SAINT ALEXANDER

Alexander Alexandrovich Hotovitsky was born on February 11, 1872, in Kremenetz, Russia, the son of a priest. He attended the Volynia Theological Seminary, which his father headed, and went on for graduate studies at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Upon graduation in 1895, he applied for a position with the North American mission and was accepted. He accompanied Bishop Nicholas to America that year.

In America, Alexander met Maria, and they were married the next year. A month later, Alexander was ordained a priest and assigned to the newly founded St. Nicholas parish in New York City, which was to become the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Manhattan. At first, the parish rented a house: services were conducted on the first floor and Father Alexander’s family lived on the second level. In 1901, Father Alexander traveled to Russia to raise funds to build the cathedral. St. Tikhon consecrated the magnificent, new cathedral on East 97th Street the very next year.

Father Alexander traveled up and down the east coast and Canada, as well, helping to establish new parishes. He worked also to bring the Uniates back into the Orthodox Communion. Everywhere he went people flocked to hear him speak, for his sincerity and conviction clearly shone through. He published the American Orthodox Messenger in both English and Russian; and he assisted his friend, Bishop Raphael, in publishing The Word in Arabic.

From 1914 to 1917, Father Alexander served as a priest in Helsinki, Finland. He returned to Russia in 1917 and participated in the All-Russian Church Council of 1917-18, where he was a major proponent of the reestablishment of the Moscow Patriarchate. He thereafter served as a close advisor to the sainted Patriarch Tikhon.

Fr. Alexander served in a number of parishes in the ensuing years, including at the famous Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He spoke boldly, encouraging his flock, ravaged by the terrors of the Bolsheviks, to stand firm in the Faith and to protect the churches. He helped the needy and fed the starving. Because he was a leader and organizer, the communists made Fr. Alexander one of their chief targets. They exiled him to concentration camps numerous times for his pastoral activities, for refusing to surrender the sacred vessels to be melted down, and, especially, for disobeying the law by teaching children and holding church school classes. He disappeared following his final arrest, in 1937, suffering as a martyr for the Christian Faith at the hands of the Soviets.

In 1994, the bicentennial of the arrival of the first Orthodox missionaries to America, The Orthodox Church in America and the Church of Russia canonized Father Alexander jointly. He was glorified as the “New Hieromartyr of Russia and Missionary to America.” His feast day is commemorated on December 4.