Alexy I | |
---|---|
Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus' | |
Church | Russian Orthodox Church |
See | Moscow |
Installed | 4 February 1945 |
Term ended | 17 April 1970 |
Predecessor | Sergius I |
Successor | Pimen I |
Orders | |
Ordination | 3 January 1904 |
Consecration | 11 May 1913 by Gregory IV of Antioch |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Sergey Vladimirovich Simanskiy |
Born |
Moscow, Russian Empire |
November 8, 1877
Died | April 17, 1970 Peredelkino, Soviet Union |
(aged 92)
Alma mater |
Moscow Imperial University Moscow Theological Academy |
Patriarch Alexy I (Alexius I, Russian: Патриарх Алексий I, secular name Sergey Vladimirovich Simanskiy, Russian: Серге́й Владимирович Симанский; November 8 [O.S. October 27] 1877 – April 17, 1970) was the 13th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) between 1945 and 1970.
Born in Moscow to a noble family, his father was a Chamberlain of the Russian Imperial Court. In 1899 he graduated from Moscow Imperial University with a law degree; was conscripted by the army and served in a grenadier regiment. In 1902 he enrolled at Moscow Theological Academy and by 1906 he had been elevated to the dignity of archimandrite and was appointed rector of the seminary at Tula.
After the Bolshevik Revolution he was arrested several times and in 1922 exiled to Kazakhstan. In 1926 he returned to Saint Petersburg (which had been renamed Leningrad) and was appointed Archbishop of Khutyn, that is, the vicar of the Diocese of Novgorod.