Barsonuphius, Bishop And Hieroconfessor Of Nikolsk

Hieroconfessor Barsonuphius, in the world Basil Vikhvelin, was born on October 14, 1864 in St. Petersburg province. He finished his studies at a gymnasium in 1897 and the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in the rank of hieromonk with the degree of candidate of theology in 1901. He was appointed assistant of the overseer of the Slutsk theological school in the same year. In 1903 he was appointed inspector of the Archangelsk theological seminary, and then superior of the Verkolsky monastery with promotion to the rank of archimandrite in 1907. He was consecrated Bishop of Kemi, a vicariate of the Archangelsk diocese on August 26, 1910, Bishop of Pinega from February 14, 1913, Bishop of Kargopol from November 13, 1913. On September 14, 1921 he was made Bishop of Nikolsk, a vicariate of the Vologda diocese. In 1923, he was arrested in Velikij Ustyug and exiled to Moscow, where he lived until 1925. On December 10, 1925 he was arrested in Moscow in connection with the affair of Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) and sentenced to three years' exile in Siberia. From July, 1926 to 1929 he was in exile in Irkutsk province. From March, 1929 (according to another source, 1926) he was living in Vologda province as Bishop of Nikolsk. He separated from Metropolitan Sergius and lived in Olonetsk diocese until 1929. In the autumn of 1929 he settled in Petrograd, becoming close to the Catacomb Church Archbishop Demetrius. He was arrested in 1930 in Archangelsk region (?) and sent into exile in Vologda region. He died on August 6, 1934.

(Sources: M.V. Shkvarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg: Memorial, 1999, pp. 277-78; I.I. Osipova, "Skvoz' Ogn' Muchenij i Vody Slyoz…", Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, p. 256)