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Birthday anniversary of the bishop of Tobolsk and Siberia, saint martyr and Russian confessor Hermogenes
April 25, 1858 in the family of a priest in Kherson diocese, was born the future Bishop Hermogenes (secular name Georgiy Efremovich Dolganev).
He received his secondary education in the seminary, having obtained school-leaving certificate at the classical school, which enabled him to enter the Novorossiysk University's law faculty. After graduation in 1889, the future Bishop Hermogenes entered St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, where he took his monastic vows in the rank of the monk with the name of Hermogenes.
At the end of the seminary course, in 1893, the young monk Hermogenes was appointed inspector to Tiflis Theological Seminary. Having quickly mastered the Georgian language, in 1898, Hermogenes was appointed rector of Tiflis Theological Seminary. During the short period of being the rector, he had missionary discussions with the population of the outskirts, established church schools.
The Holy Synod, having taken note of the monk Hermogenes, in 1901, in Moscow, ordained him the Bishop of Volsk, Vicar of the Diocese of Saratov.
During the ten years of Bishop Hermogenes’ service, at the department of Saratov over fifty temples were built, an orphanage opened, where fifty boys-orphans were brought up.
Bishop Hermogenes transformed and expanded the diocesan press organ - "Saratovsky Dukhovny Vestnir” and created the weekly “Bratsky Listok”.
In defending the inviolability of Church canons, Bishop Hermogenes came into conflict with the Holy Synod, which led to his dismissal from Saratov diocese. Hermogenes was sent to live in Belarus, in Zhyrovichy Dormition Monastery, near the city of Grodno.
After the February Revolution in 1917, he was appointed Bishop of Tobolsk. Bishop Hermogenes created the "Orthodox Church Community of Unity of the Clergy and Laity," and almost daily took part in the cathedral service. His assistant was a longtime friend that he worked with in Tiflis and Saratov, Bishop of Berezovo, Irinarkh.
Tobolsk period of life of Bishop Hermogenes coincided with the Tobolsk exile of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II Romanov and his family. On Palm Sunday, April 15, 1918, the bishop organized a religious procession in defense of the imperial family. The authorities did not dare to publicly arrest of Bishop Hermogenes, and arrested him the next day. The bishop was brought to Yekaterinburg on 18 April, 1918, and he was put in prison, near Sennaya Square, near the Church of St. Simeon. In prison, the saint read or wrote, but mainly prayed and sang hymns. He read mostly the New Testament and the lives of the saints.
June 12, 1918, Bishop Hermogenes was sent to Tyumen, and then - in Tobolsk, down the River Tura, on a ship. Near the village of Pokrovskoye, Bolsheviks engaged in battle with the Whites. During the battle, on the orders of the commander, all prisoners, including Bishop Hermogenes, were thrown alive in the river with a stone around their necks.
Disciple of Bishop Hermogenes, Bishop Irinarkh, identified his teacher’s body and arranged burial of the remains at the North aisle of St. Sophia Assumption Cathedral of the city of Tobolsk.
In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Reverend Hermogenes.
During the restoration work in the territory of the Tobolsk Kremlin, in 2005, the burial place and imperishable remains of Bishop Hermogenes were uncovered. A special church commission of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexis II, surveyed the relics of theNew Martyr and Confessor of Russia.
Lit.: Большая Тюменская энциклопедия. Т. 1. А-З. Тюмень, 2004. С. 314; Гермоген, епископ Тобольский и Сибирский. Архипастырь — мученик // Сибирский листок. 1912-1919. Тюмень, 2003. С. 512-514; Петрушин А. Возвращение Святого Гермогена // Родина. 2005. № 12. С. 77; Петрушин А. Тайны епископа Гермогена // Мир Севера. 2004. № 1. С. 17-24; О канонизации Священномученика Гермогена Долганева (1858-1918) Епископа Тобольского и Сибирского [Электронный ресурс] // Сибирская православная газета. 2015. URL: http://www.ihtus.ru/sm5.shtml; Тобольский биографический словарь / авт.-сост.: В. Ю. Софронов, Ю. П. Прибыльский. Екатеринбур, 2004. С. 114-116; Священномученик Гермоген, епископ Тобольский и Сибирский [Электронный ресурс] // Тобольско-Тюменская епархия. 2007-2015. URL: http://www.tobolsk-eparhia.ru/p/pages.php?id=t04_3.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
The material provided by the branch of the Presidential Library in Tyumen region