Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), Archbishop of Voronezh (1878 - 1929)

From the official life and archival documents it is known that Bishop Peter (later Archbishop), in the world Vasily Konstantinovich Zverev, was born on February 18, 1878 in the family of a priest who served first in the church of the village of Vishnyaki near Moscow, and then was appointed rector of the church in the name of Alexander Nevsky at the house of the Moscow governor. After the assassination of the Governor-General, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich by the Narodnaya Volya, Father Konstantin went to serve in the St. Sergius Church at the Chudov Monastery, in the Kremlin.

The family of priest Konstantin Zverev and mother Anna had four children: three sons - Arseny, Cassian, Vasily - and a daughter, Varvara. Vasily, the youngest of the sons, in his childhood always hurried to work with his father at the parish church in Vishnyaki. The bell-ringer, seeing the coming priest, struck the bell three times, and the boy believed that they called his father twice, and the third time - to him.

In 1895, Vasily Zverev graduated from the Moscow gymnasium and entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University. In the second year, in 1897, he decided to leave the university and filed a petition with a request to enroll him in the first year of the Kazan Theological Academy, where he was accepted after the test tests. On January 19, 1900, a second-year student of the Academy, Vasily Zverev, took monastic vows with the name Peter, in honor of St. Peter, the Moscow miracle worker. Later, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and then - hieromonk.

In 1902, Hieromonk Peter was awarded the degree of Candidate of Theology with the right to teach at the Seminary for his thesis on "An Exegetical Analysis of the First Two Chapters of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews". The place of his teaching activities was initially determined by the Oryol Theological Seminary. But a year later he was transferred to the post of diocesan missionary, to the Prince Vladimir Church at the Moscow diocesan house. Hieromonk Peter had a sonorous and expressive voice and was a wonderful preacher.

Hieromonk Peter (Zverev)

In 1907, a new obedience followed for him: he became an inspector of the Novgorod Theological Seminary. In July 1909, the Holy Synod decided to appoint Hieromonk Peter to the post of rector of the Belevsky Transfiguration Monastery of the Tula diocese.

This monastery was located not far from Optina Hermitage, and the rector had a constant opportunity to communicate with the Optina elders. In turn, the elders of Optina Hermitage highly appreciated the spiritual disposition of Abbot Peter and often sent people to him for spiritual guidance. He repeatedly visited both the Sarovsky and Diveevsky monasteries, having special confidence in the blessed Praskovya Ivanovna Diveevsky. She paid him with a reciprocal arrangement: once she presented a canvas of her own work, from which his episcopal vestments were later sewn (and before that, Peter carefully kept the canvas, assuming to be buried in it, but the Lord prepared for him the death of a martyr and a crown of holiness).

On August 8, 1910, in the Cross Church of the Kaluga Bishop's House, Bishop Partheny (Levitsky) elevated hegumen Peter to the rank of archimandrite. Archimandrite Peter did not limit his ministry to the walls of the monastery entrusted to his care, he often visited neighboring rural churches.

In October 1916, the Holy Synod decided to send Archimandrite Peter to the Bishop of the Aleutian Evdokim (Meshchersky), the future Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod, to carry out missionary service in the North American diocese. However, the trip did not take place, Father Peter went as a preacher to the front, where he stayed until the February Revolution of 1917.

Decree to Bishop Peter (Zverev) on his appointment
to the Balakhna department

In 1918, on March 6, he was reappointed to the rector's place in the Assumption Zheltikov Monastery in the Tverskoy Uyezd. Here, for the first time, he had to experience the hardship of bondage: along with other members of the clergy, he was imprisoned as a hostage.

On February 14, 1919, in Moscow, in the patriarchal chambers at the Trinity Compound, Archimandrite Peter was named bishop. The next day, on the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, he was consecrated Bishop of Balakhna by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. The ruling bishop at the Nizhny Novgorod see at that time was Archbishop Evdokim (Meshchersky), whom Vladyka Peter had previously known from his service in the Belevsky Monastery, when he was vicar of the Tula diocese, with the title of Bishop of Kashirsky. They were not destined to serve together in distant America, but they were given hierarchship in the Nizhny Novgorod land - only each chose his own path of service.

Bishop Peter was tall, had a strong voice and good diction, was thin, with long hair that he never cut, with a reddish beard, and clear blue eyes. When he had to serve in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and preach a sermon, his every word was heard throughout the temple.

In Nizhny Novgorod, His Grace Peter lived in the Pechersky Ascension Monastery, in the chambers of his predecessor, Bishop Lavrenty (Knyazev), who was shot by the Bolsheviks in November 1918. It should be noted that by the beginning of the 20th century, the once famous Nizhny Novgorod Caves Monastery fell into decay. The brethren, led by the governor, Archimandrite Pankratius, were not numerous, but several more monks arrived with Bishop Peter. Upon his arrival here, Vladyka resumed full statutory service at the monastery. Bishop Peter served on all major and minor holidays, during the Vespers he always stood in the church at the rector's place, opposite the especially revered icon of the Mother of God of the Caves, often reading the Six Psalms himself.

The bishop served slowly, separately and loudly pronouncing every word. He attached great importance to the participation of parishioners in divine services: in the church of the monastery he organized popular singing, the bishop sought to implement this in other churches of the diocese. With the blessing of Archbishop Yevdokim, he sent a message to the deans of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, urging them to also introduce nationwide singing in the churches of the districts.

Rector of the Ascension Caves
Monastery Bishop Balakhna
Peter (Zverev)

In addition to zealous service, Bishop Peter constantly traveled to individual counties and deaneries in order to review them and clarify the situation on the ground. So, in his report addressed to the ruling bishop dated July 4, 1919, after reviewing a number of deaneries of the Semenovsky district, he wrote: “Everywhere there are parish councils, in many villages they gather, work, keep journals, collect fees for the needs of the diocese and are interested in the life of the Church” . He further noted: “The most terrible thing is that children everywhere have absolutely no knowledge of the Law of God, there are few who know such commonly used prayers as “Our Father” and “Hail Mary, Virgin.” When I looked at this rising generation, which had absolutely no idea about God, or about religion, or about spiritual life, of course, and who did not know how to cross themselves correctly or approach blessings, I was horrified at the thought that everything they are little better than the pagans, and that having grown up, they in the vast majority will perish, departing from the Church. And therefore the clergy should not overlook such a circumstance. The problem of teaching children the Law of God in the new conditions was seen as the most significant and relevant for all parishes of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. Despite the current situation and the atheistic policy of the new government, the Church was not going to withdraw from the life of society.

In the Pechersk Monastery, Bishop Peter immediately organized the teaching of the Law of God to children, and he taught the lessons himself. The children were so attached to him that they often gathered in a crowd at his porch in anticipation of whether Vladyka would go somewhere to accompany him: on the way he always talked with them, told them something, often from his life.

Earnest and unlazy service, sincerity in faith, humility, openness to all - all this the people immediately felt, appreciated and loved in the bishop. He was invited to all the patronal feasts in the city churches. They also invited the diocesan bishop to the services, but the growing popularity of Bishop Peter among the faithful did not please Archbishop Evdokim: he began to envy his vicar and eventually hated him. With inevitability, the difference in the internal, spiritual dispensation of the rulers also affected. However, this situation did not immediately become obvious to the people of Nizhny Novgorod, and they continued to invite the Bishops to serve together. Due to the poorly concealed irritation of Archbishop Evdokim, this became an ordeal for both.

Vladyka Peter was looking for a way out of this situation and decided to act as Christ commanded. Before the start of Lent in 1920, on Forgiveness Sunday, His Eminence Evdokim served in the city, sending Bishop Peter to serve in the village of Sormovo (now Sormovo is within the city, but then it was located quite far from Nizhny Novgorod and was considered a county village). Bishop Peter, moreover, went everywhere on foot. Returning after this service to the Caves Monastery, he went to the Diveevo Compound, where the archbishop lived, to ask for forgiveness before Great Lent. In Vladyka Yevdokim's chambers, he prayed before the icons, then bowed at the archbishop's feet and, rising, approached him with the words: "Christ is in our midst." Instead of the accepted answer in such cases, “and is, and will be,” which is accompanied by a kiss of love, Bishop Peter heard the hostile: “And no, and will not be.” Silently and humbly Vladyka Peter left the chambers of the bishop...

Subsequently, as is known, Archbishop Evdokim (Meshchersky) joined the organizers of the so-called "Living Church", becoming one of the leaders of the Renovationist schism in 1922 and thus renouncing the Patriarchal Church, whose repentance he never brought.

Vicar of the Tula diocese
Bishop of Belevsky Peter (Zverev)

During the subsequent Great Lent, Bishop Peter often served in the suburbs of Sormovo at the urging of the archbishop. And here, having come to know him as a pastor closer, they fell in love with Vladyka Peter among the workers, in an area that was considered difficult, “red”. Cabbies at that time were very expensive, and the bishop did not abandon his habit of walking to services, to any, including distant, churches. (It is known for certain, for example, that on June 19, 1919, he set off on foot from Nizhny Novgorod to the Oransky Monastery, participating in the traditional crosswalk dedicated to seeing off the main shrine of the land of Nizhny Novgorod - the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir of Orange).

