Holy Martyr John Orlov

Ivan Orlov is the son of a priest from the village of Lyubuchan, Podolsky district of the Moscow province. In 1897, being 16 years old, he graduated from the Perervinsky Theological School, and in 1903 - the Moscow Theological Seminary.

He was ordained a priest and served in the Trinity Church in the village of Troitskoye-on-Istra, Zvenigorod district of the Moscow province, not far from the city of Voskresensk, which in Soviet times was called Istra.

In the late 1930s. Local authorities decided to close the Trinity Church. The chairman of the village council sold the building of a local school to a person under the cottage, and he decided to place the school in the building of the Trinity Church. O. John, together with the community of the temple, filed a complaint about the actions of the chairman of the village council, the commission dismantled the case and ordered the chairman of the village council to terminate the contract for the sale of the school building, and thus it was possible to defend the church from the closure.

In 1937, two priests served in the Trinity Church - Alexander Mashkov and John Orlov and Deacon Peter Troitsky. The headman of the temple was Mikhail Stepanovich Stroyev. On November 7, 1937, the NKVD employees arrested the father of Alexander Mashkov, he stipulated himself and testified against his meetings.

On November 18, 1937, Priest John Orlov, Deacon Peter Troitsky and Starost, Mikhail Straev, were arrested as "participants of the group under the leadership of the priest Alexander Mashkov." The investigator questioned Fr. John.

- You are arrested as a participant in the counter -revolutionary group. Give testimony on this issue.
“I am not a member of the counter -revolutionary group,” the priest answered.
- Do you know the now arrested NKVD Mashkov?
- Alexander Ilyich Mashkov, a priest of the Trinity Church, I have known well since 1911.
- The testimonies of the accused Mashkov are convicted as a participant in the counter -revolutionary group. Give testimony on this issue.
- I am not a member of the counter -revolutionary group.
- The investigation invites you to be true and testify to your participation in the counter -revolutionary group.
- I declare that I am not a member of the counter -revolutionary group.
- You are read out the testimony of the accused Mashkov. Do you confirm them?
- I do not confirm the testimony of the accused Mashkov.

For several days, the investigator interrogated the priest, but Father John categorically refused to find himself guilty and did not specify anyone. On November 27, 1937, the Troika of the NKVD sentenced Father John to ten years in a forced labor camp.

Priest John Orlov died on March 7, 1938 in the Mariinsky camp in the Kemerovo region and was buried in an unknown grave.