Alexei Biakont

Metropolitan Alexei heals the Tatar queen Taidula from blindness. Painting by Jakow Fjodorowitsch Kapkow (1816-1854)

Alexi or Aleksij , Russian Алексий (* before 1296 in Moscow ; † 12 February 1378 ), was the metropolitan of Kiev and since 1354 of Moscow and all of Russia .

The Church Slavonic clerical name Alexi refers to the ancient saint Alexios of Edessa . In Latinized form, both are called Saint Alexius.

Life

Alexios was born under the name Elephtherios as the son of the Russian prince Fyodor Biakont , a boyar from Chernigov , who settled in Moscow and founded the large boyar family Pleschchev .

In 1313 he made the monastic vows in the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow. During this time he was given the religious name Alexius. Around 1333 he joined the household of Metropolitan Theognostus (1328-1353). In 1340 Alexius was appointed MP of the Metropolitan in Vladimir and twelve years later ordained Bishop of Vladimir.

In 1357 Alexius was asked by Dschani Beg , the khan of the Golden Horde , to heal his wife from blindness. The healing success of the metropolitan is said to have prevented a Tatar attack on Moscow.

In the Church of St. Alexius in the Chudov Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin. Painting by Stepan Shukhvostov (1866)

Alexius was also an author of several sermons and epistles . He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1448 and is venerated as one of Moscow's patron saints. His relics were venerated in the Alexius Church he built in the former Chudov Monastery ( Russian russудов монастырь , also Alexius' Archangel Michael Monastery) of the Moscow Kremlin . On the foundation walls of the monastery, which was closed in 1918 and destroyed in 1929, the military school , built in neoclassical style, was built between 1932 and 1934 . Then the relics came to the neighboring Cathedral of the Dormition , which houses the tombs of all Moscow Metropolitans and Patriarchs until 1721 (the abolition of the Patriarchate) with the exception of Patriarch Nikon .

Patronage

See Alexius Church

literature

• Wolfram von Scheliha :  Alexius. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 33, Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-690-2 , Sp. -.

Web links

Commons : Alexius of Moscow  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry about Metropolitan Alexius in the ecumenical calendar of names (private page)
• The Russian Saints: Metropolitan Alexius (Russian)
• Alexi Bjakont : Entry in the Bibliographic Lexicon of Alexander Men (Russian)
• Article about Alexius' reforms ( Memento of March 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian)
• Biography (german)

predecessor	Office	successor
Theognostus	Metropolitan of Moscow 1354-1378	Kiprian