Alexis of Ugine

The Righteous Alexis Medvedkov (Alexei Ivanovich Medvedkov), called Alexis of Ugine (Youzhin), was an archpriest in the Russian parishes of Western Europe, parish priest of the church of Saint Nicholas at Ugine, in France. He was born on 1 July 1867 in the village of Fomichevo, Smolensk province, and reposed on 22 August 1934 at Annecy, in France. The Ecumenical Patriarchate canonized him among the righteous on 16 January 2004, among the strugglers from among the Russian emigres in France. Our calendar gives the commemoration on 20 July, 9 August and 13 October.

He was born into the family of the priest John Alexeevich Medvedkov and his wife Neonila Mikhailovna. He finished the theological school at Vyazma and, in 1889, the St Petersburg seminary. He was psalm-⁠reader at the church of Saint Catherine on Vasilievsky Island. He married; his wife died prematurely in 1929, at Tartu. After a conversation with Archpriest John of Kronstadt he decided to receive holy orders. In 1895 he was ordained deacon and in 1896 priest. For twenty-⁠three years (1895 to 1918) he served as priest in the village of Vruda, in the Yamburg district, St Petersburg province. In 1916 he was raised to the rank of archpriest. After the revolution he was arrested by the Bolsheviks and sentenced to death, but after some time he was released at the request of his daughter.

In 1919 he went to Estonia and settled in the town of Kohtla-⁠Järve, in the north-⁠east of the country, where, to feed his family, he worked in the mines, and then as a night watchman. From 1923 he served as a supernumerary priest at the Epiphany church in the town of Jõhvi, near Kohtla-⁠Järve. In 1930 he moved to France. For a short time he served at the Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Paris, then, in the same year, he moved to the department of Haute-⁠Savoie, in the south-⁠east of France, and continued his service at the church of Saint Nicholas at Ugine. He died of cancer on 22 August 1934 at the hospital in Annecy and was buried in the cemetery at Ugine.

In 1956, because of the closing of the cemetery at Ugine, the remains of Archpriest Alexis Medvedkov were opened and found incorrupt. They were reburied with honours in 1957 in the Sainte-⁠Geneviève-⁠des-⁠Bois cemetery near Paris, after which the question of his canonization was raised. On 16 January 2004 he was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, among the strugglers from among the Russian emigres in France. On 13 October 2005 the relics of the Righteous Alexis Medvedkov were solemnly moved to the Transfiguration church of the Protection of the Mother of God convent at Bussy-⁠en-⁠Othe, in France.