Sampson Sievers, (born Edward Sievers, russian: Эдуард Сиверс) July 10, 1900 – August 24, 1979 was a
Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
hieromonk
A hieromonk ( el, Ἱερομόναχος, Ieromonachos; ka, მღვდელმონაზონი, tr; Slavonic: ''Ieromonakh'', ro, Ieromonah), also called a priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church and E ...
,
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
,
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Russian patriarch and higher clergy, and mystic of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
ancestry, who was imprisoned and sent to Soviet forced labor camps.
Early years and family
Edward Sievers was born July 10, (June 27 by Old Style), 1900 in Saint Petersburg. His mother was Mabel Annie Sievers (born Gare), an educated
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
woman. His father, Jasper Sievers, is of Holsatian origin and was the head of the military headquarters of general Ruzskiy who commanded the Northern District at
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
. He was also a personal friend and adviser of the last Russian
tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
.
On July 23, 1900, Edward was baptised at the
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church of Saint Petersburg by local Anglican priest William A. Macloid. The baptism protocol from the Anglican church says that the family resided at Malaya Italyanskaya (Little Italian) street in Saint Petersburg.
Sievers finished Saint Petersburg Reform (Protestant) Gymnasium (
Realschule
''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...
) in 1916.
Conversion into Orthodoxy, first arrest, execution and work in Tikhvin
At age 12, Edward chose to secretly attend Orthodox church. In 1917, he underwent re-
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
in the Orthodox church and through lots received the name Sergius (after
Sergius of Radonezh
Sergius of Radonezh (russian: Се́ргий Ра́донежский, ''Sergii Radonezhsky''; 14 May 1314 – 25 September 1392), also known as Sergiy Radonezhsky, Serge of Radonezh and Sergius of Moscow, was a spiritual leader and monastic ref ...
John the Theologian
John of Patmos (also called John the Revelator, John the Divine, John the Theologian) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Book of Revelation. The text of Revelation states that John was on Patmos, a Greek island where, according ...
.
In 1919
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
arrested Sergius assuming that was from a
Tsarist
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
family. Latvian Riflemen came suddenly to the monastery and took him in custody. Close to the Feast of Pokrov (Protection) of
Mother of God
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...
he was sent for execution but remained alive after being wounded in the right arm. In the night the wounded Sergius was pulled out of the pile of corpses by monks, disguised in a
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
uniform, and delivered to his mother and then taken for treatment to the military hospital in
Tikhvin
Tikhvin (russian: Ти́хвин; Veps: ) is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin i ...
. In the hospital in Tikhvin the physicians managed to cope with
gangrene
Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...
and save his arm.
In Tikhvin, Sievers got to know the bishop of Tikhvin Alexiy (Simanskiy), the future patriarch, at whom he became hypo-deacon. Remaining in Tikhvin, Sievers became the club manager, read educational lectures in the hospitals, went on missions regarding the provision issues. He secured the connection of patriarch Tikhon with "disgraced" clerics namely with the imprisoned
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
metropolitan
Arseniy Arseny (officially transliterated as Arsenii) (also Arsenii and Arseniy) ( ua, Арсеній, russian: Арсений) is a name, derived from Arsenius. Notable people with the name include:
Arseny
* Arseny Avraamov (1886–1944), Russian avant-ga ...
and others. Sievers's position (January 1919) was letter-carrier on the Saint Petersburg section of the Moscow - Vindavo -
Rybinsk
Rybinsk ( rus, Рыбинск, p=ˈrɨbʲɪnsk), the second largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia, lies at the confluence of the Volga River, Volga and Sheksna Rivers, 267 kilometers north-north-eas ...
railway. According to the documents of Central State Archives of Saint Petersburg the last secular position of Sievers was service as manager of Tikhvin garrison club in 1919-1922.
With the help of bishop Alexiy, Sievers entered into Alaxandre-Nevsky Lavra in May 1921. He was tonsured by vladyka Nicholas Yarushevich receiving new name Symeon. January 19, 1925 was consecrated into the rank of hieromonk (priest-monk). At the same time, when accepted into hieromonks, he became the treasurer of the Lavra. Sievers also studied at the Saint Petersburg's (Russian Orthodox) Theological Institute (finished in 1925). In 1928 hieroschemonkSerafim Vyritskiy blessed father Symeon Sievers for elderdom.
