The holy martyrs, to whom Orthodox believers pray, help in various endeavors and troubles. One of the big problems for a family is the inability to have children, despite their passionate desire and effort.
Prayer to Alexander Svirsky refers to such intimate conversations with God. This man lived a bright life full of blessings and miracles, and after his death he was honored to be numbered among the saints. Very often, clergy say to families wishing to conceive a child, “Pray to Alexander of Svirsky.”
Icon of St. Alexander of Svirsky
Brief biography of the saint
The wonderworker Alexander Svirsky was born on June 15, 1448 and was named Amos - in honor of the Old Testament prophet. His parents were deeply religious peasants from the village of Mandera in the Novgorod region. Their names were Stefan and Vassa. For many years the couple could not have children, and only after praying to God asking for help did they find an heir at an advanced age.
Even in early childhood, the future prophet was distinguished by his special spirituality, piety and kindness. His parents tried to give him a good education for those times, sending him to school to study literacy. At a young age, they tried to arrange Amos’s personal life, seeing in him a continuation of the family line. But the heart and soul of the saint, from childhood, completely belonged to the Lord.
Depiction of the vision of the Holy Trinity
Having reached adulthood, Amos secretly left home and, together with monks passing by the village, went to Valaam. After seven years of hard work, he took monastic vows and took a new name - Alexander. At that time, the future miracle worker was 26 years old. It was then that the parents learned about their son’s whereabouts and came to meet him. After a long conversation, Alexander was able to console and encourage them, and convey to them the Word of God. After meeting their son, Stefan and Vassa took monastic vows in the northern monastery and became Sergius and Varvara.
The prophet spent another 7 years on Valaam, building a cell in a rock crevice. Nowadays, you can see there a beautiful monastery in the name of St. Alexander of Svirsky with a majestic white-stone church.
Upon returning to his native land, the saint built a cell and began to lead a solitary ascetic lifestyle. He brought with him not only faith in the Lord, but also much new knowledge. The monk provided enormous assistance in treating people, raising seemingly incurable patients to their feet. Monks began to visit the cell more and more often, and over time a monastery grew around Alexander’s refuge. In 1508, the saint accepted the priesthood and the rank of hegumen there, calling the monastery the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Members of the royal family often visited her, and even Ivan the Terrible visited the monk and asked him for advice. Soon after this, the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity was built. Shortly before his death, Alexander Svirsky completed the construction of the Intercession Church, for which he was blessed by the Mother of God herself. The elder died at the age of eighty-six in 1533, and 14 years later he was canonized and named venerable.
Life of Alexander Svirsky
The earthly journey of Alexander Svirsky begins in the forests of the Ladoga region, this is a territory slightly north of St. Petersburg, closer to Karelia.
It was there that a boy was born in 1448, named Amos at birth. At a fairly early age he goes to Valaam and takes refuge. For many days he prays in a separate cave. Thanks to humility and his prayerful deeds, the ascetic reached incredible spiritual heights.
After his solitude on Valaam, Saint Alexander goes to the forests near the Svir River. Actually, thanks to this, he received an addition to his name. Having settled there, he creates a small cell where he continues his prayerful deeds.
Note! The ascetic’s parents were unable to conceive for a long period and prayed a lot, so the child was a gift from the Lord and, amazingly, from an early age he experienced a great interest in serving Him.
The monk was in absolute solitude in distant forests, where there were practically no people. As the legend says, in 1507 he received a great gift; the Lord appeared to him in his three forms.
It must be said that for an Orthodox person such a vision is truly something incredible.
A believer can see the Holy Trinity on icons, comprehend with his mind the trinity of the Lord, but in the mortal world this phenomenon was observed with their own eyes only by the Old Testament Abraham and Alexander of Svirsky, to whom the Lord appeared in his cell in the form of an indescribable light and his three hypostases.
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The holiness that filled the space attracted other monks. Therefore, they managed to find the ascetic in a distant retreat and joined him. Thanks to this, the Holy Trinity Alexander-Svirsky Monastery was created, in which ascetics still pray.
From the very beginning, the ascetic was revered by the rulers of the country, he was considered the intercessor of the entire Russian autocracy, therefore the prayer to Alexander Svirsky for his homeland and faith was heard from the lips of all the kings of Russia.
Everyone came to the monastery to worship and give various offerings to the monastery. Only Nicholas II did not particularly favor the Svirsk monastery and did not go there to worship. Whether his fate is a coincidence with this fact or a consequence is a debatable question.
Finding the relics
The elder died in 1533, and after only 14 years the Svir miracle worker received the rank of saint in the Orthodox Church.
