February 12/25 is the feast-day of St. Alexis (Alexei), Metropolitan of Kiev, Moscow and All Russia, and Wonderworker (†1378).
St. Alexis St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, along with others, contributed to the unification of the warring Russian principalities under the rule of Moscow, creating a strong Russian State. For many years, St. Alexis strengthened the unity of the Orthodox Church in Russia, reconciled the Russian princes, and pacified the anger of the rulers of the Golden Horde. He was a model of righteousness in the Russian land.
In the fourteenth century, Russia went through hard times. Before that, Batu Khan (c. 1205–1255) had devastated its expanses, and around 1300 the Principality of Kiev had been plundered again, with people killed or driven into slavery. There was no one to protect these lands, and they were captured by the pagan Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania (c. 1315–1341). The remaining Russian people fled to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, then effectively the capital of Russia. The metropolitans also moved there, and the metropolitan see moved to the small Moscow that was just beginning to gain strength. This was how the place of the gathering of the Russian lands was determined. It was still too early to talk about the significance of Moscow as the capital, because a confrontation with Lithuania, Tver and Veliky Novgorod awaited it; it needed to seek compromises with the khans of the Horde and the rulers of Constantinople, to check its own princes in their quest for power, and defend the purity of Orthodoxy.
Eleutherius Byakont, the future St. Alexis, was born into a boyar family in Moscow in 1292 or, according to other sources, in 1304. He was a representative of a noble family that originated from Chernigov. Already in his adolescence, he knew about his vocation to serve the Russian land.
At the age of twelve, Eleutherius went outside the city to catch birds, then grew tired and dozed off. Then he heard a voice from above saying: “Do not toil in vain, Eleutherius, for you are to be a catcher of men.” The boy realized that he had heard a call from the Lord, and from that time on he began to devote even more time to prayer. He refused to marry and did not become a soldier.
Eleutherius went to the Theophany Monastery in Moscow. There he was tonsured with the name Alexis, as it had been predicted from above. The young man was twenty at that time.
Over the next forty years, he lived as a very zealous monk. The Theophany Monastery was situated in what is now the historic district of Kitay-Gorod in central Moscow close to the Kremlin, so St. Alexis was well informed about life in the world. He knew about the reign of Grand Prince Ivan Kalita (1325–1340), who was his godfather, and of Grand Prince Simeon the Proud (1340–1353). He witnessed a battle with Lithuania, a campaign against Novgorod, and an epidemic of the European plague. He was a monk from a noble boyar family, so Prince Simeon Ivanovich of Moscow chose him as an adviser to his younger brothers Andrei and Ivan. Fr. Alexis became the father-confessor to Grand Prince Ivan Ivanovich the Fair (1353–1359). Then Prince Ivan Ivanovich of Zvenigorod, Moscow, and Grand Prince of Vladimir, chose Monk Alexis as the guardian for his young son Dmitry, who was named Donskoy after his victory in the Battle of Kulikovo Field.
Monk Alexis possessed all the monastic virtues, book wisdom, experience in resolving disputes between princes, and an understanding of the subtleties of the policies of both the Horde and of Constantinople, so the elderly and holy Metropolitan Theognost of Kiev, Moscow and All Russia (1328–1353; commemorated March 14/27) transferred him to serve in his residence and provided him with living quarters.
In 1352, Monk Alexis was appointed Bishop of Vladimir. In order to receive the metropolitan cathedra, he had to obtain the consent of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and so Bishop Alexis first went to the Horde, which issued yarlyks (official decrees from the khan) guaranteeing safe and free passage across the khan’s lands.
In the Horde, the bishop made a great impression on Khan Jani Beg’s (1342–1357) mother Taydula Khatun († c. 1360), and she issued him the yarlyk, where he was already registered as metropolitan. Then he had a long voyage across the sea to Constantinople.
Ya. Kapkov. St. Alexis Heals Taydula Khatun. The 1830s
Bishop Alexis had to stay in Constantinople for a whole year. Finally, the holy Patriarch Philotheos I Kokkinos (†1379; commemorated October 11/24) gave St. Alexis his consent. The letter of approval stated that Bishop Alexis, though not a Greek, received the rank of metropolitan for his “spiritual merits” as an exception.
Obtaining the rank of metropolitan was critical both for the preservation of Orthodoxy in Russia and for the protection of the Russian land from its enemies. The pagan Gediminas, who ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and his son Algirdas (1345–1377) were splitting the Russian principalities, skillfully maneuvering between Rome and Constantinople, posing themselves as “princes of Lithuania and Russia”. They both constantly changed their masks to attain their aim of enslaving the Russian lands—now they passed themselves off as “defenders of Russia from the Golden Horde”, now as “protectors of Russian princes from predatory Muscovy.”
By issuing the letter of approval to Bishop Alexis, Constantinople expected from the wise Russian archpastor the reunification of the great metropolitan cathedra, and the ability to unite the lands of Kiev, Vladimir and the western Russian lands. Constantinople was conscious that all this should be preceded by political unification of the Russian lands, so the task set for Metropolitan Alexis was almost unrealistic in many ways.
