New Martyr20th century

New Hieromartyr Elias (Gromoglasov) of Tver

1869–1937

Also known as Elias Gromoglasov

A priest, theologian, and canon-law scholar who suffered during the Soviet persecution and was martyred for fidelity to the Church.

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Commemorated as

The Holy New Hieromartyr Elias (Gromoglasov), Priest, of Tver

Life

Ilya Mikhailovich Gromoglasov (1869–1937) was a Russian theologian and scholar of ecclesiastical law who became a priest in his fifties and died during the Soviet persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church. Before his ordination he had spent decades teaching at the Moscow Theological Academy and writing on canon law and the history of the Old Believer schism.

Ordained deacon and priest in 1922, he was arrested repeatedly through the 1920s and 1930s, exiled to Siberia, and finally barred from Moscow, after which he settled in Tver. He was arrested a last time in 1937 and executed during the Stalinist terror. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized him as a New Hieromartyr, first locally in the Tver diocese in 1999 and then for general veneration in 2000. He is commemorated on November 22.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide

TroparionTone 4

By sharing in the ways of the Apostles,
you became a successor to their throne.
Through the practice of virtue, you found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God;
by teaching the word of truth without error, you defended the Faith,
even to the shedding of your blood.
Hieromartyr Elias, entreat Christ God to save our souls.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline8 momentsReadHide

1869BirthBorn July 20 (Julian calendar) in the village of Ermish' in the Temnikov District of Tambov Province, the son of a rural deacon.
1883–1893Seminary and academyStudied at the Shatsk Theological Seminary (1883) and the Tambov Theological Seminary (1889), then took a Candidate of Theology degree at the Moscow Theological Academy in 1893.
1894–1917Academic careerTaught at the Penza Theological Seminary and the Moscow Theological Academy, becoming an extraordinary professor of the history of the ecclesiastical schism (1909–1911), and lectured on church law at the law faculty of Moscow University from 1916.
1917–1918Local Council of the Russian ChurchTook part in all three sessions of the All-Russian Local Council, served on several of its departments, and was elected to the Higher Church Council.
1922OrdinationOrdained deacon on February 18 and priest on February 20, 1922, at the Church of the Holy Martyr Antipas in Moscow.
1922–1925Arrests and exileArrested in 1922 in connection with the seizure of church valuables, then again in 1924 and 1925; the last sentence sent him into three years of exile in Surgut, in the Tobolsk District of Siberia.
1937Final arrest and martyrdomSettled in Tver after being barred from Moscow, he was arrested a final time in late 1937, sentenced to death by an NKVD troika, and executed in Kalinin (Tver).
1999–2000GlorificationCanonized as a locally venerated saint of the Tver diocese in 1999 and glorified among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for general veneration in 2000.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributionsReadHide

Scholar of Church Law

Gromoglasov was born in 1869 in the village of Ermish' in Tambov Province, the son of a deacon serving a rural church. He passed through the Shatsk and Tambov theological seminaries and in 1893 completed a Candidate of Theology degree at the Moscow Theological Academy, where his thesis on the marriage of converts from the schism was singled out for an award.

His scholarly work centered on ecclesiastical law and the history of the Old Believer schism. He held a professorial stipend at the Moscow Academy's chair of canon law, lectured on Old Believer history at the Penza Theological Seminary, and served as a docent and later extraordinary professor at the Moscow Academy. In 1908 he defended a master's dissertation on the definitions of marriage in the Kormchaya, the Slavonic book of church law, and was awarded the Metropolitan Macarius Prize. From 1916 he also taught church law in the law faculty of Moscow University.

He took part in all three sessions of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of 1917–1918, the council that restored the Moscow patriarchate, where he sat on several departments, was elected to the Higher Church Council, and argued for lay participation and conciliar governance.

Priesthood and Persecution

Gromoglasov was ordained deacon and then priest in February 1922 at the Church of the Holy Martyr Antipas in Moscow, taking up pastoral ministry as the Soviet campaign against the Church intensified. According to the synaxarion, he was arrested in Moscow for opposing the regime's confiscation of Church property and was soon released.

Further arrests followed through the 1920s. In 1925 he was sentenced to three years of exile in Surgut, Siberia, and after his release he was forbidden to live in Moscow and relocated to Tver, where he served at the church of the Theotokos of the 'Unburnt Bush.'

He was arrested for the last time in late 1937, accused of belonging to a supposed counterrevolutionary organization. An NKVD troika sentenced him to death, and he was executed in Kalinin (Tver). The synaxarion records that he was arrested together with his fellow clergyman Saint Alexis Benemanskii, with whom he is numbered among the martyrs of Tver.

Glorification

Gromoglasov was canonized as a locally venerated saint of the Tver diocese in 1999. In August 2000 the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified him among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for general veneration. He is commemorated on November 22.

Works & Further ReadingReadHide