On September 17 (September 4 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate St Elena Chernova, New Martyr of the Communist Yoke, who reposed in the Lord in 1943.
Martyr Elena Chernova was born in 1874. We know very little about her life. She was born into a peasant family, in the village of Aleksandrovka in Kaluga province. Eventually she was married.
She was arrested on September 28, 1937 and sent to Butyrka prison.
The charge was "member of an illegal counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of churchmen, working to connect the leaders of the organization with the outside world."
From the interrogation protocol (a month after the arrest):
Who do you know from among the clergy, monks, churchmen, and what kind of relationship do you have with them?
- I am a believer and, as such, I used to attend the church at the Semenovskoye Cemetery, where Fr. Mikhail served. I don't know where he is now. After that church was closed, I began attending the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Cherkizovo. Deacon Nikolai, Father Simeon, Father Pavel, and Father Fyodor also served there. I visited the Yelokhovskaya Church, where priests Nikolai, Dmitry, and Vasily served. I knew them as those who served in the church. I never talked to them about any social topics.
Who do you know from the so-called blessed ones and what is your relationship with them?
- I knew a blind woman, about ninety-four years old, who lived on 4th Donskoy Proezd, her name was Serafima. I got to know her about five years ago. I was referred to her by another paralyzed woman, Marya, who lived on Irininskaya Street and died at the same time, about five years ago. I visited her two or three times a year before the holidays, cleaned the apartment and washed the floors. The last time I visited her was about a year ago. This same Serafima advised me to visit the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, located behind the Donskoy Monastery, where Fr. Alexander Khotovitsky served. I really liked his service, so I visited this church on holidays. Where Father Alexander is now, I don't know.
According to the investigation, you are engaged in anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary agitation among believers. Do you admit your guilt in this?
- I did not engage in any anti-Soviet or counter-revolutionary agitation among believers and I do not admit my guilt in this.
All these accusations were not enough, but the arrested woman refused to say anything else or to incriminate herself. There were no witnesses against her. Only on November 16, 1937, a certain witness was interrogated - priest Pavel Tsvetkov. He described Elena Ivanovna as follows: "Chernova is a person hostile to the Soviet power, which she repeatedly said in conversations with believers. Thus, she said: 'The Soviet power has organized a persecution of religion: the clergy is innocently condemned and exiled, churches are closed.' Chernova was a great admirer of various blessed ones... She also visited Archpriest Khotovitsky, now exiled for counter-revolutionary activity, and Blessed Seraphima. Visiting counter-revolutionary elements, Chernova after their visit spread various counter-revolutionary rumors about war, famine and the imminent death of the Soviet power."
On November 29, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced Elena Ivanovna to 8 years in a labor camp. During the investigation, she was held in Butyrka prison in Kemerovo Oblast, Siblag, a labor camp distribution point.
On December 27, 1937, she arrived with a group to the NKVD Siblag distribution point.
On May 1, 1942, she was sent to the Mariinsky camps (Kemerovo region, Mariinsky district, Siblag, Baimsky department).
She died of starvation on September 17, 1943 in the Baimsky branch of Siblag and was buried in the cemetery of the Baimsky branch in grave No. 18.
