His father, Alexei Ivanovich Mechev, the son of an archpriest from the Kolomna district, was saved from death by freezing temperatures as a child on a cold winter's night by Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. Among the boys from the clergy families of the Moscow diocese, selected for their musicality, he was brought late that evening to the metropolitan's metochion on Troitsky Lane. While the children were eating dinner, the Metropolitan suddenly became alarmed, quickly dressed, and went out to inspect the arriving convoy. In one of the sleds, he discovered a sleeping boy, left there through oversight. Seeing this as Divine Providence, Metropolitan Philaret showed special attention and care to the child he had saved, constantly caring for him and, later, for his family.
Father Alexei's birth occurred under significant circumstances. His mother, Alexandra Dmitrievna, felt ill during labor. The labor was difficult and prolonged, putting the lives of both mother and child in danger.
In great sorrow, Alexei Ivanovich went to pray at the Alexeevsky Monastery, where Metropolitan Philaret was serving on the occasion of the monastery's patronal feast. Entering the altar, he stood quietly to the side, but the bishop's gaze did not miss the grief of his beloved choirmaster. "You look so sad today. What's wrong?" he asked. "Your Eminence, your wife is dying in childbirth." The saint prayerfully crossed himself. "Let us pray together... God is merciful, all will be well," he said. Then he handed him a prosphora and said, "A boy will be born. Name him Alexei, in honor of Saint Alexis, the man of God, whom we celebrate today."
Alexei Ivanovich took heart, attended the liturgy, and, inspired with hope, went home. He was greeted at the door with joy: a boy had been born.
In the two-room apartment on Troitsky Lane, the family of the choirmaster of the Chudovsky Choir cherished a vibrant faith in God, warm hospitality, and generosity. They shared the joys and sorrows of everyone God brought to their home. It was always crowded, with family and friends constantly staying, knowing they would be helped and comforted.
Throughout his life, Father Alexei remembered with reverence the selfless act of his mother, who took in her sister and her three children after her husband's death, despite the fact that she herself was cramped with her three children—sons Alexei and Tikhon and daughter Varvara. They had to build a sleeping platform for the children.
Among his siblings and cousins, Lenya, as Alexei was known in the family, stood out for his kindheartedness and quiet, peace-loving nature. He disliked quarrels and wanted everyone to be happy; he loved to cheer people up, console them, and joke around. He did all of this with piety. When visiting friends, or in the midst of playtime in the children's rooms, Lenya would suddenly become serious, quickly withdraw, and hide, withdrawing from the boisterous merriment. For this reason, those around him nicknamed him "Blessed Alyoshenka."
Alexei Mechev studied at the Zaikonospassky School, then at the Moscow Theological Seminary. He was diligent, conscientious, and ready to do any service. Graduating from the seminary, he still didn't have his own place to study, which was so essential. To prepare his lessons, he often had to get up at night.
Like many of his classmates, Alexei Mechev wanted to go to university and become a doctor. But his mother was steadfastly opposed, wanting him to be a prayer warrior. "You're so young, you can't be a doctor. Be a priest," she declared firmly.
It was hard for Alexei to give up his dream: he saw a career as a doctor as the most fruitful way to serve others. He said goodbye to his friends with tears, but he could not go against the wishes of his mother, whom he so respected and loved. Later, the priest realized he had found his true calling and was deeply grateful to his mother.
Upon graduating from seminary, Alexei Mechev was appointed psalm-reader at the Znamenskaya Church of the Prechistensky Forty on Znamenka Street on October 14, 1880. Here he was destined to undergo a difficult ordeal.
The rector of the church was a man of stern character, unreasonably picky. He demanded that the psalm-reader fulfill the duties assigned to the guard, treated him harshly, even hitting him, and sometimes even swiping a poker at him. The younger brother, Tikhon, visiting Alexei, often found him in tears. The deacon sometimes interceded for the defenseless psalm-reader, who endured everything meekly, without complaining or asking for a transfer to another church. He later thanked God for allowing him to undergo such training, and he remembered the rector, Father Georgy, as his teacher.
Already a priest, Father Alexei, having heard of Father George's death, came to the funeral service and accompanied him to the grave with tears of gratitude and love, to the surprise of those who knew the deceased's attitude towards him.
