Alexander (Malinin)

Born on March 26, 1880 in the village of Busaev, Ryazan district, Ryazan province, in a family of a psalm-keeper ^[1] .

He graduated from the Ryazan Theological College , and in 1901 he graduated from the Ryazan Theological Seminary , but did not take the dignity ^[1] .

In the same year he entered the Kazan Veterinary Institute, but a year later left this educational institution and for several years worked as a teacher in a parish school ^[1] .

Archpriest Alexander Bogolyubov, chairman of the Ryazan district branch of the diocesan school council, left an interesting review about him: “Alexander Malinin, by his nature, is a kind, warm-hearted person, he is very humane in dealing with students, and his behavior is very modest. He is a highly religious person, and as a wonderful educator, but weak as a teacher. Little familiar with the best teaching methods. In private reasoning, he sometimes manifests some oddities, but not in a bad direction ” ^[1] .

In 1908, Alexander Malinin became a volunteer of the Kazan Theological Academy , two years later he began his studies at this academy as a student. In 1914 he graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy with a degree of candidate of theology for the essay “The Tungus and the history of the spread of Christianity between them” ^[1] with the right to be a teacher and hold administrative posts in the spiritual educational department, but to keep new oral or written while mastering the theology tests in some subjects ^[2] .

At the end of the Academy he served and entered the army , where he became a nurse. Six months later he was captured and only in 1918 he returned to his homeland ^[1] .

In 1924, Archbishop Guriy (Stepanov) was tonsured a monk and was assigned to the brotherhood of the Moscow Intercession Monastery in the rank of hieromonk , where he was before his bishopric ^[3] .

Bishop Benjamin (Milov) , then rector of the monastery, spoke of him this way:

He spoke under his breath, barely audible, did not engage in diction. But the human craving for him as a preacher was enormous. His people surrounded him with an iron ring, as he went out to speak teachings. Women freed their ears from headscarves to hear softly spoken phrases. The secret of his success was in the unusually childish simplicity of the word, in topics taken literally from life, in sincere Christian sympathy for grief and the needs of the coming. Since Father Alexander spoke little outside the church, the accumulated spiritual energy erupted in his speeches, and his verbal word seemed kindled, red-hot. Sometimes he could hardly restrain himself from crying during a sermon. The simplicity of his phrases freed the audience from the need to strain the brain in order to understand the content of speech ^[4] .

In 1927, Hieromonk Alexander sharply opposed the “ Declaration” of Metropolitan Sergius . Like-minded father of Alexander was a member of the church council of the Intercession Monastery Mikhail Alexandrovich Zhizhilenko , but soon their paths diverged. Despite the negative attitude to the policy of compromises, hieromonk Alexander did not go to break with Metropolitan Sergius and eventually softened his position ^[1] .

In November 1928, a decision was made on the consecration of Hieromonk Alexander as Bishop of Nolinsky , Vicar of the Vyatka Diocese . Hieromonk Alexander himself learned about his consecration three days before the appointed date from Bishop Pavel Vyatsky and Slobodsky (Borisovsky) ^[1] .

On November 24, 1928, in Moscow, in the conference room of the Provisional Patriarchal Holy Synod on Korolenko Street in Sokolniki ^[5] , he was named bishop. In his addressed speech, the bishop said in particular:

In peacetime, among the ascetics of the hierarchs there were also those who sought in the bishopric honor and glory and found them; and now the hierarchs are called for a great feat - to be ahead of everyone in church suffering. St. When the apostles expressed their readiness to drink the cup of Christ and be baptized by His baptism, they did not fully understand the essence of these words, and we now understand them, we know, for we see how they are actually experienced by hierarchs and go on the same feat; therefore, hearing your will about your election as bishop, I boldly said: I accept, and nothing against the verb, for in peacetime the rejection of this election would be taken as deep humility, and now it can be considered for fear of drinking the cup of Christ and be baptized His baptism. Ahead in my path I see thorns and thorns, but I believe in the almighty grace of the hierarchs, which you, the Saints, will at the will of the Pastoral Leader of Christ bring to my unworthy heart. I ask for your Saints' prayers, so that my sinful heart and grace of the Bishopric will be revealed wider and deeper, I will also guard the church with you, to preach the saving truth without earthly fear, but in graceful strength, and having performed earthly ministry, I will also receive although a small monastery in the house of our Heavenly Father.

