, that is, until 1933. He is currently on a collective farm.
Do you often visit Nikandrov Semyon?
- I haven't been to Semyon Nikandrov for a long time, that is, since 1931.
What conversations did you have with Semyon Nikandrov?
- There were no conversations with him. Whenever you meet, you bow - and nothing more. I can't show you anything else.
On August 3, the head of the Ploskoshsky district department of the UGB submitted to the assistant to the head of the NKVD Directorate, Listengurt, a certificate drawn up on the peasants Semyon Nikandrov, Sergei Mikhailov and Spiridon Savelyev, asking for permission to arrest them.
Semyon Nikandrovich Nikandrov was born in 1870 in the village of Ivantsevo, Ploskoshsky district, Tver province, to a family of farmers. Semyon Nikandrovich's family was large, very hardworking, and according to Semyon's own ideas, they lived well before the revolution. After the revolution, they were left with a hut, two barns, two sheds, a threshing floor, a bathhouse, two cows, one horse, a plough and a cart. And when Semyon Nikandrovich joined the collective farm, the property that remained was a hut, two barns, a heifer and a sheep.
Martyr Sergius was born in 1882 in the village of Yurino, Ploskoshsky district, Tver province, to the family of a peasant, Mikhail Mikhailov. He graduated from a parish school. In 1903, he was drafted into the army and served as a private until 1905. In 1931-1932, he was the warden of the church where Fr. Andrei served. Sergei Mikhailovich had a large family and a farm - a hut, a barn, a shed, a shed, a winnowing machine, two plows, a cart, three cows, three horses, three sheep. In 1932, he joined a collective farm, and had to give up part of the farm, leaving a cow and two sheep. He worked as a foreman on the collective farm. In 1935, he was sentenced to one year in a labor camp for the death of three of his calves when he was a livestock breeder.
Martyr Spyridon was born in 1875 in the village of Pikachi, Ploskoshsky district, Tver province, to the family of a peasant, Savely Savelyev. During the First World War, he was drafted into the army and served in it as a private in 1916-1917. Almost all of Spiridon Savelyevich's property was confiscated by the authorities; he was left only with a hut and a bathhouse. In 1935, the authorities sentenced him to six years in prison for failing to fulfill the sowing plan.
On August 8, such permission was received, and on August 11 and 12, they were arrested and imprisoned in Toropetsk prison. Immediately after the arrest, interrogations began. The investigation was accelerated, and the interrogations of the peasants were short.
The investigator asked Semyon Nikandrov:
Do you plead guilty to the charges brought against you? You are charged under Article 58, paragraph 11 of the Criminal Code.
- I do not admit my guilt. I have never campaigned anywhere, nor have I taken any part. I believe that everything that has been presented to me is written falsely.
The same question was asked to Sergei Mikhailov, to which he responded:
- I do not plead guilty to the charges brought against me, since I did not conduct any agitation anywhere, and I did not attend any secret meetings.
Did you often visit the house of Lozgachev Anisim, who lives in the village of Ivantsevo?
- I haven't visited Anisim Lozgachev's house since 1932, I met him once in early June of this year on Sunday, in the cooperative. I didn't have any conversations with him here, I just said hello.
And how many times did you visit Semyon Nikandrov's apartment and when?
- I was at the apartment of Nikandrov Semyon, who lives in the village of Ivantsevo, twice, where I went for a saddle in June, I don't remember the date, since Nikandrov is a harness maker at the collective farm. I didn't have any conversations with Nikandrov.
The investigator asked Spiridon Savelyev:
What was your financial situation both before and after the revolution?
- Before the revolution, I had one house, two sheds, a barn, a granary, and one horse, two cows, one or two heifers, one pig, six dessiatines of land, and I had the same after. In 1932, I was taxed with a hard tax, for which they took away one cow. In 1935, a horse and a cow, as well as a barn, were taken away for not sowing flax. In 1937, a barn was taken away for non-payment of taxes; now I have only chickens.
Did you often visit the apartment of Semyon Nikandrov, Ivantsevo village, Zhidulinsky village council?
- I have never visited the apartment of Nikandrov Semyon Nikandrovich, who lives in the village of Ivantsevo, Zhidulinsky village council, since he lives four kilometers away from me.
The investigation knows that you conducted counter-revolutionary agitation. Do you plead guilty to this?
- I have never behaved in any way, anywhere, and I do not admit my guilt in this.
After interrogating the peasants, the investigation in mid-September returned to interrogating the priest and the previously arrested Vasily Vinogradov. The interrogations were conducted by the head of the district department, Popov.
Citizen Bystrov, you have maintained up to now that you did not conduct anti-Soviet agitation, but witnesses give contrary testimony, pointing to facts of your counter-revolutionary activity. Do you admit your guilt and will you speak frankly with the investigating authorities?
- I always speak frankly with government bodies and I declare once again that I have never said anything against the Soviet government, especially since, having spent a year and a half in prison and two and a half years in exile, I endured all the suffering, and I did not want to endure it again, and therefore I had no intention of having any kind of conversation, much less a counterrevolutionary one...
Citizen Vinogradov, what kind of farm did you and your father have before and after the revolution, what kind of repressions were you subjected to?
- Our farm was kulak both before and after the revolution, for which we were deprived of voting rights... In 1931, the farm was dispossessed (confiscated), but they did not deport me. I do not know that I was tried, and therefore I did not serve any sentence.
You, citizen Vinogradov, when you went to Nikandrov's house or to Lozgachev's house. Were Lozgachev, Bystrov, Mikhailov present there at the same time?
- From the moment I was moved from the village of Ivantsevo five kilometers away to a farmstead, I never visited anyone and, together with Lozgachev, Bystrov and Mikhailov, I have never been anywhere.
You answered me that after the dispossession you were not sent anywhere, and now you say that you were resettled; how did this happen and why were you resettled?
- About a year and a half later, around the end of 1932 or the beginning of 1933, I was asked to leave the village of Ivantsevo with my whole family and was given a place to live five kilometers from Ivantsevo, where there used to be a mill, which had fallen apart by that time. That's where I settled and have lived to this day. In the winter we were engaged in logging, in the summer my wife and daughter picked berries, that's all I did.
The investigation has information that you met together with priest Bystrov, kulak Lozgachev, Mikhailov and Nikandrov and held anti-Soviet conversations. Do you confirm this?
- I have already said that I never intended to do so anywhere and never had any conversations.
We have information that you were tried and sentenced to two years in 1931 and did not serve your sentence.
- I have never been tried or convicted, and therefore have never served any prison terms.
On September 20, assistant to the detective of the UGB of the Ploskoshsky district department of the NKVD Livanov drew up an indictment on the "case" of the priest and the peasants. Despite the fact that there was no evidence of a crime, the "case" was considered closed and sent for consideration to the NKVD Troika with the preliminary permission of the Ostashkov NKVD operational group.
On October 3, the NKVD Troika sentenced priest Andrei Bystrov and laymen Vasily Vinogradov, Sergei Mikhailov, and Spiridon Savelyev to death. They were executed on October 7, 1937.
They were canonized as New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000 for universal veneration.
Sixty-seven-year-old Semyon Nikandrov was sentenced to ten years in a forced labor camp.