When Bishop Peter was arrested in May 1921, the Sormovo workers went on a three-day strike. The authorities promised that they would release the bishop, but instead, frightened by great unrest in the Nizhny Novgorod region, they sent him to Moscow, to the Cheka in the Lubyanka. Vladyka was accused of "inciting religious fanaticism for political purposes."

While in the Taganka prison, the bishop fell seriously ill from exhaustion and ended up in the hospital. At the end of July of the same year, he was sent on a stage to Petrograd.

His Grace Peter stayed in the Petrograd prison until January 4, 1922, and on the day of remembrance of the great martyr Anastasia the Desolder, he was released and left for Moscow. He served the Vespers and the Liturgy at the Nativity of Christ in the church of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, and on the second day of the feast - in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In Moscow, from His Holiness the Patriarch, he received an appointment to the Tver cathedra, Bishop of Staritsky.

Vladyka again settled in the Dormition Zheltikov Monastery, where he had previously served as rector. The Orthodox remembered him and greeted him with joy. Here, as in the Nizhny Novgorod Caves Monastery, he introduced the statutory worship according to the Athos rite and the pious custom of pilgrimage to local shrines.

In the spring of 1922, the dimensions of a new Russian disaster became apparent to everyone - famine befell the Lower Volga region. Bishop Peter decided, without waiting for either the permission of the secular authorities or the official orders of the Church, to provide all possible assistance to the starving population. The ruling bishop, Archbishop Seraphim (Aleksandrov), was not in Tver at that time, and Bishop Peter was in charge of the diocese. We decided to start collecting donations immediately. On March 31, 1922, Bishop Peter addressed the Tver flock with a message, which was sent to all the parishes and monasteries of the diocese. During this difficult time, he served every day of the week, morning and evening. Every day he turned to people with a sermon, calling to help the starving. It so happened that the parishioners, after the sermon of the bishop, wept and gave their last to donations.

In the summer of 1922, the renovationist schism began. Supporters of the newly created "Living Church", with the support of the Soviet authorities, actually set about destroying the Russian Orthodox Church. Some of the clergy of the diocese - some under the influence of seductive arguments, some under the threat of physical reprisals - joined the Renovationism. Bishop Peter immediately forbade them from serving, making the fact of the ban widely publicized in order to warn the Orthodox laity about the danger of falling away from the true Church.

On September 19, 1922, Vladyka Peter addressed his flock - "Beloved in the Lord, the faithful children of the Church of Tver" - with an appeal in which he explained the essence of the renewal movement and the attitude of the Patriarchal Church towards it. It was this appeal that led to his arrest.

The local GPU was afraid to conduct a newly fabricated case in Tver and arrest the bishop here. On November 15, in Moscow, the head of the 6th secret department, E. A. Tuchkov, received a message: “Bishop Peter was convicted by a preliminary investigation of distributing an appeal not allowed by the censorship and will be arrested one of these days with the whole bunch of Tikhonovites. We ask for your permission to forward Bishop Peter with his company and with all the material immediately after the arrest to you in order to avoid inciting fanatics. On the same day, the main secret department of the GPU replied that it was proposing "to send Bishop Peter and other persons involved in this case" to Moscow.

On November 24, 1922, Bishop Peter, his secretary and several archpriests were arrested, on November 30 they were sent to Moscow and imprisoned in the Butyrka prison. In December, they were charged with distributing an appeal directed "obviously against any renovation movement in the church and in support of Tikhon's counter-revolutionary policy."

On February 26, 1923, the NKVD Commission on Administrative Deportations sentenced Bishop Peter, Archpriests Vasily Kupriyanov and Alexei Benemansky, layman Alexander Preobrazhensky to exile in Turkestan for two years, and layman Alexei Sokolov to exile in the Narym Territory for the same period.

After the verdict was announced, all the prisoners were transferred to the Taganskaya prison. In mid-March, on the fifth week of Great Lent, Vladyka Peter was sent to Tashkent as part of another large stage. The lord's stay in Central Asia lasted two years. The small town of Perovsk was appointed the place of his exile.

In 1923, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was released from prison (this was a formal and, in fact, temporary release of His Holiness from custody, there could be no question of true freedom): he submitted to the authorities a list of bishops, without whom he could not govern the Church. Among them was Bishop Peter (Zverev). At the end of 1924, Vladyka arrived in Moscow, but on July 16 of the same year, after the death of Patriarch Tikhon, he was sent by the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky), to Voronezh to help Metropolitan Vladimir (Shimkovich), who was then over eighty years old. . Even during his lifetime, Bishop Peter said that he was initially offered a choice of two departments - Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh, and he made his choice in favor of the second option.

In Voronezh, His Grace Peter often served in a huge five-altar church in the name of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Ternovaya Polyana. (But usually he performed services in the church of the former Intercession Convent, where he lived). During his divine services, the large temple was always full of worshipers, standing so closely that people could not always raise their hands to cross themselves. With everyone, Vladyka was affable, attentive and affectionate, he loved everyone with genuine Christian love, and the people soon fell in love with him too.

His Grace Peter stayed in Voronezh until the autumn of 1925. On November 23, he was again forced to go to Moscow, to the Lubyanka, for another interrogation. On the eve of the Nativity of Christ, January 6, 1926, Metropolitan Vladimir of Voronezh died. Bishop Peter returned to Voronezh on January 10 and, together with the Metropolitan of Kursk and Oboyan Nafanail (Troitsky), who arrived at the funeral, buried the deceased metropolitan. The burial of His Eminence Vladimir, which gathered many believers, grew into a people's assembly, unanimously wishing that Bishop Peter ascended the Voronezh cathedra.

Vladyka again went to Moscow to receive confirmation of the people's choice from the hierarchy. Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens, recognized this election and appointed Bishop Peter to the Voronezh see, with his elevation to the rank of archbishop, noting that he was sending the best preacher of the Moscow Patriarchate to Voronezh.

The position of the Orthodox Church in Voronezh by this time was unenviable: many churches were captured by the renovationists (the former head of the department, Metropolitan Vladimir, due to his weakness and old age, could not offer significant resistance to the renovationists, although he was a staunch opponent of them). The stay of Archbishop Peter at the Voronezh cathedra, his zealous celebration of divine services, love for the people of the church - all this had a devastating effect on the Renovationists. Under His Eminence Peter, the return of parish churches to the true Church began. The active work of the archbishop against the Renovationists in Voronezh was dubbed by the “living churchmen” at their diocesan congress “Petrosveriad”.

Naturally, the Renovationists made a lot of efforts to remove the archbishop from Voronezh, not embarrassing to act also through the secular, in essence, theomachy power. On November 28, 1926, employees of the OGPU came to His Grace Peter to conduct a search and arrest. The next day, the news of the arrest of the bishop spread throughout the city, and many went to the prison building to find out about the fate of their archpastor. They could only see that in the evening he was transported by car to the cordoned off station (to be sent to Moscow). Upon arrival in the capital, Vladyka Peter was imprisoned in the inner prison of the OGPU in the Lubyanka. Together with the archbishop, people close to him were arrested and taken to the Butyrka prison, including his cell-attendant, Archimandrite Innokenty. Six months later, at the end of March 1927, the investigation was completed.

On April 4, 1927, a special meeting at the Collegium of the OGPU sentenced Archbishop Peter to ten years in a concentration camp. The place of his imprisonment, like the majority of the Orthodox clergy, was the Solovetsky camp. Vladyka worked as a watchman in a warehouse on the territory of the former Solovetsky Monastery. At that time, one of the churches, left for civilian Solovetsky monks, was still functioning in Solovki, and prayer during the services was a great consolation for the prisoners.

For organizing communication and mutual assistance among the imprisoned clergy in the concentration camp, the camp authorities decided to punish the archbishop: in October 1928 he was sent on a penal “business trip” to Anzer Island. Soon a typhus epidemic broke out there, and in January 1929, Bishop Peter, who fell ill, was taken to the hospital, to the former Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete.

Chapel at the place where the relics of the saint were found
Peter, Archbishop of Voronezh,
in the Anzersky skete

On February 7, 1929, Bishop Peter died. Before his death, he wrote several times on the wall with a pencil: “I don’t want to live anymore, the Lord calls me to Himself.”

His burial was scheduled for February 10. In the workshop of the economic part, they ordered to make a coffin and a cross. Even when Vladyka was ill, a mantle and a small omophorion were sent for him from the Kremlin. Three priests and two laity received permission to participate in the funeral, but the camp authorities did not allow them to solemnly perform the funeral and burial of the archpastor in vestments. After some time, it became known that the head of the department ordered to throw the body of Vladyka into a common grave, by that time filled to the top with the dead. In response to the questions of the priests and their demands to fulfill the promise previously made by the administration to bury Vladyka with dignity, the head said that the common grave was already littered with earth and snow and he would not give permission to remove the body of the archbishop from it. At night it became known that the common grave was still not buried. A secret funeral service for Bishop Peter was performed in the office of the economic department, four people dug a separate grave for the bishop, whose body was taken out of the common one. And on Golgotha, opposite the altar of the temple, his burial took place.

A cross with an inscription was erected on the grave of Vladyka, but in the spring of 1929, by order of the camp authorities, all the crosses in the Solovetsky cemeteries were removed and used for firewood ...