Father Alexei later said: when people point out flaws we don't notice in ourselves, they help us fight our "yashka." We have two enemies: "okay" and "yashka"—that's what Father called vanity, the human ego that immediately asserts its rights when someone, willingly or unwillingly, offends or infringes upon it. "Such people should be loved as benefactors," he later taught his spiritual children.
In 1884, Alexei Mechev married the psalm-reader's daughter, eighteen-year-old Anna Petrovna Molchanova. That same year, on November 18, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Misael of Mozhaisk.
Having become a minister of the altar, Deacon Alexei experienced a fiery zeal for the Lord, while outwardly displaying the greatest simplicity, humility, and meekness. His marriage was happy. Anna loved her husband and sympathized with him in everything. But she suffered from a serious heart condition, and her health became a source of constant concern for him. Father Alexei saw his wife as a friend and his first helper on his path to Christ. He treasured her friendly comments and listened to them as one might listen to an elder; he immediately sought to correct any shortcomings she noticed.
The following children were born into the family: Alexandra (1888), Anna (1890), Alexey (1891), who died in his first year of life, Sergei (1892) and Olga (1896).
On March 19, 1893, Deacon Alexei Mechev was ordained a priest by Bishop Nestor, administrator of the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow, for the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Klenniki, Sretensky Monastery. The ordination took place at the Zaikonospassky Monastery. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Klenniki on Maroseyka Street was small, and its congregation was very small. Large, well-attended churches towered nearby.
Having become the rector of the single-staffed church of St. Nicholas, Father Alexy introduced daily services in his church, while in small Moscow churches they were usually celebrated only two or three times a week.
Father Alexei would arrive at the church at almost five o'clock in the morning and open it himself. After reverently venerating the miraculous Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God and other icons, he prepared everything necessary for the Eucharist and performed the proskomedia without waiting for any of the clergy. When the appointed hour approached, he began Matins, often reading and singing himself; then came the Liturgy. "For eight years, I served Liturgy every day in an empty church," Father Alexei later recounted. "One archpriest told me, 'Every time I pass by your church, your bells keep ringing. I'd go into the church—it's empty... Nothing will come of it; you're ringing in vain.'" But Father Alexei was undeterred and continued serving. According to the custom then in effect, Muscovites fasted once a year during Great Lent. At the Nikola-Klenniki Church on Maroseyka Street, one could confess and receive Holy Communion any day. Over time, this became known in Moscow. One case is recorded where a police officer on duty became suspicious of the behavior of an unknown woman at a very early hour on the banks of the Moskva River. Upon approaching, he learned that the woman had despaired over the hardships of life and was considering drowning herself. He persuaded her to abandon this plan and go to Maroseyka Street to see Father Alexy. Grieving, burdened by life's sorrows, and downtrodden people flocked to this church. From them, word spread of its kind rector.
Life for the clergy of the numerous small parishes of that time was financially difficult, and living conditions were often poor. The small wooden house where Father Alexei's family lived was dilapidated and half-rotted; the adjacent two-story buildings obscured the windows. During rainy seasons, streams running down from Pokrovka and Maroseika Streets flowed into the church courtyard and the basement of the house, making the apartment perpetually damp.
Matushka Anna Petrovna was seriously ill. She developed cardiac dropsy, with severe swelling and excruciating shortness of breath. Anna Petrovna died on August 29, 1902, the feast day of the beheading of John the Baptist, the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord.
At that time, a merchant family very close to Father Alexei (Alexei and Klavdiya Belov) invited the righteous Father John of Kronstadt, who had come to Moscow and with whom they had been in contact through charitable matters, to their home. This was done so that Father Alexei could meet him.
"Have you come to share my grief?" Father Alexei asked when Father John entered. "I have come to share not your grief, but your joy," Father John replied. "The Lord is visiting you. Leave your cell and go out among the people; only from now on will you begin to live. You rejoice in your own sorrows and think: there is no grief in the world greater than yours... But be with the people, enter into the grief of others, take it upon yourself, and then you will see that your misfortune is insignificant compared to the common grief, and you will feel better."