This period is extremely short for being considered a saint. As a rule, the church collects various facts and evidence, and a lot of time passes before the ascetic begins to be revered as a saint, even if there are significant reasons for this.
The holiness of this elder was obvious to everyone: both to the common people, who considered him a spiritual mentor, and to the authorities, and to the church hierarchs.
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108 years after his repose, the relics of Alexander were removed by the monks of the monastery from a rotten coffin. Only the coffin itself had rotted, but the body remained untouched; moreover, the monk looked calmly sleeping. After this, the relics are transferred to an open sarcophagus in the monastery church and left for worship.
Saints exist outside of time; they can often clearly see the future. After the death of their own body, they continue to help believers, praying for them while remaining in an incorporeal form.
The body also often becomes part of a religious tradition, in particular when it comes to incorruptible relics.
Initially (in the Greek tradition) bones were called relics. Therefore, they were incorruptible, since bones deteriorate extremely slowly and are practically not destroyed.
However, over time, this word began to be given a different meaning, or rather, it was supplemented.
Especially after miracles began to happen with the preservation of the body, without decomposition of not only bones, but also soft tissues, which, as a rule, succumb to rot and decompose in a fairly short time. Many saints, in turn, left behind an almost completely intact body.
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The priests explain this fact by the entry of the Holy Spirit into the body. Without going into details, this fact can be roughly explained as follows:
- the flesh is the temple of the soul;
- saints “clean up” this temple better than others: they get rid of vices and sins, that is, they acquire inner purity;
- thus they are freed from the sinful human nature and become closer to the divine;
- they receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, which, relatively speaking, fills the inner space of such a person;
- where previously there were sins and simple human inclinations, now the divine dwells, therefore, as a side effect, the flesh becomes, as it were, not entirely human, but acquires slightly different properties.
By the way, this phenomenon exists not only in Orthodoxy: in many schools of Buddhism, for example, there are lamas who leave behind a body that is not subject to decay processes.
Note! The first icons of Alexander Svirsky were painted from the ascetic, that is, they have a portrait resemblance. The monks who opened the coffin were able to identify the elder; his face practically did not change, he was the same as in the icons.
Exhumation of the relics
When the Bolsheviks came to power in 1918, one of the most significant issues for them was the destruction of the old ideology and the installation of a new, atheistic-materialist one.
Figures such as Alexander Svirsky occupied a very significant space in the consciousness of the masses. Such saints have been prayed to for centuries; they were considered protectors of the monarchy and Russia as a whole.
Therefore, the new government, in order to maintain itself and take root, needed to belittle the previous orders in every possible way, and it was necessary to start, in their opinion, with Orthodoxy.
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At the beginning of 1918, a group of security officers went to the monastery where Alexander’s relics were buried in order to exhume them and present the remains to the people.
According to the plan of the new government, it was necessary to debunk the opinion about the safety of the body of Alexander Svirsky and present to people just a pile of bones, which would become clear evidence of the absence of any holiness of the great ascetics and, in general, the divine presence in this world.
After the remains were pulled out, people saw the body preserved almost completely. However, the report stated that there were not relics there, but a wax doll that represented the body. In fact, the exhumers simply could not write the truth.
In those days, they followed what their superiors asked, because initially they wanted to see decomposed remains and only bones, but they saw relics practically untouched by time.
The next discovery of the relics took place in St. Petersburg in 1998 at a medical educational institution, where the body was kept as a drug that students use for study.
Specialists were attracted by the body's state of preservation, and it was eventually determined who the remains belonged to. Research by scientists has confirmed the extraordinary state of these relics.
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According to the data obtained, such a body does not correspond to typical variants of flesh decay. Thus, these preserved relics are a proven miracle, as medical examination carried out by modern specialists helps to verify.
History of the holy image
The first image of the Monk Alexander appeared in the 16th century, after his death. It was written by monks who knew the saint during his lifetime, so the similarity was almost one hundred percent. After this, lists of the same quality were distributed among monasteries and churches. Over the centuries, the image remained similar to the original due to the fact that the preserved relics of the holy elder miraculously did not suffer from time and remained in their original form. Icon painters always had the opportunity to compare their work with the true appearance of the monk.
In 1918, during the revolutionary events, both monasteries were looted, the monks were shot, and the remains of the saint were taken away. For a long time their fate was unknown, but in the 90s they were discovered at the Military Medical Academy of St. Petersburg. According to one legend, they were hidden by one of the employees of a certain museum. In 1998, the relics found their original location. There are also prayer icons in the Holy Trinity and Alexander-Svirsky churches in Moscow.
