Lives of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the Twentieth Century

The psalmist, summoned for interrogation, said: "The bread found in the church partially belonged to me. I was forced to hide the bread because I saw that under the Soviet regime there was a selection of bread, and although I did not have any task, I still hid my bread. For me, in general, under the Soviet regime, it is a new thing to make the selection of grain from the peasants, in former times under the tsar this was not the case, and, in any case, no one would have hidden the grain. And now, of course, there is nothing surprising that the peasants are beginning to hide bread." In addition, he said that he had proved to the peasants that collective farms were corvee and ruin and did not give them anything.

Similar testimony was given by the peasants, with the exception of Ivan Popov, who said: "I do not plead guilty to the charge brought against me, but I do not deny that I did meet with the kulaks Beregovsky and Razenkov, but this connection was purely comradely. I do not deny that my father's farm was kulak. Of the bread found in the church, nothing belonged to me."

On February 19, 1933, the troika of the OGPU sentenced the priest Alexei Zinoviev to five years in a corrective labor camp, and he was sent to hard labor on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Psalmist Fyodor Kananykhin and peasants Andrei Beregovsky and Vasily Razenkov were sentenced to three years in prison, who were sent to the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Only Ivan Popov was sentenced to one year of forced labor and released from custody. Hard work so upset the health of Priest Alexis Zinoviev that he was recognized as disabled and after six months in a concentration camp he was released. He returned to the village of Storozha and began to serve in the church.

In 1935, the authorities seized the temple and began to use it as a granary; from that time on, Father Alexis began to serve molebens in the homes of pious parishioners. This continued until a new wave of persecution in 1937.

On August 16, representatives of the NKVD interrogated one of the false witnesses, a peasant from the village of Storozha. He testified that the priest was allegedly one of the most active organizers of the counter-revolutionary uprising in the village of Storozha and allegedly said that it was not necessary to join a collective farm, that collective farm construction was contrary to God, that godlessness would flourish in collective farm construction, that God would be forgotten; In an individual household, they are their own masters, and there they will be slaves. "As a result of his activities and the agitation of the kulaks, the collective farms were poorly organized. Having a close connection with the kulaks in the village of Storozha, upon his return to the village after serving his sentence, Zinoviev restored contact with the kulaks who had been participants in the counter-revolutionary uprising, and continues it to this day. In their homes, he often serves molebens and all-night vigils. In the autumn of 1935, after the citizens' decree to pour grain into the church, Zinoviev told the faithful: "It is a sin to pour grain into the church, there should be granaries for grain. The Church is the house of God, where the word of God is preached. We need to vacate the church and serve in it. The Lord will punish you for blasphemy." In June 1936, Zinoviev said: "The Lord God is punishing you for blasphemy. We need to arrange prayers now so that the Lord would give rain." As a result, members of the church council came to the village council to ask for permission to hold a prayer service for rain in the field. In June, there was a service in one of the houses in the village, and after that there was anti-Soviet talk about elections to the village soviets, and priest Zinoviev said: "We need to elect God-fearing, good people to the councils."

On August 24, 1937, Father Alexis was arrested and imprisoned in the Taganka prison in Moscow. During the interrogation, the investigator said to the priest:

—The investigation has materials that in 1935 you systematically conducted church services in the homes of believers.

Father Alexy confirmed that he did indeed conduct such services and that the faithful of the village of Storozha gathered at them.

- Did you have counter-revolutionary conversations after the services? The investigator asked.

"I conducted church services, but I never had any anti-Soviet conversations.

The investigator accused the priest of arranging services in the homes of believers, talking about the creation of collective farms and showing dissatisfaction with the phenomena of the surrounding life.

The priest replied that he served in private homes and, staying after the service, conducted various conversations and, in particular, said: "Life is hard now, and especially for me."

On September 15, the troika of the NKVD sentenced Father Alexis to be shot. Priest Alexei Zinoviev was shot the next day, September 16, 1937, and buried in an unknown mass grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.

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