The grace of God, abundantly resting upon the Kronstadt pastor, illuminated Father Alexy's life in a new way. He accepted what was revealed to him as the obedience bestowed upon him. He was undoubtedly prepared to receive the grace of eldership by many years of truly ascetic life.
Father Alexei greeted those who sought help at the Maroseya church, broken by difficult circumstances, mutual hostility, mired in sin, and forgotten about God, with heartfelt friendliness, love, and compassion. The joy and peace of Christ were instilled in their souls, and hope for God's mercy and the possibility of soul renewal was revealed. The love shown toward them made each one feel loved, pitied, and comforted above all others.
Father Alexei received from God the grace-filled gift of clairvoyance. Those who came to him could see that he knew their entire lives, both their external events and their spiritual aspirations and thoughts. He revealed himself to people to varying degrees. In his deep humility, he always strove to conceal the full extent of this gift. He usually spoke indirectly about any details of a situation unknown to his interlocutor, pretending to relate a similar incident that had recently occurred. Father Alexei would only give instructions on how to proceed in a specific matter once. If the visitor objected or insisted on his own, Father Alexei would avoid further discussion, not explaining the consequences of their unreasonable desire, or even repeating what he had originally said. He would sometimes even give the blessing requested. For those who came with a sense of repentance and filled with trust, he offered prayerful assistance, interceding for them before the Lord for deliverance from difficulties and troubles.
Father Alexei became known as a kind priest, someone to whom one should turn in difficult times for a family. He was not one to preach, rebuke, or analyze someone's bad behavior. He knew how to discuss the moral aspects of family situations without inflaming the painful egos of those involved. And he was invited to perform services at critical moments. Arriving at a family on the brink of collapse, Father Alexei brought peace, love, and an all-forgiving understanding for each and every one. He did not criticize or reproach anyone, but sought, by citing vivid examples of mistakes and errors, to bring his listeners to a sense of guilt and arouse in them a sense of remorse. This dispelled the clouds of anger, and the guilty began to feel the wrongness of their actions. Proper understanding often did not come immediately, but later, when a person, remembering the words of Father Alexy and looking deeper into his softened soul, could finally see that his stories had a direct relation to him, and understand what new path he was mapping out for him.
In the lower residential floor of the church, Father Alexei opened an elementary parish school and also established an orphanage for orphans and children of poor parents. The children also learned useful crafts there. For 13 years, Father Alexei taught the Law of God to children at the E.V. Winkler private girls' gymnasium.
By blessing his spiritual daughter Maria, who came to his church as a teenage girl shortly after her father's death, to paint icons, the priest contributed to the subsequent revival of ancient Russian icon painting, which had been forgotten for several centuries, giving way to painting.
At that time, Father Alexy began to conduct divine services in the church not only in the morning, but also in the evening (vespers and matins).
Father's sermons were simple and sincere, not particularly eloquent. What he said touched the heart with its depth of faith, truthfulness, and understanding of life. He avoided oratorical devices, focusing his listeners' attention on the events of the Gospels and the lives of the saints, remaining completely in the background.
Father Alexei's prayer never ceased. By his own example, he demonstrated that amid the hustle and bustle of the city, one can be removed from all earthly things, have unceasing prayer, a pure heart, and stand before God while still here on earth.
When asked how to improve the life of the parish, he answered: “Pray!” He called on his spiritual children to pray at memorial services: “Once again you will come into contact with the departed... When you stand before God, they will all raise their hands for you, and you will be saved.”
The number of worshippers in the church grew steadily, especially after 1917, when those who had left the Church, having experienced numerous hardships, flocked to churches in hopes of God's help. After the closure of the Kremlin, some parishioners and singers from the Chudov Monastery transferred, with the blessing of Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky), to Father Alexy's church. Many young people and students came, seeing that the revolution had brought new disasters instead of the promised blessings, and now they strove to understand the laws of spiritual life.
