St. Alexis has been revered since ancient times. This is a man of God who was not tonsured a monk, but was canonized as a saint.
"O Great Saint of Christ, the holy man of God Alexei, pray to God for us!" - this may sound like a short prayer that can be read daily to any person about protecting their home, family, city and state as a whole. You can ask for help and protection in dangerous everyday situations, at sea and on land, in a war zone and just in the morning, for the day ahead.
Name
Protection, reflection, prevention - all these words characterize Alexei. This name occupies a special position in Russia. In the Orthodox calendar, the day of St. Alexei occurs more than once, there are several saints with that name. Orthodox believers especially revere the son of the Romanovs - Tsarevich Alexei. Tsarevich Alexei and the monk are connected by an invisible thread. After all, it was only under him that a special service began to be served in churches, and churches with the name of the saint were being built.
For example, according toBy order of Tsar Mikhail Romanov, in the village, which is the property of Princess Trubetskoy, a church named after the monk was built. This village was called Kopytovo, and later renamed Alekseevskoye. Here the king spent enough time hunting and just relaxing with his family. It was from this place that he went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Over time, the wooden church fell into disrepair, and it was dismantled. The throne was transferred to the built stone church of the Tikhvin Mother of God, where now there is the Alekseevsky chapel.
Roots
Saint Alexei himself has Roman roots. His parents were pious and noble. The father's name was Evfimian, and the mother's name was Aglaida. The birth of the long-awaited son of the Roman couple took place in the 5th century. Alexei was brought up in Christian traditions, following the example of his parents, who constantly helped the poor, widows, wanderers, orphans and everyone who needed their help. From a young age, he wanted to serve only one God, however, when he reached the age of majority, he was forced to become engaged to a young noble girl.
But not having lived with her, the young groom immediately gave his bride his ring. “Let the Lord be between us…” said Alexei, making it clear to his wife that she keep the ring until God renews them with his grace. Having said this, he went to Asia, where he distributed all that he had, and took the form of a beggar.
Now Alexei, a holy man, has become a simple beggar, begging near the temple for alms. He set aside nights for fervent prayer to God. It went on like thisfor seventeen years. The only food served to the monk was water and bread. It is impossible to describe the joy he experienced when accepting alms from his own servants, who were in search of the missing master's son and by the providence of God ended up in these places.
The servants did not recognize the owner in the emaciated beggar begging at the temple. Alexey was known as a man of God and a righteous man among the local population. So that glory would not hook his heart, he decided to leave this place and set off from Edessa, the city where he spent all this time (today it is modern Turkey), wherever his eyes look, boarding the first ship that came across, which was heading to Tarsus (to the homeland of the Apostle Paul).
God's Providence
But by the providence of God, Saint Alexei did not reach his destination. A strong storm changed the course of the ship, and he was back in Rome. Arriving at his home, he was not recognized by his parents, wife, servants … But they gladly accepted the wanderer and provided him with a place in their possessions. So the righteous man spent another seventeen years, being subjected to all sorts of taunts from the servants, who took away food from him, sent to the pilgrim from the master's table. It cannot be said that the saint lived these years easily, watching from the side his parents and wife, who grieved for the missing Alexei…
Death
Feeling the approach of death, Saint Alexei, a man of God, described his life in detail. And at the same time, the people heard the voice of God in St. Peter's Cathedral itself, which called for finding a man of God who could pray for Rome. People were at a loss as they heard the second timethe call of God. This happened already in the presence of the emperor Honorius himself. The voice pointed to the house of Mr. Euthymian, where the servants confirmed the presence of a beggar in it, who prays unceasingly and humbly endures all humiliations. Arriving at the house of Evfimian, people saw the dead righteous Alexei, whose face shone, and in his hands was a scroll with a description of his whole life.
First miracles
Parents and wife sobbed for a long time at the body of the saint. They were amazed at his righteousness. And the scroll in Alexei's hands was so clamped that no one could take it. And only after the emperor himself humbly knelt before the body of the righteous man and asked him to open his hands in order to take what was written, the scroll became available for reading.
After the body of the ascetic was transferred to the cathedral square, streams of pilgrims flowed to him, many of whom received miraculous healings. Even the emperor himself carried the remains of the saint. The pilgrim was buried on March 30 in the church of St. Boniface. Now it's St. Alexei's Day. It was here that he once married his wife. So Saint Alexei, without taking monastic vows, achieved righteousness and is revered as a great ascetic who received the face of a saint.
