 In April 1992 Benjamin was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church together with several other martyrs, including Archimandrite Sergius (Shein), Professor Yury Novitsky, and John Kovsharov (a lawyer), who were murdered with him.Benjamin was born to a priestly family in the pogost (village) of Nimenskii in the Andreevskii volost of the Kargopol uezd near Arkhangelsk in the Olonets Governorate in the northwest of the Russian empire.He graduated from the Olonets Theological Seminary in 1893 and earned his candidate of theology degree from the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy in 1897, defending a thesis on Archbishop Arcadius of Olonets' anti-heretical activities.