Aristarch
- Early Life and Monastic Vocation
- Service and Ministry
- Persecution and Imprisonment
- Second Arrest and Execution
- Canonization
Early Life and Monastic Vocation
Alexander was born into a peasant family and completed a church parish school. In 1908, he joined the Holy Nikolsky Pechnoshsky Monastery as a novice.
Service and Ministry
After Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) was appointed to the Dмитров See in 1919, Alexander became his cell attendant and subdeacon. In 1920, he was tonsured a monk and given the name Aristarkh. In 1926, he was ordained to the priesthood as a hieromonk.
Persecution and Imprisonment
In 1931, Father Aristarkh was sent to serve in the village of Cherneevo. He was arrested on September 24, 1931, during a mass campaign against former monastery dwellers. Charged with commemorating Russian tsars in church services and conducting anti-Soviet agitation, he refused to sign the interrogation protocols. He was sentenced to three years in a labor camp.
Second Arrest and Execution
In 1937, Father Aristarkh was arrested a second time for alleged anti-Soviet activities. He was sentenced to death by a "troika" of the NKVD on November 25 and executed on November 27, 1937. His burial site remains unknown.
Canonization
Father Aristarkh was canonized as a holy martyr by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. His memory is commemorated on December 27 and in the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