Second arrest and deportation to Svirlag labor camp
The Alexandro-Nevsky Lavra was closed in 1932 and all monks were arrested. Symeon was taken to
SvirLAG
Svirlag, SvirLAG (Svirskiy Lager' – Svir Concentration-Camp, russian: Свирлаг, also / – ) was a Soviet forced labour camp run by NKVD's GULAG Directorate. It was located on the river Svir (hence the name Svirskiy in Russian) in the f ...
and later to
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
. The documents of Archives of Russian
Federal Security Service
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...
offices in Leningrad region relate that from 1932 the monk was in Svirlag (Svirskiy Forced Labour Capm) on the river
Svir
The Svir (, Veps: , Karelian/Finnish: ) is a river in Podporozhsky, Lodeynopolsky, and Volkhovsky districts in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows westwards from Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest ...
(
Leningrad oblast
Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, a ...
). Afterwards, Sievers was transferred to imprisonment in the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan. On May 9, he was to be drowned in the Great
Fergana
Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km fr ...
Canal, but
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...
workers pulled him out; on the way to the cemetery, water spilled and he revived.
Short liberation, third arrest and deportation to the Far East
He was released in 1934 and taken into custody again in 1936, kept in prison in
Borisoglebsk
Borisoglebsk (russian: Борисогле́бск) is a town in Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Vorona River near its confluence with the Khopyor. Population: 65,000 (1969).
History
Borisoglebsk was founded in 164 ...
, after being convicted according to the article 5810 of the Criminal Code Part 1. He faced several years in prison on the Far East.
Liberation of 1945: as priest to Kolguta in Stavropol region
In 1945, an order was issued commanding the liberation of all church clerics. In August 1945, he decided to flee, reaching
Kirgizia
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
. In 1946 he got over to Stavropol to the metropolitan Anthony who gave him a parish first in Vinodelnoye and after in 1947 as the parish priest in the big
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
stanitsa
A stanitsa ( rus, станица, p=stɐˈnʲitsə; uk, станиця, stanytsya) is a village inside a Cossack host ( uk, військо, viys’ko; russian: казачье войско, kazach’ye voysko, sometimes translated as "Cossack Arm ...
Stavropol Region
Stavropol Krai (russian: Ставропо́льский край, r=Stavropolsky kray, p=stəvrɐˈpolʲskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia, and is ad ...
. The appearance of an elder in the village concerned the local authorities and he was arrested again. spending a year in the prison in
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
.
Priestly service in Ruzayevka, Makarovka and Spasskoye (Republic of Mordovia)
In 1948, and in bad health, he moved to Borisoglebsk in
Voronezh
Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...
region (south Russia).
Penza
Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-l ...
archbishop Cyril appointed him the parish priest in the temporary temple in the town of
Ruzayevka
Ruzayevka (russian: Руза́евка; mdf, Орозай, ''Orozaj''; myv, Оразай ош, ''Orazaj oš'') is a town in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, located on the Insar River, southwest of Saransk. Population:
History
The first set ...
in
Mordovia
The Republic of Mordovia (russian: Респу́блика Мордо́вия, r=Respublika Mordoviya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə mɐrˈdovʲɪjə; mdf, Мордовия Республиксь, ''Mordovija Respublikś''; myv, Мордовия Рес ...
Saransk
Saransk (russian: Саранск, p=sɐˈransk; mdf, Саранск ошсь, Saransk oš; myv, Саран ош, Saran oš) is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located i ...
. In Makarovka, Symeon acquired a passport, which he had not had for the past 5 years.
HIs last place of service in Mordovia was the village of Spasskoye. Then he was sent to serve at Poltava Women's Monastery in
Poltava
Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administratively ...
, Ukraine, during 1956-1958 as second priest at the Kazan Cathedral of
Volgograd
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, and then to
Pskov Pechersk Monastery
Pskov-Pechory Monastery or The Pskovo-Pechersky Dormition Monastery or Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery (russian: Пско́во-Печ́ерский Успе́нский монасты́рь, et, Petseri klooster) is a Russian Orthodox male monaster ...
on the
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n border from 1958 to 1963. From 1963 to 1979 Symeon lived in Moscow. On September 16, 1966 Symeon received holy Great Schema with the name Sampson after
Saint Sampson the Hospitable
Sampson the Hospitable ( el, Σαμψὼν ὁ φιλόξενος, ; died 530 AD) was a citizen of Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklaga ...
. He died on August 24, 1979. A memorial service was served at the Church of
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...