Father Vladimir, the future hieromartyr, belonged to an ancient and impoverished line of Polish nobility, the Lozino-Lozinskys, who had assimilated into Russian society and adopted the Orthodox faith. Among Vladimir’s ancestors were not just noblemen but also priests.
His parents, however, had been influenced in their youth by the revolutionary ideals of the Narodnaya Volya movement. When Vladimir was born in 1885, those fervent convictions had cooled. His father, Konstantin Stepanovich, a district doctor in Dukhovshchina, Smolensk Province, admitted, “I lacked the necessary bitterness for revolutionary struggle.” Shunning violence, he chose instead to heal.
Vladimir’s mother, Varvara Karlovna, came from a wealthy and noble background. Educated at the women’s medical courses of the Nicholas Military Hospital, she shared her fiancé's dream of a better Russia. Tragically, when Vladimir was just three, Varvara died of typhus, contracted from a patient.
Konstantin Stepanovich, now a single father, relocated to St Petersburg with his two sons, taking a position as a physician at the Putilov Factory. The boys missed their mother dearly, but a kind and loving woman, whom their father married, filled the void. Their home, reflecting the era’s general lukewarmness toward church life, observed religious practices minimally — fasting during Great Lent and participating in confession and communion only during Holy Week.
Vladimir, a bright and eager student, thrived in his studies. He graduated from the gymnasium of the Imperial Society for the Protection of the Poor and went on to study law at St Petersburg University while attending classes at the Archaeological Institute.
Commemorative badge of the Imperial Society for the Protection of the Poor
At twenty-five, he joined the Governing Senate, serving as an assistant to the chief secretary of the 2nd (Peasant) Department. He held the rank of titular counsellor and dedicated four years to this role until World War I broke out. Though his health prevented him from enlisting as a soldier, he volunteered with the Russian Red Cross Society. As the assistant commander of the Petrograd sanitary motor column, he oversaw the transportation of the wounded from railway stations in St Petersburg to the city’s hospitals. He worked hard, around the clock, not so much out of a sense of duty as out of the compassion and mercy — from both his parents, also district doctors — that he embodied. In recognition of his services during the war, Vladimir was decorated with the Order of St Stanislaus, 3rd Class.
In November 1916, his younger brother Alexei, a gifted poet and translator of the Silver Age, tragically ended his own life. This devastating loss profoundly affected Vladimir, sparking deep soul-searching within him. As he grappled with the meaning of life amidst immense grief, he ultimately found himself drawn towards a higher purpose — a path lit by faith and the promise of hope.
In 1917, life across the vast expanse of Russia was upended. Vladimir Konstantinovich found work as a statistician for the Moscow-Rybinsk Railway. The winds of change brought with them a chilling new reality — open persecution of the Church. Vladimir witnessed the arrest and eventual execution of Father Alexander Vasilyev, rector of the Feodorov Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo. Father Alexander, once a spiritual guide to the Royal Family and a close friend of the Lozino-Lozinsky family, was executed alongside the entire cathedral clergy.
Archpriest Alexander Vasilyev with Tsarevich Alexei
This tragedy weighed heavily on Vladimir. What had long been a quiet calling — the priesthood — now felt like an urgent duty. He even dreamed, deep within, of suffering for Christ and His Church. His relatives, however, were uneasy, believing that such a path would be nothing short of madness in the current climate.
In 1918, the authorities shut down the Spiritual Academy. Two years later, the Petrograd Theological Institute opened its doors, and Vladimir enrolled as a student. That same autumn, he petitioned for ordination. By November, he was serving as a cleric at the university church of Saints Peter and Paul — a church that would itself be shuttered by 1929. In 1921, he became rector of the Church of All Saints, Shining in the Land of Russia, housed in a building on Birzhevaya Line in Petrograd.
At thirty-six, Vladimir entered the priesthood unmarried. Sensitive yet resolute, he dedicated himself entirely to his ministry. His warmth and sincerity won over his parishioners, who came to trust and love him deeply.
Holy Martyr Vladimir Lozina-Lozinsky
Among Father Vladimir’s relatives is preserved an icon of Saint Prince Vladimir the Great. Parishioners gifted this icon to him on his name day, inscribed on the back: “To the deeply respected and beloved shepherd Father Vladimir Lozino-Lozinsky from the first parishioners of the humble University Church of All Saints, Shining in the Russian Church, with heartfelt wishes to forever preserve in his soul that sacred fire with which he has drawn to the hearts of his flock. City of Petrograd. July 15, 1921.”
The trials that befell him never extinguished that sacred fire. Father Vladimir’s endurance and steadfast faith became sermons in themselves.
