Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky Sergey Vladimirovich)

On October 27 (November 8), 1877, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy I was born, in the worldly realm – Sergei Vladimirovich Simansky.

He was the firstborn in the family of Vladimir Andreyevich Simansky, an official in the chancellery of the Moscow governor-general, later a chamberlain and official in the chancellery of the Holy Synod. Sergei received a good education at home, which he continued at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages. In 1891, he was transferred to the Moscow Imperial Lyceum in memory of Tsarevich Nicholas ("Katkovsky Lyceum") - a privileged educational institution of a closed type for nobles. After graduating from the lyceum in 1896, Sergei Vladimirovich entered the law faculty of Moscow University. Having completed the full course in three years, in 1899 he defended his dissertation "Combatants and non-combatants during the war", receiving the academic degree of candidate of law.

Having retired with the rank of ensign after a year of service as a volunteer in a grenadier regiment, Sergei Simansky entered the Moscow Theological Academy in 1900, during which he took monastic vows and the church name Alexei. In 1904, Hieromonk Alexei graduated from the Academy with a degree in theology and was appointed inspector of the Pskov Theological Seminary, also teaching. In 1906, he became archimandrite and rector of the Tula Theological Seminary, and in 1911 he took a similar position in Novgorod, simultaneously becoming the abbot of the famous Antoniev Monastery.

From 1913, Alexy held the position of the 2nd, and from the beginning of 1917, the 1st vicar of the Novgorod diocese. In 1920, he was arrested by the Novgorod Cheka and brought to trial on charges of unauthorized opening and examination of church relics. He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, but he was immediately amnestied due to the end of the Civil War. In 1921, Alexy was appointed Bishop of Yamburg and Vicar of the Petrograd Diocese, and a year later, he was temporarily appointed Administrator of the Petrograd Diocese. In October 1922, Alexy was arrested again on charges of counterrevolutionary activity and sentenced to three years of exile in the city of Karkaralinsk (now in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan). In 1926, he returned to Leningrad and soon took up the post of administrator of the Novgorod diocese with the rank of Archbishop of Tikhvin. A year later, Alexy became a permanent member of the temporary Patriarchal Holy Synod, and in May 1932, Metropolitan of Staraya Russa. In August 1933, he was appointed to the post of Novgorod Metropolitan, and in October of the same year, Leningrad Metropolitan. In 1943, after the unification of the departments, Alexy became Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod. On September 4, 1943, Metropolitan Alexy, along with other representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, participated in a historic meeting with I. V. Stalin. Alexy spent the entire period of the siege of Leningrad in the besieged city and was subsequently awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad".

After the death of Patriarch Sergius (Stragorodsky) in May 1944, Alexy became locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. On February 2, 1945, at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. In the summer of that year, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visited the Eastern patriarchs. Patriarch Alexy occupied the throne for 25 years - longer than anyone in the history of the Russian Church. During his reign, he pursued a policy of loyalty to the Soviet government, and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor four times. During his years as patriarch, Alexy managed to unite a number of autocephalies under the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and prevent new schisms in the church organization.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy I died on April 17, 1970 at the age of 92 and was buried in the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

Lit.: Alexei (Simansky S. V.). Words, speeches, messages, addresses, reports, articles: In 4 volumes. Moscow, 1948-1964; History of the Russian Orthodox Church: From the restoration of the Patriarchate to the present day. St. Petersburg, 1997; Kashevarov A. N. State and Church. From the history of relations between the Soviet government and the Russian Orthodox Church, 1917-1945. St. Petersburg, 1995; Krapivin M. Yu. Intra-confessional conflicts and problems of interfaith communication in the context of Soviet reality (October 1917 - late 1930s). St. Petersburg, 2005; Russian Orthodox Church, 1988-1988: Essays on history. Moscow, 1988; Russian Orthodox Church and the Great Patriotic War: Coll. doc-ov. M., 1943; Odintsov M. I. State and Church in Russia: XX century. M., 1994.

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