Nikodim (secular name — Nikolai Vasilyevich Krotkov; born 26 November 1868, village of Pogreshino, Seredsky district, Ivanovo Industrial Oblast — died 1938) — Russian Orthodox Church, candidate of theology, repeatedly subjected to arrest and exile during the Soviet period. His connection to Nizhny Novgorod is a place of imprisonment: after his first sentence he was held in the Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog.[1]

Education and the start of his church career

He was born into the family of a priest. In 1889 he graduated from the Kostroma Theological Seminary and taught for several years at a parish school. In early 1890 he married the niece of the rector of the Church of Peter and Paul in the village of Tezino and took up that parish post; in 1892 he was widowed, which later opened the way for him to monasticism.[2] In 1896 he entered the Kyiv Theological Academy, graduating in 1900 with the degree of candidate of theology. On 13 August 1899, while still a student, he took monastic vows under the name Nikodim. After completing the academy he served as superintendent of the Vladikavkaz Theological School (1900–1902), then as acting inspector of the Kutaisi Theological Seminary with the rank of hegumen (1902–1903). In 1903 he was elevated to archimandrite and appointed rector of the Ardon Alexandrovsky Missionary Seminary, and in 1905–1907 he headed the Pskov Theological Seminary. During his rectorship at the Pskov Theological Seminary, the inspector under Nikodim was hieromonk Alexy (Simansky) — later Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Russia.[2][1]

Episcopal service before the revolution

On 11 November 1907 he was consecrated bishop of Akkerman, a vicar of the Chișinău diocese — the ordination was performed by Bishop Vladimir of Chișinău, former Bishop Arkady of Akkerman, Bishop Sergy of Novomirgorod, and Bishop Innokenty of Kanev. From 16 November 1911 he was bishop of Chigirin, a vicar of the Kyiv diocese. From 15 August 1917 he took part in the work of the 1917–1918 Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church as an alternate member of the Council. In 1918 he was arrested by Petliurists; according to available accounts, from May to October 1919 he was held together with Metropolitan Anthony and Metropolitan Evlogy in a Catholic monastery in Kraków (before that — in Buchach), and then returned to Kyiv under Denikin.[1]

The Simferopol see and the first Soviet-era persecutions

In June 1920 he left for Simferopol, where Wrangel was then based, and with the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon was appointed to the Simferopol see as bishop of Simferopol and Tauria. In 1922 he was elevated to archbishop. That same year he was arrested in Simferopol on a charge of "resisting the confiscation of church valuables." An open session of the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal under the Crimean Central Executive Committee ran from 5 November to 1 December 1922; the sentence was 8 months' imprisonment. Nikodim served the term in the Nizhny Novgorod prison, from which he was released after about ten months.[1][2]

Later arrests and exiles

After his release Nikodim set out for Crimea via Moscow, but stayed on in the capital to look into church affairs and was invited to join the Holy Synod by Patriarch Tikhon. On the orders of OGPU officer Ye. Tuchkov he was denied the chance to leave Moscow. In 1923 he was arrested again in Moscow and sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment; from December 1923 to 1926 he served exile in Krasnovodsk. On returning to Crimea he was arrested once more and sent to Moscow, where he was sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment. Until August 1926 he was held in Butyrka prison, then in Perovsk and Turkul. In 1927 he was photographed among Orthodox hierarchs and clergy in Central Asian exile — alongside Metropolitan Arseny (Stadnitsky).

After his release from Central Asian exile in 1929, Nikodim was transferred to a settlement in Kostroma Oblast and barred from residing in large cities; he settled in the village of Tezino, Kineshma district — the same place where in 1890 he had begun his priestly service.[4] He continued to be arrested in subsequent years; on 3 December 1936 Nikodim was arrested again: he was charged with corresponding with exiled clergy and providing them material assistance, as well as with admitting about ten hieromonks into the diocese and keeping pre-revolutionary collections of sermons; on 27 March 1937 he was sentenced to five years' exile in Krasnoyarsk Krai, but by that time the archbishop's health was severely undermined: the prison doctor recorded degeneration of the heart muscle, arteriosclerosis, pulmonary emphysema, and a number of other serious illnesses.[4] he was ultimately shot in 1938. Nikodim (Krotkov) died on 21 August 1938 in Yaroslavl; he was glorified among the hieromartyrs, with a feast day of 8 August, and is also venerated in the Synaxes of Kostroma Saints and of Rostov and Yaroslavl Saints.[2][1][2]

Sources

  1. martyrs.pstbi.ru — Nikodim (Krotkov Nikolai Vasilyevich) (archived)
  2. pravenc.ru — Nikodim (Krotkov) died on 21 August 1938 in Yaroslavl — there specifically, not in an unknown place of imprisonment, as… — there specifically, not in an unknown place of imprisonment, as sometimes… (archived)
  3. sr.isa.ru — Nikodim (Krotkov Nikolai Vasilyevich) (archived)
  4. drevo-info.ru — NIKODIM (KROTKOV) — Drevo — After his release from Central Asian exile in 1929, Nikodim was transferred to a settlement in Kostroma Oblast and barred from residing in large…