In June 1999, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' blessed the group of the Synodal Commission to carry out work to determine the burial place and uncover the relics of Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev). On June 17/30, after three days of work, the relics of the saint were found. At the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, Hieromartyr Peter was glorified in the host of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Quoted from the book "Lives of the Saints, New Martyrs and Confessors of the Nizhny Novgorod Land". - Nizhny Novgorod, 2015. Authors-compilers: Archimandrite Tikhon (Zatekin), hegumen Damaskin (Orlovsky), O.V. Degtev.

On February 8, 1878, the third son was born in the family of priest Konstantin Zverev, rector of the church in the name of Alexander Nevsky at the house of the Moscow Governor-General. The boy was named Vasily in honor of St. Basil the Confessor. Subsequently, he will take monastic vows, become a Voronezh bishop and suffer for the faith.

The mother of the saint said that all her sons had already determined their inclinations from childhood. Everyone played in their own way: Arseniy wrote papers and became an official, Cassian played in the war, became an officer and died during the First World War, and Vasily loved the church service very much.

The beginning of the way

Subsequently, as an adult, Vladyka recalled how he and his father went to the parish church, hurrying to the beginning of the service. The bell-ringer, seeing the coming priest, struck the bell three times, and the boy believed that they were ringing his father twice, and the third time - him. The nun, who knew the bishop well, gave his interesting story about how, as a child, Vasily saw the Savior in a dream:

“As a child, I was very fat and chubby, and adults liked to squeeze me, but I really did not like it. And now I see a dream. The Savior in blue and red clothes sits at the table and holds me in his arms. And under the table is a terrible dog. The Savior takes my hand and holds it out under the table to the dog with the words: “Eat it, it fights!” I woke up and have never fought since.”

In 1895, Vasily Zverev graduated from the gymnasium and entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, where he studied for two (according to other sources - three) years, after which he moved to the Kazan Theological Academy. On January 19, 1900, he was tonsured a monk in Kazan with the name Peter in honor of the supreme apostle. In 1902, Hieromonk Peter completed his studies at the academy with a Ph.D. in theology, obtained for his dissertation "An Exegetical Analysis of the First Two Chapters of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews."

Within a few years after graduating from the academy, the young hieromonk changed several places of service - such was the will of the hierarchy. He taught at the Oryol Theological Seminary, was a priest of the Vladimir Church at the Moscow Diocesan House and at the same time a diocesan missionary, inspector of the Novgorod Theological Seminary. In 1909, the future hieromartyr was appointed rector of the Transfiguration Monastery in Belev, Tula diocese, and on August 8, 1910, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. Since the monastery was located not far from Optina Hermitage, Archimandrite Peter got the opportunity to constantly communicate with the Optina elders. It is said that the elders highly valued him and sent many Orthodox to him for spiritual guidance.

During the First World War, Archimandrite Peter served for some time as a regimental priest, and then went to manage the Tver Assumption Zheltikov Monastery. In the winter of 1919 he was elevated to the rank of bishop. The consecration with the appointment of Peter as vicar bishop of the Balakhna diocese of Nizhny Novgorod on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord was performed in Moscow by Patriarch Tikhon. By that time, the holy martyr had already undergone the first persecution - in 1918 he was kept in prison as a hostage.

persecution

Bishop Peter arrived in Nizhny Novgorod and settled in the Caves Monastery on the banks of the Volga. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Pechersky Monastery fell into decay. The brethren were few in number, the ancient temples were dilapidated. Bishop Peter turned to the people, asking for help in cleaning the Assumption Church, and was the first to climb the stairs to wash part of the vaults. And shortly before Easter he went out
to clear the courtyard of the monastery from snow, clearing the way for the procession.

In May 1921, Vladyka was arrested on charges of "inciting religious fanaticism for political purposes." He was taken to Moscow, where he was alternately kept in the Lubyanka, Butyrka and Taganka prisons, then transferred to Petrograd. Bishop Peter did not stop preaching in the cell. His authority was extremely high among the prisoners. According to eyewitnesses, when the bishop was sent from Butyrka, the whole cell said goodbye to him, many cried, even the guards came out to see him off. “I remembered then the farewell of the Apostle Paul,” said Vladyka Peter.

Shortly after his release, which followed in January 1922, on the feast of Anastasia the Solver, the bishop was appointed Bishop of Staritsky, vicar of the Tver diocese. In Tver, he settled in the Dormition Zheltikov Monastery, so close to him. In the absence of the ruling bishop, Archbishop Seraphim (Aleksandrov), Peter headed the diocese. He appealed to the flock to donate to the needs of the starving in the Volga region and ordered to transfer all valuable things from the temples, except for items necessary for worship. At the same time, Vladyka sharply condemned Renovationism, which became the reason for a new accusation. This time, the bishop was charged with activity "against any renovation movement in the Church and in support of Tikhon's counter-revolutionary policy." The investigation ended with exile to Turkestan.

Hieromartyr Peter Zverev in Voronezh

Upon his return from exile and a short stay in Moscow as temporary administrator of the Moscow diocese, Vladyka Peter was sent to Voronezh as a vicar bishop. The quick death of Metropolitan Vladimir (Shimkovich) of Voronezh placed Peter (Zverev) at the head of the diocese. In response to an appeal from representatives of Orthodox parishes who sent a petition to Bishop Peter: “At the unanimous demand of all Orthodox communities of believers in the Voronezh diocese, we ask you to take the now vacant chair of the Archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk,” the bishop replied: “Seeing the voice of God in the unanimous election of me by the working people, I do not dare to refuse and express my full consent. The choice of the Voronezh residents was approved in January 1926 by the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), who elevated Peter to the rank of archbishop.

We read about the ministry of Archbishop Peter in Voronezh: “A man of firm religious convictions and moral foundations, Vladyka Peter was an excellent orator and preacher. His devout divine services in the church of the Alekseevsky Akatov Monastery gathered many believers. The high authority of Archbishop Peter led to the fact that in the same 1926, a mass departure of believers from “renovationism” and the return of parishes to the bosom of the Patriarchal Church began ... Anticipating the collapse of their hopes for internal-
church schism, the authorities are taking retaliatory measures. Already at the end of January 1926, Vladyka Peter was summoned to the police station and questioned about his relationship with various groups of believers.”

The whole of 1926 was spent in confrontation between the supporters of Archbishop Peter and the authorities, who summoned the bishop for interrogations and hindered his activities as head of the diocese. In the end, in November he was arrested, accused of anti-Soviet activities.

The last journey of Archbishop Peter Zverev

In March 1927, the investigation into the case of Archbishop Peter, who did not admit his guilt on any of the charges, was completed. The sentence was harsh - 10 years in the camps. The place of execution of the sentence was the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp. His fellow prisoner recalled the Vladyka's stay on Solovki: “Invulnerable because of the height of his moral character, even with a broom in his hands, in the role of a janitor or watchman, he inspired reverent respect. In front of him, the Vokhrovites themselves hung out, trained for gross impudence and mockery of the prisoners. When they met, they not only made way for him, but also did not refrain from greeting. To which he answered as always: he raised his hand and made the sign of the cross barely outlined... His Grace Peter slowly walked past, leaning lightly on his staff and not bowing his head. And against the background of the ancient monastery walls, it looked like a prophetic vision: the departing figure of the shepherd, as if leaving the earth, on which triumphant violence was established ... "

Archbishop Peter (Zverev) died of typhus in the Anzersky Skete on Solovki on February 7, 1929. His relics were found during excavations on June 17, 1999. At the Bishops' Council in 2000, Vladyka Peter was glorified as a holy martyr. The permanent place of residence of the honest remains of the Holy Martyr Peter is the Annunciation Cathedral in Voronezh.

Church calendar. June 17 (June 4, O.S.)

The apostolic fast continues.

And today the Holy Church commemorates:

Mchch. Frontasia, Severin, Severian and Silan (I century).

Shmch. Concordius the Roman, presbyter, and schmch. Astius, Bishop of Dyrrhachia (2nd century).

St. Mitrophan, Patriarch of Constantinople (III-IV centuries).

Rev. Zosima, Bishop of Babylon of Egypt (6th century).

Rev. Methodius, Abbot of Peshnoshsky (XIV century).

New Martyrs: ssmchch. Ioannikius, Metropolitan of Montenegro-Primorsky, and Presbyter George Bogich; ssmch. Peter Belyaev, presbyter.

The acquisition of the relics of the Holy Order is celebrated. Peter (Zverev), Archbishop of Voronezh, in 1999.

We congratulate the birthday people on the day of the angel!

Brothers and sisters, today we will get acquainted with the main milestones in the life of Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), Archbishop of Voronezh. The saint was born on February 18, 1878 in Moscow, into the family of a priest, and at baptism he was named Vasily.

From 1886 he studied at the Moscow Classical Gymnasium. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1895, he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, and after graduating from the university he entered the Kazan Theological Academy, where he became a monk with the name Peter and was ordained a hieromonk. Father Peter graduated from the academy in 1902 with a degree in theology. In 1902 he was appointed teacher at the Oryol Theological Seminary, and in 1903 - the first rector of the Prince Vladimir Church at the Moscow Diocesan House and at the same time a diocesan missionary.

In 1907, Father Peter was appointed inspector of the Novgorod Theological Seminary.

