A man of special responsiveness: in memory of Archbishop Alexy Frolov

A person of special responsiveness

Metropolitan Feofan (Ashurkov; † 11/20/2020):

– Vladyka Alexy is an absolutely amazing person. I remember him as a boy. He is younger than me and studied with me at the seminary. After that, he was a deacon for a long time, then a protodeacon, that is, the chief deacon at the Moscow Theological Academy. Multi-talented, had a wonderful voice. Art connoisseur. A wonderful guide, a researcher at our academic museum - the TsAK (Church and Archaeological Cabinet). But this is not the most important thing. This is a person of special responsiveness. When you communicate with him, I remember you feel some kind of inner light in him, he glowed. He was always cheerful, as long as I remember him, smiling.

Anatoly Frolov with the Venerable Metropolitan Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga) I have the feeling that all of us, people, have affection for some, and not a very kind attitude towards others, but it seems to me that Vladyka Alexy treated everyone very gently. With great love. This is the trait that he adopted, I would even say a little boldly, while in his Great Cell - from the Monk Sergius himself. From there he brought out this inner peace and warmth. Then, when, by the will of the hierarchy, he was, as it were, removed from the monastery of St. Sergius, he followed the path that St. Sergius had paved. When there was a vision of many birds, the monks went all over Rus' during the time of St. Sergius to bring the light of faith to its most diverse corners. In exactly the same way, the Lord placed Father Alexy in the reviving monastery of the Novospassky Monastery. In the capital. This was very important. What was needed here was Father Alexy (Frolov), who had, as I said above, amazing tact and rich talents. This is the capital after all. The people here are difficult. The worldview of the entire country is largely formed here, although some will be offended to hear this. It is the capitals that generate and disseminate worldviews throughout the country. His spiritual experience - both that he learned from the great elders and his own - was in great demand when caring for the Novospassky Monastery. Here he revealed many spiritual children, here very active, subtle, painstaking - sometimes piecemeal - missionary work was carried out with the Orthodox and non-Orthodox world. And when they sent him to care for the Kostroma See, he again remained the same Archpastor Alexy (Frolov). We know that there were no complaints against him. He already ruled the diocese with gentleness, but very wisely. I love him very much as a brother. And God give him what he strived for - eternal life with God.

In memory of Vladyka Alexy (Frolov), Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich

Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich Alexy (Frolov)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Today at night Vladyka Alexy (Frolov) went to the Lord.

We all remember him. More than once he celebrated the Divine Liturgy here in the Sretensky Monastery, performed ordinations, monastic tonsures, and tonsured our students as readers.

Today is an important and great day for Vladyka Alexy. And, we believe, he adequately prepared for it.

Bishop Alexy (Frolov)

In the last period of his life, the Lord gave him a special time and test - a long and severe cancer disease associated with suffering and pain. Granted... It sounds, of course, spiritually textbook and correct. But how can we not admit that we are all afraid of the violence of illness, suffering, afraid of pain, which mercilessly separates us from our usual life.

This is the prayer the Church calls us, Orthodox Christians, to: “Deliver me, Lord, from vain death.” “Vain” in Slavic means sudden. But don’t we dream of the opposite: instant, unexpected death, so that we don’t have time to understand anything. Without suffering - and you are no longer there...

But from a spiritual point of view, and the Holy Fathers unanimously tell us about this, the great good for our soul lies in something completely different. The death of a person who is in no way prepared for the transition to eternity, who remains passionate, striving with all his soul that has left the body for earthly blessings, which he will never find beyond the grave - is this a desired death and future for a Christian? This is the eternal hell of unfulfilled desires. Death without time to, before the Heavenly court, with utmost responsibility and depth, comprehend the good and evil that we brought into this world, which is what saving repentance consists of - is this what we want for ourselves and our loved ones? However, let’s not call any sudden death a punishment from God: it’s not our mind’s business! Each death is a special accomplishment of God’s Providence.

What is this terrible and great good for us - preparation for death by illness and suffering, as the Fathers of the Church unanimously testify? Months and days, and even years of incurable illnesses before imminent death, suffering, which we all so sincerely fear - it is they, and nothing else, that separates a Christian from the world and mortally intrusive earthly worries, leads to the memory of committed sins, to true, saving repentance, to an awareness of the frailty of the many-sided vanity and at the same time to gratitude for the greatest value of life, which a person lived by the gift of the Lord.

Vladyka Alexy walked the wonderful, zealous path of an Orthodox Christian, focused on faith in Christ the Savior.

He, like many of those standing here, was born in the Soviet Union. Received a spiritual and humanitarian education. I know his friends: Viktor Burdyuk, Nikolai Blokhin and the future Vladyka Anatoly Frolov were friends. I don’t think that as teenagers they exhibited exemplary behavior. But they studied brilliantly, received an excellent education, and most importantly, they lived according to their conscience, they lived in such a way that they sincerely and fervently came to faith. In the seventies, the future Vladyka entered the seminary, then graduated from the academy and became a monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and an employee of the Publishing Department of Metropolitan Pitirim.

Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky and students of the first graduating class of Sretensky Theological Seminary. June 3, 2004

Vladyka Alexy loved history and studied it professionally. I think, with the blessing, including from Bishop Pitirim, he continued the work that had once been started by the then Archimandrite Pitirim (Nechaev) and Archpriest Alexei Ostapov: they created the first church museum in the Soviet years - the famous Church-Archaeological Cabinet of the Moscow Theological Academy. Today we cannot even imagine the significance of this collection of shrines and church memory in that atheistic period, and first of all, for the affirmation of the faith of the pupils of the then theological schools, thousands of future shepherds of the Russian Church.

For many years, Vladyka served as a deacon and was not even a priest. But in the early 1990s, Patriarch Alexy appointed him vicar of the devastated Novospassky Monastery. And all Orthodox Muscovites know with what love, with what heart Vladyka Alexy revived this ancient monastery.

For many years, Vladyka was the chairman of the Synodal Commission for Monastery Affairs. It would seem like a bureaucratic position. But no: here too he wholeheartedly participated in the life of the reviving monasteries, including our Sretensky Monastery. You could always come to him for advice, he was always available, and this advice was always truly wise and spiritual.

He was an unusually, harshly demanding person. To yourself. He treated others more than condescendingly, with endless mercy. The brethren of the Novospassky Monastery, it seems, especially understand this.

We remember how Vladyka Alexy stood before the Throne of God at the Divine Liturgy. Praying with him was always a great spiritual happiness.

Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky at the altar. Sretensky Monastery, July 6, 2007

The Lord gives His faithful servants the right and honor to ascend to Golgotha ​​at the end of their lives. This happens in different ways. We recall the life of the Venerable Optina Elder Barsanuphius. Shortly before his death, by decision of the Holy Synod, Father Barsanuphius was torn away from his endlessly beloved Optina Monastery monastery, elevated to the rank of archimandrite and made abbot of the Novo-Golutvinsky Monastery. It would seem: insist, work, obey! But Elder Barsanuphius perceived what happened to him as a real Golgotha. Sometimes we don’t understand this, but if a person has given his whole soul to one thing, and suddenly, even for obedience, even out of necessity, he is torn away somewhere, this really feels like a very difficult test.

Probably, such a Calvary - gracious, necessary and saving - was the transfer of Vladyka Alexy from the Novospassky Monastery with the blessing of the Hierarchy to the post of archpastor of the ancient Kostroma diocese. Vladyka took this appointment very hard, but never grumbled, knowing full well that this was God’s Providence, a debt that he must repay through labor and obedience.

In Kostroma, Vladyka Alexy, as elsewhere before, worked to organize the spiritual life of the diocese.

Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky at the altar. Sretensky Monastery, July 6, 2007

And then the disease came. The same, by the way, as the dying illness of Lord Pitirim. And Vladyka Alexy perceived this illness in the same spiritual way as Metropolitan Pitirim, who once, amid long suffering, said that he was grateful to God for this illness: it brought him to the state to which he had strived for many years of monastic life. Bishop Pitirim also added as his discovery, as something very important for himself: “Oncology is a serious illness, but also a special path of the soul to God.” Vladyka Alexy also perceived his test in the same way.

And also about the Providence of God. Vladyka Alexy was dying in Moscow. A few days before his last hour, the Mother of God, more than any hope, especially and clearly showed both Vladyka and everyone who prayed for him that all the trials and all his service - both in Moscow and in Kostroma - are God's blessing, and there is nothing vain and accidental.

We remember how quite recently - not even ten days had passed - the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, brought from Kostroma, was in the capital at the exhibition “Orthodox Rus'”. Vladyka had been in a hospital room for many months; only a few people could see him. And the priceless miraculous icon did not leave the Manezh for days on end, being under vigilant guard. But the Lord arranged it so that, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Vladyka Alexy was able in the last days of his earthly life to pray and fall before this miraculous icon that came to him from his diocese.

Let's pray for him.

Let's not forget him in our prayers! Let us thank the Lord that such a wonderful person was on our path. And let us rejoice for Vladyka Alexy: we believe that he walked the path of life destined for him by the Lord God with dignity and righteousness. Amen!

The Royal Room and the Parable about the Development of Memory

Metropolitan of Vyatka and Slobodskoy Mark (Tuzhikov):

– Vladyka Alexy is truly a good shepherd. We remembered him this way from the Moscow theological schools. When he taught us general church history. You could always approach him. He will tell you everything in detail. If he or one of his friends managed to go somewhere on a pilgrimage to Mount Athos, Greece, or Europe, he always showed us slides and introduced us to the church tradition of those countries. He himself was very well versed in worship, church singing, icon painting, and church applied art. Everywhere he was a man in his place: when he served as a senior deacon at the Intercession Academic Church, and when he conducted excursions at the Central Academy of Arts, and even more so later, when, having already been ordained, he was appointed to care for an enterprise in Sofrino. He always cared with all his heart for the work that was entrusted to him. Despite the fact that the products there are mass-produced, I tried to bring them closer to the level of highly artistic samples, so that at least these would be the basis for reproduction. I wanted everything to be done in the good traditions of our Russian Orthodox Church. No matter how the atheistic authorities tried to destroy this continuity in the 20th century, Father Alexy found still bearers of the tradition. For example, he studied icon painting from Maria Nikolaevna Sokolova, a nun named Juliana, born before the revolution. I myself entered Moscow theological schools after studying at a technical school and institute - at that time, they still had a Soviet feel - so I could appreciate the difference in attitude towards students in secular universities and here. At the seminary and academy we had a warm, family-like atmosphere. Of course, a certain rigor was necessary: ​​we had to acquire knowledge, pass reports, and exams. But at the same time, most of our teachers were in the ranks. They treated us like fathers. And we approached each of them, first of all, as a priest: with awe, reverence and love. We had a hierarchy in our relationship, but there was no division. Our senior mentors treated us primarily from the perspective of counseling: they assessed not so much how you learned the material, but observed how you yourself were spiritually formed, using the knowledge that you absorbed for internal creation. Are you burying your talent in the ground?

Deacon Anatoly Frolov Father Alexy, who was not even a hieromonk at that time, urged us to take a very responsible approach to receiving church education. It seemed completely unacceptable to graduate from seminary and go get some kind of secular job. But even more so if you have already embarked on the path of serving God, Father Alexy was demanding of the awareness of faith. You had to understand dogma and be able to speak on theological topics. We trained in the cell of Father Alexy. Even if we used to gather in the cell of then Archimandrite Jonah (Karpukhin; † 05/04/2020), as soon as the conversation reached a dogmatic climax: “Okay, go talk to Lesha about the Trinity,” Father Jonah sent us out. And in a friendly crowd we stomped along the corridor through several cells to Father Alexy. He immediately put the kettle on, gathered us all at the table, and the conversation continued. This is a very passionate person! He could talk for hours about God the Trinity, about Paradise, about the saints, about spiritual life, about the elders, and so on...

Hierodeacon Alexy (Frolov) in the TsAK With all this height beyond our reach, he communicated with us very directly.
Let’s say when Alexy’s father had a back pain, I gave him a massage. And again, with all this simplicity and accessibility, he was a very strict monk. Forgiving towards others and extremely strict towards themselves. Then I visited him at the Novospassky Monastery. It was providential that Vladyka Alexy led and raised this royal monastery from desolation. Even before the glorification, he loved and especially revered the murdered Royal Family. In his chambers there was a small museum dedicated to the Royal Passion-Bearers. Among the exhibits were personal belongings of the August Ones. – Why do you keep all this behind closed doors? – I asked. “Few people need it,” he answered. Vladyka Alexy (Frolov) There is such a parable (Vladyka Alexy was very fond of parables): one man went to the North, ended up on some holy island and asked a local resident: “Can I take something from the island as a souvenir?” “We must not take it from memory, but develop it...” he answered. Better yet: live in accordance. Vladyka Alexy lived as if all this failure into godlessness in the 20th century in the history of our country, the destruction of foundations and traditions, had not happened. When someone began to justify their unbelief in the presence of Vladyka Alexy: “We lived in such a time, we were taught this way...” “I lived at the same time,” he restrained these rantings. Maybe that’s why he kept the royal room behind closed doors for the time being...

Bishop Alexei (Frolov) in the memories of friends and relatives

Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich Alexy (Frolov) reposed in the Lord. Site staff «

Pravoslavie.ru"
asked people who knew him closely to share their memories.
“He endured his illness without a murmur, as befits believers.”

