New Hieromartyr Priest Phlegon

Phlegon Pongilsky, born in 1871 in a priest's family in the Uglich district, was ordained in 1895 and in 1905 moved to Yaroslavl, where he taught religion in schools. He served as an army priest in the First World War and from 1915 at the church of Demetrius of Thessalonica, later becoming protopriest and city dean.

Arrested in 1929 for anti-Soviet agitation, he spent three years in exile in the Northern Krai, then lived in Petushki, working as a weigher and leading the church choir. Arrested again on 4 December 1937, he refused to admit guilt and was sentenced to ten years in camp; he died on 23 April 1938, perhaps shot. He was canonized in 2001.