In 1909, the priest was the rector of the Transfiguration Monastery in Belev, Tula diocese, located not far from Optina Pustyn, which he often visited. The parishioners loved him very much, because he was distinguished by his affectionate and attentive treatment of them.

In October 1916, the Holy Synod ordered Father Peter to be sent for missionary service in the North American Diocese. However, the trip did not take place, and in 1916-1917 he was a preacher at the front.

On March 6, 1918, the priest was appointed rector of the Tver Holy Dormition Zheltikov Monastery. In the same year, he was taken hostage by the Tver Provincial Cheka, but was soon released.

On the Feast of the Meeting of February 15, 1919, Father Peter was consecrated by Patriarch Tikhon as Bishop of Balakhna, vicar of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. In Nizhny Novgorod, the bishop settled in the Caves Monastery on the banks of the Volga. In May 1921, Vladyka was arrested on charges of inciting religious fanaticism, sent first to Moscow (where he fell seriously ill while in custody), and then to Petrograd. On January 4, 1922, Bishop Peter was released thanks to the intercession of believers.

On January 2, 1922, he was appointed Bishop of Staritsky, Vicar of the Diocese of Tver. On March 31 of the same year, Vladyka appealed to the flock to donate to the needs of the starving in the Volga region and ordered that all valuables be transferred from churches, except for items necessary for priestly service. He himself served all the time as a simple priest. On November 24, 1922, Bishop Peter was arrested and exiled to Turkestan for two years, he lived in the city of Perovsk. Living in difficult conditions, he was ill with scurvy, as a result of which he lost his teeth. At the end of 1924, after his release, the bishop arrived in Moscow and ruled the Moscow diocese for a short time.

After the arrest of Bishop Buturlinovsky Mitrofan (Polikarpov), the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Hieromartyr Metropolitan Pyotr Krutitsky on July 16, 1925, sent Vicar Bishop Peter (Zverev) to Voronezh to help the aged Archbishop Vladimir (Shimkovich) of Voronezh. His divine services gathered a large number of believers who treated Vladyka with love and reverence. Since January 1926, after the death of the elderly Voronezh Metropolitan Vladimir (Shimkovich), Bishop Peter was appointed, at the request of the faithful, Archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk.

Vladyka was an excellent orator and preacher. Encouraged public singing. The high authority of Vladyka led to the fact that in the same year a mass departure of believers from “renovationism” and the return of parishes to the bosom of the Patriarchal Church began. This activity of the archbishop faced with a sharp rejection of the authorities - he was repeatedly summoned to the police and the GPU. At the same time, the believers created a group of ten to twelve people to protect the lord.

The activities of Vladyka Peter also caused rejection by the leading officer of the GPU Tuchkov, who insisted on his removal from Voronezh.

On the night of November 29, 1926, Vladyka was arrested. He was accused of spreading counter-revolutionary rumors aimed at arousing distrust in the Soviet government and discrediting it, and inciting believers against the authorities. The holy martyr pleaded not guilty, and on March 22, 1927, he was sentenced to ten years in prison "for counter-revolutionary activities against the Soviet regime." Vladyka was sent to serve his sentence in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp, where he acted as an accountant at a food warehouse. He had the opportunity to serve in the surviving church of Onufry the Great. After the departure of Hieromartyr Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky) from Solovki, Vladyka Peter was elected by the exiled hierarchs as head of the Solovetsky Orthodox clergy and led secret divine services.

Then Vladyka was sent to a punishment cell on the Zayatsky Islands.

During this period, Vladyka wrote an Akathist to St. Herman of Solovetsky.

The archbishop fell ill with typhus and in January 1929 was placed in a typhoid barrack, which was opened in the Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete on the island of Anzer. There, after being ill for two weeks, Vladyka died. And before his death, the holy martyr wrote on the wall with a pencil: “I don’t want to live anymore, the Lord calls me to Himself.” Contrary to the prohibitions of the authorities, they dressed him in a mantle and a hood, put on an omophorion, put a cross, a rosary, the Gospel in his hands and performed a funeral service. A cross was placed on the grave.

The relics of the holy Confessor were found during the excavations on June 17, 1999 and laid in the Solovetsky Monastery, it is this event that we remember today. And on August 9, 2009, the relics of the Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), with the exception of the honest head, were delivered to the Aleksiyevo-Akatov convent in the city of Voronezh.

Holy Hieromartyr Peter, pray to God for us!

Deacon Mikhail Kudryavtsev

On February 7 (January 25, O.S.) the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), Archbishop of Voronezh. The famous orator and preacher, Hieromartyr Peter was the closest assistant of the Holy Patriarch Tikhon. Each successive arrest of the lord caused popular uprisings against the Bolsheviks. As a result, he was exiled to Solovki, where in 1929, during a typhus epidemic, the Hieromartyr Peter died.

"Eat her, she fights"

The Moscow priest Archpriest Konstantin Zverev and his wife Anna had four children in the 1880s: three sons and a daughter. The characters of the sons from childhood were determined to be very different. Arseniy loved to write different papers - he became an official. Cassian played war - and became an officer. He was killed at the front in 1914. Vasily loved to go to church and played church services at home.

When Father Konstantin served near Moscow, in Vishnyaki, he always took Vasily with him. The ringer, seeing the priest walking, struck the bell three times. The boy believed that they called his father twice, and the third time - to him.

Little Vasya was a "doughnut". “As a child, I was very fat and chubby, and adults liked to squeeze me, but I really didn’t like it,” he later recalled. - And now I see a dream. The Savior in blue and red clothes sits at the table and holds me in his arms. And under the table - a terrible dog. The Savior takes my hand and holds it out under the table to the dog with the words: "Eat it, it fights." I woke up and since then I have never fought, but in everything I tried to restrain myself, not to get angry and not to do anything bad.

Vasily, unlike most priests who decided to follow in the footsteps of their father, did not immediately go to the seminary. Before entering the theological schools, he received a thorough secular education - he graduated from the gymnasium, then the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University.

Excellent humanitarian training helped him in the future - the sermons of the Hieromartyr Peter were always intellectually rich. addressed him as a consultant on historical and theological issues.
He graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy, became a candidate of theology. Even in his second year in 1900, the legendary "abbot" - Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) - was tonsured a monk with the name Peter and ordained to the rank of hieromonk.

At the end of the academic course, he remained to work in the system of Russian spiritual education. He taught at the Oryol Seminary, later in Novgorod. As an inspector of the latter, in 1907-1909, long before the revolution, ill-wishers among the revolutionaries began to annoy Father Peter for the first time.

"Let's bring him happiness to ride on the Solovki"

A charming, charismatic, intellectually gifted priest, in the future, at every place of his ministry, he faced both the love of the people and the hatred of the enemies of the Church. His ministry has never been serene and "smooth." When Hieromonk Peter served in Novgorod, almost every month the Synod received anonymous denunciations against him.

The slanderers, among other things, wrote that Hieromonk Peter is a “false monk”, spreads debauchery, hides a vile essence under the guise of holiness, and that they will never allow him to move up the hierarchical ladder: “we will remove the miter from him, knock it down in the church ... because he ... I wanted to ... put on a golden hat, but we won’t allow this, we won’t allow it - we will give him the happiness to ride on the Solovki ... ”(subsequently, the enemies of Father Peter successfully implemented this plan) ...

In order to give their slander the character of authenticity, the slanderers wrote a forged letter on behalf of a certain woman familiar to Father Peter. The chief prosecutor sent anonymous denunciations to Archbishop Gury (Okhotin) of Novgorod with a request to investigate.

After a conversation with Hieromonk Peter, the archbishop sent his opinion on this case to the Chief Procurator of the Synod, as well as to Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow, asking him, “isn’t everything reported in the statements just slander, invented on the basis of hostile relations ... of certain persons or under the influence of the so-called liberation movement, as a result of which lies are often invented against the clergy in general and the monastic in particular.

Vladyka also sent a letter from a woman who, having learned that false letters were being sent on her behalf, wrote to Father Peter:

“Good Father Peter! I am extremely amazed by your news; I have resolutely not written any statements to the Holy Synod, or to the Ober-Procurator, or to anyone else, especially of vile content, and I have no reason to do so. It can be seen that your enemies are trying in every possible way to harm you, since they decided on a forgery - this is what the anger of people brings to. I hope you are sure of my good feelings for you and will never believe the slander ... "

“As for the life of Hieromonk Peter in Novgorod from the time he arrived at the post of inspector of the Novgorod Seminary,” Archbishop Gury wrote to the Chief Procurator of the Synod, “I can testify that his life is quite ... consistent with his monastic rank.”

Despite the fact that the Synod decided the case in favor of Father Peter, the denunciations continued for two years. The exhausted hieromonk Peter wrote a petition for his dismissal from the post of inspector of the Novgorod Seminary. Soon, on December 5, 1907, Hieromonk Peter received a letter from an informer: “If you want to finish this business, then send three hundred rubles of money ... Do not contact the police ...”

"And no, and will not"

In 1909-16, Father Peter was rector of the Belevsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in the Tula diocese. In 1910 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

In 1916, a well-known preacher and missionary by that time, he received an offer to go for missionary service in the North American diocese. But the trip did not take place - instead of America, in 1916, Father Peter decided to go as a preacher to the front. He stayed at the front until the February Revolution of 1917.

