Kazan, Nikolai Fedorovich

The holy martyr father Nikolay was born in the Tauride province , Berdyansk district , in the village of Dmitrovka , in the family of a clergyman. Kazan Nicholas entered the Taurida Theological Seminary , after her graduation he married and took priestly office ^[1] .

Ministry

The ordination of Kazantsev to Nicholas was performed by Bishop Nikolai (Ziorov) . Before the revolution, the priest’s places of service are unknown. After the advent of Soviet power, Father Nikolai served with interruptions between arrests in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Simferopol. until its destruction. After the second arrest, he served in the only open temple in Simferopol - the All Saints Church , but his ministry here was interrupted by arrests. He returned to serve in the church after the third arrest. In 1932 he became assistant to Bishop Porfiry (Gulevich) . He served in the All-Holy Church until his next arrest in 1936. The church warden of the church, an employee of the NKVD, who got a job in 1933 and monitored the actions of the priest, informed the father of Nicholas. I remembered the parishioners calm, good-natured and welcoming. He was a deeply religious person and in every possible way defended the interests of Orthodoxy ^[1] .

During the service, he was not afraid to voice the truth about the persecution of the Church aloud. He condemned renovationism . After the exile, he told the parishioners about the hardships and problems faced by ministers and other people under Soviet rule.

Arrests

The first time Father Nikolai was arrested along with Archbishop Nicodemus (Krotkov) . He was accused of “resistance to the seizure of church values; looting and hiding them; careless storage; simulation of theft of values; conducting passive defense against seizure. " December 1, 1922 he was sentenced, according to which he went to Nizhny Novgorod prison for three years. He served time with Nicodemus (Korotkov). He returned from prison in 1925. Despite his first arrest, he continued to denounce Soviet power and renovationism in the Church. For which he was again convicted two years later in 1927. The third time, Father Nikolai was arrested in 1933, and three months later released. He continued to preach and ask for prayers for all the bishops and ministers of the Church in prisons. The head of the All Saints Church repeatedly reported on him, for which Father Nikolai was regularly interrogated. In October 1936 he was arrested for the fourth time along with Bishop Porfiry (Gulevich) . A series of interrogations and humiliations began. During interrogations, he constantly behaved with dignity, openly declared that he did not support the Soviet regime and recognized it as “anti-Christian” and “godless”. He condemned renovationism and supported Patriarch Tikhon. He pleaded not guilty. On January 3, 1937, Father Nikolai was found guilty of organizing clandestine monastic organizations and was sentenced to 5 years of exile. Father Nicholas was sent to the Krasnoyarsk Territory , to the village of Novoselovo. However, there he continues to maintain a firm position, for which he was again arrested and sentenced to 10 years in November 1937. The priest's health deteriorated and he was placed in a colony for the disabled ^[1] .

Death

Father Nikolai died, at the age of 68, on October 20, 1942 in the Komi Republic , where Ustvymlag was located ^[1] .

Rehabilitation and Canonization

In 1989, the prosecutor's office of the Krasnoyarsk Territory rehabilitated Archpriest Kazantsev Nikolai ^[1] . The Holy Synod of UOC in 1998 canonized Father Nicholas as a locally revered saint of the Crimean Diocese , in which he served most of his life free from arrest and exile. Two years later, the ROC Council of Bishops, as part of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, canonized Father Nikolai as a new martyr ^[2] .

• Church of All Saints (Simferopol)
• Nicodemus (Krotkov)