New Hieromartyr Priest Sergius

Sergius Rodakovsky, born in 1882 in Zhitkovichi, was the son of a psalm-reader. After finishing the Minsk seminary in 1904 he was ordained and served at the Dormition church in the village of Lavrishevo near Novogrudok in Belarus, where he became a protopriest.

He was arrested on 20 February 1933 and accused of anti-Soviet agitation, among other things speaking against collectivization and spreading a rumour that the Pope was coming to Belarus. He pleaded not guilty. An OGPU troika sentenced him to death on 21 April 1933, and he was buried in an unknown grave. The Russian Church canonized him in 2000.