During these years, zealous young priests and deacons, educated and devout, began serving at Maroseyka, including Father Alexy's son, Father Sergiy Mechev, who was ordained to the priesthood on Holy Thursday 1919. They also assisted with lectures, discussions, and organizing courses on liturgical study. But Father Alexy's workload was growing. Too many people wanted his blessing on various projects and sought his advice. Father Alexy had previously had to receive some visitors in his apartment in the clergy house, built before the First World War by the renowned publisher I.D. Sytin. Now, however, endless lines could be seen at the door of the house, and in the summer, visitors would spend the night in the church courtyard.
Father Alexei's humility was great. He never took offense at any rudeness toward himself. "What am I? I'm wretched..." he would say. Once, after forcing his spiritual daughter to recall in confession that she had spoken ill of a relative and not paid it any mind, he said to her, "Remember, Lydia, that there is no one worse than you and me in the whole world."
Father avoided any signs of respect or honor, avoided pompous services, and if he had to participate, he tried to stand at the back of the crowd. He was burdened by awards; they weighed him down, causing him deep, genuine embarrassment.
Through the efforts of the Chudov sisters, in 1920 His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon awarded Father Alexei an award—the right to wear a cross with ornaments. Priests and parishioners gathered in the church that evening to congratulate him. Father Alexei, usually smiling and joyful, appeared anxious and saddened. After a short prayer service, he addressed the people with contrition, speaking of his unworthiness, and, shedding bitter tears, asked for forgiveness and bowed to the ground. Everyone saw that, as he accepted this award, he truly felt unworthy of it.
Father Alexy's true spiritual friends were the Optina ascetics of his time—Elder Hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Potapov) and the skete's superior, Hegumen Feodosy. Father Anatoly referred Muscovites who came to him to Father Alexy. Elder Nektary once said to someone, "Why are you coming to us? You have Father Alexy."
Father Theodosius, having once arrived in Moscow, visited the Maroseyka church. He attended the service and saw the procession of confessors, the fervent and lengthy service, the meticulous commemoration, and the crowds awaiting their arrival. He said to Father Alexei, "For all this work you're doing alone, we at Optina would need several people. It's beyond the strength of one person. The Lord is helping you."
His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, who always respected Father's recall in cases of ordination, invited him to take on the task of uniting the Moscow clergy. Meetings were held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, but under the conditions of the time, they were soon suspended. The clergy's attitude toward Father varied greatly. Many recognized his authority, some pastors were his spiritual children and followers, but many also criticized him.
In late May 1923 (New Style), Father Alexei went, as in previous years, to vacation in Vereya, a remote town in the Moscow region where he owned a small house. Before leaving, he served his final liturgy at the Maroseya church, bidding farewell to his spiritual children, and, as he departed, bidding farewell to the church. Father Alexei died on Friday, June 9/22, 1923. On his last evening, he was joyful and affectionate with everyone, remembering those who were absent, especially his grandson Alyosha. Death occurred immediately after he lay down in bed, and was instantaneous.
Father Alexy's coffin was delivered to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Klenniki on horseback on Wednesday, June 14/27, at 9:00 a.m. Moscow's church communities, led by their pastors, came one after another to sing requiem services and bid farewell to the departed. This lasted until the following morning, allowing everyone present the opportunity to pray. Two vigils for the dead were held that evening: one in the church and one in the courtyard. Archbishop Feodor (Pozdeevsky), abbot of the Danilov Monastery, led the clergy in celebrating the Liturgy and funeral service, as Father Alexy had requested in a letter shortly before his death. Bishop Feodor was in prison at the time, but he was released on June 7/20 and was able to fulfill Father Alexy's wishes.
Paschal hymns were sung all the way to the cemetery. His Holiness, Patriarch Tikhon, a confessor of Christ and recently released from prison, arrived at the Lazarevskoye Cemetery to bid farewell to Father Alexy on his final journey. He was enthusiastically greeted by crowds of people. Father Alexy's prophetic words had come true: "When I die, there will be joy for all." Archimandrite Anempodistus celebrated the litiya. His Holiness blessed the coffin as it was lowered into the grave, throwing a handful of earth onto it first.
During his lifetime, Father Alexei told his spiritual children to come to his grave with all their difficulties, troubles, and needs. And many did come to him at Lazarevskoye Cemetery.