Reverence
Until the tenth century, the veneration of the saint spread mainly throughout the Orthodox East. Since the tenth century, his name appears in the calendar of Rome. In 1216 the relics of the saint were uncovered. They are placed under the throne of the temple, located on the Aventine Hill. Although sheSince 986 the church has been named after St. Boniface and Alexei. Below is a photo of St. Alexei depicted on the icon. Today, the relics of the saint are divided and kept in different parts of the Orthodox world. There are legends about the Greek monastery of Agia Lavra donated by Emperor Manuel II to the head of Alexei, about the abduction of the hands of a righteous man from Sofia by a Novgorod merchant, and others. In 2006, a piece of relics donated by the Italian side arrived at the John the Baptist Monastery.
In Western Europe, the name of the saint quickly gained fame, thanks to the numerous missionaries and preachers who arrived here from the East. The first European work was a poem written in the Languedoy dialect of French by Thibault Champagne.
Glorifying the image
In Russia, the image of the saint, his life and asceticism inspired artists and writers to create various kinds of works. His veneration came from Byzantium. In the Middle Ages, the book "Holy Legends", the author of which was Jacob Varaginsky, gained great popularity. Among the people, this work is better known under the name "Golden Legend". All over Europe these legends were known. The book described two hundred lives of saints, among which was the righteous Saint Alexei. The works were transcribed in monasteries into different languages: from Catalan, German to Polish.
The Golden Legend was criticized more than once during the Reformation, but it was second only to the Bible in popularity. Up to the seventeenth century based onlegends from the Golden Legend, many icons, paintings, engravings, frescoes, oratorios, operas and other works of art were created. Among them, St. Alexei occupies a significant place. In Russia at that very time, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, many songs, poems and legends dedicated to the righteous man were composed.
USSR Times
But in subsequent years, the name Alexei was glorified. For example, in the days of the Soviet Union, there were a sufficient number of heroes named Alexei. The famous song "Alyosha" was even written, the authors of which were Konstantin Vanshenkin and Eduard Kolmanovsky. Alyosha was a collective image, a national hero not only for Russians, but also for Bulgarians. The song "Alyosha" became the anthem of the city of Plovdiv, and private Alexei Skurlatov became the prototype for the eleven-meter monument. He was a participant in the 1944 military operation in Bulgaria, an intelligence officer and a telephone line operator between Sofia and Plovdiv.
Oblivion
Unfortunately, after certain events in 1989, the song "Alyosha" stopped playing daily on the radio station in Plovdiv. The local community also demanded that the monument be demolished as a sign of "Soviet occupation". However, according to the decision of the Bulgarian Supreme Court, the monument was not touched, it was left as a symbol of the Second World War. The name Alyosha is still very popular among the Slavic population, especially in Russia and Bulgaria. And in the famous city of Kharkov, a whole district was named in honor of the saint - Alekseevka. There is also a source with the same name.
Iconography andchurch services
Regarding iconography, we can say that the first icon of St. Alexis dates back to the eighth century. He was depicted on the frescoes of the Roman Church of Saints Boniface and Alexei on the Aventine Hill. Russian icon painting is characterized by some similarities in the images of St. John the Baptist and the righteous Alexei. In Europe, iconography mainly depicts scenes from the life of a pilgrim, according to legends described in various sources. Most often, the pope is depicted kneeling before the deceased saint and servants pouring dirty water on the beggar Alexei.
At services in the church, the Orthodox Saint Alexei is mentioned in the studio version of the Menaia and when reading a special canon compiled by Joseph the Songwriter. Unlike the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church has excluded the celebration of the saint from the new calendar.
This happened during the reform movement. Now this day is not obligatory for celebration, but it has become memorable and solemn for monasteries and orders bearing the name of the righteous. However, Saint Alexei lived his life in this way not to glorify himself, but for the opportunity to unite with his Heavenly Father, the creator of everything visible and invisible, the giver of life and light, love and goodness.
Prayerful sighs
Sighs to God and requests addressed to the saint are heard throughout the Christian world. In Orthodoxy, this is a special righteous man, to whom believers turn every day. There are many cases of healing and other miracles that God manifests in relation toto people in whose hearts and lips a prayer to St. Alexei sounds, requests for help addressed to the righteous man, who has acquired great grace from God with his ascetic life.
This prayer is described in many Orthodox prayer books and other sources. They can be purchased at church shops, Orthodox churches, and can be found on electronic resources on the Internet. However, even if you do not have it at hand, you can always, in the depths of your soul, in a heartfelt prayer, turn to the saint for help. Say in your own words everything that hurts, turn to him as a friend and living primate before the Almighty. Be sure: your request will be surely heard, and if it does not contradict God's law, if it is not directed to the detriment of others or yourself, God will surely answer the request of St. Alexei about your need.