Archimandrite Anthony (Guliashvili) , cleric of the Alexander Nevsky Church in Tbilisi:

“I have known Vladyka for a very long time, since the years when he was an employee of the Church-Archaeological Office of the Moscow Theological Academy. Then he was transferred as a deacon to the Elokhov Cathedral; from that time, already being a hieromonk, he climbed the church ladder, but - most importantly - remained a man.

I really love the beginning of the Holy Scriptures, where it is said: “I will create man in My image and likeness.” No matter who a person is - a patriarch, a hieromonk, a janitor - he must remain a human being, and if he rises in position and begins to despise people, this is very bad.

Vladyka Alexy remained a person from whom one can always take an example: an intellectual, a native Muscovite. He was simple, strict, and he loved people - and it is very difficult to be strict and maintain love. The ruler was demanding in justice; he subjugated people not by position, but by love. I really don’t like it when a person is afraid of his superiors; when he loves and respects - this is valuable. And with each meeting, these very feelings for the Bishop matured in me more and more.

The Novospassky Monastery grew greatly during the Bishop's stay there. He restored the tomb of the Romanovs, and a monument to the first and last Russian Tsar was erected under him.

The ruler was demanding in justice, he subjugated people not by position, but by love

The Bishop demonstrated the simplicity and greatness of the bishopric. He was not interested in worldly concerns, he was strict with himself, but did not punish anyone if he did not like something - he simply smiled, letting us know that he was not entirely satisfied.

He was always equally calm. I asked the question: how does he manage to confess to so many people and never get angry? - He answered: “I was born this way.”

He might have been upset, but he never showed it. In conversations with people he was one for everyone - he believed that he had no right to be himself. He was a true Orthodox Christian, and at the same time an intellectual.

But no matter who you are, if you don’t know how to make friends with a simple audience, no master’s degree will help you, especially in a remote village, among grandmothers. Vladyka knew how to find his own key for everyone.

He gave no reason for anyone to praise him. When they told him: “Vladyka, how good you are,” he looked sternly at the man, and he understood that the Vladyka did not like this. If you boast about this, then you receive praise here on earth; There are no two praises like two salaries, and our goal is to get a “salary” there.

Some people understand an old man as a man with a gray beard. But Vladyka Alexy was an old man in life, you could come to him with any question. He led a truly senile life. He was not an ascetic, because he was the ruling bishop, but he strove for an ascetic life. What is the ascetic life? It’s not about locking yourself in your cell and not talking to anyone. An ascetic is a hermit from the world, from worldly delights. If we all lock ourselves in our cells, who will care for people?! But you can, for example, put a log instead of a pillow, the main thing is that no one knows about it, and don’t brag about it to everyone.

Vladyka Alexy was an old man in life

The Bishop had a pure and humble heart. And also nice jokes. I remember asking him: how is Father Pavlin (the elder of the Glinsk Hermitage who lived in the Novospassky Monastery)? “He will smile and say: “Access to the body is free.”

Vladyka Alexy can be called a bloodless martyr: he spent a year and a half in the hospital, his kidneys failed, he became blind, but he endured his illness without a murmur, as befits believers.

Some say they want to die painlessly, but this is a sin. When a person is sick, he is cleansed of his sins, repents, thinks, and begins to repent. And such was Vladyka Alexy. I think he will be our intercessor and will strengthen us with prayers.

A person must retain his original face. And I won’t be able to forgive myself if I don’t remember him in my prayers at least once. I very deeply feel the help of those who have gone to the other world. I believe that Bishop Alexy will join the host of saints.

Vladyka Alexy, with his life, patience and humility, proved to everyone that he was a true Orthodox Christian. And we need to imitate him and ask him for prayer help.

***

“His example and prayer build my life and family.”

Priest John Fedorov , cleric of the church in honor of the Grebnevskaya Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Odintsovo; in 2005-2010 - subdeacon of Archbishop Alexy:

Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich Alexy (Frolov) - I first knew Archbishop Alexy at the age of twelve, when my parents and I became parishioners of the Novospassky Monastery and had the opportunity to be cared for by the bishop. Since then, 15 years have passed under his leadership.

What can a teenager remember about his communication with the bishop? Even though he had a very busy schedule, he found time to talk with us. And these conversations were remembered most of all. Vladyka was very educated, but at the same time, both children and adults always understood what he was talking about. We always left such conversations with a joyful heart and a desire to become better.

For six years I was lucky enough to be among the Bishop’s subdeacons. I still remember his services. Very prayerfully focused, measured and solemn. But the most amazing thing is that not only within the walls of his native monastery, but also in those ordinary parishes that the bishop visited to perform divine services, the services acquired the same structure. This one shows how important personal example is. And Vladyka gave us such an example throughout his life.

He treated the subdeacons quite strictly, did not single out anyone, and this taught us to regard our service not as something accidental or as some kind of privilege, but as a real, feasible service to God. This helped me a lot in the future, and no matter what parish I served in, I always had a model that I kept in my heart from the years when I was close to the bishop.

He treated subdeacons quite strictly and did not single out anyone. This taught us to view our service not as some kind of privilege.

Vladyka was a real monk and at the same time was able to combine monastic life with his high service. He devoted his entire life to church obedience without reserve. I remember his words: “They don’t come down from the cross, they take them down from the cross.” And he carried his cross until his last days.

The transfer of the Bishop to Kostroma initially plunged the spiritual children into a kind of stupor, but then it turned out that Kostroma was not so far away, and this ancient city became just as beloved to us. The Bishop himself said that he always wanted to live on the “high water”; besides, Kostroma and the Novospassky Monastery are spiritually connected with the Romanov family and the revered Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God sanctified the Bishop’s path. The Kostroma ministry, although it did not last long, became a new milestone in his earthly life.

For me, the ruler is the person who determined my path; his example and prayer create my life and family.

***

“We knew: the strict demands that he made on others, he made, first of all, on himself.”

Priest Dionisy Denisov , cleric of the Kostroma diocese, since 2000 - subdeacon of Bishop Alexy:

— I have known Vladyka since 2000. A year before he was transferred to the Kostroma See, I became a senior subdeacon.

He was an amazing bishop, combining an archbishop and a shepherd. He treated everyone with attention and humility; he could humble himself before a simple priest.

Vladyka was a great man of prayer. During the service, he was lenient towards mistakes, if they occurred from excitement, and if from inattention, then the Bishop lovingly made it clear that a person was wrong and that prayer is the center of a person’s inner life.

He did not neglect external life, headed the synodal departments, and was the abbot of the Novospassky Monastery for almost 20 years. Over the course of 20 years, under his leadership, all the monasteries of our country were restored.

Vladyka was a great man of prayer

Vladyka led a very modest life and did not like to be photographed, especially during the service. He blessed the consecration to be photographed, but was categorically against photography during communion.

A native Muscovite, he lived all his life in Moscow, and it was hard for him in his old age to go to a new place. But he always called for obedience, and out of obedience he went to Kostroma and tried to revive the spiritual life of the diocese.

All spiritual children know the Bishop as a man of prayer, a true ascetic, which is very rare to find in our time. It is difficult to fully fulfill monastic vows and be a bishop. By his behavior, Bishop Alexy reminded us all of what we should be. He showed that you cannot justify yourself by the circumstances of life.

Vladyka is remembered as a strict archpastor, he strove to ensure that everything was orderly, strictly according to the rules, so that there were no conversations in the altar and no phones ringing in the church... But first of all, he was strict with himself. We all knew: the demands that he made on others, he made primarily on himself.

He did not like official receptions, and even at patriarchal receptions on the occasion of public dates, he tried to take time off from His Holiness under some pretext; he left unnoticed from everyone to his beloved Novospassky Monastery, to his cell. I didn't like being in the public eye.

It will take time for us to realize who lived with us

We are now seeing the results of his labors. The monastery was restored; The liturgical commission, headed by the bishop, compiled and approved services for many saints.

Time must pass before we realize who lived with us. Now, after his death, Vladyka has become closer to us than he was during his life. None of us doubts the posthumous fate of Vladyka Alexy, his death crowned his life, because only the righteous can have such a death, and we pray for the repose of the Vladyka’s soul and believe that he will have boldness before God like any righteous person.

When you read about the lives of devotees of piety, the life of Bishop Alexy evokes very similar associations.

We all knew that if we go to ask for the Bishop’s blessing, then we only need to do as he says, and everything will be fine, because the Bishop will pray; if a person did not want to fulfill the blessing, then it was better not to go to him. We believe that after death, the bishop will pray for us before God even more.

***

“He was an undoubted spiritual authority”

Hierodeacon Seraphim (Chernyshuk) , resident of Sretensky Monastery:

“Vladyka Alexy ordained me, and I completed my internship in bishop’s services with him. My last award - and it was a double joy for me - was presented to me by Bishop Alexy on the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in 2008.

We met with the bishop very rarely; he gave me instructions during the service, but it was very personal. He reminded me of a bishop and at the same time a military man, an officer in the highest sense of the word.

For all his condescension towards others, it was clear that he was a very collected person. I remember how during one all-night vigil, when there was a litiya and one of the parishioners’ mobile phone rang, he stopped the service and said: when we come to church, we must leave behind the threshold everything that connects us with the outside world .

Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky at the altar. Sretensky Monastery, July 6, 2007

Vladyka Alexy noticed mistakes and human weaknesses, but he did not stop them, like some, with irritation. He kept silent about something, and his silence worked better than words. He had undoubted spiritual authority among people. There are very few such people. I was lucky enough to communicate with two bishops similar to Bishop Alexy: Bishop Onufry, Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovina, and Sergius, Metropolitan of Ternopil and Kremenets. Of course, each of them is unique in its own way. Vladyka Sergius is mercy itself, condescension; Vladyka Onuphry too - and Vladyka Alexy was more like Metropolitan Pitirim, under whom he was raised. He had a core, an inner hardness.

***

“Everyone goes to God their own way, but the path of Bishop Alexy turned out to be the most direct”

Viktor Vasilyevich Burdyuk , publisher, writer, childhood friend of Bishop Alexy (Frolov):

“It so happened that since our school years we have formed a small but friendly company. What can you do at 15? We played footbal. We then called Vladyka Alexy Tedyushey. At the age of 18 we all came to God. Everyone goes to God their own way, but the ruler’s path turned out to be the most direct. We were all dissidents with philosophical quirks, and he alone of all of us took the most direct path.

Vladyka began to visit the elders, met Schema-Archimandrite Grigory (Davydov), who became his spiritual father, went to see Father Seraphim (Tyapochkin) - and a different path began for him. We continued to be friends, but at some point Schema-Archimandrite Grigory (Davydov) forbade him to communicate with old friends, and this was right, because when a person follows the straight path, he needs to keep his distance in order to preserve himself.

We were all dissidents with philosophical quirks, and he alone of all of us took the most direct path

Later he entered the seminary, preparing to become a monk, but he was not blessed to become a monk while his parents were alive. We buried his mother, I was at the funeral, she was buried in the Church of Peter and Paul at the Yauza Gate; Father Evgeniy said very touching words, thanking him for raising such a son.

The bishop’s father abused alcohol, and the bishop looked after him because he could no longer look after himself. So Vladyka constantly traveled to the Lavra and back, attended seminary classes and returned to Telegraph Lane to his father. And it was very touching. For him it was a school of amazing obedience and humility. I went with him and his father several times for walks in Kolomenskoye, he called me and said: “Let’s take a walk with dad.” We took a stroller and went for a walk. It was necessary for his father that his son be nearby all the time; and while he was alive, the bishop did not take monastic vows.

***

“Vladyka took care of every person, remembered everyone for many years”

Oleg Viktorovich Starodubtsev , associate professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, teacher of the Sretensky Theological Seminary:

“I knew Vladyka from the time when he taught church art at the academy and headed the Church-Archaeological Office at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

I attended his episcopal consecration in 1995. The consecration was presided over by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy. During the entire time I got to know him, I got the impression that Vladyka Alexy was a man of high spiritual life.

Vladyka Alexy knew how to concentrate, withdraw into himself, and leave all worldly, everyday cares behind.

Vladyka was always very calm, attentive and careful about divine services, because it is very difficult, on the one hand, to head a Moscow monastery, and on the other, to be in the center of attention in the capital and maintain such self-control and inner composure.

He could be compared with the generation of the late Bishop Pitirim (Nechaev), who was also a reserved and calm person. Indeed, he knew how to concentrate, withdraw into himself, and leave all worldly, everyday concerns behind. He was an example of a true man of prayer. They say that in our time there are no people who pray - this is not so. One of these people was the late Bishop Alexy.

I often met him in the late 1990s, when I attended patriarchal services at the Novospassky Monastery, and when I began teaching in the 2000s, I met with him extremely rarely. But at every meeting I always took a blessing, and he was very attentive to me, interested in my affairs. Vladyka took care of every person and remembered everyone for many years.

***

“We, the subdeacons, could only smile when the local residents asked whether the bishop could really work miracles.”