After the end of hostilities, he returned to Central Russia. In 1917–18 he served as rector of the Tver Zheltikov Monastery. He was a hostage of the local Cheka, miraculously survived. He was noticed by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, ordained Bishop of Balakhna and sent as a vicar to the Nizhny Novgorod diocese at the disposal of the local Bishop Evdokim (Meshchersky).

As a vicar bishop, Vladyka Peter began to serve in the Caves Monastery. Upon arrival at the monastery, he discovered that the ancient Caves Cathedral in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God was badly neglected. The walls and ceiling were black with soot. The bishop turned to the people, asking for help to put things in order, he himself was the first to climb the stairs and began to wash the ceiling ... On Holy Week, Vladyka went out to clear the snow from the courtyard of the monastery. Someone asked him:

Bishop of Balakhna Peter (Zverev). Photo: novoeblago.ru- Why are you working so hard, holy lord?

Yes, how? It will be necessary to go on Holy Saturday with the procession, but there is snow all around, there is nowhere to go.

This behavior of Vladyka Peter quickly earned him the love of his flock. More people began to flock to his divine services than to the services of the ruling bishop. For all this, Archbishop Evdokim took a dislike to Hieromartyr Peter. He became jealous of his vicar and eventually came to hate him. People did not know about this and still invited them to serve together, which was the hardest test for both.

Vladyka Peter was looking for a way out of the created situation and, in the end, decided to do as Christ commanded. Before the beginning of Lent in 1920 on Forgiveness Sunday, His Eminence Evdokim served in the city, sending Bishop Peter to serve in Sormovo. Returning from the service on foot (he could not afford a cab in those years) to the Caves Monastery, Vladyka Peter went to the Diveevo Compound, where the archbishop lived, to ask for forgiveness before the start of Great Lent.

Entering the chambers of Archbishop Evdokim, he turned to the icons, prayed, then bowed at the archbishop's feet and, rising, said:

Christ is in our midst.

Instead of the usual: "And there is, and will be" - the archbishop replied:

And no, and will not.

Silently, Bishop Peter turned and left. In the future, the paths of the bishops parted completely - Archbishop Evdokim joined the Renovationist schism.

"In support of Tikhon's counter-revolutionary policy"

Vladyka Peter was popular among the workers. He often served in Sormovo, his services and sermons always gathered a large number of people. When the authorities arrested the bishop in May 1921, the workers went on strike and went on strike for three days. The authorities promised the workers that they would release the bishop, but instead they sent him to Moscow to the Cheka in the Lubyanka. The bishop was accused of inciting religious fanaticism for political purposes.

From Lubyanka, the bishop was transferred to Butyrka prison, then to Taganskaya, then to Petrogradskaya ... However, in 1922, due to popular unrest and persistent demands from the workers to return the bishop, the Chekists released him. Upon his release from prison in January 1922, Vladyka Peter was appointed Bishop of Staritsky, Vicar of the Diocese of Tver.

There, in the summer of 1922, Vladyka was actively involved in raising funds for the starving people of the Volga region. Despite protests from the "parish regulars", he donated church utensils for the needs of the starving - he tried to give everything except those items that were necessary for the performance of worship.

In the autumn of the same year, a Renovationist schism came to the Tver diocese. On September 19, 1922, Bishop Peter addressed the Tver flock with an appeal in which he explained the essence of the renovationist movement and the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards it.

The text of the appeal was submitted to the censor of the Tver department of the GPU for permission to publish. The censorship of the GPU refused to publish the appeal to the bishop "due to the fact that the appeal incites one part of the clergy and believers against another," as the censor wrote.

The censor also ordered that Bishop Peter be brought to justice for disobedience to Soviet power, for using pre-revolutionary spelling while writing.

The accusation of writing a letter in pre-revolutionary spelling was insufficient, and Tuchkov, deputy head of the 6th department of the secret department of the GPU, who was in charge of overseeing the Church, demanded that the Tver GPU prove that Bishop Peter distributed the appeal. Employees of the GPU began to interrogate priests close to the bishop.

On November 24, 1922, Bishop Peter was arrested. Archpriests Vasily Kupriyanov and Alexei Benemansky, treasurer of the Novotorzhsky Boriso-Glebsky Monastery, Hieromonk Veniamin (Troitsky), Bishop's secretary Alexander Preobrazhensky, and Orthodox layman Alexei Sokolov were arrested with him.

On November 30, all those arrested were sent to Moscow and imprisoned in the Butyrka prison. In December, they were charged with distributing an appeal by Bishop Peter of Tver entitled “To the Faithful Children of the Church of Tver Beloved in the Lord,” directed “obviously against any renovation movement in the church and in support of Tikhon’s counter-revolutionary policy.”

On February 26, 1923, the NKVD Commission on Administrative Deportations sentenced Bishop Peter, priests Vasily Kupriyanov and Alexei Benemansky, layman Alexander Preobrazhensky to exile in Turkestan for two years, layman Alexei Sokolov to exile for the same period in the Narym Territory.

After the verdict was announced, all the prisoners were transferred to the Taganskaya prison. In mid-March, Bishop Peter and other convicts were sent to Tashkent as part of a large convoy. Bishop spent two years in Turkestan, in the city of Perovsk. He had scurvy, was left without teeth ...

"Petrosveriada"

In 1924, Vladyka was released, returned to Moscow, and was sent by Patriarch Tikhon to Voronezh to help the elderly Voronezh Bishop Vladimir (Shinkovich). Vladyka Peter became vicar of Voronezh, and in 1926, after the death of Metropolitan Vladimir, he became archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk.

Under Archbishop Peter, the influence of the Renovationists in the Voronezh diocese fell sharply. A mass return of Renovationist parishes to Orthodoxy began. In all churches returning to Orthodoxy, masses of people met Archbishop Peter with a procession. All this provoked the wrath of the renovationists. The activities of Archbishop Peter in Voronezh were called by the Renovationists at their diocesan congress "Petrosveriad".

The hatred of the Renovationists for the lord began to take dangerous forms. Several times Archbishop Peter received threatening letters, there were cases when stones were thrown at him from the roof. In the end, the workers proposed to establish guards for the bishop, who would accompany him on the street and stay overnight in his house in case of a provocation.

On November 28, the newspaper Voronezhskaya Kommuna, controlled by the Renovationists, published a libel against Bishop Peter. "Hold a show trial! Bring Peter Zverev to justice! And finally - immediately arrest Archbishop Peter Zverev, ”the lively correspondent demanded. Upon learning of the publication, Archbishop Peter began to prepare for his arrest.

On the same night, officers of the OGPU came to him for a search and arrest. When they began to knock on the door of the apartment, Archimandrite Innokenty, the cell-attendant of the bishop, closed the door tighter, closed the latch and did not let them in until the bishop had burned all the letters and documents that could harm people. After the search, Archbishop Peter was taken to the OGPU.

At the end of March, the investigation was completed. In the indictment, the investigator wrote: “The rise of church activism coincided with the arrival in the city of Voronezh of Peter Zverev, who arrived as the manager of the reactionary church in the province ... Zverev’s name served as a flag during the performances of the Voronezh Black Hundreds ...”

On April 4, 1927, the Collegium of the OGPU sentenced Archbishop Peter to ten years in the Solovetsky concentration camp. Vladyka's cell-attendant, Archimandrite Innokenty, who was arrested along with him, was sentenced to three years in Solovki.

"The Lord calls to Himself"

In the spring of 1927, Archbishop Peter arrived at the Solovetsky concentration camp. He worked as a watchman - in shifts with Metropolitan Nazarius (Kirillov) of Kursk. Then, after the release of Archbishop Procopius (Titov), ​​who worked as an accountant at a food warehouse, where one clergy worked (the reason was simple - the priests did not steal, which suited the camp authorities), Archbishop Peter was appointed in his place. He lived right there, in a room next to the warehouse, in a small room, together with Bishop Grigory (Kozlov) of Pechersk.

At that time, the Church of the Monk Onufry the Great, left for civilian Solovetsky monks, was still functioning on Solovki, and prayer during services in the church became a great consolation for the bishop.

In 1928, a typhus epidemic broke out on Anzer; out of a thousand prisoners who were then on the island, five hundred people died during the winter of 1928-1929. In autumn, large mass graves were dug near the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord, immediately behind the monastery cemetery, and the dead were put there all winter, and the pits were covered with spruce branches from above.

In January 1929, Archbishop Peter also fell ill with typhus. He was taken to a hospital located in the former Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete.

In the same room with the archbishop lay a veterinarian, his spiritual son. On the day of the death of Archbishop Peter, February 7, at four o'clock in the morning he heard a noise, as if from a flock of birds flying in. He opened his eyes and saw the holy Great Martyr Varvara with many virgins, of whom he recognized the holy martyrs Anisia and Irina. The Great Martyr Varvara approached Vladyka's bedside and communed him with the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

On the same day, at seven o'clock in the evening, Vladyka died. Before his death, he wrote several times on the wall with a pencil: “I don’t want to live anymore, the Lord calls me to Himself.”

Burial was scheduled for Sunday 10 February. One of the imprisoned priests went to the head of the 6th department to ask permission to arrange a solemn funeral for the deceased and put a cross on the grave.