The first image of St. Alexander appeared in the 16th century
Meaning and description of the divine image
The images of the saint are especially noteworthy for their almost photographic resemblance to the original image. Being far from the turbulent worldly life, Father Alexander created the moral foundations of our country, possessing the great gifts of the Lord. He received the title “Reverend,” which means “like God.” The Church willingly cooperates with scientists; many times the relics of St. Alexander of Svirsky were carefully studied by them using the latest technologies. However, the incomprehensible fact of the preservation of the remains of the saint in their original form for many centuries has not found scientific justification.
Iconography
The faces of St. Alexander are distinguished by a variety of types. One of the most revered images, now located in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, is a hagiographic icon dating back to the end of the 16th century, depicting him in monastic vestments. Unlike other hagiographic images, the number of marks here is 129.
The icon of Alexander Svirsky is one of the most revered in the Orthodox world
The face of the saint at the moment of the appearance of the Holy Trinity to Father Alexander, painted by the famous icon painter Saint Andrei Rublev, is unusual and unique. This image has become a symbol of divine power; it has truly miraculous power.
Days of Honor
Traditionally, there are two days on which Christians venerate Saint Alexander of Svirsky:
- April 30 (April 17, old style) - this day is associated with the discovery of sacred remains;
- September 12 (August 30, old style) is the day to honor the repose of the righteous.
However, on any day you can see many believers in churches who have come to worship the monk.
Location of the holy face
The relics of Alexander Svirsky are located in the Holy Trinity Monastery (Leningrad Region). In Russia, in almost every church you can see the image of this wonderworker, but the most revered icons are in Moscow, in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity and in the Church of St. Alexander of Svir. There are lists of all significant icons on Valaam.
Holy Trinity Monastery
Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Moscow
Church of St. Alexander Svirsky in Moscow
What to pray for
What requests should be made to St. Alexander of Svirsky? Usually the saint is asked about:
- restoration of health;
- blessings with children;
- conception;
- the birth of a healthy baby;
- safe birth;
- maintaining pregnancy.
- Icon of Saint Alexander of Svirsky
- Prayers for the gift of children
Advice! Requests are usually made on Sundays, during morning and evening services. The saint was merciful to those who asked during his life, and did not reject them even after death.
How does the icon of Alexander Svirsky help?
A huge number of believers annually make a pilgrimage to Valaam, asking for intercession and help. People come to church in difficult moments, offering prayers and petitions to Saint Alexander. The miracle worker helps those in need even after his death. They ask him for different things:
- seriously ill people, and sometimes suffering from incurable illnesses, people ask for healing of soul and body;
- those in doubt turn to gain or strengthen faith, to make the right decision, and ask for protection from unkind views and sinful thoughts;
- young parishioners ask their parents for their blessings for monastic life;
- those who are worried and confused pray for loved ones who have gone astray, to receive spiritual peace;
- Married couples who remain childless for a long time despite all attempts, turn to prayer for the gift of children.
Prayers to Saint Alexander
In order to venerate the relics, you should not go to the monastery itself on the Svir River, because particles of the incorrupt body of Alexander Svirsky are in many churches throughout Rus':
- in Moscow;
- In Petersburg;
- in Vologda;
- in Petrozavodsk;
- in Veliky Novgorod.
In Russia alone there are about seventy churches dedicated to the holy ascetic.
People come to pray to Alexander Svirsky with many requests:
- about health;
- about the gift of a child (they also often ask for the birth of a boy when only girls are born, since the prayer for the birth of a son to this particular saint is especially effective);
- about strengthening in faith.
Often priests send young monks or people who are just about to take monasticism to the icon of an ascetic.
After all, the ascetic himself took monastic vows at a very young age, so people come to him for advice on the correctness of such a decision.
If you want to pray to Alexander Svirsky for health or anything else, you should follow some basic rules:
- It is advisable to come to the temple in honor of this ascetic during the period outside the service and light a candle and pray in front of the icon.
- For home prayer, an icon of Alexander Svirsky can be purchased, but believers can also pray without an icon, simply reading the corresponding prayer.
- If you convert sincerely, then you don’t need to look at what others are asking for: Saint Alexander will pray to the Lord for everyone who turns to him in faith.
- While in prayer, you should throw away other worries and thoughts from your mind, you need to focus only on your appeal and request.
- The icon of St. Alexander of Svirsky should be kept on the home altar, it is wrong to place icons on bookshelves and mix them with worldly objects.