Alexander Gordyushin , subdeacon of Archbishop Alexy (Frolov):

Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich Alexy (Frolov) - It is very difficult to fit the entire experience of communication with the bishop into simple words. When I was very young, I once watched a broadcast of a patriarchal service. At some point, the camera stopped on one bishop with a very piercing gaze, and the commentator said: “Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky.” It seemed to me that the bishop was very strict, and I thought that I probably would not want to become his subdeacon. However, over the course of many years, the Lord vouchsafed me to be his assistant.

The Bishop was always focused and immersed in prayer, so conversations and dialogues were kept to a minimum. First of all, he is remembered for the wordless example of his attitude towards God and people. The bishop’s divine services were distinguished by the clarity of the fulfillment of the Rule and reverent presence before the Throne of God. Even now his voice can be heard: “Brothers, the main thing is without fuss.”

The peculiarity of the bishop's services is silence. In the ever-hurrying and bustling Moscow, despite the overcrowding of the church, during its service the phones never rang or small children cried. This can be called a miracle.

If we talk about the bishop’s special gifts, he taught us to always think about God and prayer during the service. When someone during the service became immersed in thoughts about business, the bishop turned sharply and began to respond to the thoughts that the person had at that moment. After this, indeed: “Let us put aside every care of this life.”

Even now his voice can be heard: “Brothers, the main thing is without fuss”

When the Holy Synod appointed Archbishop Alexy to head the Kostroma diocese, and the bishop remained in the capital for some time, the love of Muscovites for him was remembered. After the service in one nunnery, it was touching and sad to watch how each nun approached the bishop and, crying, gave a small gift from herself. Strong picture!

Even in Kostroma, Moscow faces could often be seen at services. And the Bishop’s first Easter night in the new diocese took place in the large cathedral of the Epiphany Monastery, where more than half of the worshipers came from Moscow.

But the Kostroma residents also warmly greeted the bishop and quickly fell in love with him. And we, the subdeacons, could only smile when the local residents asked whether the lord of a special life really could work miracles.

After the death of the bishop, I felt melancholy and sad, but not about the deceased, but first of all for myself. And that the opportunity to communicate with him was lost. But for a while...

One of the oldest Moscow priests described the bishop this way: “He spends every minute HERE to create THERE!”

Once, when I accompanied Vladyka, he said: “Sasha, dear, think about it: when we die, we will have the opportunity to communicate with any person in eternity, be it our forefather Adam or our grandmother.”

I would like to draw your attention to one more point.

Three years ago, Archimandrite Guria (Mishchenko) was buried at the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Novospassky Monastery. There is a photograph that captures the moment of the funeral: everyone looked down at the grave, except for the bishop. I stood behind him and could follow his gaze: first he looked at the clock in the monastery bell tower and then began to peer into the sky. That's it - everything is down, and he is up to the sky. Now, next to the grave of Father Guria, there is also the grave of Archbishop Alexy.

One of the oldest Moscow priests described the bishop this way: “He spends every minute HERE to create THERE!” When asked to describe Bishop Alexy, I always answered: a real monk!

Prepared by Elena Tyulkina December 11, 2013

“First love never changes”

Alexey Yuryevich Zarov, chief physician of the Central Clinical Hospital of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow:

“My wife Ekaterina, even before our wedding, as well as after it, told me: “Vladyka Alexy is the most important person in my life.” At the beginning of our marital relationship, this even bothered me a little. Then I came to terms with her super-reverent attitude towards the Bishop. When we made the decision about the wedding, the bishop invited me to a conversation. But in the first years I didn’t understand anything at all what he was telling me, I just sat and listened... Katya and I came to that first conversation together. I think he understood that I didn’t understand anything, but he basically didn’t look at my then-future wife during the conversation, but said everything only to me. Although he said something to the two of us, and something to her... Then we came with our newborn son straight from the maternity hospital to Vladyka. The services in the Novospassky Monastery are memorable. The way we waited for him to take his blessing. We did not just wait - the grace of his blessing was always palpable. Noticing us, he blessed us with the words: “Here is a pious family!” He probably told everyone that. For me, it always sounded almost like an accusation: something needs to be tightened up, something needs to be improved... On the contrary, it seemed to me: they didn’t pray enough, they were again in vanity... And then these words of his were heard again! A knock on the heart! I immediately wanted to concentrate somehow. I remember at the Oncoinstitute. P.A. Herzen, where my friend Kolya Vorobyov works (having met whom, I began to go to the Church of St. Nicholas in Vishnyaki), they opened a new department - onco-orthopedics. And so they invite me there. Father Vladimir Vorobyov, Kolya’s dad, even called me specifically, although usually, if you don’t ask him, he won’t say, and if he does, it’s somehow streamlined, but here I hear it insistently on the phone: “Don’t refuse!” [ 1]. Yes, I was practically transferred there already. And apparently he inspired Katya: “Lesha needs to go there.” Everything had already been decided. But for some reason I was tormented. I still couldn’t make up my mind. My suffering then was almost physical. I couldn’t renounce myself; something was holding me back. And then I already went to Vladyka Alexy alone. I asked Katya to arrange a meeting with the bishop. I came to him - this was the first time I was alone with him - and chaotically explained this whole story to him. And then he told me: “First love is never betrayed.” I then understood it this way: stay. He left the lord inspired. He immediately called the Alekseevskaya hospital: “I’m staying!” In my opinion, they were even upset - they probably had already found someone... But I felt relieved - everything that had bothered me so much. The following phrase was said to me then... This Alekseevskaya hospital was indeed the first hospital in which I worked, and Bishop Alexy blessed me to work there. He kept pushing me: “Let’s go to graduate school!” I somehow shrugged my shoulders... - What, there’s no money for graduate school? Let me give it to you! I didn’t know then that rulers have money...

Vladyka Alexy (Frolov) Then I myself was already worried: if I ended up at the Oncology Institute. P.A. Herzen, I would have been closer to the topic of cancer, maybe I would have been able to recognize my wife’s illness earlier. Katya herself did not go to the doctor. But as soon as I told her: “Go to the doctor,” she immediately got up and went. She trusted me completely. Usually, cancer still occurs in nulliparous people. And Katya gave birth one after another, breastfeeding. Although she herself was against my going to work at the Institute. P.A. Herzen... And then, while placing me in the Alekseevskaya hospital, Bishop Alexy himself called Father Arkady (Shatov; now Bishop Panteleimon). That is, again, somehow Katya went to Vladyka Alexy and agreed on everything, as often happens with women - she was, unlike me, extremely decisive. She could not do something for a year, and then go and deal a crushing blow. I didn’t even know that there was some kind of conversation... And Vladyka Alexy called in front of me and asked Father Arkady: “Do you know this Alexey?” - Well, yes, I know. “We need to hire him,” and immediately announces: almost the manager. While still studying at medical school, I worked in the intensive care unit of the 1st City Hospital, where Father Arkady created the School of Sisters of Mercy in honor of Tsarevich Dimitri. One of the first city hospital churches was opened. There I began to go to church. I was lucky then to work in an Orthodox intensive care unit, where I met my wife Ekaterina, she was a sister of mercy... This was my first love. On this Wednesday, thanks to the assistance of Bishop Alexy, I returned. The St. Alexis Hospital is located across the avenue from 1st Gradskaya, we have very close ties. Although they called me, of course, not immediately, but some time after Bishop Alexy’s call. I heard the voice of the chief physician of the secretariat of the hospital of St. Alexis, Ekaterina Yakovlevna Bogdanova - all together they had already made a decision. In general, everyone in this crowd already knew me. So I showed up at the Alekseevskaya hospital - this was the blessing of Bishop Alexy. Once again, I remember, he called me, asking for some patient. And then he called when he himself was sick. Then it was already a call from the other world - everyone knew that Vladyka was already bedridden. Although this was not the end yet, the lord was already taken ill. He suddenly asked me for a woman—he needed to see something—and suddenly announced: “But don’t take money from her!” It was some kind of amazing phrase - I didn’t understand it. Why did the bishop say this? This conversation somehow influenced me. And after that I no longer communicated with him. I tried, of course, to somehow participate in the care, to resolve some other issues, but this was all in absentia. And before that, our whole family went to Vladyka in Kostroma - there he simply greeted us all like a grandfather. Each time, to our surprise, he had personalized gifts for all of us. There was a feeling that he especially loved us, although I’m sure everyone is talking about it.

Father Kirill (Pavlov) and Bishop Alexy (Frolov) We had such an episode.
We once came to Vladyka with Tatyana Vladimirovna Tolly († 01/26/2018), she was one of the Russian emigrants, born in 1925 in Paris. Her parents returned to Russia in 1949, when it was announced that everyone was supposedly being “forgiven,” but here, in their homeland, they had to go through camps. They were not allowed into Moscow, they were able to settle in Kuibyshev (present-day Samara), but there Tatyana Vladimirovna, with her pure French, could not get a job as a French teacher even at school... She knew all the emigration: St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, and Metropolitan Anthony Surozhsky. Arriving in Moscow, she became the child of Father Vsevolod Shpiller. She was already very old, over 85 years old. But she was interested in everything. We took her with us. Let's go introduce her to Bishop Alexy. They immediately began to discuss who knew whom from the emigration. Then the bishop asked her some naively provocative question about faith. She answered honestly. They just laughed together. The Bishop parodied her French intonations. I completely fell on her wavelength and forgot about us. By the way, I even have a wonderful photograph. It was Epiphany, the Bishop baptized Jordan on the Volga at Epiphany - the frost was 25 degrees - everything was simply crackling from the frost! The Lord is all white, and for some reason his vestments are silver. And their meeting with Tatyana Vladimirovna ended with the bishop admitting: “You are the most charming woman I have seen in my life.” And Tatyana Vladimirovna herself, being a spiritually experienced person, later remembered him all her life; May the Kingdom of Heaven rest with her - she too has already passed away. Internally, despite such a seemingly unnecessary playful conversation, they immediately became close. Vladyka Alexy is a man of holy life. And now you address Vladyka as a saint whom you personally know. Recorded by Olga Orlova

Archbishop Alexy (Frolov) reposed in the Lord

On December 3, after a long illness, at the 67th year of his life, one of the most zealous archpastors of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich Alexy (Frolov), reposed in the Lord. Vladyka Alexy was a bearer of the true monastic tradition of Russian Orthodoxy, a true ascetic and man of prayer, writes the “Holy Fire” website.

The Lord called him exactly to Himself five years after Patriarch Alexy II (+ December 5, 2008).

Archbishop Alexy (Frolov)

From March 1991 to March 2011, Archimandrite and subsequently Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Alexy was the abbot of the Novospassky Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow, and in this field he gained great love among Orthodox Muscovites.

From December 27, 1995 until his death, Archbishop Alexy was chairman of the Synodal Liturgical Commission.

Vladyka Alexy was the unofficial spiritual leader of the anti-reform movement of the priesthood and laity of Moscow. With his blessing and under his direct spiritual leadership and chairmanship, in the spring of 2008 in Moscow, within the walls of the Novospassky Monastery, a pastoral meeting of the Moscow diocese was held, dedicated to the problem of the growth of modernist, neo-renovationist tendencies in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The most authoritative Moscow pastors and laity made reports and messages at that memorable meeting. The meeting participants expressed serious concern that in a situation where His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II spoke out quite clearly and unequivocally against any fundamental reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church, including liturgical reforms, there were individual laymen and clergy who spoke about their systematic preparation of such reforms, under the pretext of “missionary” accessibility, they imposed all sorts of distortions of our shrine - the apostolic and patristic Tradition, tried to shorten the divine service, translate it into modern Russian, carried out the liberalization of pastoral and spiritual practice, called for a reduction and weakening of fasts, a reduction and weakening of the prayer rule , abolition of confession, especially before communion, which is a path to profanation of the sacraments, especially the central sacrament - the Eucharist. Concluding the meeting, Bishop Alexy called the delusions of the neo-renovationists delusions not of the mind, but of the heart. It is not simple thoughtlessness, but lack of faith and lack of correct spiritual dispensation that are the main reasons for modernist deviations.

The result of this pastoral meeting was the Appeal of a group of clergy to the Council of Bishops in 2008, which was signed by 124 clergy of Moscow. The Address, in particular, said: “The ideology of the reformers is expressed in conformity with the outside world, demanding liberal reforms of worship in the spirit of political correctness and adaptation to the needs of fallen human nature. It is difficult for us to grasp the scale of the creeping liturgical reformation in the Russian Orthodox Church, but we clearly understand that this phenomenon is historically a dead end and purely marginal in all respects - both in form and in essence. We dare to turn to the Council of Bishops with a request: to assess the unannounced liturgical reformation in the Russian Orthodox Church, to indicate the scale of this modernist phenomenon and its danger to the foundations of Orthodoxy. This is urgently necessary, first of all, for the development and success of a genuine Orthodox mission in Russia and beyond its borders.”

In the parachurch liberal media, this Appeal of the 124 caused real gnashing of teeth among representatives of the liberal-renovationist clergy and laity.

Bishop Alexy stood for fidelity to liturgical tradition (for many years Archbishop Alexy headed the Synodal Liturgical Commission), for the preservation of the Church Slavonic language without any Russification or compromise. He was strict in his attitude to everyday life and asked highly of his children, without making much difference in the requirements for the inner life of a layman and a monk. He sacredly kept intact the spirit of patristic asceticism, for he believed that only such a spirit could effectively serve the transformation of the human soul and lead to Christ.