November 25, 1928 in the Church of the Resurrection in Sokolniki in Moscow was ordained bishop of Nilinsky, vicar of the Vyatka diocese. 12 bishops performed the cunning, led by the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) .

On the eve of his departure to the diocese, on the night of December 10-11, 1928, he was arrested. The reason for the arrest was his words during the adverb and at dinner after consecration. The archpastor was charged under article 58 part 10 for “anti-Soviet propaganda about persecution of the Church in the presence of people who came from abroad”: “Alexander Pavlovich Malinin,” the resolution of the SOOGPU says, “used a religious center in the premises of the church center (the so-called Sergiev Synod) the rite of “appointing bishops” for delivering an anti-Soviet speech on the topic of persecution of the church and faith in the USSR, on the persecution of the clergy that there is not a single bishop in the USSR who would not be in prison, etc. The speech was made with the aim of to transmit to the bishop of Lithuania Elevferii who was present at the ceremony, who had arrived from abroad, knowingly false information about the persecution of religion by a godless state. ”

On January 11, 1929, Bishop Alexander was sentenced to three years in a concentration camp by a special meeting of the OGPU. Bishop Alexander was to serve his term in the Vishera camp . After arriving at the camp for forced labor, he got pneumonia there and died a month later ^[4] .

As Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky) noted, “it was an archpastor of extraordinary, truly monastic simplicity, non-possessiveness and modesty” ^[3] .

The name and consecration of Bishop Alexander were described in detail by a participant in those events, Metropolitan of Lithuania Eleutherius (Epiphany), in his book The Week in the Patriarchate, published in 1933 in Paris. However, Metropolitan Elephantius made a mistake by calling Bishop Alexander John. In addition, Metropolitan Eleutherius did not cite either the name of Bishop Alexander or his department ^[1] .

The mistake made by Metropolitan Eleutherius also fell into the work of Metropolitan Manuil (Lemeszewski) “Russian Orthodox hierarchs,” where along with a brief article about Bishop Alexander (Malinin), an article was also written about Bishop Glazovsky John: “Years of ordination as a monk and dignity unknown. November 15, N / A, 1928 was consecrated bishop of Glazovsky, Vic [aria] of the Vyatka diocese. The ordination was performed in Moscow in the Church of the Resurrection <...> In the lists of Patriarch Sergius and others, Bishop John does not appear at all, although Metr [opolit] Eleutherius clearly indicates his ordination in his book “Week in the Patriarchate”. It is sad only that the latter did not indicate the surname of the newly-appointed bishop, in whose ordination he himself participated, nor the pulpit, to which Bishop John was ordained. We have no further information about him ” ^[1] .

Metropolitan Manuel was mistaken in the date of the ordination, which took place not on November 15, but on November 25, and also, not knowing the exact name of the department (Metropolitan Eleutherius mentioned only that he was elected vicar of the Vyatka diocese), to which Bishop John was appointed, calls him bishop Glazovsky . Apparently, the attachment to the city of Glazov was made conditionally by Metropolitan Manuel, since this department was vacant at that moment. Following Metropolitan Manuel, other publications began to repeat information about Bishop John ^[1] .

The historian Andrei Kostryukov managed to solve the mystery of “Bishop John”, who found in the archives of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate a copy of a letter from Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) to Metropolitan Eleutherius (Epiphany), which says: “You and I didn’t put John in the bishop, but Alexander " ^[1] .

The first detailed biography of Bishop Alexander, compiled by Andrei Kostryukov on the basis of the investigation of Bishop Alexander and other sources, was published in 2014 in the Bulletin of the PSTU ^[1] and in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate ^[6] . Andrei Kostryukov also noted: “Until recently, he did not enter into any names lists for Christ victims . That is, the bishop, such a large figure, and then the researchers "missed." And what about ordinary priests and laity? How many of them perished and died in obscurity? ” ^[7] .