Alexander Urodov

Confessor Alexander Urodov, archimandrite (1882 to 1961), was a monk at Sanaksar, abbot, superior of the Seven Lakes Hermitage and, after exile, a priest in the Kirov diocese, where he departed to the Lord on 14 August 1961. He is commemorated on 7 February with the synaxis of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, on 23 August with the new martyrs and confessors of Solovki, on 27 August and 18 September with the finding of the relics, on 17 October with the saints of Kazan, and on 21 October with the saints of Vyatka. His relics rest at the Sanaksar monastery.

George Andreevich Urodov was born in 1882 into the family of a peasant of the village of Nevezhkino, Chembar district, Penza province. After the village school he was a singer at the parish church. In 1901, going on a journey to Sarov, he stopped at the Sanaksar monastery and resolved to devote his life to monastic labours. On 30 August 1911 the novice George was tonsured a monk with the name Alexander. Soon he was ordained hierodeacon at Tambov, and on 22 July 1913 hieromonk. On 20 July 1915 the hieromonk Alexander was elected by the brethren abbot of the Sanaksar monastery and raised to the rank of hegumen by Archbishop Cyril (Smirnov).

In 1917 Russia was swept by the wave of revolution and Red terror. At the end of February 1918 a part of the brethren, led by the hieromonk Vladimir, supported by the Bolsheviks, staged a revolt in the monastery and removed Hegumen Alexander from his office as abbot. By decision of the Military Revolutionary Tribunal, on 27 March 1918 Father Alexander was arrested. At the interrogation he did not admit guilt, and the tribunal decided to expel him from the monastery. On 3 April 1922, by decision of the Holy Synod, Father Alexander was appointed superior of the Seven Lakes Hermitage in the Kazan diocese and raised to the rank of archimandrite. The authorities turned their anger on him here too: in 1922 he was brought to account in the case of the confiscation of church valuables. But despite all the persecutions, in the same year he became an active participant in the struggle against Renovationism in the Kazan region, and the Seven Lakes Hermitage became, through his labours, the centre of this struggle. On 31 October 1928 Archimandrite Alexander was arrested and sentenced to three years in the camp and three years of exile in the Urals.

After the exile he came to the Vyatka diocese. On 5 August 1935 Bishop Demetrius (Pospelov) of Yaransk appointed him to the village of Sobolevo, today in the Sanchursk district of the Kirov region. Here, for twenty-⁠six years, Father Alexander struggled in the Lord and ended his days. For a long time he was among the so-⁠called "non-⁠commemorators". In 1955 Archimandrite Alexander recognized the election of Patriarch Alexy (Simansky) and was united with the Patriarchal Church, writing a letter to Archbishop Benjamin (Tikhonitsky) of the Kirov diocese, in which he asked to be buried as a monk. On 14 August 1961, having reached great old age, Archimandrite Alexander departed to the Lord. His holy relics are now at the Sanaksar monastery.