From the Kremlin, even when Vladyka was ill, they sent a mantle and a small omophorion. In the workshop of the economic part, they ordered to make a coffin and a cross. Three priests and two laymen received permission to participate in the funeral, but the solemn funeral service and burial in vestments were not allowed.

After some time, it became known that the head of the department ordered to throw the body of Vladyka into a common grave, by that time already filled to the brim with the dead. In the evening, the priests went to the chief and demanded to fulfill the promise he had made earlier. He replied that, by his order, the common grave had already been covered with earth and snow, and he would not give permission for the removal of the body of Archbishop Peter from the common grave.

However, on the fifth day it became known that this order of the camp authorities had not been carried out. The grave was not buried - it was simply covered with fir branches. The prisoners secretly went to the grave. Three priests descended into the pit and on a sheet raised the body of Vladyka Peter to the surface of the earth. According to the story of the nun Arsenia, who was present there, “all the dead lay black, and Vladyka lay ... in a shirt, with his arms folded on his chest, white as boiling water.”

Four people were digging at that time a separate grave opposite the altar of the Resurrection Church.

The priests combed Vladyka's hair, wiped off the snow and pine needles from his face, and began to dress him right in the snow. They put on a new purple mantle, a hood, an omophorion, gave a cross, a rosary and the Gospel in their hands, and served a memorial service. Before putting the permissive prayer into the hands of the bishop, all three priests signed it.

Nun Arsenia asked:

Why are you signing up? They don't sign for prayers, do they?

They have replyed:

If the time changes, the relics of the lord will be found, it will be known who buried him.

About twenty people gathered around the grave. After the memorial service, whoever wanted to, said a word, then they lowered the body of the holy martyr into the grave, put a cross on it and made an inscription.

One of the priests who buried the archbishop later told that when the grave was buried, a pillar of light became visible above it, and Vladyka Peter appeared in it and blessed everyone.

In the spring of 1929, by order of the camp authorities, all the crosses in the Solovetsky cemeteries were removed and used as firewood.

The relics of the Hieromartyr Peter were found June 17 1999 during archaeological excavations. For ten years they were in the church of the Hieromartyr Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Stauropegial Monastery.

On August 9, 2009, the relics of St. Peter were transferred to the place of his last episcopal service - in Voronezh and placed in the Alexiev-Akatov Monastery in Voronezh.

The ark with the relics for the veneration of believers was placed in the chapel, consecrated in 2007 in honor of the New Martyrs of Voronezh. It is assumed that after the consecration of the Cathedral of the Annunciation, they will be transferred to the new cathedral in the city of Voronezh.

In 1999, Archbishop Peter (Zverev) was glorified as a locally venerated saint of the Voronezh diocese.

In 2000, Saint Peter was canonized by the Council of Bishops. New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Through the years, the lines of a letter written by St. Peter on the distant island of Anzer resound: “Thank God for everything that I had to endure and endure during this time ... But all this must be endured decisively ... Do not live as you want, but as God commands.”

Prayer to Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev)

Mosaic of the Chapel of the New Martyrs of Voronezh (Alexiev-Akatov Monastery, Voronezh). In the center is St. Peter (Zverev). In this chapel are the relics of the Hieromartyr Peter.

O venerable Peter, glorious holy martyr, one of the host of the New Martyrs of Solovetsky and all the Russian land, praise to the city of Voronezh, wondrous shepherd of the flock of Christ, faithful servant of God, zealous defender of the Orthodox Church! All your life is filled with love for the Lord and suffering for Christ: having endured many torments, illnesses and sorrows, having endured exile and imprisonment for His sake, the confessor is fearless appearing, crowned the Russian Church with a crown of your incorruptible glory. Having betrayed all in the hands of God, you performed your valiant service on earth, in Golgotha ​​Anzerstey you were honored with a martyr's death, blessed God.

Now counted among the heavenly countenance, you remain in the Kingdom of Divine love, with many inhabitants of Jerusalem on high, expecting the fulfillment of the sacrifice of martyrdom for Christ: when all that should be will be accomplished within the limits of the earth. O our most holy father Peter, help us keep the temple of your heart that has not been empty, teach us to find joy in suffering in Christ, illuminate our path on the cross with the radiance of your shrine.

Wake up now to us a confirmation in faith, may the one who comes find the Lord who has not faded away. Begged the Creator of all kinds to grant us strength and strength, not being afraid of the fear of the evil one, firmly confess Christ, so that by His mercy we will be delivered from some of the evil on the day of terrible retribution and dwell in eternal joy, glorifying the Almighty God and your grace-filled intercession forever and ever. Amen.

Troparion to Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), tone 4

By fiery faith to the apostle Peter, like,
the same and three times hearing the call of Christ,
Thou didst lay down thy life for Him, Saint Father Peter,
the solid stone of the Orthodox Church: the lamp in the darkness of iniquity, shine with virtues,
You deigned to endure with the joy of suffering for Christ, fellow confessors and martyrs of Russia.
Pray with them for us, Bishop of God, Hieromartyr Solovetsky.

Kontakion, tone 8

In your hierarchy of goodness, thou art wiser, /
and martyrdom, thou hast brightly adorned herself with a crown, /
not afraid of the rebuke of the enemies of Christ, /
with your blood the earth in the father anzerstem consecrated thou; /
therefore, for the sake of the power of heaven, marveling at your patience, /
but with faith and love we flow to your holy relics, venerable one. /
Now, with all the Solovetsky saints, pray for us to Christ God,
all-blessed Petre, let us call you: //
Rejoice, ever-memorable Father.

Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), Archbishop of Voronezh! June 17 - Uncovering the relics. Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop of Voronezh, by title is Voronezh and Solovetsky. The last title was assigned to him by the Russian clergy and episcopate exiled to Solovki, who undoubtedly recognized him as the best among the exiles. The last place of service of the saint was Voronezh... He was born on February 18, 1878 in Moscow into the family of Archpriest Konstantin Zverev, who served as rector of the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky at the house of the Moscow Governor-General, and then in the Sergius Church of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin. At baptism, the child, the third of four children in the family, was named Vasily. Religious talent took shape in the son of a priest, Vasya Zverev, early. He later told how he loved to go with his father to the beginning of the service and, according to his naive childish faith, believed that three strokes on the bell, with which the bell ringer greeted the going rector, meant: two strokes for the father, and the third - for him, the father’s son, who everywhere followed father. In 1895, Vasily graduated from the gymnasium and studied for three years at the Faculty of History and Philology of the Moscow Imperial University. In 1899 he entered the Kazan Theological Academy, where in 1900, two years before graduation, he took monastic vows with the name Peter. Soon he was ordained first a hierodeacon and then a hieromonk. He graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy in 1902 with a Ph.D. in theology for his dissertation "An Exegetical Analysis of the First Two Chapters of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews." After graduating from the Academy, Hieromonk Peter was appointed a teacher at the Oryol Theological Seminary, and in 1903 he was transferred as a priest of the Vladimir Church at the Moscow Diocesan House and at the same time appointed as a diocesan missionary. In 1907, he was appointed to the post of inspector of the Novgorod Theological Seminary, and since 1909 he was rector of the Transfiguration Monastery in the town of Belev, Tula diocese. On August 8, 1910, Bishop Parthenius (Levitsky) Peter was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery was located not far from the famous Optina Hermitage. And his rector, the future holy martyr, often visited the nearby hermitage, spending many hours in conversations with the Optina elders. Even before that, the young monk was reverent towards Optina Hermitage, whose elders were his confessors, and after his appointment as rector, he tried to introduce its rules and customs in his monastery. In general, wherever fate threw him, he tried to improve worship, to introduce popular singing in the church. Church communities under him turned into strong and organized groups of spiritually close and loving people. Archimandrite Peter was very fond of the parishioners, because he was distinguished by his affectionate and attentive treatment of them. Father Peter used to visit both Sarov and Diveevo, never missing an opportunity to visit Blessed Praskovya Ioannovna, Pasha Diveevskaya. She presented him with a canvas of her work, from which he later sewed himself a bishop's vestment and kept it for his own burial. During the First World War, an infirmary for the wounded was set up in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. In October 1916, the Holy Synod ordered that Archimandrite Peter be sent to the Bishop of the Aleutian Evdokim (Meshchersky) for missionary service in the North American Diocese. However, the trip did not take place, and at the end of the same year, Father Peter left as a preacher for the front, where he served as a priest in the active Russian army until the February Revolution of 1917. After the February coup, the pious warrior of Christ was appointed to the post of rector of the Tver Holy Dormition Zheltikov Monastery. Needless to say, not only the brethren, but also the parishioners, fell in love with Archimandrite Peter very much, especially since Vladyka Seraphim (Chichagov) was then removed from the administration of the diocese, and the vicar bishop Arseniy (Smolenets) did not control the situation at all. In the diocese, the administration was seized by liberal priests who sympathized with the Bolsheviks and expelled everyone in any way connected with the former government. Through the efforts of Father Peter, the situation was reversed in a few months, and the parish at the Zheltikov Monastery became the spiritual center of all zealots of piety, the strongest community in the city. Blessed Pasha Diveevskaya, whom Bishop Peter greatly revered and who also loved him very much, predicted to him in 1918: “You will be arrested three more times.” And so it happened. Already in the very first months after the October Revolution, he had to face the punitive authorities: in December, the Tver gubchek took him as a hostage, and in 1918 he was arrested. While fate was merciful to him: his stay in the prison cell turned out to be short-lived. On February 15, 1919, in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), Hierarch-Confessor, Archimandrite Peter was consecrated Bishop of Balakhna, vicar of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. Immediately after his consecration, Vladyka Peter arrived in Nizhny Novgorod and settled in the Caves Monastery on the banks of the Volga. The monastery was in decline, the brethren were few in number, the ancient Assumption Cathedral fell into disrepair. Vladyka himself took part in the cleaning of the temple and introduced a strict statutory service. It happened that the vigil lasted all night, and then Bishop Peter attracted zealous parishioners to the service, since no choristers could stand on the kliros for such a long time. In the Caves Monastery, he started teaching the Law of God for children and taught them himself. The people of Nizhny Novgorod fell in love with Vladyka, seeing in him a true spiritual mentor. However, Vladyka was soon transferred to Kanavino, beyond the Oka. In May 1921, a new arrest followed on charges of inciting religious fanaticism. Believers who worked at local factories went on strike, the Sormovo factory went on strike for three days, protesting against the arrest of their beloved archpastor, and the authorities promised to release him, but instead they secretly sent him to Moscow. Since December, Bishop Peter has been imprisoned in Moscow prisons. At first he was placed in the Lubyanka, but even there Vladyka did not stop preaching. He did not have time to send crosses: converting people to the faith, the Saint took off his cross and put it on the convert. “I would like to open to them and show my heart how suffering cleanses the soul.” From the Lubyanka, Vladyka was transferred to the Butyrka prison, and from there to the Taganskaya prison. With tears, the prisoners said goodbye to him, and when he was transferred from Butyrki, even the guards saw him off. At that time there were twelve bishops in the Taganka prison. Their spiritual children passed on prosphora and vestments, and the saints performed the conciliar service right in the chamber. Here Vladyka Peter fell ill from exhaustion and ended up in the hospital. At the end of July 1921, he was sent to Petrograd, where he remained imprisoned until the winter. Vladyka was released through the intercession of believers on January 4, 1922, and returned to Moscow, where he was soon appointed bishop of Staritsky, vicar of the diocese of Tver. In the city, he settled in the Dormition Monastery, well known to him. The year 1922 - from Christmas to the end of November - was marked by a campaign to confiscate church valuables, the beginning of a renovationist schism, and another persecution of believers. The role of Vladyka Peter in organizing the spiritual opposition to the authorities, in strengthening the believers, in the actual disruption of the policy of the Renovationist schismatics was enormous. In practice, he rendered in vain all the efforts of the authorities to split the Church from within. Of course, there is also the merit of Archbishop Seraphim (Aleksandrov), then head of the Tver diocese, but he was mostly in Moscow and had little influence on affairs in Tver. In the absence of the ruling bishop, Archbishop Seraphim, Father Peter actually headed the diocese. One of the most “liberal” dioceses in relation to the Bolsheviks (which was the diocese of Tver before 1917) turned before our eyes into a stronghold of healthy church forces that unconditionally supported Patriarch Tikhon. Moreover, the seizure of church valuables turned into a voluntary donation by believers for the sake of the starving Volga region. On March 31, 1922, he appealed to the flock to donate to the needs of the starving in the Volga region and ordered to transfer all valuable things from churches for this purpose, except for items necessary for priestly service. Vladyka served every day as a simple priest, without a magnificent retinue, from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, and his services attracted many people... Soon, in the summer of 1922, Vladyka Peter was again arrested for an appeal he had issued to the Tver flock, in which he explained the essence of renovationism and condemned this movement. In November, he was again taken to Moscow. During interrogations, Bishop Peter showed that he recognizes Patriarch Tikhon as the only legitimate head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and does not obey the decisions of the self-proclaimed Renovationist Council of the Supreme Church Administration. On November 24, 1922, he was arrested, and in March 1923, the Prelate was exiled to Turkestan for two years and sent on a stage to Tashkent. The city of Perovsk was initially determined as the place of his stay, and from there he was sent into exile in the village of Kyzyl-Orda. The Saint lived in difficult conditions, suffered from scurvy, as a result of which he lost his teeth. In the middle of 1923, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was released from prison. He submitted lists of bishops to the authorities, without whom he could not manage the Church, including Bishop Peter. Thus Saint Tikhon was able to obtain a reduction in his exile, and in the summer of 1924 Father Peter's imprisonment ended. After his release, by the end of the year, he arrived in Moscow, there is a mention that for some time he ruled the Moscow diocese. On July 16, 1925, the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy (Polyansky; later glorified as a holy martyr), he was sent to Voronezh to help the elderly and ill Metropolitan Vladimir (Shimkevich) as a vicar. Bishop Peter served in the Trinity Church on Ternovaya Polyana and in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Protection of the Virgin Monastery. His divine services gathered a large number of believers who treated Vladyka with love and reverence. On November 23, 1925, Peter was called to Moscow and left Voronezh. On January 10, 1926, the bishop came to the funeral of Metropolitan Vladimir. The burial of the metropolitan grew into a gathering of believers who wished to see Bishop Peter on the Voronezh cathedra. The choice was approved in January 1926 by the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Sergius (Stargorodsky; later - Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'), and Father Peter was appointed to the Voronezh cathedra with the elevation to the rank of archbishop. The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius, told the people of Voronezh: “I am sending you the best preacher of the Russian Church.” Vladyka enjoyed great respect from the inhabitants of Voronezh, who revered him as the guardian of the purity of Orthodoxy. The churches where Vladyka served according to the Athonite Rule were always overcrowded. He did not like partes singing: the whole church sang with him. The people went to their archpastor continuously: those who entered Father Peter with a sad look came out radiant and comforted. A man of firm religious convictions and moral principles, Vladyka Peter was an excellent orator and preacher. His devout divine services in the church of the Aleksiyevo-Akatov monastery gathered many believers. Under Vladyka Peter, who enjoyed high authority and absolute trust of the flock, a mass return of believers, up to entire parishes, began from renovationism to the bosom of the patriarchal church. In this mission he co-served with Vladyka, exhorted the Renovationist priests and received their repentance from Fr. John Andreevsky (1875–1961), who later went to the Catacomb Church. Returning clergymen were accepted into Orthodoxy by Archbishop Peter through popular repentance. Anticipating the collapse of their hopes for an internal church split, the administration of the new government took retaliatory measures. Already at the end of January 1926, Vladyka Peter was summoned to the police station and questioned about his relationship with various groups of believers. Believers, fearing that their beloved Vladyka would be arrested, arranged round-the-clock duty near his apartment, repeatedly staged mass actions in support of him and in defense of him from administrative arbitrariness. A group of 10-12 Orthodox parishioners guarded the bishop day and night (he lived in a private house, not far from the monastery), the believers managed to get a meeting with the representative of the regional executive committee Sharov and the head of the local GPU Shevelev with the demand "not to disturb our