Anniversaries of Saint Alexander Hotovitzky

Saint Alexander Hotovitzky was a remarkable missionary in America and a martyr for the faith in Russia.  Two anniversaries in the life of Saint Alexander occurring this year – the 150th anniversary of his birth (February 11, 1872) and the 85th anniversary of his martyrdom (August 19, 1937) – are occasion to reflect on both his missionary work in America and his self-sacrificing witness as a martyr in Russia.

That he was marked by grace from God was already evident in his seminary days.  At his ordination to the priesthood in San Francisco, Bishop Nicholas (Ziorov) of the Aleutians and Alaska recalled his first encounter with Saint Alexander at the Theological Academy thus:

“In spite of your relatively young age, my attention was called specifically to you and not to anyone else because I find in you the seeds of everything necessary for such a ministry.  Particularly your decency, your good upbringing, your noble idealism, your religiousness—immediately impressed me favorably and made me single you out from several other young men with whom you had visited me in Petersburg.  I saw that you had that Divine spark, which transforms every ministry into God’s work and without which every calling becomes a spiritless and stillborn craft.  Do not let this Divine spark in you be extinguished; on the contrary, try to kindle it in yourself so that it will warm you and those around you.”

The missionary work that would have to be done was when Saint Alexander was first assigned as reader for the newly-established Saint Nicholas Church  in New York upon his arrival in America in October 1895.  While there had been a significant population of Russians and other Slavs as well as other Orthodox in New York City and surrounding areas for years, and previously there had been a largely English-language parish in New York City under the Russian Mission, in 1895, the community founded the previous year was worshipping in a rented house on Second Avenue in lower Manhattan.  When the parish priest returned to Russia, Saint Alexander married and was ordained in February 1896 to serve this fledgling community in New York, of the most diverse origins.

During Saint Alexander’s entire eighteen-year ministry in America, he was based in New York City.  His pastoral impact, however, was felt throughout the North American Diocese.  He was instrumental in establishing a dozen parishes in the northeastern United States and Canada, assisted Saint Tikhon (Bellavin), who had succeeded Bishop Nicholas in 1898 in developing organization of the diocese and his voice was heard throughout the Diocese and even in Russia in his gifted writing as editor of the American Orthodox Messenger (Vestnik) from 1896 to 1914, where he insightfully chronicled the life of the Church. 

Using his pastoral gifts, which Bishop Nicholas had recognized by the Grace of God, Saint Alexander was able to build up a spiritually strong congregation of faithful of disparate backgrounds, and to raise funds locally and in Russia, to purchase a building lot and to oversee construction of a magnificent edifice, consecrated in 1902 worthy of soon becoming the cathedral of the Diocese of North America.  In order to reflect the expansion of the Church across the continental US and Canada, Saint Tikhon petitioned the Holy Synod in Russia in 1900 to change the name of the Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska to the Diocese of the Aleutians   and North   America.  With significant   increase   in the Orthodox population in the eastern United States, the Holy Synod approved the relocation, also, of the diocesan see from San Francisco to New York in 1905.

Throughout these years, Saint Alexander and Saint John Kochurov, his classmate at St. Petersburg Theological Academy who, also, had been recruited by Bishop Nicholas for missionary work in the North American Diocese, maintained close and warm relations through correspondence and joyful fellowship at major events in the life of the Diocese.  Whenever Saint Alexander wrote in the Vestnik about diocesan events in which Saint John played a major role, such as the construction and consecration of the Chicago church  erected under Saint John’s leadership, his brotherly love and respect for Saint John came through.  A particularly poignant passage about an unexpected reunion with Saint John written by Saint Alexander in 1905 appears as part of a long article on the ROCMAS (Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society) convention in Cleveland in May of that year.  Saint Alexander who at the last minute was compelled to travel to the Convention had just arrived by train from New York after a 14-hour journey and was making his way out of the station not expecting to see anyone he knew just yet.  Suddenly, he heard a voice calling out to him.  It was Father Michael Potochny, priest for the churches in Streator and Madison, Illinois.  Father Alexander describes the encounter as follows:

“‘What are you doing here’ I asked.  ‘Well, I’m meeting Father John Kochurov from Chicago’ (he answered).  ‘Is he also coming?  But he’s not a delegate…’  (I replied).

It turned out that Father John, as a former president of the Society was summoned urgently to provide some needed background information.  For me this was a special joy, magnified by its unexpectedness.  Divided by great distance, he in Chicago and I in New York, we were classmates in the Academy, who arrived here aboard the same ship ten years ago directly from the school bench.  We very rarely saw each other in America, and the chance circumstances that brought us here, when even 24 hours earlier neither he nor I could have foreseen travel to Cleveland, brought me great joy.  Indeed, an oncoming train arrived straightaway and we saw Father John, and by his strong embraces I was assured that meeting up with me was not unpleasant for him either.”  Father Alexander goes on to recount that as they rode a tram from the train station through Cleveland, they were oblivious to the surrounding city.

Though separated by distance, their love for each other and the inspiration it gave them to preach the Gospel of Christ, years later provided the strength for both to be crowned as martyrs for the faith in Russia.

After 18 years of labor building the Church in America, Saint Alexander returned to Russia - first to Finland, a dependency of the Russian Empire at the time, then to Moscow where he labored under Bolshevik persecution of the Church again alongside Saint Patriarch Tikhon, former Archbishop of North America.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, while he continued to heroically serve the Church, Saint Alexander was imprisoned and exiled several times by the atheistic Soviet authorities.  His final arrest came in the summer of 1937.  At the time of his glorification in 1994, it was believed that he had been sent to a remote prison camp and had perished there, however, documents later uncovered in state archives reveal that Saint Alexander was tried and shot in Moscow on August 19, 1937.

Saint Alexander’s life and deeds are extensively described in publications and websites in both Russian and English.  A translation of his official life published by the Moscow Patriarchate at the time of his glorification among the saints in Russia in 1994, upon the request and proposal of the Orthodox Church in America, is posted on the OCA website alongside other items pertaining to Saint Alexander. Detailed biographical information in English with quotes from Saint Alexander’s writings and excerpts about him as well as a multitude of links to further information are also available online.

Saint Alexander, Missionary and Martyr, pray for us!