The Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000 included the name of Alexy Bortsurmansky, a parish priest whose life became an example of radical spiritual transformation, in the holy places. A month after his canonization, on August 17, his remains were raised from the tomb at the altar of the Assumption Church and moved inside the church.
Alexey Gnevushev was born in 1762 in the family of a rural priest. After graduating from the Nizhny Novgorod seminary, he returned to his native village as a deacon, and in 1797 he took the rank of presbyter. The first years of service were not distinguished by asceticism — contemporaries noted his temper and addiction to alcohol. The turning point came after a tragic episode: called to the dying man, he refused to go at night, and in the morning found the man already dead. At the bedside of the deceased, according to the testimony, the priest saw an angel with a Cup in his hands.
Since then, his life has changed dramatically. The daily liturgy, one and a half thousand prostrations, the reading of the Psalters and the akathists filled the day. He spent his free hours in the field or received visitors. They came to him from neighboring provinces: some for advice, others for healing. Eyewitnesses recorded cases of recovery of the mentally ill and the return to life of the child after his prayer.
Seraphim of Sarov, who never met him personally, spoke of the Bortsurman priest as “a candle before the Throne of God” and sent pilgrims back, assuring them that they had their own intercessor.
The last nine years the ascetic spent in the shutter — a small cell with a single window facing the temple. He died on Great Thursday, 1848, blessing the congregation at the window. He was buried in the church garden.
The first attempt at canonization dates back to 1913. The commission of the Nizhny Novgorod consistory confirmed the miracles, but war and revolution stopped the process. In the Soviet period, the grave was leveled, but the faithful secretly restored the hill. The temple was closed in 1937, returned to the community only half a century later. Today, the relics of the saint are in the restored Assumption Church, where pilgrims from different regions of the country continue to arrive.
Memorial Day
August 17
Charity foundHoly Land.
Soul investment! News
