the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

89
1954 (or 1956) Fr. Lucian was released because of illness, and he returned to
Kazan. His flock became very large. He had spiritual children in Kazan,
Yoshkar-Ola, Borovoj, Matyushino, Paratsk, Volzhsk, in the villages of Komi
republic, in Kosmodemyansk and other places. People even travelled to see
him from the Ukraine. He was a humble, loving man, and many people
sought his advice. If they followed what he told them, everything turned out
well for them. During the fasts Fr. Lucian visited flock, but he had to act in
secret, because opposite there lived a family who had been told by the
authorities to spy on the priest. They recorded all those who came and went,
and read Fr. Lucian’s mail before putting it into his box. In spite of that,
many people came to the house, where Fr. Lucian served at night, covering
the windows with blankets to stop the light showing in the street. Once a
neighbour, Eugenia Mikhailovna, saw a very bright light coming out of the
chimney during the night. She thought the house was on fire. The light came
from the stove in which Fr. Lucian baked his prosphoras… Once a spiritual
child of batyushka’s called Ivan, who worked as a lorry driver in Kazan, was
warned by him not to work on Sunday. He ignored this advice, and very
nearly had a serious accident… Fr. Lucian loved children. He would buy
sweets for them and stroke them on the head. Now these children have
grown up, and remember him to this day… Fr. Lucian died of anaemia in
Kazan on November 19, 1963. He was buried in Ars cemetery next to his
father and brother. After his death the police often visited his family. But
they did not find his church books and utensils, which were handed over to
another catacomb priest…
Nun Eudocia (Efremovna Starikova) was born in 1887 in the village of
Golovino, Orshansk uyezd, and was educated at home. Until 1921 she was in
a monastery, and was tonsured. After the closure of the monastery she lived
in the village of Tabashino and did day work. In October, 1929 she was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy
and believers, the followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on January
13, 1930 she was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Arkhangelsk.
Nothing more is known about her.
Nun Anna (Demyanovna Kopylova) was born in the village of Lom, Mari-
Turetsky uyezd, Nizhegorod province. In 1898 she joined the Kuzhnersky
monastery and was tonsured. In 1924, after the closure of the monastery, she
sent to live in the village of Mari-Sola, working as a watchman and
prosphora-baker in the local church. On December 12, 1929 she was arrested
for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy and
believers attached to the ‘Victorites’”, and on January 13, 1930 she was
sentenced to three years in the camps with confiscation of property and sent
to a camp. On June 25, 1932 she was released early and returned to Senchur
region. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested again, and on August 19 was
sentenced to death and shot.
89