The Kingdom of Heaven and eternal rest to the newly deceased zealous Hierarch of the Russian Church - His Eminence Bishop Alexy!

Pastoral Conference 2008

On April 16, 2008, in the Catherine Church of the Novospassky Stavropegic Monastery, under the chairmanship of the vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', the chairman of the Liturgical Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church, the vicar of the monastery, Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, a pastoral meeting of the Moscow diocese was held, dedicated to the problem of the growth of modernist, neo-renovationist tendencies in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Reports and messages were given by: the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery for Men, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), the rector of the Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi, Archpriest Alexander Shargunov, the rector of the Church of St. John the Warrior on Yakimanka Archpriest Nikolai Smirnov, member of the Diocesan Council of Moscow Archpriest Leonid Roldugin, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Trinity-Golenishchevo Archpriest Sergius Pravdolyubov, Archpriest Vladimir Pereslegin, cleric of the Valaam Monastery Metochion in Moscow Priest Igor Belov, Archpriest Andrey Pravdolyubov (Ryazan diocese), Chairman of the Divine Service Commission at the Diocesan Council of Moscow Hegumen Feofilakt (Bezukladnikov), rector of the Patriarchal Metochion at the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery Archpriest Vladimir Chuvikin, rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki, member of the Divine Service Commission at the Diocesan Council of Moscow Archpriest Alexander Dasaev, cleric of the Church of the Forty Martyrs Sebastius skikh, chief editor of the magazine "Heir", confessor of the Orthodox youth association "Young Rus'" priest Maxim Pervozvansky, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Blessed Fire" Sergei Nosenko, teacher at the Nikolo-Ugresh Seminary, candidate of theology Valery Dukhanin, scientific secretary of the Scientific Council for Religious and Social Research of the Department of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, executive editor of the journal “Problems of Development” Vladimir Semenko and others.

The meeting participants expressed serious concern that in a situation where His Holiness the Patriarch clearly and unequivocally speaks out against any fundamental reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church, including liturgical reforms (a position shared by the overwhelming majority of members of the Church), there are individual laymen and clergy , who talk about their systematic preparation of such reforms, under the pretext of “missionary” accessibility, impose all sorts of distortions of our shrine - the apostolic and patristic Tradition, try to shorten the divine service, translate it into modern Russian, carry out the liberalization of pastoral and spiritual practice, call for a reduction and weakening fasts, reduction and weakening of the prayer rule, especially before communion, which is a path to the profanation of the sacraments, especially the central sacrament - the Eucharist.

A number of clergy who spoke at the meeting drew the attention of those gathered to the fact that the renewal of worship under the pretext of missionary work is not a new phenomenon in the history of the Church. Yes, Rev. Alexander Shargunov drew a direct analogy with the Second Vatican Council, which proclaimed the so-called “anthropological postulate”, according to which the main criterion for the applicability of a particular practice in the Church is not its compliance with Tradition, but its acceptability or unacceptability for a person.

During the meeting, different points of view were expressed on the issue of the productivity or unproductivity of discussions with neo-renovationists. Most participants agreed that it is necessary to distinguish between people who are sincerely mistaken and those who have gone too far in their desire to replace the divinely established order in the Church with their subjective understanding “from the wind of their heads.” Any discussion with such people does not seem useful or productive. Concluding the meeting, Bishop Alexy called the delusions of the neo-renovationists delusions not of the mind, but of the heart. It is not simple thoughtlessness, but lack of faith and lack of correct spiritual dispensation that are the main reasons for modernist deviations. At the same time, according to the participants, any discussion, including with neo-renovationists, should take place in the spirit of brotherly love, no matter how difficult it may be in the conditions of the dishonest and unclean technologies they use.

According to the participants, such meetings should be made regular, including at the church-wide level.

The participants approved a preliminary draft of the final document, which, after finalization by the editorial committee, will be published.

04/17/2008

Source

News feed

Transfiguration is the day of the episcopal consecration of the ever-remembered Archbishop Alexy (Frolov), from 1995 to 2010 of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, then of Kostroma and Galich. The Bishop was laid to rest at the altar of the Transfiguration Cathedral, which he resurrected from the desolation of the Novospasskaya monastery of Moscow. His fellow archpastor is remembered by his friend and co-celebrant who participated in his consecration, the now retired Metropolitan of Astrakhan and Enotaevsky Jonah (Karpukhin).

Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich Alexy (Frolov). Photo: M. Rodionov / Pravoslavie.Ru

Strength to serve

– Vladyka Jonah, tell us about Archbishop Alexy.

- This is a spiritual person. He constantly read the Holy Scriptures and the lives of saints, and loved to share what he read with his loved ones. Prayer book. I suffered a lot. How heavy was the cross of his last illness. But he never said anything about her to anyone. He kept everything to himself. I bore this burden myself. Here he suffered, there he remains in joy.

– Have you known him since your student years?

– Yes, I taught liturgics with him.

– What kind of student was he?

- Good. He knew the service amazingly. At that time I was also the dean of the Intercession Academic Church. I always saw him at church services when he was still a student. Then he became our senior deacon there and served in this obedience for almost 15 years[1]. They simply could not find a replacement for him. He had a beautiful voice, he knew the Rules, and he could instruct newly ordained deacons. By the way, he understood people very well. “Father Jonah,” he sometimes told me, “it’s too early to ordain this one.” The leadership of the academy always listened to his observations.

– Do you remember how he was ordained a deacon?

– He was sickly from his youth. It was impossible for him to get colds in his kidneys; I even remember that back in the academy he tied a warm scarf around himself. When they wanted to ordain him as a deacon, he came to me and said: “Report to the Bishop Rector that I cannot be a deacon.” He simply didn’t have the strength then. I have to serve, but what if I have an attack?

And with the acceptance of rank, strength appeared. This is such a wonderful person! Like a bee, he collected spiritually valuable experience. He used it in his ministry and passed it on to others. People from Moscow came to him at the academy for instructions.

- Friends?

- No, just believers! This was already his flock in those days. He taught them. Students also came to him to confess.

Anatoly Frolov. Blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen

- For revelation of thoughts?

- Yes, he was still a hierodeacon at that time, he certainly did not read the prayer of permission, but he could help to understand the action of passions. Recommend something from the holy fathers. They turned to him.

– What distinguished him as a teacher?

“He was strict with students. But this was justified severity. Each, of course, comprehended the subject according to his own abilities. But Father Alexy even gave C grades. He didn’t indulge. He told an interesting story. Students loved his lectures. He taught church history. This was not something speculative for him, but was experienced very deeply by him. “The history of the Church is the history of the saints,” he repeated.

How to become a saint?

“A man came - Christ came. A woman came - the Mother of God came"

-Who did he love most among the saints?

- Loved everyone. And in everyone there is God. So you can say that he loved everyone. For the same reason. “A man came - Christ came. A woman came—the Mother of God came,” he said.

– It’s like living in paradise!

“Even in his youth, he admitted that he would like to be, like St. Tikhon, accessible to all people. He was accessible.

– Bishop Mark (Arndt), Archbishop of Berlin and West Germany, even before Bishop Alexy’s fortieth birthday, said about this youthful desire that it is not so easy to realize it in the modern post-Soviet people - people are no longer the same as they were before. Now this good intention is a Calvary experience. But, however, like Bishop Alexy himself, he urged not to be afraid of sorrows.

– Vladyka Alexy was a saint during his lifetime. Bishop Alexy always had this string - a craving for holiness - internally stretched. From his youth he was very God-fearing. And how he revered the saints! Lived their lives.

Metropolitan Jonah. Photo by Olga Orlova

- How to become a saint?

- Well, my dear, it's a secret.

– They say that it is revealed in the lives of saints. There is even such an instruction: read the lives of the saints and pay attention to exactly how each of them managed to embody the Gospel in their lives.

– Yes, this is what Father Alexy constantly did. And what was revealed to him, and how he himself worked in this work, is hidden. This is the mystery of God in man. The craving for holiness was the core of his personality, everything else in his life revolved around this axis.

The day for him began at the saint’s shrine

– Did this aspiration somehow manifest itself outwardly?

“He was very modest, especially since he protected the life of his soul from prying eyes. Despite the fact that he was sociable by nature, from a young age he tried to behave with restraint, lived in something inaccessible to the majority, and avoided constant communication. It was felt that he was a different type of person. Despite the fact that outwardly he tried to be inconspicuous, internally he stood out.

– Did the future archpastor greatly venerate St. Sergius?

- And how! The day for him began at the saint’s shrine. More than once I felt his help and intercession. I was in awe of the Igumen of the Russian land. He was later entrusted with heading the Synodal Department for Monasticism and Monasteries. And to venerate - that’s how he venerated all the saints! I traveled all over Russia and respected everyone. Also abroad in Orthodox countries.

To avoid substitution

– Once in Greece, one of the local hierarchs told Vladyka Alexy that today Greece is a seminary, and Russia is a theological academy. Is it because the Russian Church’s immediate heritage is the experience of the new martyrs, who suffered through the main criterion of Christianity - love for enemies?

“Before, when we were growing up and studying, they didn’t tell us anything about the new martyrs. It was prohibited then. There were informants sent everywhere; if you tell them, they will tell you. We didn't know anything. The older generation was taciturn. As if they had filled their mouths with water, they remained silent. But the fact that there should not be anger in the soul is bequeathed to us.

– Vladyka told how a KGB officer approached him.

“They approached everyone, including me.

– What did they offer?

– Be “friends”, talk with them, tell them what’s going on...

Moscow Theological Academy. Father Alexy (Frolov) at the pulpit

– What time was it then? What was the atmosphere like in the monastery, in the academy?

– Under Soviet rule there were all sorts of people. Back then everyone was afraid of each other. At the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy we had many “Westerners” – students from Western Ukraine. The Uniates were especially active there. They served underground, but were very influential. So, these guys, who could only study with bad marks, were not kicked out. While they were at the academy, they grew their beards, and when they got to the Kievsky station, they went to the nearest hairdresser, shaved smoothly and left[2].

– They say that from his youth, Bishop Alexy had a zeal for Orthodoxy that distinguished him.

- Yes. He felt every person very subtly and immediately understood whether he was spiritual or not.

– At the same time, I couldn’t stand Western exaltation. Once, while still a celibate deacon, he flatly refused to participate in an ecumenical event.

– I felt a change.

– Did he have any favorite teachers at the academy, to whom he was somehow particularly drawn?

“He had such a personality that he treated everyone well. He had an even attitude towards everyone. He tried not to get attached to anyone. But I don’t remember that he had any hostility towards anyone.

Last Easter in concelebration with Archimandrite Innocent (Prosvirnin).
1994 - Vladyka Alexy said that at first he did not have love for his successor from the Gospel, Father Innocent (Prosvirnin), and he prayed to God to give him this love.
– Father Alexy was simple, but Father Innokenty had many reasons for pride, this was his abuse. The soul of what was handed to him from the Gospel did not accept it; it was painful and unfamiliar to her. But then they got along very well with Bishop Pitirim (Nechaev) and Father Innocent. Because they were all spiritual people. Each of them was demanding and strict in their work. No concessions were given. But love was manifested in this toughness. This is exactly how it was possible to instill spirituality in those who worked with them.

– How exactly did they instruct you to live according to the spirit?

– I don’t know, they didn’t teach me. I only said hello to Father Innocent, and we didn’t really communicate very closely with Bishop Pitirim. And I joked more with the future Bishop Alexy. When he wasn't retelling the lives of the saints...

“Even before he was tonsured, he was a monk”

– Metropolitan Pitirim was at the origins of the founding of the Church-Archaeological Office of the Moscow Theological Academy, in which you and the future Bishop Alexy carried out obedience. What did it consist of?

– We conducted excursions. Bishop Alexy spoke very well about icons and saints. He talked about art. About what kind of selfless masters there used to be. There, in the Central Academy of Arts, for example, there is an icon painted by a blind icon painter; she also held a brush in her mouth and painted the image that way.

Vladyka Alexy.
Premonition of Easter - There are probably miraculous icons in the Central Academy of Culture.
Haven't you recorded miracles? – Yes, there are miraculous icons there. But then it was impossible to write down anything like that. What do you? The Central Affiliation Center would have been closed immediately. The Central Administrative Committee was headed by Archpriest Alexy Ostapov. I told him: “Father Alexy, well, something needs to be done!” He answered me: “Father Jonah, at present silence is golden.” Indeed, if we had performed, we would have been completely crushed into dust.

– What helped in those days?

- Prayer. And the churchliness of our ancestors.

– Vladyka Alexy was not from a church family?

- No. The Lord called.

– How did he become a monk?

“He kept this secret to himself. When and how this happened, what the tonsure meant for him, he didn’t tell anyone.

– Did he somehow change after accepting monasticism?

- Yes, he was a monk even before he was tonsured!

The basis of true nobility

Then Archimandrite Alexy. The cross, inherited by now Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov)

“They say that almost immediately after his priesthood he was given the rank of archimandrite.

– Yes, I remember when he returned, it was Friday. The Akathist to the Mother of God was served in the Intercession Academic Church. Then all the clergy gathers. And then yesterday’s hierodeacon enters in a miter, with a club, with a cross with decorations...

