On September 19 (September 6 on the Julian Calendar) we commemorate St. Dimitri Spassky, New Martyr of the Communist Yoke and the first hieromartyr of the Russian Komi Republic, who reposed in the Lord in 1918.
Background
Hieromartyr Dmitri Spassky was born in 1877 in the Vologda province, in the Ust-Sysolsk district, in the village of Koygorodok, to the family of priest Vassian Dmitrievich Spassky. After graduating from the Theological Seminary, Dmitry Vassianovich began working as a religious teacher in a zemstvo school, a singing teacher in a church parish school, and served as a psalm-reader (psalomshik) in the Trinity Cathedral of the city of Ust-Sysolsk.
Having married the priest's daughter Anna Ivanovna Pokrovskaya, Dmitri Vassianovich was ordained a priest, and four children were born into their family. Father Dmitri began serving in the Spasskaya Church (Church of the Savior) in the village of Ust-Nem. His parishioners were Komi by nationality, who did not understand the Church Slavonic language of the service well. Father Dmitri therefore gave daily sermons in the Zyryan (Komi) language, the language of the people, and he was very much loved for this. He also continued to work as a teacher in several schools and was a district deputy for investigative and economic affairs.
Arrest
In 1918, a punitive detachment of Red Army soldiers was sent from Ust-Sysolsk to Troitse-Pechorsk by order of the Cheka (the Soviet Secret Police). It sailed up the Vychegda River on a steamship called "Dobrozhelatel". The detachment stopped in Ust-Nem on September 15. A pogrom began, and drunken Red Army soldiers broke into houses and robbed them, and gunfire was heard throughout. Father Dmitri, as usual, went to church to conduct the evening service. After the service, he gave a sermon to the Zyryans, who always filled his church to listen to the priest's instructions. That day, Father Dmitri said that these outrages would soon end and God would reward everyone according to their deserts.
During the sermon, the soldiers who did not know the Zyryan language entered the church, approached Father Dmitri and ordered him to announce to the people that Soviet power had come, and if they did not obey it, things would not go well for them. The priest did not answer them. He silently got ready and left the church.
Late in the evening, several soldiers burst into his house. The leader of them loudly ordered: "Get dressed, priest!" and, as they compelled him to leave with them, Matushka Anna rushed to him with the words: "Who are you leaving us with?!"
"God will not abandon you," were his last words to her.
Martyrdom and Glorification
Father Dmitri was taken to the steamship and tied to the stern. The Red detachment moved further down the river. On the way, the priest was tortured and interrogated, and an accusation was fabricated: "he preaches sermons against the Soviet government, calling it a predatory government." The commander of the punitive detachment, Mandelbaum, later sent a report to the city of Kotlas that "the meeting of the Ust-Sysolsk Cheka (conducted on the steamship) decided to sentence priest Spassky to death, which was immediately carried out."
Father Dmitri Spassky was shot on the fourth day after his arrest, the execution taking place in the area of the village of Pomozdino.
Local peasants told the priest's daughter about his last days: "The Red Army soldiers beat him with whips all the time - because he did not renounce the Christian faith, and he called them servants of Satan. The steamship was stopped in the early morning in a deserted place. At the edge of the forest [near Pomozdino] they ordered the priest to dig himself a grave. But, apparently, he was not able to dig deep... When they shot him and covered the hole with sand, the rain that poured down all day washed away the sand, and his hand stuck out of the grave...".
Three days after the execution, Matushka Anna, together with residents of neighboring villages, transported her husband's body to the village of Pomozdino, where Father Dmitri was buried in the local cemetery. The funeral service was performed by the rector of the Pomozdin Nativity of the Mother of God Church, Father Alexei Tyurnin (who was also later shot). They erected a cross on the grave of the new martyr, but they were afraid to write his name on the cross.
Hieromartyr Dmitri Spassky was canonized as a new martyr and confessor of Russia on October 6, 2001 by a decree of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In honor of the holy martyr Dmitry Spassky, a wooden church was built in 2011 in the village of Pomozdino.
Relics Recovered
May 30, 2023: Human remains believed to belong to St. Dmitri Spassky (†1918), the first hieromartyr of the Russian Komi Republic, were recently discovered.
A search expedition to the village of Pomozdino, 1,000 miles northeast of Moscow, was launched on May 19, reports Search Teams of the Komi Republic.
On May 22, the local TV station Yurgan reported that the remains, likely the relics of St. Dmitri, had been found. To put a stop to the veneration of St. Dmitri, the Soviet authorities built an office for the executive committee over the site of his martyrdom, which was later converted into a village school. Now a new school building has been erected and it became possible to conduct excavations in the old one.
St. Dmitri was shot and killed by the Red Army in September 1918. To put a stop to the veneration of his grace, the authorities built an office for the executive committee over the site, which was later converted into a village school. Now a new school building has been erected and it became possible to conduct excavations in the old one.
Since St. Dmitri had been buried in full vestments, experts believed they would be able to identify his remains. Digging under the floor, the team eventually discovered human remains with a metal cross next to them. The remains have been transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a special examination.
Sources
- https://azbyka.ru/
- https://obitel-minsk.ru/
- Relics of Russian New Martyr discovered in Komi Republic (+VIDEO)