His first arrest came during the winter of 1924. At that time, the OGPU (State Political Directorate) fabricated charges against Orthodox brotherhoods, of which there were twenty in Petrograd. These brotherhoods, established by the resolution of the Local Council of 1917-1918, aimed to protect church property, reclaim what had been seized, and support the persecuted. Engaging in charitable, missionary, and educational activities, they were significant, active bodies. The authorities believed dismantling them would strengthen the Renewalist movement within the Church. Bishop Manuel (Lemeshensky), leading the diocese, stood as a thorn in their side due to his firm and knowledgeable resistance.
The investigation lumped all the brotherhoods together under the ominous label of the “Counter-Revolutionary Organisation,” implicating Bishop Manuel (Lemeshensky) as its mastermind.
Bishop Manuel (Lemeshevsky)
Father Vladimir and Bishop Manuel, along with several other clergymen, were arrested. Yet, the priest’s release followed swiftly, secured through the intervention of his relatives. During his interrogations, his legal training shone through; his testimonies were cautious, well-considered, and articulate.
A year later, Father Vladimir was arrested again. This time, he was swept up in a wave of arrests targeting graduates of the prestigious Imperial Alexander Lyceum. They were accused of being part of a “monarchist conspiracy” — specifically for holding memorial services for the slain imperial family. Thirty-four received death sentences, later commuted to ten years in the Solovetsky special purpose camp.
Much has been written about Solovki. The conditions were brutal, yet Father Vladimir bore them with quiet dignity. Far from succumbing to despair, he became a source of strength for his fellow prisoners. He connected with everyone, lifting spirits with a joke or engaging in deep discussions about faith, modern philosophy, and literature, often using his poetry to reinforce his sermons. Leading by example, he encouraged others to accept humility, reminding them that they carried their crosses by divine will.
Amidst the camp’s deprivations, Father Vladimir retained an air of refinement. Fellow prisoners described him vividly: “Slender and poised, with a neatly trimmed beard, he stood apart by his very appearance. His dignified manners and habits never wavered — not even when he was handing out reeking herring at the food stall, sorting parcels, or scrubbing lavatories. Yet his natural warmth, gentle smile, and, above all, the deep love for humanity that radiated from him dissolved any sense of difference, making Father Vladimir one of their own among the clergy.”
Journalist Gennady Khomyakov, writing under the pseudonym Andreev, painted an even more striking portrait: “Father Vladimir is so luminous, so full of kindness and joy, that he seems untouched by sin — untarnished by anything. He came to Solovki not out of guilt but out of love: his friends, former students of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, asked him to hold a memorial service for Nicholas II. He agreed — and so he came here with them.”
In this harsh landscape, Vladimir continued to write poetry. His response to the “Internationale” came when Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky) died in the prison hospital.
Above this fearful, raging throng,
Where sin, deceit, and vanity swell —
We build a city proud and strong,
Our world where Cross and virtue dwell.
The hour of judgment soon will come,
For years of blood and cruel strife,
When He, once crucified, will rise,
And God returns to grant new life.
From dark and troubled times they came,
With fear and final threat,
From deepest night the souls reclaim,
For Christ, their seal is set.
The suffering God, the crucified,
Accepts their earthly plight,
His angel, wings spread open wide.
Arising in the city fair,
Rejoicing, free of every care,
With songs of praise up on the air
Their hallelujahs, everywhere.
His compassionate and proactive family had his sentence reduced to exile in Siberia. In November 1928, he was sent in stages to a remote village 150 kilometres from Bratsk. By 1933, he returned to Leningrad but was denied residency. He found refuge in Novgorod, where he swiftly became rector of the Cathedral of Archangel Michael.
In Novgorod, his life took on an almost saintly quality. He thought little of himself, pouring all his energy, knowledge, and spiritual devotion into serving others. For three years, he lived this way: selflessly and entirely for those around him.
Cathedral of Archangel Michael in Novgorod
In 1936, Father Vladimir was taken under the guise of needing a psychiatric examination. While the examination did occur, it did not spare him from a tragic end. The medical report noted: “Tall, well-proportioned, undernourished; skin flabby and wrinkled. Anaemic... A small goitre on the right side. Middle finger missing on the left foot. Scar from a previous operation on the front of the right shoulder. Indented scar under the left shoulder blade from a former bedsore. Many teeth missing. Heart — myocarditis, scattered wheezing in the lungs... Consciousness clear... Fearful ideas centred mainly on his family, believing they suffer and endure torment because of him.”
The case against the “Party of People’s Democracy” reopened. Of all those arrested, only Father Vladimir refused to confess to the charges or implicate others. He alone received a death sentence.
On 26 December 1937, Father Vladimir’s life came to an end. The whereabouts of his final resting place are still unknown. In 2000, the Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church canonised Priest Vladimir Konstantinovich Lozin-Lozinsky as a Hieromartyr. The luminous example of Father Vladimir — his talents, ascetic existence, and the path he walked as a martyr — reassures us that a life dedicated to Christ is achievable when built on profound faith and unfailing trust in the Lord.
