“Churches Are Closed under All Pretexts, but Soviet Power Declares Freedom of Religion in the Constitution”. The Life and Martyrdom of the Archpriest Stefan Chernyaev (1886–1937)

Currently, there is a process of canonization of Archpriest Stefan Chernyaev in the rank of the holy martyr. He was a graduate of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1910. This article, based on both published and unpublished (archived) sources, reveals the life path of this clergyman. Father Stefan graduated from the Pskov Theological College and Seminary. In 1909 he graduated from the Imperial Petrograd Archaeological Institute, and in 1910 — from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. After being ordained to the priesthood, he served in four churches of the Petersburg diocese: the Assumption Spaso- Sennovskoy church (1910–1914), the Spaso-Bocharin church (1914–1917), the church of Peter and Paul (1917–1935), and the Spaso-Pargolovsky church (1935–1937). He participated in the construction of the church at the St. John the Theological Cemetery. In 1930, he was arrested for the first time in a group case for “accumulating a bargaining chip”, he was sentenced and spent 6 months in prison. On October 9, 1937 he was arrested again as an “anti- Soviet element” on charges of “counter-revolutionary actions”. After three interrogations, he was found guilty and was shot on November 12, 1937. He rests in peace at the Levashovsky Memorial Cemetery (the former secret burial ground of the NKVD).