ST. ANDREW KHRISANFOV (+ 1978) 

By Vladimir Moss

Fr. Andrew Khrisanfovich Khrisanfov was born in 1890 in the village of Ap-Temyashi, M-Yalchinsky region, Bashkiria. From 1916 to 1917 he was in the army. In 1922 he became a reader in his native village, and during the renovationist schism he was delegated by the parishes to Moscow with a letter for Patriarch Tikhon, who ordained him to the priesthood. (According to another source, in October, 1926 he was ordained by Bishop Abraham of Syzran.) In March, 1929 he broke communion with Metropolitan Sergius and joined the exiled Bishop Habbakuk. After the arrest of the dean, Fr. Sergius Orlov, Fr. Andrew was appointed in his place. On October 7, 1931 he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, and from April 5, 1932 was under investigation for being “one of the initiators and leaders of the counter-revolutionary organization, the Union of the Orthodox Church”. On October 28, 1932 he and five other priests who thought like him were condemned and cast into Alatyr prison. On November 30 – December 1, 1938 he was given a fresh sentence: “A.Kh. Khrisanfov is subjected to deprivation of liberty for 10 years with deprivation of rights for 5 years taking into account his previous imprisonment from December 11, 1937”. On being released, he went underground, serving numerous communities of the True Orthodox Church in Chuvashia and other regions. He did not recognize the Moscow Patriarchate. He died on April 21, 1978. After his death, his community was served by Fr. Nicetas Lekhan, who received from Fr. Andrew his antimins signed by Patriarch Tikhon himself, his altar Gospel and his cross. Now the community of the Fr. Andrew belongs to the Russian True Orthodox Church under Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia.