In 1934, Father Vasily wrote to his niece in Almaty: "They sent us a tax of 360 rubles, and 55 rubles to be paid by March 15. Only half of it was paid. Thank you, they help, otherwise it would be bad. Someday I will pay the second one. Now it's fasting, people are coming, and we need to satisfy it. Today the singers sang. And there were sixty people who were fasting. It is very difficult, and I get tired, but I also feel good: after all, people are satisfied. They love and help me, and I give them all my strength."

His labors and experiences slowly undermined the priest's health. In 1935, Father Vasily went to Moscow on church business with two parishioners, altar servers Vasily and Nikolai, who helped him a lot in the work on the church. All of them stayed with his daughter Maria, who lived at that time in Moscow near the Danilov cemetery. Here Father Vasily developed hemoptysis, and it became clear that his health condition could soon become critical. He went to the hospital and was told that he had a tuberculosis process in his lungs and needed to be treated immediately. The doctors explained what to do, and the priest went home. There was little hope that the caverns would heal and he would be cured.

Father Vasily was saved by the love of the parishioners. As soon as they found out that the priest was seriously ill, he was overwhelmed with food, and there was even a queue in the village to bring what food, the parishioners supplied him with everything he needed, if only Father Vasily recovered. Whether thanks to these products, which supported the physical strength of the priest, or thanks to the love that the parishioners showed for their priest, he was completely healed of tuberculosis.

The year 1937 came. News began to come from everywhere about the arrests of priests and laity. The threat of arrest also loomed over Archpriest Vasily. The authorities repeatedly suggested that the priest leave the church and, knowing that he had a beautiful and strong voice, offered him a job as an actor in the theater, but Father Vasily rejected these offers as ridiculous. He began to prepare for arrest and burned the most precious thing for him - the diary of his late wife.

In the middle of the night of August 22-23, 1937, there was a knock on the door of the half of the gatehouse where the priest's family lived. Father Vasily opened it. NKVD officers entered the house and told the priest to pack up and follow them. The children woke up. Father Vasily began to get ready. They did not arrange a search.

Leaving the house with the priest, one of the NKVD officers closed the front door with a stick so that the children could not go out after their father. The car was far from the house, and you had to go to it. Before leaving, Father Vasily asked permission to go to his wife's grave and pray. He was allowed. He prayed and went to the car.

Euphemia watched everything that happened from her half; As soon as she saw that everyone was gone, she immediately went to the other half of the children and began to calm them down and console them. However, they were too young to understand that their loving father had left them forever. From that time on, Euphemia took upon herself the care and care of the children.

Archpriest Vasily was imprisoned in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, and here he was interrogated for the first time. False witnesses, out of office and fear, gave the testimony necessary for the investigation, and the investigator asked questions to the priest in accordance with their testimony.

"The investigation knows," he declared, "that at the end of 1936 you conducted counter-revolutionary agitation against the Stakhanov movement among the believers of the village of Kabanovo. Do you confirm this?

"There could have been talk about the Stakhanov movement, but I did not give it a negative light," Archpriest Vasily answered.

—At the end of 1936, you had a conversation among believers in which you explained that the old owners of the factories, that is, the capitalists, cared more about the workers than the Soviet government now cares about the workers. Do you admit this?

"Yes, there could have been such a conversation, but I don't remember its content," the priest answered.

"The investigation knows that in your sermons you agitated against joining the collective farms. Do you confirm this?

No, in my sermons I have never touched on political issues.