Venerable Martyr
Venerable Martyr Sergius (Shein)
1870 — 1922
Also known as: Василий Павлович Шеин, архимандрит Сергий (Шеин), Сщмч. Сергий (Шеин)
A member of the Fourth State Duma and secretary at the 1917–1918 Local Council who became a monk and rector of the Trinity Metochion in Petrograd; shot in 1922 together with Metropolitan Benjamin.
Venerable Martyr Sergius (Vasily Pavlovich Shein) was born on 30 December 1870 into a noble family in Tula province. A gold medallist of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence (1893), he served for some twenty years in the Senate and the State Council, and in 1912 was elected to the Fourth State Duma, where he worked mainly on church affairs.
In 1917–1918 he was a secretary of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. On 30 August 1920 he was tonsured with the name Sergius, soon ordained and raised to archimandrite, and in April 1921 became rector of the Patriarchal Trinity Metochion on the Fontanka in Petrograd.
In 1922 he was tried with Metropolitan Benjamin (Kazansky) for "resisting the seizure of church valuables". In his final word he told the tribunal that death held no fear for him: "Do your work. I pity you and pray for you." Sentenced on 5 July, he was shot with Metropolitan Benjamin, Yury Novitsky and Ivan Kovsharov on the night of 13 August 1922. He was glorified in 1992; feast 31 July / 13 August.