Ten years later, due to the closure of the Lazarevskoye Cemetery, the remains of Father Alexei and his wife were transferred on September 15/28, 1933, to the Vvedensky Hills Cemetery, popularly known as the German Cemetery. Father Alexei's body was incorrupt at that time. Only the ankle joint of one of his legs had been damaged, and the foot had separated.
Over the following decades, Father Alexei's grave, according to the cemetery administration, was the most visited. Thanks to stories of assistance received, and later to publications, many people learned about Father Alexei and, asking for his intercession in their troubles and difficult life circumstances, were consoled by him.
It was necessary to regularly add soil to the burial mound, since those who resorted to Father Alexy's help took it with them...
On the first anniversary of Father Alexei's death, the Maroseyka community invited anyone who wished to write about their encounters with the elder, and many responded. These recollections were varied, but some of them attested to instances of clairvoyance, miracles, signs, and the elder's prayerful assistance.
A woman from Tula had lost her only son. She hadn't heard from him for six months; his mother was in serious condition. Someone advised her to contact Father Alexei. She traveled to Moscow, went straight to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Klenniki, and at the end of the liturgy, went with everyone else to venerate the cross. Several more worshipers separated her from the priest, whom she had seen for the first time when he extended the cross to her over the heads of those walking ahead of her and said solemnly, "Pray as if for a living person." Confused by the unexpectedness, she became embarrassed and shy to approach him again. Unable to calm herself, she turned to a priest who knew the priest well, and he brought her to his home. She had barely entered the room and received his blessing when the priest, who had not yet heard a single word from her—she was so overcome with emotion and choking tears that she could not speak—took her by the shoulder and, looking lovingly and tenderly into her eyes, said, “Happy mother, happy mother! Why are you crying? I tell you: he’s alive!” Then, going to the desk, he began sorting through the paper icons lying on it, saying, “I had a mother come to see me the other day: she’s always worried about her son, but he’s peacefully working in a tobacco factory in Sofia. Well, God bless him,” and with these words, he blessed her with the icon. This was during Bright Week. At the end of September, she received a letter from her son in Bulgaria, in which he reported that he was working in a tobacco factory in Sofia.
Olga Serafimovna, a woman of high social standing, deeply religious and church-going, was the head of an orphanage under the patronage of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. She often visited Father Alexei at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Klenniki. He, too, visited the orphanage at her invitation.
One day, one of her subordinate employees, a caretaker of the orphanage, was preparing to attend mass with her at this church. After the liturgy, approaching the cross, Olga Serafimovna thought, "What if the priest says something to me now that will undermine my dignity and authority in the eyes of my subordinate?" Fearing this, she offered her colleague to go ahead of her, but she refused. Seeing Olga Serafimovna, the priest raised the cross high and, blessing her with a broad, firm gesture, loudly and abruptly said, "Olga! Wise one!..." Then, leaning close to her ear, he added affectionately in a whisper, "Fool, I only said that for others..." and, looking at her with his usual benevolent smile, continued handing out the cross to those who approached.
One day, a boy who had become accustomed to stealing was brought to see a priest. The priest, who opened the door himself and had not yet heard anything about the boy, sternly said to him, "Why are you stealing? It's wrong to steal."
A woman named Vera, a church attendant, received permission to visit the priest during his illness. On the way to see him, she kept thinking, "Lord! What should I do? I have two sisters, both of whom are disabled. I support them. What will happen to them when I die?" As soon as she entered the priest's room, he greeted her with these words: "Oh, Vera, you have no faith, and yet you wear a headscarf, a church sister. Why do you take everything upon yourself, leaving nothing to God? No, look here, leave all these doubts at the door and believe that God will protect your sisters better than you."
A woman came to ask the priest if she should marry. Her husband had been captured by the Germans during the 1914 war. Almost nine years had passed since then, and there had been no news of him, but a very good man was proposing to marry her. Instead of answering, the priest recounted, “Well, my dears, these are the kinds of things that happen: a woman came to me and said, ‘Father, bless me to marry, as my husband has been in captivity for many years and is apparently no longer alive. And a very good man is proposing to marry me.’ I didn’t bless her, but she married anyway. Just after they were married, eight or nine days later, her husband returned from captivity. And so, two husbands, and the wife with them, came to settle the question of whose wife she was now. These are the kinds of things that happen...” The woman inquired, frightened, and decided to wait, but a few days later, her husband unexpectedly returned.