But he was humble. I didn’t like to stand out or make any impression. He was completely absorbed in worship. When he served, he became very serious. And he also loved to joke. True, in a narrow circle of fellow friends. Tell me something encouraging from your life. Cheerful man! We lived joyfully. He and I were very close friends. He helped me.

– How did you relax?

“We went together to the then-ruined Chernigov monastery. On foot. We crossed the railway. Then we walked through the forest. Father Alexy knew the history of this place very well. We prayed there. Akathists were read. And so, when there was simply free time, we often gathered in my cell. I always had something to eat, too. People brought it to me.

The whole celebration for us came down to worship

– How were holidays celebrated then?

- In the temple. The whole celebration for us came down to worship. We didn't need anything else. A common meal was, of course, arranged in the dining room. All.

- How did you fast?

- Like everyone else at the academy. The meal was shared. Here, in order not to become proud, you have to be like everyone else. But Father Alexy did not allow temptations. Nothing more.

“Even later, when he was already a bishop, he did not like official feasts. He ate simply and quickly, like a soldier.

– Yes, although I was already very close to His Holiness Alexy II, it seems like there’s no escape from the receptions. By the way, I became more withdrawn then. But not because he avoided people. His every word could be interpreted in such a way that it would deal a blow to the Patriarch.

On a pilgrimage

– What brought them together?

- God knows. The Patriarch loved him and even consulted with him. In recent years, Bishop Alexy had access to the primate chambers. He was the first to arrive when His Holiness died. He dressed him before the burial. How he loved the Primate! His Holiness Alexy II is a wonderful person. What a upbringing he has! From a noble family, from a priestly family. It still affects a person.

The only weakness

– Already being a resident of the Lavra, an academic monk, did Father Alexy confess to Father Kirill (Pavlov)?

- Yes. Father Kirill is a man of God. He didn’t say much, he would say a word, and that word contained everything. Your whole life. Both the future and the present. He, of course, preached. But it's very quiet. His voice is quiet. Sometimes it was inaudible. He admonished us not so much in sermons as in confession. He taught by example.

How a bee collected spiritual experience

– And did you continue to communicate with your Belgorod elders – with your spiritual father, Schema-Archimandrite Grigory (Davydov), and Archimandrite Seraphim (Tyapochkin)?

– Yes, I kept in touch with them. I also went to the now famous Metropolitan of Tetritskaro Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga; in schema Seraphim) in Tbilisi. There he also communicated with the already illustrious Schema-Archimandrite Andronik (Lukash). I say: like a bee, he collected spiritual experience. Like his father from the Gospel, Archimandrite Innocent, was a student of Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko).

At Metropolitan Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga) in Tbilisi

– Did you participate in the consecration of Bishop Alexy?

– Yes, but it’s difficult to remember anything now. Ordination is like consecration. They made him a bishop...

“Then, during the naming, he said: “In the absence of experienced mentors, it is difficult for those who wish to sincerely strive in the monastery to find the path to the holy mystery of human transfiguration.” And he had so many mentors! Recently they told how he imitated Father Vitaly: he also gave boots [3] . I once saw a nun’s old shoes and asked: “What size are you?” - “42nd, lord.” - "ABOUT!" - He takes off his new clothes. She put them on, the phone immediately rings, and at the other end of the line the one who just gave them to him asks: “Well, did they fit?” - “Perfect fit! - the bishop comments, looking at the one who tried it on. - Be careful!

- Yes, he was always a non-possessor. He had one weakness...

- Books?

- Chocolates!

- Yes, he joked: “There are three creatures starting with the letter “M” who love sweets: babies, flies and monks.”

- Oh, I didn't hear that. I wonder how!

And he read books constantly. He especially loved the lives of saints. He sometimes simply read them aloud to students in class. I introduced them to this reading. We had cells in the teaching building, I lived in the first, and he in the last. At night you go out for a walk, you see, it’s two in the morning, and in his window you can see that the table lamp is on. Is reading. This is despite the fact that he got up early and did not miss services. Both during my student years and after. And when I became a senior deacon, I generally came far in advance.

Yaltunovsk elders Anisia, Matrona and Agathia
- Did you have any favorite patristic expressions that are constantly in circulation?
– Yes, we mostly just talked! Unless we discuss something serious on subjects. We will solve some teaching issues together. Although he, of course, loved to teach. He will read the life, come and retell it... “Lesh, that’s enough for you! Well, how much can you do?!”

The Bishop tried to draw good things from everywhere, not from books, but he would go to holy places. According to sources. To the elders, elders. He was a regular visitor to the Yaltunov sisters - Anisia, Matrona and Agathia. I was once honored to visit them in the Ryazan region. Then there were already two sisters left - the eldest, Anisia, went to the Lord. We arrive, and one of the old women says: “Now I’ll go pick some raspberries. There is milk...” She comes back, I look, she put a large cup on the table, poured raspberries into it, poured milk into it and stirred it... I think: “He’s acting like a fool, or what? What is she doing?!" Yogurt! I tried it - oh, how delicious! Yes, there were servants of God on Ryazan soil. Vladyka loved to go there. We vacationed there together.

Archpriest Georgy Glazunov.
Photo by Olga Orlova – How did Bishop Alexy end up there?
“He went to visit Saint Theophan the Recluse, whom he revered very much and whose works he studied. Our good friend, Father Georgy Glazunov, found the relics of the saint; they then remained in his church for 14 years, until the Vyshensky Monastery was reopened. We went to worship. They even made a bench for me there. There they have a beautiful forest near their house. Pine trees and fir trees are growing. They placed a board between two spruce trees for me. I remember sitting there, and Father Alexy walking around and reading the lives of the saints...

Sometimes they served. I was already a priest, and he was still a hierodeacon. Helped me. I'm older than him.

I remember one time I felt pretty bad. Father George was then the dean of the Shatsk land, he had to go somewhere on business, and then they brought the baby to baptize. He came to give us obedience. And we’re sitting so well... “You’re going to go baptize!” – we begin to bicker. - "No you!" - “No, you will baptize”... And then Father Alexy threw the carrot he was eating at me. We lived happily.

Then Father Alexy throws the carrot he was eating at me. We lived happily

And later, when he had already become a hieromonk, we, as the youngest, sent him to baptize. It used to be that Father George would say: “We must serve on Sunday.” And there in Emmanuilovka, so many people from surrounding villages gathered in the church: up to 200 communicants at the Sunday liturgy! And everyone must be confessed. And then more christenings without end. I was so tired. But Father Alexy was also physically weak. “It hurts here,” he says...” “Come on!” - I answer. - You'll not die". I couldn’t believe that he would leave so early; he died at the age of 67.

Unfulfilled prophecy

Vladyka Alexy. Photo by Sergey Skazkin

Once a nun from Odessa was on a pilgrimage to our monastery; she herself was in a wheelchair and was carried around. I remember that we, the young people, surrounded her and began to ask: “Mother, how long will I live?” She told Father Alexy: “50 years old.” And he says to me: “70.” I was indignant: “I didn’t give enough!” She corrected: “Up to 80.” “Okay,” I say. I really survived all of them - there were still guys with us then - I survived. All my friends are already dead. How bad I feel without them!

– How did the future Bishop Alexy react?

“As God willing,” he answered, “I’ll live as long as I live.” Being young, he took it all calmly. He did not live in peace. He loved the dead. As soon as he gets into the car, he starts singing: “Rest with the saints...”. He loved to go to cemeteries. I read the Psalter.

“They say that even for those whom he barely knew, if he heard that someone had died, he read kathisma a day.

– Yes, he was a spiritual man!

– What is a spiritual person?

“You can’t just talk about it.” If you look at him from the outside, among the academic monks he was the most simple employee. But inside he lived a spiritual life, communicated with God, with the saints. ...He's in heaven.

Saints and miracle workers. Metropolitan Alexey

Like many others, boyar Fedor and his family moved to North-Eastern Rus' and entered the service of the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich. Fyodor Byakont became one of the closest boyars of Prince Daniil. According to some reports, the prince, and then his sons, more than once entrusted him with the management of Moscow during their absences. The sons of Fyodor Byakont (brothers of Metropolitan Alexei) became the founders of the famous boyar families - Ignatievs, Zherebtsovs, Fomins, Pleshcheevs. The future great saint was born in Moscow.
His successor from the font (that is, godfather) was Daniel’s son, Prince Ivan, the future Ivan Kalita, then still a teenager. At baptism, the baby received the name Eleutherius (or, in common parlance, Alfer). (True, some chronicles give a different name for the baptismal name of Metropolitan Alexei - Simeon.) Already in his childhood he learned to read and write and studied all the books of the Holy Scripture well. He studied Eleutherius and the Greek language perfectly. (Subsequently, while in Constantinople, Metropolitan Alexei will translate the text of the New Testament from Greek into Slavic.)

The life of the saint tells that one day, when he was twelve years old , he was visited by a miraculous vision. Once, when the boy was setting up nets in the field to catch birds, he accidentally fell asleep and heard a voice in his dream: “Why, Alexy, are you working in vain? I will make you a fisher of men." Waking up from sleep, the youth saw no one and was greatly amazed at what he heard. “From that time on,” says the author of the Life, “he began to think and reflect a lot on what this voice should mean.” Eleutherius began to prepare himself for monastic service and, when he was twenty years old, he took monastic vows at the Moscow Epiphany Monastery. When he was tonsured, he was given the name that he had heard in a dream vision - Alexey. Together with him at the same time, the brother of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Stephen, labored in the Epiphany Monastery.

According to the Life, Alexey spent twenty years in the monastery. He enjoyed great authority both within the walls of the monastery and outside it. The Moscow prince Semyon Ivanovich Proud (son of Ivan Kalita) and Metropolitan Theognost attracted him to the management of the Russian Church. Alexey was appointed metropolitan governor in the city of Vladimir; It was he who Theognost saw as his successor at the metropolitan see, and the metropolitan was supported in this by Prince Semyon. According to the Life, Alexey remained in this capacity for twelve years and three months.

Shortly before his death, in December 1352, Metropolitan Theognost elevated Alexei to the rank of bishop of the city of Vladimir. At the same time, on behalf of the Metropolitan and Prince Semyon, ambassadors were sent to Constantinople, to the Patriarch, with a request to appoint Alexei as Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus' after the death of Theognostus. The ambassadors returned to Rus' with a positive response in the summer or autumn of 1353, but during their absence tragic events occurred in Moscow. The outbreak of the “Black Death” (plague) epidemic claimed the lives of Metropolitan Theognost, who had been seriously ill for a long time, as well as the completely healthy and full of strength Grand Duke Semyon, his two sons and brother Andrei. Semyon's last brother, Prince Ivan the Red, became the Prince of Moscow (and then the Grand Duke of Vladimir). In his will, Semyon ordered his brother to obey “our father, Vladyka Alexei.”

In the same year, Alexey went to Constantinople for delivery. He probably traveled through the Horde, where he received a label from Khansha Taidula. Alexey spent about a year in Constantinople. On June 30, 1354, Patriarch Philotheus issued a charter, which confirmed him in the rank of Metropolitan of Russia. A long-accomplished fact was officially confirmed - the transfer of the residence of Russian metropolitans from Kyiv to Vladimir (although Alexey was still called “Metropolitan of Kyiv”).

In the middle of the 14th century, not only Russia , languishing under the yoke of the Horde, experienced difficult times, but also the Horde itself, torn apart by contradictions, and the Byzantine Empire, in which there was a real civil war. Under these conditions, the once united Russian Metropolis also disintegrated, the lands of which had long been divided between the principalities of North-Eastern Rus', on the one hand, and Lithuania and Poland, on the other. Church unrest and disorder began. Soon after Alexei's departure, another metropolitan was appointed to the Russian See in Constantinople - a certain Roman, the son of a Tver boyar and, according to some sources, a relative of the Tver prince, a protege of the powerful Lithuanian prince Olgerd, who did not at all want the lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. populated by Orthodox Christians, were subordinate to the Metropolitan from Moscow. Romana was probably erected by the Patriarch Callistos of Constantinople, who replaced Philotheus after the abdication of Emperor John VI Cantacuzene.

The dispute with Roman forced Alexei to go to Constantinople again in the fall of 1355 (or 1356). It was decided that Alexei would remain Metropolitan of “All Rus'”; Roman got the Lithuanian (Polotsk and Turov) and Volyn dioceses. However, this decision did not satisfy Roman; it is known that he tried to subjugate Kyiv, captured the Bryansk diocese, and in 1360 even came to Tver, probably hoping to win over the Tver princes to his side. The feuds with Romanus continued over the next few years, until Romanus' death in 1362.

On the way back of Metropolitan Alexei from Constantinople to Russia, an event occurred , the story of which was included in the Life of the saint. The ship was caught in a fierce storm on the Black Sea, so that everyone despaired of escape. The saint fervently prayed to God, and made a vow: to build a temple in the name of that saint or that holiday that would be celebrated on the day when he landed on the shore. The storm stopped and the travelers safely reached the shore. Subsequently, Metropolitan Alexey fulfilled his promise: around 1360, on the banks of the Yauza River, he built a temple and monastery in the name of the Savior, His Image Not Made by Hands (this holiday is celebrated on August 16). The Monk Andronik, a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, who became the first abbot of the monastery, took a great part in the creation of the monastery. After his name, the monastery was named Spaso-Andronikov.