Indeed, the political life of Russia at that time was very diverse and varied. The Horde issued yarlyks (permits for authority) for the Russian princes to rule legally. Princes often died suddenly and were succeeded by others, and there was a struggle for power in the Golden Horde and in the Byzantine Empire alike. In all this political polyphony, Metropolitan Alexis found the right path: He set about strengthening the power of the Principality of Moscow, which was to become the center of Orthodoxy and the Russian state. At the same time, at first the metropolitan did not sever political relations with Algirdas demonstratively, showing submission to the khans of the Horde to help Moscow accumulate power and strength.
St. Alexis was around sixty when he became metropolitan. Over the twenty-four years of his service to the Lord and the Russian people, he gave all his strength and endured a great deal.
In 1359, Muscovy and Lithuania clashed in a battle for Smolensk. St. Alexis went to Kiev to resolve the conflict. Algirdas ordered him to be seized and imprisoned, but Metropolitan Alexis, with God’s help, managed to leave for Moscow quickly.
When he was making one of his journeys to Constantinople, he was caught in a severe sea storm on the way back. Everone survived only by a miracle of God, and St. Alexis vowed to build a monastery. This is how the Monastery of the Savior and St. Andronik was built in Moscow.1 Later, he founded the Chudov Monastery (in honor of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in Chonae) within the Moscow Kremlin, and the “Vladychny” (“Metropolitan’s”) Monastery (now a convent) of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple in Serpukhov.2
The former Chudov Monastery
In 1357, Metropolitan Alexis went to Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, at the summons of Taydula, the mother of Khan Jani Beg, who sent a threatening message to Prince Ivan the Fair of Moscow. Metropolitan Alexis’ fame as a holy man had reached the Horde, and the khan’s message said that if the almost blind Taydula was healed, the Russian prince would live peacefully, but if Metropolitan Alexis did not come, the khan would bring ruin upon his land.
The Life of St. Alexis says that on learning about this, the metropolitan exclaimed, “This is beyond my powers. But I trust in the One Who gave sight to the blind man—He will not despise a prayer of faith.” Before his departure, the saint went to the Holy Dormition Cathedral in Moscow and prayed for a long time. He was comforted by a sign there: during his prayer, one of the candles lit up by itself. St. Alexis took part of that candle with him to the Horde.
When Metropolitan Alexis came to the khan and he led him into Taydula’s chamber, the metropolitan lit the burnt candle he had brought and began to celebrate a service of the Blessing of the Waters for her cure. Then he sprinkled Taydula with holy water, and she regained her sight!
Khan Jani Beg sent the metropolitan home with great honors and presented him with rich gifts. But the saint was most pleased that the Russian land would not be ravaged. And he offered up thanksgiving prayers to the Lord for a long time.
But there was no peace with Lithuania. Algirdas had already invaded Russia twice, burning its cities and villages. He also besieged Moscow, but it was saved.
There were also many problems in worldly matters. Metropolitan Alexis de facto ruled Muscovy while the holy Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1349–1389) was under age. He also had to keep an eye on the northern Russian principalities, whose rulers Algirdas sought to link with his dynasty by means of marriage alliances. The metropolitan behaved in such a way that everyone considered him independent, and St. Alexis’ words of wisdom often became decisive in disputes between the Russian princes. For example, to prevent Prince Boris († c. 1393) from illegally seizing power in Nizhny Novgorod in 1365 he was summoned to the metropolitan’s court, and to prevent the prince from refusing to come to Moscow, all churches in Nizhny Novgorod were closed by the saint’s order. For Prince Boris, who had arrived to rule the city, this became a political disaster, and he gave up his unlawful claims to the principality.
Metropolitan Alexis dealt more severely with traitors to Russia. When Princes Svyatoslav of Smolensk, Mikhail of Tver, and Bishop Vasily of Tver who supported them joined the army of the pagan Algirdas and went to fight against the Russian Orthodox princes, their co-religionists, the saint excommunicated them, and in 1375 the Russian princes led their army in a campaign against the Principality of Tver.
Metropolitan Alexis’ diplomatic skills and sometimes rigid measures brought results: The Russian lands were being gathered around Moscow, and Muscovy was growing stronger, despite the difficult times.
Metropolitan Alexis often asked the humble Monk Sergius of Radonezh to become a mediator between the Russian princes. This is how Metropolitan Alexis and St. Sergius of Radonezh prepared for the future victory at Kulikovo Field, though Vladyka did not live to see this battle.
Shortly before his repose, St. Alexis said that he wished to see the worthy Sergius of Radonezh as metropolitan, but the saint refused. And Vladyka did not insist, insightfully seeing in him the “Abbot of the whole Russian Land,” who needed no other dignity.
Before his death, Metropolitan Alexis ordered Grand Prince Dmitry of Moscow to bury him at the Chudov Monastery, which he had founded, outside its church. But the prince buried his father-confessor, tutor and teacher inside the church.
Miracles began to occur at St. Alexis’ grave almost immediately after his burial. Fifty years later, his incorrupt relics were miraculously uncovered, and he was canonized by the Church. Subsequently, his relics were moved from one church to another. When the Bolsheviks demolished the Chudov Monastery in 1929, St. Alexis’ relics ended up in the Moscow Kremlin Museums. In 1947, at the request of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky), the relics were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and today they rest at the Theophany Cathedral in Elokhovo. Now every Orthodox Christian can venerate them and honor the memory of St. Alexis of Moscow, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, Wonderworker.
