Sampson Sievers

Sampson Sievers, (born Edward Sievers, Russian: Эдуард Сиверс) July 10, 1900 – August 24, 1979 was a Russian Orthodox Christian elder, hieromonk, priest, confessor of Russian patriarch and higher clergy, and mystic of English ancestry, who was imprisoned and sent to Soviet concentration camps.

Early years and family

Edward Sievers was born July 10, (June 27 by Old Style), 1900 in Saint Petersburg. His mother was Mabel Annie Sievers (born Gare), an educated English woman. His father, Jasper Sievers, is of Holsatian origin and was the head of the military headquarters of general Ruzskiy who commanded the Northern District at Riga. He was also a personal friend and adviser of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II.

On July 23, 1900, Edward was baptised at the Anglican church of Saint Petersburg by local Anglican priest William A. Macloid. The baptism protocol from the Anglican church says that the family resided at Malaya Italyanskaya (Little Italian) street in Saint Petersburg.

Sievers finished Saint Petersburg Reform (Protestant) Gymnasium (Realschule) in 1916.