In 1357, the saint had to go to the Horde at the invitation of Khan Janibek . Queen Taidula, the wife of Khan Janibek, became dangerously ill (lost her sight) and wished that the Russian Metropolitan would heal her. On August 18, the saint set off on a long and difficult journey. On the same day, just before his departure, a miracle happened: in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, a candle lit up by itself in front of the tomb of St. Metropolitan Peter. It was a good omen. Saint Alexei, having finished the prayer service, divided the candle and distributed it to the people for blessing. He took some of the wax with him. Arriving in the Horde, Alexei was admitted to the queen. He prayed for her healing, says the Life, and lit a candle made from the wax of the same one that was lit by Metropolitan Peter. Then he sprinkled Taidula with blessed water - and she immediately received her sight. A 16th-century manuscript preserves a record according to which Alexei had a debate about faith in the Horde with a certain hero Munzi, the son of the blind mullah Govzadin. The life of the saint indicates that soon after returning to Rus', Alexei had to go to the Horde once again. A cruel turmoil began there: the son of Khan Janibek Berdibek killed his father and twelve siblings. He demanded that the Russian princes pay a huge extraordinary tribute, and Ivan the Red begged the saint to try to tame the rage of the khan. A label issued to Alexei Berdibek has been preserved, confirming the liberation of the Russian Church from tributes and extortions. According to the chronicle, Alexei “suffered a lot of languor from the Tatars,” but returned to Rus' safe and sound.

with the memory of the miraculous healing of Queen Taidula in the Horde the construction by Metropolitan Alexei of a monastery in the name of the Miracle of the Holy Archangel Michael, who was in Khoneh. The stone church was founded by the saint in the Moscow Kremlin in 1365 and was completed and consecrated in the same year; At the same time, the elders were gathered into the monastery, partly from the Trinity Sergius Monastery, partly from other monasteries. This monastery, known as Chudova, existed until the 30s of our century.

At the beginning of 1359, Alexei went to Kiev, which belonged to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd, but was part of his metropolis by decision of the Patriarch of Constantinople. This trip almost cost him his life. Olgerd took “the saint into custody, took away all his property and even thought of killing him. However, Alexei managed to escape. He returned to Moscow only in 1360.

During his absence, important events took place in Moscow. In November 1359, Prince Ivan the Red died, leaving behind two young sons, the eldest of whom, Dmitry (the future Dmitry Donskoy), was barely nine years old. Metropolitan Alexey became the children's guardian. Over the next years, he was actually the head of the Moscow government, and it was through his efforts that Moscow managed to retain the right to be called the political center of North-Eastern Rus'. Although not immediately, Dmitry nevertheless received a label for the great reign of Vladimir (in 1362-1363).

During these years, Alexey decisively intervened in the political struggle , fully defending the interests of Moscow. In 1365, he supported the Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in his fight for Nizhny, which was illegally taken from him by his brother Boris. According to the chronicle, Alexey demanded that Boris come to Moscow. When he refused, Archimandrite Paul and Abbot Gerasim, sent by the Metropolitan, “closed the churches” in Nizhny Novgorod and thereby forced the prince to submit. The Metropolitan removed Nizhny from the Suzdal bishop Alexei, who apparently supported Boris. In subsequent years, Alexey supported the Moscow prince in his fight against Tver. The saint had to take extreme measures, which sometimes even conflicted with accepted Christian norms. The chronicle tells about one such case. In 1368, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich and Metropolitan Alexei invited the Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich to Moscow, and Dmitry “gave him a kiss on the cross,” that is, he promised on the cross not to plot against him. Mikhail believed the promises, but when he arrived in Moscow, he was captured and imprisoned. Only the sudden appearance of the Horde ambassador in Moscow saved the prince: not wanting to quarrel with the Tatars, Dmitry let him go to Tver. “Prince Mikhail was very saddened by this and was indignant and began to hate, and was even more offended by the metropolitan,” writes the Tver chronicler.

Moscow's open support aroused sympathy for the metropolitan on the part of some of his compatriots, but - and this is understandable - dissatisfaction and hostility on the part of others. Prince Mikhail of Tver and the Lithuanian prince Olgerd, who supported him, married to Mikhail’s sister, complained about Alexei’s actions to the Patriarch of Constantinople. “And until now there has never been such a metropolitan as this metropolitan,” wrote, for example, Olgerd in 1371, “blessing the Muscovites to shed blood!” In addition, Olgerd complained that Alexey did not visit Kyiv and other western lands, leaving them without his pastoral supervision - although it is known how Alexey’s visit to Kyiv ended in 1359! (However, back in 1364, Alexei still visited Lithuania.) Patriarch Philotheus (who again took the throne) was in no hurry to condemn Alexei, considering him truly a “great man” and, moreover, “his close friend.” However, in 1371 he invited him to appear in Constantinople for trial.

In 1376, however, at the insistent demand of Olgerd, Constantinople was forced to again divide the Russian Metropolis. The famous Bulgarian ascetic and writer Cyprian was ordained to the Kyiv and Lithuanian Sees; at the same time, it was decided that after the death of Alexei, the dioceses of North-Eastern Rus' would also be under the rule of Cyprian so that the Russian Metropolis would unite again. (Cyprian is not recognized in Moscow. When, after the death of Metropolitan Alexei, he comes to Rus', Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich will arrest him and send him outside the country. His reconciliation with Dmitry will occur only in 1381, but will be short-lived: in 1382, after After the invasion of Tokhtamysh, Cyprian will again be expelled from the Moscow state. He will finally establish himself in Moscow only after the death of Dmitry Donskoy, in 1390, and will occupy the department until his death in 1406.)

By that time, Metropolitan Alexey was already a very old man. He died on February 12, 1378, Friday, during the morning | neither. He was buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael in the Chudov Monastery he founded, as he bequeathed. After 60 years, the top of this church collapsed; The church was dismantled and during its clearing, the impaled relics of the saint were found. The church-wide celebration of Saint Alexei was established by Metropolitan Jonah in 1448. In 1484, the Miracle Archimandrite Gennady (the future Archbishop of Novgorod) erected a church in the name of St. Alexei himself in the same monastery where the holy relics were transferred. Nowadays the relics of St. Alexei rest in the Holy Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow.

The Church celebrates the memory of Saint Metropolitan Alexei on February 12 (25), the day of his death, May 20 (June 2), on the day of the transfer of the relics, as well as October 5 (18), on the day of common memory of the Moscow saints Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip and Hermogenes.

He did not bring alien fire into the sanctuary of God

On December 3, 2013, on the eve, and according to church time, on the day of the feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos (the church day begins in the evening), after a long illness, in the 67th year of his life, Archbishop Alexy (Frolov) of Kostroma and Galich reposed in the Lord.

***

The venerable Bishop has traveled a long and spiritually rich path. Vladyka was born in Moscow in 1947. Already from his early youth, by the grace of God, he found his first spiritual mentor - the wonderful elder Schema-Archimandrite Gregory (Davydov). Under the guidance of Father Gregory, as well as Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Tyapochkin), whom the future bishop visited with his elder, the young man was preparing to enter the Moscow Theological Seminary, and then the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1979 with a candidate’s degree theology.

In 1975, the future Archbishop Alexy was ordained to the rank of deacon and left at the Moscow Theological School, fulfilling obediences as an employee of the Church Archaeological Cabinet. The Bishop was a deep expert and subtle connoisseur of church art, and therefore it was he who was entrusted with protecting the relics and shrines of our Fatherland and storing the personal belongings of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Under the protection of St. Sergius, the aspirations for the monastic path of the future archpastor matured and grew stronger. In 1979, Father Alexy finally took monastic tonsure, for which, according to him, obedient to his elders, he had been waiting for several years, for it was not his will that had to be accomplished in tonsure, the elders insisted, but God’s. And it came true: Father Alexy was tonsured a monk, remaining a teacher at the Moscow Theological School. Bishop taught at the Moscow Theological Seminary for about 14 years.

The years of study at Moscow theological schools were unusually fruitful for the spiritual maturity of the future archpastor. Archimandrite Innokenty (Prosvirnin), a famous scientist, bibliographer, and compiler of the “Russian Bible,” was appointed his tonsure father. The spiritual rapprochement of Father Alexy with his “father of the Gospel” was not easy: for many months the young ascetic prayed tirelessly for the gift of love for his new spiritual leader. And the Lord heeded these holy prayers, uniting the destinies of Father Innocent and Vladyka Alexy not only in this life, but also forever: the reverent concerns of Father Alexy (then archimandrite) surrounded the last years of the life of Schema-Archimandrite Innocent. He also found his resting place in the Novospassky Monastery, which was headed by Vladyka. And the works of Fr. Innokenia and his memory, his grave were surrounded in the monastery with reverent veneration by all parishioners and brethren of the monastery. Using his example, the Lord taught the true fulfillment of the fifth commandment. But now the hour has come for the archpastor himself to rest next to his mentor...

Through Father Innocent, true luminaries of Orthodoxy entered the life of the young monk: Saint Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga), Schema-archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko), Venerable Elder Andronik (Lukash) and together with them the entire Glinsky tradition, which had a huge influence on the spiritual formation of the future bishop, laying the foundations for the strictest in spirit adherence to the patristic ascetic tradition, not damaged or blurred by any new trends. He remained the way he was raised in his youth by the great elders, who passed the future bishop “from hand to hand,” as Archbishop Alexy himself put it.

The spirit of the ascetic fathers hung over the Novospassky Monastery: all parishioners, and not just those who aspired to monastic service, were invited to immerse themselves in the works of the holy fathers. The bookstore of the monastery was full of works by the famous ascetics of Athos, other Orthodox monasteries in Greece, Serbia... The Bishop’s blessing to read and learn from such ascetics extended to everyone. It was the patristic view of life, the deep knowledge of man and his fallen nature, the ways of his healing - all the wealth of the ascetic culture of human upbringing that became the spiritual face of the Novospassky men's stauropegic monastery in Moscow. Bishop Alexy was strict in his attitude towards the daily life of his children and parishioners and asked highly of them, without making much difference in the requirements for the inner life of a layman and a monk. Those who decided to follow this narrow path were convinced that behind this holy severity of the Lord, ardent fatherly love lived in his heart. This love for Christ and for the flock entrusted to him forced him to sacredly keep intact the spirit of patristic asceticism, for the Lord knew that only such a spirit, and only such a path could effectively serve to transform and improve the human soul, lead it to Christ, so that a person would find Christ in your heart.

Vladyka Alexy carried in himself the broadest education, and deep inner culture, and openness to the world and man, and, most importantly, true Christian freedom: he knew how to find and take - and so he raised his children - and use spiritual goodness fruitfully in wide spheres of traditional classical culture, and in modern theology, and this was a consequence of his genuine Christian freedom. But he never brought alien fire into the sanctuary of God. Only those who tirelessly and vigilantly upheld the Tradition of the Mother Church could afford latitude.

From the first days of his arrival at the Novospassky Monastery in 1991, when he, together with the small brethren, began to restore the monstrously disfigured once majestic ancient monastery of Moscow, people were drawn to him... The Bishop not only collected the desecrated stones of the monastery, he, according to the word of the Apostle Peter, Sparing no effort, he collected and restored scolded souls - living stones, building from them a “spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:4-5). Here he did not spare his belly: he pulled lost souls out of the abyss of sin, like a mother strengthening the weak, to the point that he could sing a lullaby to a despondent and weak young soul over the phone.

He was open to people and often repeated that he himself learned everything from people. And this is not a paradox: after all, between him and the parishioners, his brethren, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love and Truth, hovered, and therefore everything went for the benefit of those who love God. Including the wise shepherd himself.

But it all began for a newcomer to the monastery - with a divine service: Vladyka was a great man of prayer. He served incredibly strictly, collectedly, with great prayerful intensity, which was transmitted to everyone around him: to the incomparable choir, at which the world later marveled, for it was truly monastic, monastic singing of enormous spiritual power, and to the deacons who served with him, and to the parishioners: be it an old-timer monastery, or a novice - a person cannot help but hear the true Spirit of God! At the Vladyka’s services (and he served tirelessly, not sparing his strength), everything in the temple was united together: it became one heart and lips glorifying God.

Special mention must be made of the Vladyka’s sermons, which he was in no hurry to record, much less publish, out of his humility. He carried a truly crusader word: he taught veneration and comprehension of the greatest meaning of the Cross of the Lord. The Bishop often reminded his children, disciples, and parishioners that everyone must follow the path that was paved by the Heroic Christ and that only in this unconditional following of Christ can a person find his salvation.

“He showed us the path that we need to follow: “Not as I want, but as You want,” the Vladyka said in one of his amazing sermons. - And so, when we say this, dear brothers and sisters, and when you hear the voice of God, do not harden your hearts. The Lord, with His love, begins to save a person through trials and small sorrows. And this is where you, Christian, give thanks to God, for you are like a son and are accepted only when you are punished. But do not accept punishment as God’s desire to offend, insult and cause you pain, but rather accept punishment as teaching. Remember, man, that you are the son of God, and You were born for Eternity. And, if God loved you so much that He shed His Most Pure Blood and gave His Body as food for you, so that you would be involved in His life, so you, a Christian, you are called to this, strive even to the point of blood! Force yourself to love God! And don’t betray Him even in the smallest things!”