One Friday, after the Liturgy, two young women dressed in black approached the priest, asking for his blessing to enter the monastery. He willingly blessed one of them and gave her a large prosphora, but said to the other, "Go back home. You're needed there, and I won't bless you to enter the monastery." The girl left, embarrassed and disappointed. Those around her inquired about her whereabouts and under what circumstances. The girl replied that she lived with her ailing elderly mother, who refused to hear of her daughter joining a monastery, as she would be left completely alone.
After the prayer service on Wednesday, a woman approached the priest, fell at his feet, and began sobbing, crying, "Father, help me! Father, save me! I can't live on this earth anymore: my last son was killed in the war," and began banging her head against the candlestick next to the icon of St. Nicholas. Approaching, the priest addressed her with these words: "What are you doing? How can you despair so? Here is our great intercessor and intercessor before the Lord." Helping her to her feet, he immediately began the prayer service to St. Nicholas, saying to her, "Make three prostrations. You don't have time to stand during the prayer service. I'll pray for you alone, but you go home quickly, where great joy awaits you." And the woman, encouraged by the priest, ran home. The next day, during the early Liturgy celebrated by Father Alexei, the visitor from the previous day rushed in noisily. She wanted to see Father Alexei as soon as possible, repeating in an agitated voice, "Where is Father?" She reported that when she arrived home the previous day, she found a telegram from her son on the table, asking her to immediately come to the train station to meet him. "There he is, coming," she said, pointing to the young man entering at that moment. Father Alexei was called out of the altar. Sobbing, the woman fell to her knees before him and asked him to serve a service of thanksgiving.
During Lent, after a prayer service, a woman approached Father Alexy: "Father, help me, I'm completely tormented by sorrows. You don't have time to say goodbye to five before nine is already upon you." Father, looking her intently in the face, asked: "And how long ago was it that you received Communion?" Unexpectedly, the woman became embarrassed and began to speak haltingly: "Well, just recently, Father, I fasted..." "And how recently?" the priest repeated the question. "She'll be about four years old now?" "No, Father, I only missed last year, and the year before that I was unwell." "And before this year, were you in the village? Now you're four years old." Realizing that the priest knew her entire life, she knelt before him, begging for forgiveness. "And what are you asking of me?" the priest remarked. "Ask God, Whom you've forgotten." That is why you are overcome by sorrows."
Father Sergiy Durylin, who became rector of the Chapel of the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God in the spring of 1921, continued to serve on Maroseyka Street on a specific day of the week. He recounted how on one of these days in 1922, a woman came to the church, weeping profusely and revealing herself to be from Tobolsk, Siberia. During the Civil War, her son had disappeared; she didn't know whether he was alive or dead. One day, after particularly weeping in prayer to St. Seraphim and overcome with tears, she saw the saint himself in a dream. He was chopping wood with an axe and, turning around, said, "Are you still crying? Go to Maroseyka Street in Moscow to see Father Alexei Mechev. Your son will be found."
And so she, who had never been to Moscow, never heard the name of Father Alexy, decided to undertake such a long and, for those times, difficult journey. She had to travel sometimes on a freight train, sometimes on a passenger train. God knows how she got there. She found Maroseyka, the church, and the priest whom St. Seraphim had pointed out to her. Tears of joy and tenderness streamed down her face. Only after the priest's death did it become known that this woman had found her son.
There are numerous testimonies of gracious assistance in various needs through prayers to the elder. Many such instances were noted during the restoration of the church on Maroseyka Street. On several occasions during Father Alexei's feast days, unexpected assistance arrived with paperwork and urgent repairs to the church and the church house; donations were also received. Experience shows that when people turn to him in sorrow, "Father Alexei, help me," help arrives very quickly. Father Alexei has received great grace from the Lord to pray for those who turn to him.
At the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, the elder in the world, Archpriest Alexei Mechev, was canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church for universal veneration.
Currently, the relics of Saint Alexy Mechev are located in Moscow in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Klenniki.
Source: https://azbyka.org/days/sv-aleksij-moskovskij-mechev