Alexis of Zosima Hermitage

Venerable Alexis of Zosima Hermitage (in the world Fyodor Alexeevich Solovyov, 1846-1928) was a hieroschemamonk and elder of the Zosima Hermitage near Sergiev Posad, known for his role in the election of the Patriarch of Russia in 1917, when he drew the slip with the name of Metropolitan Tikhon. He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, with veneration throughout the Church. He is commemorated on 19 September by the old calendar, which is 2 October by the new, and in the synaxis of the saints of Moscow.

Beginnings

He was born in Moscow in the large family of Archpriest Alexei Petrovich Solovyov, rector of the church of Saint Simeon the Stylite and professor at the Bethany seminary. From childhood he sang in the choir and served in the altar. He lost his mother at eight. During church school he was blinded in one eye, struck on the head by the tongue of the bell he was ringing. He graduated from the Andronievsky church school and the Moscow seminary (1866), not feeling a calling to theological science and not going to the academy. On 12 February 1867 he married Anna Pavlovna Smirnova, a priest's daughter, and on 19 February he was ordained deacon at the Chudov Monastery and appointed to the church of Saint Nicholas in Tolmachi, whose rector, Archpriest Vasily Nechaev, was his first spiritual guide. In 1872 his wife died of consumption, leaving him a two-⁠year-⁠old son, Mikhail. To help him through the grief, Father Vasily loaded him with work in the editorial office of the journal Soul-⁠profiting Reading, and he began to write articles, among them a history of the church. With Archpriest Alexei Mechev he took part in popular readings and taught religion in an orphanage and in the houses of parishioners.

Priest, monk and elder

On 4 June 1895 Metropolitan Sergius, who wished to restore the ancient znamenny chant, ordained him priest at the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin, for his beautiful voice. Two years later he was unanimously elected confessor of the cathedral clergy, and in 1898 he was raised protopresbyter. His son had meanwhile finished technical school and married, which opened the way to the monastery. He entered the Zosima Hermitage and on 30 November 1898 was tonsured a hieromonk by Abbot Herman (Gomzin), with the name Alexis, in honour of Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow. From 1906 he was an elder, moved to a separate cell, and from 1908 he received permission to enter partial seclusion, being one of the most revered elders of the time. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna came to him for confession. In 1916 he received full seclusion and moved to the second floor of the brethren's building, beside the altar of the church of All Saints. Every Thursday he confessed and every Friday received communion.

The election of the Patriarch

In 1917 he was elected a member of the Local Council and took part in the first two sessions. On 5 November 1917 (old style), in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, he drew the slip that decided the election of Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow as patriarch. Metropolitan Evlogy recalled that before the Liturgy a casket with three slips, with the names of three candidates, was set on the lectern before the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir, the cathedral with twelve thousand people was full, and after the Liturgy and moleben a deeply aged elder came out of the altar, Hieroschemamonk Alexis, the recluse of the Zosima Hermitage, who made the sign of the cross three times and, without looking, drew out a slip. Metropolitan Vladimir read: Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow.

The end

On 28 February 1919 he received the great schema. In 1921 he was given the palitsa. After the closing of the Zosima Hermitage, on 8 May 1923, he moved with his attendant to Sergiev, where he lived with his spiritual daughter Vera Timofeevna Verkhovtseva. He fell asleep on 2 October 1928. For four days and three nights people did not leave the coffin, and at the funeral there was a throng of clergy, among them several bishops, among them Bishop Ignatius (Sadkovsky). He was buried at the Kukuevo cemetery in Sergiev. He was venerated as a saint soon after death: in the indictment of 1936 several people were accused of glorifying his grave and spreading rumours of healings. In 1953 he was moved to the old cemetery of Zagorsk, and on 25 July 1994 his remains were taken to the Zosima Hermitage. He was glorified in August 2000.