Venerable Martyr Cyprian (Nelidov)

Venerable Martyr Cyprian (Konstantin Alekseevich Nelidov) was born on 14 July 1901 in Kazan into a doctor's noble family. After serving in the army as a private (1920–1924) he became a subdeacon to Bishop Barnabas (Belyaev). In 1925 Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) tonsured him with the name Cyprian and ordained him hieromonk. From 1928 he served in Kzyl-Orda in Kazakhstan, and in 1932 was called to Moscow to work in the chancery of the Holy Synod and appointed rector of the church of St John the Theologian in Bogoslovsky Lane.

On 15 March 1933 he was arrested with Bishop Barnabas, accused of running an 'illegal monastery' in the flat where they lived and of influencing young people, and sentenced to three years in a labour camp. He worked on the construction of the Biysk highway in the Altai; slandered for his honesty, he was sent to a penal section among criminals, who were moved by his meekness. He died in the camp hospital on 16 June 1934 and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Korkuchi gorge. In 2002 the Holy Synod added his name to the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.