archbishop." At another attempt in August to interrogate the bishop, about three hundred Orthodox followed him. As policeman Pustovalov testified in his report, four of the escorts broke into his office. Attempts to arrest the "instigators" ran into the fierce resistance of believing women. When Vladyka went on another call to the police or the GPU, up to 300 lay people accompanied him, demanding the freedom of the Saint. They told what impression Vladyka made on the employees of the GPU. Entering the interrogator's room, he looked around, as if looking for an icon. But not finding one, he crossed himself to the right corner, making a waist bow, and then he began a conversation with the investigator. Employees at his appearance involuntarily bared their heads. The last straw that overflowed the patience of the Soviet government was a telegram addressed to the 15th Party Conference, signed on behalf of the believers by nine workers. It said: “Through the local Voronezh GPU, Tuchkov demands the departure to Moscow of the only one elected by the people, our Orthodox Archbishop Peter (Zverev). Orthodox in the Voronezh province - 99% exclusively of workers and peasants. The call of the archbishop excites the believing workers, especially as a result of the rumors spread by the Renovationists about the expulsion of our archbishop. To prevent unrest among the faithful workers and the people, ask Tuchkov about the reasons for calling the archbishop…” The hope that the political leadership would listen to the opinion of the workers was futile. But, of course, the authorities did not leave such an action unanswered. It was an open rebellion, and the "guilty" of it themselves became martyrs for the faith. The new Soviet administration succeeded in November 1926 in arresting the saint. It was decided to immediately take him out of Voronezh. When Peter left for Moscow at the request of the authorities at the station, he was escorted by such a huge crowd of believers that “to prevent riots” not only the entire police force, but also the police school was involved ... On November 14, 1926, at a “broad non-party conference of workers” performance of condemnation of the authors of the letter in defense of Vladyka Peter. The local newspaper immediately broke into an article under the eloquent headline: “The Tsar's servant Archbishop Peter (Zverev) tried to provoke the Voronezh workers. A broad conference of workers demands an investigation into the provocative activities of Peter (Zverev).” The next day, the GPU, inspired by such a "hint", arrested Archbishop Peter without the sanction of the prosecutor. Soon they took the most active of his adherents. Vasily Siroshtan, a turner of the Otrozhensky railway workshops, acknowledged himself as the author of the telegram. Member of the CPSU(b) in 1919–1921 and “purged” for his religious beliefs, he was classified as one of the main perpetrators of the Voronezh upheaval. The interrogations of Bishop Peter were conducted by an employee of the secret political department A. V. Kazansky. Vladyka was accused of spreading counter-revolutionary rumors aimed at arousing distrust in the Soviet government and discrediting it, and inciting believers against the authorities. Questions were also asked about the attitude of the archbishop towards the late Patriarch Tikhon and Metropolitan Sergius: he did not know the first, he corresponded with the second, but did not support his position. Vladyka Peter mentioned that the thoughts of Metropolitan Sergius on the legalization of the Church and its peaceful cohabitation with the state were shared by Metropolitans Joseph (Petrovykh) and Seraphim (Chichagov), Bishops of Ryazan Boris (Sokolov) and Rylsky Pavlin (Kroshechkin; in 2000 he was canonized as a holy martyr) . In his activities, he himself was guided by the advice of Elder Nectarius from Optina Hermitage. At the same time as Vladyka Peter, ten more people ended up in a prison cell, among whom was the rector of the Alekseevsky Monastery, Archimandrite Innokenty (Beda). The archbishop had known Archimandrite Innokenty for a long time, and now they had to endure hardships together. The rest of those arrested were parishioners, known for their closeness to the head of the diocese, called “Black Hundreds” in the materials of the investigation. Archimandrite Nektary (Venediktov) and Archpriest John Veniaminov, who served together with the archbishop in the church of the Intercession Convent, were also deprived of their liberty, but their case was considered in isolation from the general one. On March 7, 1927, the investigation was completed, the archbishop did not admit his guilt in anything. On March 13, 1927, a special meeting at the OGPU collegium delivered a verdict in absentia. An employee of the postal and telegraph office P.T. Atamanov, Archimandrite Innokenty (Trouble), an employee of the Communist Trust I.M. Nemakhov and the painter of the railway workshops S.A. Tsykov ("a former student of the Moscow Art School, a former political exile") received three years in the camps; novices of the Pokrovsky nunnery Maria Barchenko and housewife Anna Budanova were sent to Central Asia for three years; baker G.I. Pushkin was sent to Kazakhstan for three years. Three more defendants were sentenced later: on March 22, 1927, V.E. Siroshtan received five years in prison, while Archbishop Piotr and D.K. Moskalev, deputy director of the railway polytechnic, were sentenced to 10 years in camps "for counter-revolutionary activities against the Soviet regime." Thus ended Vladyka's Voronezh ministry... It was his third arrest as a bishop, and Vladyka understood that there would not be a fourth. Solovki became a terrible and heroic place in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. There is a legend that at the beginning of the XVIII century. The Mother of God appeared to the Solovetsky monks who founded the skete on the island of Anzer, including the Monk Job-Jesus of Anzersky, and ordered them to found a church in the name of the Crucifixion of the Lord, and to call the mountain on which the skete stands “Second Golgotha”. This amazing and mysterious prophecy was fulfilled in the 1920s. The penal camp of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp was located in the skete. Few made it back alive. Vladyka Peter came here in October 1928. P.T. Atamanov, S.A. Tsykov, Archimandrite Innokenty and Archbishop Peter were serving time on the Solovetsky Islands. The fate of the first two is unknown. Archimandrite Innokenty, "companion and collaborator of Peter Voronezh", died on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, January 6, 1928, this can be seen from the official certificate sent from Solovki and filed in the investigative file. Archbishop Peter served his sentence together with Archbishop Nazarius (Kirillov) of Kursk, Archbishop Procopius (Titov; canonized as a holy martyr in 2000) and Bishop Grigory (Kozlov) of Caves. In the Solovetsky camps, Father Peter worked as an accountant at a food warehouse, where only the Orthodox clergy were employed to prevent theft. Even under these conditions, Vladyka strictly observed the rule of prayer and lived according to the church charter. After the departure of Hieromartyr Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky) from Solovki, Vladyka Peter was elected by the exiled bishops as the head of the Solovetsky Orthodox clergy and enjoyed high authority among them. At first, he had the opportunity to serve in the surviving church of Onufry the Great, and the Saint led secret services, and after the antimension was taken away, services were performed on the chest of Archbishop Peter. The writer Oleg Volkov, his fellow prisoner, recalls the last days of Vladyka Peter’s life: “The fate of the priests (sent to a punishment cell on the Zayatsky Islands) was then shared by Peter, Bishop of Voronezh. It was revenge on a man who had risen above the fuss in the midst of persecution and humiliation. Invulnerable because of the height of his moral character, even with a broom in his hands, in the role of a janitor or watchman, he inspired reverent respect. In front of him, the Vokhrovites themselves hung out, trained for gross impudence and mockery of the prisoners. When they met, they not only made way for him, but also did not refrain from greeting. To which he answered as always: he raised his hand and made the sign of the cross with a barely outlined sign. If he happened to pass by the big bosses, they, seeing him from afar, turned away, as if not noticing the Orthodox bishop - an insignificant "convict" ... The bosses in mirror-polished boots and deftly sitting jackets took independent poses: they gave in to the worthy calmness of the archbishop. It belittled them. And she took annoyance at her own cowardice, which made her look away. His Grace Peter walked slowly by, leaning lightly on his staff and not bowing his head. And against the background of the ancient monastery walls, it looked like a prophetic vision: the departing figure of the shepherd, as if leaving the earth, on which triumphant violence was established ... Bishop Peter was seized especially roughly, like a resisting criminal. And sent to the same Bunnies ... ". Soon the camp authorities took revenge on the man who had not been broken by it. In the winter of 1928, the holy martyr was sent to the island of Anzer "to a secluded and deserted place of residence." Here, living in the former Golgotha ​​skete, in a prayerful burning of the spirit, he wrote the Akathist to St. Herman of Solovetsky. In the winter of 1928-1929, a typhus epidemic broke out on Anzer, and half of the prisoners died from it - over five hundred people. The former church was turned into a hospital, but one where, according to A.I. Solzhenitsyn, "treated with death." At the end of 1928, Saint Peter fell ill with typhus, and in the cold of January he was placed in a typhoid hut, which was opened in the Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete on the island of Anzer. The saint fell ill for two weeks, and it even seemed that the crisis was over, but Vladyka was very weak and did not take food. On the day of the death of the Saint, a vision came to his spiritual son: at four in the morning he heard a noise, as if a flock of birds had flown in, he opened his eyes and saw the Holy Great Martyr Barbara with many virgins. She went to Vladyka's bedside and communed him with the Holy Mysteries. Evidence of the last moments of Vladyka Peter's earthly life has been preserved. Before his death, he was able to change into monastic clothes, brought to the camp with difficulty. Friends hoped that Vladyka would recover. However, on the evening of the day of his death, the hieromartyr several times wrote on the wall above the bunks with a pencil: “I no longer want to live, the Lord calls me to Himself.” On February 7, 1929, Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop of Voronezh died as a martyr in the Anzer Skete on Solovki. Initially, Vladyka was buried in a common grave, where all those who died from typhus were lowered. But the burial of Vladyka Peter was also a miracle. Against the prohibition of the authorities, a second burial was made, and in the end, Vladyka was buried in a separate grave. On the fifth day, the prisoners secretly opened a common grave and, according to the story of the nun Arsenia, who was present there: “All the dead lay black, and Vladyka lay ... in a shirt, with his arms folded on his chest, as white as boiled.” After Vladyka was dressed in bishop's robes, the camp clergy performed a funeral service. Three exiled priests were buried, and all three of them signed the permit. One nun asked why they were doing this, the same ones answered: “When they find his relics, they will also learn about us sinners.” That's how they learned in 1999 about Father Konstantin from St. Petersburg, Father Vasily from Barnaul and Father Dimitri from Tver... A cross was placed over the grave. Saint Peter was buried in a separate grave at the foot of the Anzerskaya Mount Golgotha, opposite the altar of the church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. When the grave was already filled up, a pillar of light appeared above it, in which they saw the Lord, who blessed everyone. His holy relics were found during excavations on June 17, 1999. As a locally venerated saint of the Voronezh diocese, Saint Peter was canonized in 1999. And at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, Archbishop Peter (Zverev) was canonized as a Hieromartyr and numbered among the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Troparion to the Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev) voice 4 By fiery faith to the Apostle Peter, likewise by hearing the call of Christ three times, you laid down your soul for Him, the holy hierarch Father Peter, a firm stone of the Orthodox Church: shine in the darkness of iniquities with virtues, with the joy of suffering for Christ deigned to endure Thou art co-confessors and martyrs of Russia. Pray with them for us, Bishop of God, Hieromartyr Solovetsky. Kontakion to the Hieromartyr Peter (Zverev), voice 8 In your hierarchship, you labored well, O God-wise, and you were lightly adorned with a crown of martyrdom, you were not afraid of the rebuke of Christ’s enemies, you sanctified the earth with your blood in your father Anzerstem: therefore, for the sake of the power of heaven, marveling at your patience, we are with By faith and love, we flow to your holy relics, venerable one. Now, with all the Solovetsky saints, pray for us to Christ God, all-blessed Peter, let us call you: Rejoice, ever-memorable Father.