New Martyr 20th century

New Hieromartyrs Andrew & Theophan (1920)

died 1920

Also known as Andrew Dalnikov, Theophan Sokolov

Two priests martyred in the Soviet persecution (1920)

Feast Day

September 3

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Commemorated as

The Holy New Hieromartyrs Andrew Dalnikov and Theophan Sokolov, Priests

Life

Andrew (Andrei) Dalnikov and Theophan (Feofan) Sokolov were two Orthodox priests of the Semirechye region of Russian Central Asia who were put to death during the Soviet persecution of the Church in 1920. They are commemorated together on September 3, and both are numbered among the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church glorified them at the Jubilee Bishops' Council held in 2000.

Both men served in the diocese centered on the city of Verny (present-day Almaty, Kazakhstan), an area that saw heavy repression of clergy in the years immediately following the Russian Revolution. Beyond the bare record of their ministry, arrest, and death, little biographical detail survives, and the place of burial of at least one of them is unrecorded.

Their joint commemoration reflects the broader pattern by which the Russian Church remembers the clergy and faithful who perished under the early Soviet regime: many are known chiefly by name, parish, and the year and circumstances of their death, and are venerated collectively within the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Timeline 4 moments Read Hide

1875 Birth of Theophan Sokolov Theophan Petrovich Sokolov is born; he later serves as a parish-school inspector and rector of the Pokrov Church in Verny.
September 1920 Arrest of Andrew Dalnikov Father Andrew is arrested in the Semirechye region and charged with counter-revolutionary activity and related offenses.
1920 Martyrdom of both priests Andrew Dalnikov dies in the Pishpek (Bishkek) concentration camp; Theophan Sokolov is executed by firing squad at Verny in the autumn of the same year.
August 2000 Glorification Both are numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributions Read Hide

Andrew Dalnikov

Andrei Iosifovich Dalnikov served as a priest in the Semirechye region, ministering in the town of Turgen and the Cossack settlement (stanitsa) of Nadezhdinskaya in the Vernensky district, the latter now the city of Issyk. In September 1920 he was arrested and charged with counter-revolutionary activity, with failing to meet grain requisitions, and with concealing the confession records of Cossacks from the regional Cheka.

He was sentenced to confinement in a concentration camp and was held in the camp at Pishpek (modern Bishkek), where he died in 1920. According to the surviving account, his place of burial is unknown.

Theophan Sokolov

Theophan (Feofan) Petrovich Sokolov was born in 1875. He worked as an inspector of church parish schools in the Semirechye region, served as a member of the spiritual consistory, and was rector of the Pokrov (Intercession) Church in Verny, the regional center now called Almaty.

In the autumn of 1920, in Verny, he was executed by firing squad. He was glorified among the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church in August 2000.

Commemorated with Read Hide

Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Synaxis

Notes

Among the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Sources: Synaxarion