This week in Christian history: John Sumner becomes Canterbury archbishop, anti-Soviet activist arrested, Catherine of Siena dies
Natalia Ivanovna Sundukova arrested by Soviet officials – April 28, 1939
This week marks the anniversary of when Natalia Ivanovna Sundukova, an Orthodox Christian activist and martyr, was arrested by authorities in Stalinabad, Tajikistan.
The daughter of an Orthodox Church priest, Sundukova was charged with and later admitted to being a leader in a counterrevolutionary organization known as the True Orthodox Church.
“Her agitation was directed against the measures of the Soviet government: elections to the councils, Soviet holidays, the leaders of the party and government,” according to court documents quoted by the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.
“She engaged in the same activities in the village of Alyoshino, from where she was exiled to Stalinabad under the aforementioned article.”
Sundukova was eventually sentenced to five years in prison for her actions. In 1942, she and 10 other women at a prison camp were shot for allegedly distributing anti-Soviet literature.
In August 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized her as a saint.