The Bishop’s sermons imperceptibly created an integral Orthodox worldview in the souls of the parishioners. They purified and restored Christian concepts of reason. And people understood: everything in the Church must now be reconsidered and revealed in the light of Christ. Here, for example, is what the Bishop said about holiness...

According to him, holiness is not an ethical concept, not a moral or even metaphysical one (in isolation from the source of holiness - God), but something that is essentially the likeness of God, unity with God, the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. A saint, the Bishop always emphasized, is incomparably greater than a righteous person and even than a dispassionate person. A saint is one who acquired God, became deified, and became a god by grace. It was in this vein that the true meaning of the ancient ascetic teaching was restored - as the only path to human holiness.

Among his parishioners and disciples there were also those to whom the Vladyka’s strict ascetic fidelity to the spirit of the Gospel, the Word of God seemed too harsh and they left, thereby repeating what was prophesied in the Gospel: “This word is cruel: [and] who can listen to it?” (John 6:60).

On August 19, 1995, Archimandrite Alexy was consecrated Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese, and appointed chairman of the Synodal Commission for Monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, and from December 1995, Archbishop Alexy headed the Synodal Liturgical Commission.

For many years, Vladyka Alexy was the unofficial spiritual leader of the anti-reform movement of the priesthood and laity of Moscow.

With his blessing and under his direct spiritual leadership and chairmanship, in the spring of 2008 in Moscow, within the walls of the Novospassky Monastery, a pastoral meeting of the Moscow diocese was held, dedicated to the problem of the growth of modernist, neo-renovationist tendencies in the Russian Orthodox Church (https://blagogon.ru/biblio/157/ ).

The meeting participants expressed serious concern that in a situation where His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II clearly and unequivocally spoke out against any fundamental reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church, including liturgical reforms (a position shared by the overwhelming majority of members of the Church), there were individual laymen and the clergy, who spoke about their systematic preparation of such reforms, under the pretext of “missionary” accessibility, imposed all sorts of distortions of our shrine - the apostolic and patristic Tradition, tried to shorten the service, translate it into modern Russian, liberalized pastoral and spiritual practice, called for a reduction and the weakening of fasts, the reduction and weakening of the prayer rule, the abolition of confession, especially before communion, which is the path to the profanation of the sacraments, especially the central sacrament - the Eucharist. During that significant meeting, different points of view were expressed on the issue of the productivity or unproductivity of discussions with neo-renovationists.

Most of the participants then agreed that it is necessary to distinguish between people who are sincerely mistaken and those who have gone too far in their desire to replace the divinely established order in the Church with their subjective understanding “from the wind of their heads.” Any discussion with such people does not seem useful or productive.

Concluding the pastoral meeting, Bishop Alexy called the delusions of the neo-renovationists delusions not of the mind, but of the heart. It is not simple thoughtlessness, but lack of faith and lack of correct spiritual dispensation that are the main reasons for modernist deviations.

The result of this pastoral meeting was the Appeal of a group of clergy to the Council of Bishops in 2008, which was signed by 124 clergy of Moscow (https://blagogon.ru/biblio/10/). The Address, in particular, said: “The ideology of the reformers is expressed in conformity with the outside world, demanding liberal reforms of worship in the spirit of political correctness and adaptation to the needs of fallen human nature. It is difficult for us to grasp the scale of the creeping liturgical reformation in the Russian Orthodox Church, but we clearly understand that this phenomenon is historically a dead end and purely marginal in all respects - both in form and in essence. We dare to turn to the Council of Bishops with a request: to assess the unannounced liturgical reformation in the Russian Orthodox Church, to indicate the scale of this modernist phenomenon and its danger to the foundations of Orthodoxy. This is urgently necessary, first of all, for the development and success of a genuine Orthodox mission in Russia and beyond its borders.”

By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 5, 2010, Bishop Alexey was appointed administrator of the Kostroma diocese, where with great enthusiasm he took up the affairs of managing the vast diocese. He was happy, and often repeated the psalm word: “It is from the Lord that man’s feet are made straight” (Ps. 37:23). The Lord Himself sanctifies and appoints for man the place of birth, the day, the path, the service, and the terms of earthly existence. ...

Vladyka was born on the day of the celebration of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, the patroness of the House of Romanov. The Lord brought him in 1991 to the “Romanov” monastery: with the tomb of the Romanovs in the basement, with the memory of the great events of our history. The Lord and the Mother of God led him to Kostroma, the homeland of the first sovereign of the Romanov family, to the city, the shrine of which was and is the Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God, to the Ipatiev Monastery, of which the Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich was installed as the sacred archimandrite.

His Eminence Vladyka humbly and courageously bore the cross of a serious illness, and in extreme trials, setting a high example for his students and children.

The bearer of the true monastic tradition of Russian Orthodoxy, a true ascetic and prayer book, Vladyka Alexy was strict in his attitude to everyday life and asked highly of his children, without making much difference in the requirements for the inner life of a layman and a monk. He sacredly kept intact the spirit of patristic asceticism, for he believed that only such a spirit could effectively serve the transformation of the human soul and lead to Christ.

Bishop Alexy stood for fidelity to liturgical tradition (for many years Archbishop Alexy headed the Synodal Liturgical Commission), for the preservation of the Church Slavonic language without any Russification or compromise.

The Kingdom of Heaven is yours, our venerable and unforgettable father and Lord!

Bow to you and eternal prayerful gratitude for everything you have done for us.

Eternal rest to you, newly departed zealous Hierarch of the Russian Church.

2013

Bishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky with his novice Ekaterina Dombrovskaya. Moscow, 2000

On December 3, after a long illness, at the sixty-seventh year of his life, His Eminence Alexy, Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich, died. After the all-night vigil on the feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, a prominent hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, a true monk, prayer book, ascetic, peacefully rested in God - a man who devoted his entire life without reserve to serving the Lord, people, the Church of Christ and his Fatherland.

Hieromonk Jacob (Tupikov), a resident of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, talks about Bishop Alexy.

Vladyka Alexy (in the world Anatoly Stepanovich Frolov) was born in Moscow, into a family of employees, on March 27, 1947. From early youth, he found the path of serving the Church and devoted himself in this field to study, teaching, spiritual life, monastic deeds, above all of which he always placed obedience and determination to do the will of God, no matter how difficult it was. In this, he invariably followed the words of Father John (Krestyankin), who once after a service said to the then young Hierodeacon Alexy: “The will of God is not always easy... You need to overcome yourself in order to follow it.” And from his youth, Vladyka Alexy placed this rule as the basis of his life, not allowing himself to compromise with regard to the fulfillment of God’s decrees about him, revealed to him through spiritual mentors. He constantly thanked the Creator for those elders and confessors whom God sent to him in his youth and in adulthood as teachers and leaders. Having plunged into the spiritual atmosphere of holiness, becoming a true novice, the future shepherd, and then still a very young layman, learned the science of science - monastic life, when a person, devoting himself entirely to God, completely entrusts his will to a spiritual mentor. In fact, already in those years it was his choice - to become a monk, follow the holy fathers, strive for the ideal of the Gospel calling of Christ: “Be perfect, just as your Father is perfect.”

The first teacher and spiritual father for young Anatoly was the Belgorod elder, Schema-Archimandrite Grigory (Davydov), who served in the village of Pokrovka, not far from Belgorod. Having gone through camps and exile, Father Gennady (his name in the mantle tonsure) was endowed with many gifts of the Holy Spirit. He had an extraordinary love for people, but at the same time he was strict and demanded that his spiritual children strictly follow the statutes of the Church and not look for easy and comfortable ways. It was Father Gennady who laid the foundation of spiritual skills in the life of the future Vladyka Alexy, which became the core and basis of his structure as a monk, priest, and archpastor. He gradually introduced his young novice into the special world of the holy people of that time. Thanks to his first teacher, Vladyka Alexy recognized the meek and great in his love Father Seraphim (Tyapochkin), the Moscow elders - nuns Barsanuphia and Arkadia, who were the spiritual children of the elder, his closest assistant - Father Theodore, a priest who was later awarded a righteous death while reading an akathist Mother of God. Subsequently, Vladyka communicated with many other devotees of the faith, but it was these people who became his first spiritual family, who accepted him with great love. Father Gennady, showing sincere concern for the future servant of the Throne of God, raised his novice very strictly. It happened that, having arrived for several days with the elder, Anatoly, and later Father Alexy, did not have the opportunity to talk with his mentor, receiving from him only strict comments and reprimands. One day, having failed to receive the consolation and guidance of his confessor, already at the gate, leaving with a heavy heart and sorrow, Anatoly looked back and saw that the elder was standing and crying, seeing him off with his prayer and invisible blessing. Once Father Gennady asked his student what books he was reading. Father Anatoly (then already a celibate deacon) joyfully began to list all the pre-revolutionary publications of the holy fathers, books on Church history and theology that he had collected by that time. In total, the list turned out to be quite large, and in terms of volume it was a whole suitcase of valuable books, which were very difficult to get at that time. Father Gennady, having listened, said simply and briefly: “When you come home, give everything away!” Such an unexpected blessing seemed incomprehensible and difficult to Father Anatoly at first, but how his heart rejoiced when, having fulfilled it, he felt all the benefits of the freedom to have something with passion.

In 1972, Anatoly, with the blessing of his mentor, entered the Moscow Theological Seminary. Before that, he served as an altar boy in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on the Yauza, and even then he fell in love with worship, came to the temple before everyone else, stayed in the altar until late to read the Psalter - the Book that became for him throughout his life a favorite source of inspiration, spiritual reflections and prayers. At that time, it was extremely difficult to enter the seminary; the authorities limited the number of applicants, hindered admission in every possible way, and intimidated young people. But through the prayers of Father Gennady, everything worked out in the best possible way. That year, the seminary inspector, Archimandrite Simon (Novikov), achieved a doubling of vacancies for applicants. When the authorities came to their senses, it was too late to reverse the decision, but Father Simon had to be transferred from the Moscow Theological Academy - he was consecrated as a bishop and appointed to manage the Ryazan department.

The years of study, and then teaching at the seminary and academy, became for Vladyka Alexy a new school of spiritual growth - from a novice, student to a wise confessor, shepherd and teacher. In those days, according to the Bishop himself, the Moscow Seminary not only provided a high level of church education, but also represented the highest school of piety and spiritual life. The best teachers and elders of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra jointly prepared from seminarians, first of all, true Christians - church people, whose consciousness and life were determined by the life of the Church, and not the life of the world with its secular values. The symphony of management of the Sergius Lavra and the Moscow Theological Academies and Seminaries during these years (1972–1982) was a unique example of the unity of spirit and cooperation between the abbot of the holy monastery and the rector of the academy. Bishop Vladimir (Sabodan) and Father Archimandrite Jerome (Zinoviev) did everything to ensure that real shepherds, faithful servants of the Church emerged from the walls of Moscow theological schools. One of them became the future archpastor - Vladyka Alexy. But, having graduated from the theological seminary and academy, he did not leave the walls of the Lavra. Having accepted the diaconate and the obedience of a teacher, Father Alexy served at the Holy Thrones of academic churches for fourteen years and taught students, sang in seminary choirs, and headed the Church Archaeological Office. All this activity, according to the Vladyka’s recollections, built him up spiritually; he treated everything with love - as holy obedience. Father Alexy's morning began with a fraternal prayer service at the shrine containing the relics of St. Sergius. In all his needs and affairs, he hurried to prayerfully take the blessing of the great saint, and more than once clearly experienced his participation in his life, help and intercession. Then, if he served during the early Divine Liturgy, he went to sing in the choir during the later Liturgy. Father Alexy taught church history and the history of church arts. Often, reading the lives of saints to students in class, he inspired them to love the Church, saying that its history is the history of its saints. Not everyone understood the young teacher; some thought that science is science, and the lives of saints are material completely unrelated to it. Having such convictions, some teachers did not approve of preaching piety and the need for spiritual achievement to students in seminar classes. But the elders of the Lavra, and above all Father Kirill (Pavlov), to whom Father Alexy confessed and with whom Father Alexy constantly consulted, supported this direction. Subsequently, Vladyka Alexy often said that extreme scientificism in spiritual education chills the soul of students, leads the mind to a false opinion about oneself, and that later in life and ministry it is very difficult to correct this. But there was no obscurantism in this; Vladyka loved learning and education and explained that a Christian is one who constantly learns, receiving education, that is, acquiring the true image of God in himself.

Having the skill of obedience from his youth, Father Anatoly always tried to fulfill the blessings of his confessors and superiors exactly. Above all, he put this virtue for himself, defining it as a manifestation of love for God - the highest virtue. But if his conscience told him that something contrary to the will of God was expected of him, then his determination to remain in obedience to God was unshakable. It happened that the authorities, putting pressure on the leadership of the academy, demanded the fulfillment of their instructions, which ran counter to the Gospel commandments and the canons of the Church. For example, ecumenical events were acceptable for Father Anatoly as long as joint prayers with non-Orthodox people were not imposed. One day, his superiors obliged him as a deacon to participate in such a service. Refusal almost definitely threatened with dismissal from the teaching staff and further persecution. But Father Anatoly categorically refused, completely relying on the will of God. Such determination aroused respect from everyone, and the Lord spared him from possible consequences.

The famous scientist and theologian Archimandrite Innocent (Prosvirnin) became the recipient of the monastic tonsure, which took place within the walls of the Moscow Theological Academy in 1979, for the young deacon Alexy. Through the prayers of Father Gennady, the Lord handed the newly tonsured man over to a new mentor, an equally strict monk, prayer book and disciple of the great ascetics of piety. Father Innocent was formed as a personality under the influence of St. Sebastian of Karaganda, to whom he visited Kazakhstan more than once, St. Zinovy ​​(in the schema of Seraphim) of Tetritskaro, Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko), and Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev).

The new mentor, Father Alexy, communicated closely with many other spiritual archpastors and pastors, lay ascetics of that time, who were united by the Holy Spirit, deep churchliness, and service to the Church of Christ. They all knew each other well. The Lord introduced Father Alexy into this world of holy people, introducing them to them, to their life, to their service. Hierodeacon Alexy regularly traveled to Tbilisi to visit Vladyka Zinovy ​​and Father Vitaly. The experience of communicating with them became a most valuable treasure for the future archpastor and allowed him to come into contact with true holiness. Father Vitaly, being the elder of Archimandrite Innocent, became the elder of Father Alexy, who sought to go to him at the first opportunity and was constantly with him during the short period of his stay in the house of Father Innocent in Sergiev Posad (then Zagorsk). Father Vitaly was a model of holiness and piety for everyone who surrounded him, and it can be said that his influence on the future Vladyka was enormous. He predicted many things for Father Alexy in his life, including the most difficult test from the Lord before his death. He and Mother Matrona and Agafia, an old woman from Yaltunovo (Shatsky district of the Ryazan region), whom he constantly visited, were also prepared for his last dying sufferings.

Father Alexy was ordained as a presbyter in 1989, and soon after that he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite with an appointment in 1991 as abbot of the Moscow Novospassky Stauropegic Monastery. This monastery became home for the Vladyka for the rest of his life. He poured his heart into it, working for twenty years to restore the monastery, gathering the monastic brotherhood, caring for many parishioners and people who came to him from all over the country. While carrying out several church obediences at the same time, Father Alexy spared no effort to strengthen the Church and bring into its fold compatriots who had been lost during the years of godlessness. For everyone who came, the humble shepherd, who never ascribed merit to himself, but attributed everything to the power and love of God, had time, a wise and often insightful word. Archimandrite Alexy considered the main priority of his service as governor to be helping a person, any suffering person who was currently in front of him. He tried to do everything so that those whom the Lord brought to the holy monastery, be it a novice, a co-worker or a parishioner, would take the path of spiritual life and meet in their hearts with the personal God - the Father of each of us. In this genuine spiritual love for man there was no soulfulness or sentimentality; sometimes Vladyka Alexy was strict and adamant, but it can be said that he put everything else (restoring the monastery buildings, establishing relations with those in power and the mighty of this world for the good of the Church) on second plan. Many, many people, having met this wonderful shepherd on their way, carefully keep his words, his gracious help, his image in their hearts. Now a lot of memoirs have already been written, these people lovingly share those impressions that, for obvious reasons, are so difficult for them to convey in words, but, reading their stories, each other’s, you invariably recognize Vladyka Alexy - he still appears before us as if alive.

With his elevation to the rank of bishop in 1995, Vladyka further strengthened his exploits, humbly asserting that he was first and foremost a monk, and the grace of the bishopric was given to him not for honor, but for the pure service of the people of God and the Church. One of his favorite obediences was to work on the creation of liturgical texts, the succession of services to the newly glorified saints. It was Vladyka Alexy who headed the Synodal Liturgical Commission, assembled a wonderful team of church scientists, who to this day are connected not only by professionalism, but also by deep churchliness, love for worship, for the saints, and personal friendship.

Archbishop Alexy accepted his appointment to the Kostroma See as a special providence for himself, as the will of God. The day of the celebration of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God is at the same time the birthday of the Bishop. Kostroma has always been closely connected spiritually with the dear Novospassky Monastery, where the Romanov boyars rest in the family tomb. Vladyka was glad to serve the Kostroma land, to become, as he said, one with everything truly Russian and holy that this fertile land, rich in its heroic history and saints, contains. During the short period of his reign over the diocese, the good archpastor managed to do a lot, but his gaze was constantly directed to the future - he hoped and believed that Kostroma still had to play a glorious role in the revival of our Fatherland. Giving a place to God in every matter and not humanly forcing events, Vladyka tried not to miss a single day so that, by adding brick after brick of good deeds and undertakings, he would attract the grace of God to people whose state of soul, in his deep conviction, was incommensurably more important than any business and the whole world as a whole.

The entire life of Archbishop Alexy passed under the protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he loved and revered as a son, to whom he constantly prayed and whom he diligently served. The Mother of God more than once showed him Her favor and participation through certain events. She did not leave him with her care even during the period of his most severe dying illness. By the election of the Queen of Heaven, the Lord also determined the day of the blessed death of the Lord, calling his soul to the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple. It was on this day in 1990 that the decision was made to return the Moscow Novospassky Monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church. By the providence of God, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' blessed the burial of the deceased Vladyka Alexy to take place in his native Novospasskaya monastery.

Vladyka was buried at the altar of the Transfiguration Cathedral, next to his spiritual mentor and friend Archimandrite Innocent and Schema-Archimandrite Gury (Mishchenko), his brother and co-celebrant, a disciple of the Glinsky Reverend Fathers. May the Lord give His Eminence Vladyka Alexy rest in peace with His Saints, and grant us, through his prayers, to be worthy guardians of his memory.

source: Novospassky Monastery website

Alexy (Orlov, Alexey Stepanovich)

early years

Alexy Orlov was born on February 8 (20), 1862 in the family of a psalm-reader in the city of Samara, Samara district, Samara province (now the city is part of the Samara urban district, Samara region)[1].

In 1876 he graduated from the Samara Theological School. In 1882 he graduated from the Samara Theological Seminary[2]. In 1886 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree[3].

On August 1 (13), 1886, he was appointed teacher at the Samara Diocesan Women’s School[2].

Priestly ministry

On April 23 (May 5), 1893, he was ordained to the rank of priest, with the laying on of a gait, and assigned to the Assumption Church in the city of Samara. On August 28 (September 9), 1893, he was awarded a velvet purple skuf.

On August 16 (28), 1895, he was elevated to the rank of priest. On August 19 (31), 1895, he was appointed teacher of law at the 1st Samara Women's Gymnasium. On July 2 (14), 1896, he was appointed rector of the Assumption Church in Samara[2].

On April 9 (21), 1898 he was awarded the Kamilavka. On April 24 (May 7), 1902, he was awarded a pectoral cross issued by the Holy Synod. On April 7 (20), 1905, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest[2].

On July 24 (August 6), 1911, he was appointed rector of the Kazan Cathedral in the city of Samara. At the same time, from August 7 (20), 1911, he was the head and teacher of the Fedorov parochial school. He was the censor of the magazine “Samara Diocesan Gazette”[2].

In 1919 he was widowed. In 1922 he deviated from Renovationism[2]. In 1923 he wrote to Patriarch Tikhon: “Back in October 1922, His Eminence Anatoly was nominated for the position of vicar - but he accepted this offer with the condition - not to give monastic vows, since he had unsettled children.”[4].

Episcopal ministry

On May 21 (June 3), 1923, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow[4], the hierarchs ordained him Bishop of Buguruslan, vicar of the Samara Renovationist Diocese. The ordination was performed by: Metropolitan of Belarus Melchizedek (Paevsky), Archbishop of Turkestan Innokenty (Pustynsky) and Bishop of Ust-Medveditsky, b. Tsaritsynsky, Modest (Nikitin)[4].

Patriarch Tikhon, in a resolution dated August 11, 1923, wrote: “Bishop Alexey was proposed for ordination as bishop by two Orthodox Samara bishops Anatoly and Paul and was ordained by bishops who, according to their statement, at that time did not have spiritual communion with the self-proclaimed church administration, and Therefore, Bishop Alexey is accepted into church communion with the rank of bishop, but since he was not clothed in a cassock before his ordination, during his first service the Holy Patriarch will bless him to put on a mantle, a cowl and a rosary” and appointed him Bishop of Buguruslan, vicar of the Samara diocese[4] .

On September 18, 1923, the GPU detained Bishop Anatoly of Samara, and on September 19, Bishop Pavel of Buzuluk; On September 22, the cathedral archpriest Xenophon Arkhanegelsky, 3 archpriests of the city of Samara - Ivan Kolesnikov, Alexander Bechin and Arkady Klyucharyov, priest Ioann Golubev “Ilyinsky” and psalm-reader Vasily Klimenko were detained. In this regard, Bishop Alexy took over the administration of the diocese with the blessing of Bishop Anatoly[4].

At the end of 1923, he joined the renovation movement and was appointed bishop of Buguruslan by the renovationists, with the right to temporarily administer the Samara diocese. In a letter to Patriarch Tikhon from the layman S. Maslov: it was reported that Bishops Anatoly and Paul with several priests have already been 3.5 months. is in custody. “The remaining Bishop Alexy left for Buguruslan and handed over the affairs of the Diocesan Administration to the Living Churchmen. Bishop Pavel lives in Melekes and has nothing to do with the diocese.” <…> Priests <…>, “ruling the living church EU, are disgraceful.” “There is no one to support the clergy - there is no bishop... We ask you to influence Alexy so that he lives in Samara, and if he cannot, then at least Pavel. Both of them are weak in spirit. The mistake was in appointing Alexy here as a bishop, where he lost popularity while still a member of the Living Church.” Patriarch Tikhon imposed a resolution on January 9, 1924: “to offer Alexy Buguruslansky either to settle in Samara, or to visit there more often to govern”[4].

In June 1924 he was a participant in the renovationist All-Russian pre-conciliar meeting[5].

In 1924, publicly, in the Samara Cathedral, he brought repentance for deviation into renovationism and was again accepted into communion by the Russian Orthodox Church in his existing rank.

In the same year he was appointed Bishop of Kurgan, vicar of the Tobolsk diocese[5].

On September 16, 1927, he was appointed Bishop of Malmyzh, vicar of the Sarapul diocese[5].

Arrived in Astrakhan in September 1930, temporarily ruled the diocese until February 1931. He was a modest, charming person and for this he enjoyed the love of believers. He was very simple in his manners, led an ascetic lifestyle, and served in church every day. He was a man of deep faith, a man of prayer. On February 11, 1931, he was appointed Bishop of Enotaevsky, vicar of the Astrakhan diocese[5].

In April 1931 he was expelled from Astrakhan. He explained his deportation as follows: “ Once I bought a ream of notepaper, each sheet of which was decorated with a bold typographical seal: “Religion is a weapon of oppression of the working masses.” I skillfully remade this slogan, and I got it: “Religion is an instrument of consolation for the working masses.” In this alteration, the paper showed off around the world, in my business correspondence. Someone thought this was a liberty, and I ended up in Syzran

».

On June 5 of the same he was appointed Bishop of Syzran, vicar of the Samara diocese[5]. Almost immediately he was deported to Siberia.

On August 24 of the same year he was appointed Bishop of Omsk[5].

On April 4, 1933, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop[5].

Link to Central Asia

On April 24, 1935 he was arrested. Accused of leading a counter-revolutionary defeatist group of clergy of the Tikhonov orientation; spreading provocative rumors about the imminent upcoming war between Japan and the USSR and the inevitability of the death of the Soviets. power, because in case of war the Red Army will rise; processing believers in favor of Japan, proving that she is the defender of Christianity.

On October 25, 1935, he was convicted under Articles 58-10, 58-11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for “participation in a counter-revolutionary group” and sentenced to five years of exile in Kazakhstan. On December 23, 1936, he arrived in the city of Mirzoyan (now Taraz). There he helped organize a community belonging to the Patriarchal Church, compiled lists of its members, wrote applications to the district executive committee and gave advice on registering the community. Despite the prohibitions of the authorities, he performed religious services at the requests of believers.

Final arrest and martyrdom

On May 15, 1937, he was arrested by the Mirzoyan RO NKVD on charges of participation in a “counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen” and imprisoned in the Mirzoyan city prison. He did not admit his guilt and did not testify against others.

On August 26, 1937, a troika under the NKVD in the South Kazakhstan region was convicted under Articles 58-10, 58-11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for “anti-Soviet activities, organizing illegal church communities, a/c agitation” and sentenced to death. On September 4, 1937, he was shot at Lisya Balka near the city of Chimkent, South Kazakhstan region of the Kazakh SSR (now Lisya Balka is located in the Karatau district of the city of republican significance of Shymkent, Republic of Kazakhstan).

On July 5, 1958, the Presidium of the South Kazakhstan Regional Court rehabilitated him according to the 1937 verdict. On June 22, 1989, the Prosecutor's Office of the Omsk Region rehabilitated him according to the verdict of 1935.

At the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, he was canonized as a hieromartyr. The relics of Hieromartyr Alexy (Orlov), Archbishop of Omsk remain in an unknown grave near Lisya Balka.

Family

Was married. The family had daughters: Evgenia (born 1895), Lydia, Lyudmila and Tatyana, son Gregory[6][7].