Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, was the primate of the Russian Church through the middle decades of the fourteenth century and one of the most consequential hierarchs of the Mongol period. Born at Moscow into the noble family of the boyar Theodore Byakont, a descendant of the Chernigov princely line, he received the baptismal name Eleutherios. By tradition his vocation was foretold in boyhood: while netting birds in a field at about the age of twelve, he heard a voice telling him that he labored in vain and would instead become a catcher of men.
He entered the Theophany (Epiphany) Monastery of Moscow as a young man and spent more than a decade in monastic struggles, training under elders associated with the monastic revival of the age, including a Stephen identified in the tradition as a brother of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Drawn into the administration of the metropolitanate under Metropolitan Theognostos, he served as the metropolitan's deputy in Vladimir and was consecrated Bishop of Vladimir before succeeding to the highest office. After travelling to Constantinople he was established as Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia in 1354.
Beyond his ecclesiastical role, Alexis became a central figure in the political life of the Muscovite principality. During the minority of Prince Demetrius — the future victor of Kulikovo, remembered as Demetrius Donskoy — he acted as the boy's spiritual tutor and effectively as regent, guiding the affairs of the principality and working as a peacemaker among the contending Russian princes. He is also remembered as a builder and restorer of monasteries, founding houses in and around Moscow during the 1360s.
Saint Alexis reposed on February 12, 1378, and was buried in the Chudov Monastery within the Moscow Kremlin, which he had himself founded. His incorrupt relics were uncovered in the following century, and he was numbered among the saints. He is honored as a wonderworker and as one of the hierarchs who helped consolidate the spiritual and political center of Russia at Moscow.
