Venerable Alexander of Svir (†1533) — August 30 / September 12 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 30 according to the Julian Calendar (September 12 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Alexander of Svir.

Venerable Alexander of Svir (Amos in the world) was born on June 15, 1448, in the village of Mandera on the bank of the Oyat, a tributary of the river Svir, on the day of the commemoration of the Prophet Amos, and he was named in his honour. His future birth was miraculously announced to the blessed one’s parents by a heavenly voice: “Rejoice, good spouses, from you shall be born a son, through whom the Lord will grant consolation to His Church.”

Amos was an obedient and humble child; he shunned laughter and foul speech, loved prayer and fasted strictly. The saint knew that his parents intended to marry him, and so at the age of nineteen he secretly left home and made his way to the monastery of Valaam.

In 1474 Amos was tonsured a monk with the name Alexander. Some years later his parents learned where their son was. Soon they themselves followed his example and ended their earthly lives in a monastery.

Word of the ascetic’s life spread far and wide, and so in 1485 he left Valaam, settled in the forest at a sign from above, and lived there in solitude for seven years.

In 1508 the venerable father was counted worthy of a vision of the Life-giving Trinity. Once, at night, as he stood at prayer in the wilderness, a mighty light suddenly shone forth, and the saint beheld three youths coming toward him, clothed in white garments and brighter than the sun. Each of them held a staff in his hand. The ascetic was seized with trembling, but when he came to himself he bowed down to the ground before his guests. They raised him up and said: “Have hope, blessed one, and do not be afraid!” The venerable father was commanded to build a church and establish a monastery in the name of the Most Holy Trinity.

That same year a wooden church was built in the name of the Life-giving Trinity (in 1526 a stone church was erected in its place). As soon as the building was completed, the brethren began to entreat the blessed one to accept the priestly rank. For a long time he refused, considering himself unworthy. Then the monks asked Archbishop Serapion of Novgorod (†1516) to persuade the Lord’s chosen one. That same year the venerable father travelled to Novgorod and was ordained a priest by the hierarch. Soon the brethren also prevailed upon Saint Alexander to accept the office of abbot.

Having taken up the heavy cross of leadership, the blessed father became even more humble than before. Once the monastery ran out of firewood. The steward asked the abbot to send the idle monks to prepare fuel. “I am idle,” said the saint, and went to chop wood. The blessed one often ground grain with hand millstones in place of others; at night he would make the rounds of the cells, and if he heard idle talk he would knock gently and pass on.

Toward the end of his life Venerable Alexander resolved to build a church in honour of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. When the foundation was laid, the Immaculate Virgin herself appeared to the holy ascetic, seated upon a throne with the Child in her arms and accompanied by angels, and said to him: “My beloved, whoever brings even a single brick for the building of my church, in the name of my Son and Lord Jesus Christ, shall not lose his reward.” And she promised her protection to the monastery.

Blessed Alexander of Svir lived eighty-five years and on August 30, 1533, peacefully gave up his soul to the Lord.