Hieromartyrs John and Leontius, Priests, Constantine, Deacon, and the 5 Martyrs with them

On 11 February 1920, during the Civil War, the Bolsheviks arrested clergy in the Semirechye region of today's Kazakhstan. The archpriest John Granitov (b. 1875), rector of the St Nicholas church in the village of Talgar, was accused of counter-revolutionary activity. According to his Life, the deacon Constantine Zverev (b. 1881) tried to defend him and was cut down with sabres. The priest Leonty Klimenko (b. 1887) of Yevgenyevka was accused of hiding ammunition and refusing to grind grain for the communists, and was shot with John and others. They were canonized in 2000.