On a frosty winter's day — 21 of January — the Church commemorates the Hieromartyr Dmitry Plyshyevski. This future priest of the Minsk diocese entered the world on the 26th of October, in the village of Dubinets, Pinsk district — some records say 1883, others 1880. He was the son of Ioann Plyshyevski, not just a clergyman but part of a long line of priests. Thus, before the young man lay a familiar and well-trodden path: seminary, ordination, and a life in service.
Dmitry graduated from the Minsk Theological Seminary in 1905 and soon married. His ordination followed without delay. Father Dmitry began his ministry at the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Ostrozhanka in the Mozyr district, Minsk province. In 1908, he received a new posting. This time, it was to the Church of the Great Martyr George in the same district, in the village of Lyadets. Serving there for seven years, he shared in the lives and prayers of his parishioners. His next parish, in 1915, was the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Omgovichi, Bobruisk district. Two years passed amid parish concerns and prayers for peace, as war raged and life grew increasingly troubled. In 1917, Father Dmitry was transferred to the church in the village of Uzlyany in the Igumen district. Around that time, he was awarded the nabedrennik.
Church of St. George the Victory-Bearer, where Hieromartyr Dimitri Plyshevsky served (village of Lyadets, Stolin District, Brest Region, Belarus)
In Uzlyany, he lived through the revolutionary years and the sudden, widespread persecution of Christians that followed. He too became a victim of this harassment, arrested in 1930 because he could not pay the exorbitant, impossibly high tax imposed on the church. His wife, Alexandra Pavlovna, went from house to house, collecting signatures from parishioners in his defence. She simply could not accept what was happening to her husband. Father Dmitry spent several weeks in prison, enduring a hellish ordeal. Like the early Christian martyrs, he was beaten and forced to remove his cross. He returned home with only one tooth left, but with the cross still on his chest.
Soon after, the church in Uzlyany was closed, as were many churches in Belarus. Father Dmitry then served as a second priest at the Saint Nicholas Church in the village of Smolevichy in the Borisov district of Minsk province. He treasured his ministry as his calling. A true shepherd, he showed rare selflessness. Not only in church but also in everyday life, he wore his cassock, despite the risk. Having gone through trials, the priest, in the intimacy of his family circle, would say that oppression and threats from the authorities did not frighten him, and he would not renounce the Church.
Church of Saint Nicholas in Smolevichy
On 26 September 1937, Father Dmitry was arrested once more. He was charged with being part of a "counterrevolutionary insurgent spy network." Father Dmitry let acquaintances read the Lives of the Saints, which officials classed as anti-Soviet literature. His connection with Bishop Filaret (Ramensky), who was then in an NKVD [Soviet secret police] prison, also contributed to his arrest.
Bishop Philaret (Ramensky)
There were only two interrogations. Throughout both, Father Dmitry remained patient and dignified. Here is the transcript from the interrogation on 25 October 1937:
"Question: You are accused of participating in a counter-revolutionary insurgent spy organisation. Tell the investigation the truth!
Answer: I do not recognise myself as guilty of the charges presented against me.
Question: The investigation has established that you were recruited into the counter-revolutionary organisation. I demand again that you openly tell us about your counter-revolutionary activities!
Answer: I was not recruited into any counter-revolutionary organisation and did not engage in any counter-revolutionary activities.
Question: That is a blatant lie! You were recruited into a counter-revolutionary organisation by Bishop Philaret (Ramensky).
Answer: That never happened; neither Ramensky nor anyone else recruited me into a counter-revolutionary organisation."
Father Dmitry was taken into custody together with parishioners of the Smolevichi church: Adam Semyonovich Popkovich from the village of Nikolaevichi in the Zabolotsky council, Grigory Frantsevich Rozum from Chernikovshchina village, and Rodion Vasilyevich Yakubitsky from Smolevichy. They formed the church council, which led to their arrest. Each was sentenced to ten years in a labour camp.
On 19 November 1937, an NKVD troika of the Belarusian SSR [an extrajudiciary body of the secret police] sentenced Priest Dmitry Ivanovich Plyshyevski to death. He was executed in Minsk on 19 January 1938. Father Dmitry's burial place remains unknown — he lies in an unmarked mass grave.
On 28 October 1999, the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church canonised Holy Hieromartyr Dmitry among the locally venerated saints. A year later, the Archpastoral Jubilee Council of the Russian Orthodox Church included Father Dmitry’s name in the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for veneration throughout the Church.
Holy Hieromartyr Father Dmitry, pray to God for us!