Evidence of Divine Power
There are many manifestations of the miraculous influence of the icons of St. Alexander. However, miracles began to happen even during his earthly existence. In 1507, in his cell, illuminated by a bright light, three amazingly beautiful young men of angelic appearance appeared. This was the appearance of the Holy Trinity to the righteous man.
There are many manifestations of the miraculous influence of the icons of St. Alexander
After the Mother of God honored the prophet with her presence, it was decided to build a temple on this site, named after her. Unfortunately, it was later destroyed.
The face of the saint has truly divine power in healing the infirm. There are documented cases where prayers offered to a righteous man saved people from cancerous tumors, raised incurable patients to their feet, and restored hope and desire for life.
Alexander Svirsky patronizes people who want to go to a monastery. Often, appearing in a dream, he gave instructions and directed them along a completely different path.
Eyewitnesses claim that on the eve of important events, the relics of the saint begin to flow myrrh. Barren women who turn to the righteous man with a desperate plea for help receive long-awaited children. One can list for a long time the miracles that occur at the will of the Lord and his prophets.
Icon and relics of the saint
Memorial Days:
- April 30
- 12-th of September
The first icon of the face was painted after the death of the saint, at the end of the 19th century. Alexander died at a venerable age, the monk was about 85 years old. The saint spent his last years spending his nights on a stone, thereby paying tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Copies were quickly made from the original icon, and just as quickly they spread throughout Russia.
Many who have seen the icon claim that the elder is looking straight into their soul. On the icon there is a saint with a halo above his head and a staff in his hand, as if he is praying for the souls of everyone on this earth.
It is interesting that the icon was painted from the relics of St. Alexander; they were not only perfectly preserved after decades, but also the features were not affected by time.
When they opened the coffin of Alexander Svirsky, his relics began to exude myrrh, so much so that sometimes bees flock to them. Church servants noticed that the aroma of myrrh and its quantity directly depended on the number of parishioners, whether they came simply to look at the relics or to ask for something holy. The miraculous oil exuded by the relics raises even hopelessly sick people to their feet, of which there is a lot of evidence. Centuries later, the saint’s relics have not decayed and have not suffered from the hand of time. The relics of Alexander Svirsky are a real relic of the entire Orthodox world.
Prayer before the icon of Alexander Svirsky
“Oh, sacred head, earthly angel and heavenly man, reverend and God-bearing Father Alexandra, great servant of the Most Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, show many mercies to those living in your holy monastery and to all who flow to you with faith and love. Ask us everything that is useful for this temporary life, and even more necessary for our eternal salvation. Help with your intercession, servant of God, the ruler of our country, Russia. And may the holy Orthodox Church of Christ abide deeply in the world. Be to all of us, miracle-working saint, a quick helper in every sorrow and situation. Most of all, at the hour of our death, the merciful intercessor appears to us, so that we may not be betrayed in the ordeals of the air by the power of the evil ruler of the world, but may we be honored with a stumbling-free ascension into the Kingdom of Heaven. Hey, Father, our dear prayer book! Do not disgrace our hope, do not despise our humble prayers, but always intercede for us before the Throne of the Life-Giving Trinity, so that together with you and with all the saints, even if we are unworthy, we may be worthy to glorify in the villages of paradise the greatness, grace and mercy of the One God in the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen".
You can pray for help from holy images and receive it. But at the same time, it is necessary to remember that a miracle begins with small things - listen to your neighbor, lend a helping hand, do not refuse attention. This is exactly what the true righteous, who later became saints, did at all times.
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Prayers before the icon
You need to approach a saint with an honest and open heart, so that he avoids bad and sinful thoughts, directs you to the true path, helps you find peace of mind, and heal spiritual wounds. Those who do not lose hope for the best can see the saint in a dream, as a mentor, he will guide them on the path of healing and faith.
In the church, the icon of Alexander Svirsky is located in the northern iconostasis. But all this, of course, is a copy of the first icon. The original is located in the Holy Trinity Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, where the relics of the saint are also kept.
Troparion, tone 4
From my youth, Mother of God, I lived in the desert with a spirit of desire, / I firmly desired the one Christ on the path of walking, / The same is true for the angels, we ask ourselves in vain: I wait for him with abstinence / and seemed equal to the earth, / Alexander, the venerable , / I pray to the Lord God, // save our souls.
Translation: From a young age, wise by God, with spiritual aspiration you settled in the desert, wanting only to diligently follow in the footsteps of Christ, therefore the angelic armies, seeing you, marveled at how you fought in the flesh with the betrayal of the invisible (demons), defeated the hordes of abstinence of passions and appeared on earth in the form of angels, Saint Alexander, pray to God to save our souls.
