Cathedral of Ekaterinburg Saints: October 10 - memory of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Krutitsa Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Thronetranslated

Hieromartyr Peter, Metropolitan of Krutitsky (in the world Peter Fedorovich Polyansky) was born in 1862 into the pious family of a priest in the village of Storozhevoye, Voronezh diocese. In 1885, he graduated from the Voronezh Theological Seminary in 1st category, and in 1892 from the Moscow Theological Academy and was left with it as an assistant inspector.

Then he held a number of responsible positions, including on the staff of the Synodal Educational Committee. During the beginning of the persecution of the Holy Church, in 1920 His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon invited him to take monastic vows, the priesthood and become his assistant in matters of church administration. Telling his brother about this offer, he said: “I cannot refuse. If I refuse, I will be a traitor to the Church, but when I agree, I know I will be signing my own death warrant.”

Immediately after his episcopal consecration in 1920 as Bishop of Podolsk, Vladyka Peter was exiled to Veliky Ustyug, but after the release from the arrest of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, he returned to Moscow, becoming the closest assistant of the Russian Primate. Soon he was elevated to the rank of archbishop (1923), then became Metropolitan of Krutitsky (1924) and was included in the Provisional Patriarchal Synod.

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