Crucea.ro

Archimandrite Cronid, in the world Constantine Petrovich Lyubimov, was born on May 13, 1859 in the village of Levkievo, Volokolamsk uyezd, Moscow province to the pious sacristan Peter Fyodorovich and his wife Agatha Vasilyevna. His mother prayed that one of her children would become a monastic, and his father took particular care over the education of the children.
Constantine went to the Volokolamsk theological school, but did not finish the course, having decided to become a monk. He entered the Holy Trinity Lavra in 1877, and on February 2, 1883 became a novice, being appointed as the cell-attendant of the superior, Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin). On March 28, 1888 he was tonsured in the Gethsemane skete, on September 25, 1889 was ordained to the diaconate, and on May 23, 1892 – to the priesthood. He was then appointed overseer of lithography and photography, and from 1896 – overseer of the school of iconography attached to the Lavra, which he greatly improved. He was a member of the examining board for candidates to the priesthood, and from 1902 – assistant treasurer of the Lavra and a member of the spiritual council. In 1904 he was appointed inspector of the diocesan school of iconography and a member of its council. On January 17, 1905 he was made steward of the Lavra’s podvorye in St. Petersburg, and in the course of a year completely transformed it. On May 11, 1905 he was raised to the rank of igumen, and on May 9, 1908 – to the rank of archimandrite, while remaining in the St. Petersburg podvorye. On January 9, 1915 he was appointed superior of the Lavra. He was a fine spiritual father and preacher. Grand-Duchess Elizabeth asked him to be her spiritual father. He was a member of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917-18, and from 1918 – a member of the patriarchal administration.
In the autumn of 1918 there began the confiscation of the Lavra’s property. Fr. Cronid was removed from the post of superior by the Bolsheviks.
The monks were expelled from the Lavra on November 3, 1919, and Fr. Cronid followed on January 26. On May 7, 1920 there took place the final sealing of the Lavra.
In 1920 Fr. Cronid was living in the house of a church warden in the village of Bratovschina, Moscow province, but in 1922 returned to the Gethsemane skete. In 1926 he moved to the skete of the Paraclete in Sergiev Posad, and from 1929 lived in the town itself. He helped many people returning from exile, and continued to look after his spiritual children, who in turn looked after his material needs. According to his case records, by 1937 he had returned from exile himself.
On November 21, 1937, already blind and weak, Fr. Cronid was arrested in Sergiev Posad and cast into the Taganka prison in Moscow. He was accused of leading illegal monasteries and “a counter-revolutionary monarchist group”
that included Protopriest Demetrius Fyodorovich Bayanov, Elder Hippolytus Yakovlev (the spiritual father of the Lavra) and Igumen Nicodemus. He was sentenced to be shot in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. When interrogated about his attitude to Soviet power, Fr. Cronid replied: “By conviction I am a monarchist to the present time, and the monks have been educated in the same spirit by me. They must be followers of the True Orthodox Church.” However, he thrice refused to name them. Fifteen people passed through “the Case of Archimandrite Cronid and others, Zagorsk, 1937”.
Besides Fr. Cronid, there were nine former inmates of the Holy Trinity Lavra, Protopriest Demetrius, two priests, a nun and a church warden. Eleven were shot, and four received sentences of ten years in the corrective-labour camps.
In 1938 there were two more cases were fabricated as a continuation of this case among the clergy and monastics of Sergiev Posad – sixteen people were charged. Fr. Cronid himself was shot at Butovo on December 10, 1937.

via Vladmir Moss