Kontakion, tone 8
this is a bright star that on that day in the countries of Russia rose as it is, well / entered the desert, was seriously enlightened in the footsteps of Christ, and then died, and died on the cross with honor: / to save your flock, you gathered it, wiser, we We call you: // Rejoice, Saint Alexander, our father.
Translation: Like a shining star now in the Russian country, You shone, Father, having settled in the deserts, You wanted to zealously follow in the footsteps of Christ and His holy yoke (Matthew 11:30), the revered cross, lifting up your rage of the flesh killed you with hard labor, therefore we pray: save your flock, which you have gathered, wise one, but we cry to you: “Rejoice, venerable Alexander, our father.”
Greatness
We thank you, Rev. Father Alexander, and honor your holy memory, the council of monks and the interlocutor of the Angels.
Prayer to St. Alexander of Svirsky
O holy head, earthly angel and heavenly man, venerable and loving of our God Alexander, generous feast of the Most Holy and only Trinity Trinity, show so much love with all the grace of livingness Ask us for everything necessary for this temporary life and necessary for our eternal salvation. Encourage your presentation, the mercy of God, before the Lord against enemies visible and invisible. His faithful work, in pain and sorrow day and night, calling on Him, you hear the cry of long-suffering and bring our lives out of destruction. May the holy Orthodox Church of Christ remain in deep peace and may our Motherland be built in goodness, inviolable in all piety. Become all of us, a holy miracle worker, ready to help in any pain and circumstance. First of all, at the hour of our death, a merciful intercessor appeared to us, so that we would not indulge in the public affairs of the air of the evil peacemaker, but could achieve an undeniable ascent to heaven in the Kingdom. You, father, are our prayer book! Do not neglect our trust, do not neglect our humble prayer and present us for us before the Throne of the life-giving Trinity, so that we, together with you and with all the saints, may be honored with the mercy of God and the mercy of God in the village and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of St. Alexander of Svirsky to the Lord God and the Most Holy Theotokos
O God, cleanse me from the sinner, and have mercy on me, and forgive me, Lord God, Merciful Resort! Give me, Lord, a Christian end with the Most Pure Body and Precious Blood, with tears and repentance. Bless You, Lord, eternal torment, unquenchable fire and sleepless worms and boiling tar. You created me, Lord, you created your creation. Most Holy Lady, Merciful, Queen of Heaven, pray to the Lord God and Save our Jesus Christ, Your Son, for me, Your sinful servant (name). Give me, Madam, a Christian ending with the Most Pure Body and Precious Blood, with tears and repentance. Bless, madam, eternal torment, the fire of sleepless and restless worms, and boiling tar. Immaculate Lady, gracious Queen of Heaven, You are the Prayer Book for the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ for me, Your sinner and accursed servant (name), You are the helper, the Patroness of all evil and the adversary, do not forget, the Pure Lady, I am the end of you. Seed: most sincere protector, Blessed Lord Mati, I resort to you as the damned and more than all the most sinful people. Hear the voice of my prayer, hear my cry and hear my groan. Because of my iniquity, my head passed through and I, like a ship in the abyss, am immersed in the sea of my sins. But You, Kind and Merciful Lady, do not despise me, despairing and dying in sins. Have mercy on me, who repent of my atrocities and have directed my lost and damned soul on the right path. In You, my Sovereign Mother of God, I place all my hopes. You, Mother of God, protect me and watch over me under your blood, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.
Also a daily prayer:
Soul, my soul, why do you grieve for the Lord? For your flesh is the eternal table of the way of food. If she had presented the gift of God, she would have cried hot tears, groaned with sighs, grieved over every sin, small and great. Call upon your Lord, so that the wrath of the almighty right does not precede you. I have a sinful, lazy and flattering tongue, how can I pray to my Lord that the Lord will deliver me from the Last Judgment? I always tremble with thoughts in my heart about the final judgment, so that it frees me from the agony of eternity, the restless devil and darkness, besides and from the not hot storm. Have mercy on me, your sinful servant (name), like the Apostle Paul, I love him more than anyone, and from us slaves, do not turn your face away from the fearful, my soul is electrified. Lord, save me from this terrible hour, for I will not turn away from your mercy. But I pray to the holy Angels and Archangels, and prophets, and martyrs, and all that is holy, that they pray to God for my soul. For the sake of your prayer, the Lord returns his request from me, a sinner. And you, Blessed Virgin Mary, have courage towards the Son in relation to your servants, do not forget the work of your servant (name), Master of the Savior, from the desires of the soul, please, and I conveyed my ideas and wishes from Your pain, Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, always, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.
