New Martyr 20th century

New Hieromartyr Gregory of Tver

died 1937

Also known as Gregory Raevskii

A priest of Tver who suffered in the modern persecution of the Russian Church.

Feast Day

September 16

Draft

Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

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Life

New Hieromartyr Gregory (Raevskii) of Tver was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church who was executed in 1937, during the height of the Soviet state's persecution of the Church under Stalin's Great Terror. He is venerated among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia and is commemorated on September 16.

Little biographical detail survives in English-accessible sources. The confirmed record gives his surname as Raevskii, his clerical rank as priest (not bishop or archimandrite), his association with the Tver region of Russia, and his year of death as 1937. No birth date, birthplace, specific parish, or trial record has been published in the sources consulted; he belongs to the large, still largely undocumented tail of New Martyrs whose detailed accounts have not yet been digitized in English.

Contributions & Legacy

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Historical Context

His death in 1937 placed him within the most intense phase of the Soviet campaign against the Orthodox Church, when mass arrests and executions of clergy were carried out by the NKVD. Like many priests of that period, he was killed for his fidelity to the faith rather than for any documented individual act.

The Orthodox Church of America's calendar entry for him records only 'No information available at this time,' while listing a Troparion and Kontakion for his commemoration. His inclusion in the calendar confirms his formal glorification within the Russian Orthodox Church as a New Hieromartyr.

Veneration

Gregory is commemorated individually on September 16, alongside other saints of that day. As a New Hieromartyr he is also numbered among the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, the collective commemoration of clergy and faithful who suffered in the twentieth-century persecution of the Russian Church.

The troparion appointed for his feast is a general hieromartyr troparion of the Russian tradition, honoring him as a priest who taught the word of truth and defended the faith to the shedding of his blood.

Notes

Among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia; OCA gives limited details.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints