Orthodox Icon of Ss. Alexis & Tikhon

Ss. Alexis & Tikhon

St. Alexis: May 7th Troparion (Tone 4)
O righteous Father Alexis, Our heavenly intercessor and teacher, divine adornment of the Church of Christ, Entreat the Master of All to strengthen the Orthodox Faith in America, to grant peace to the world And to our souls great mercy.
St. Alexis Toth of Wilkes-Barre was born in Austro-Hungary on March 18, 1854 to a poor Carpatho-Russian family. He was married and they had a child. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Uniate (Eastern Rite Catholic) Church on April 18, 1878. His wife and child died shortly after that, while he was serving as a parish priest. In October 1889, Alexis was appointed as priest of a Uniate parish in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When he presented his credentials to the American Catholic archbishop, he was treated with open hostility. He knew his rights under canon law, so he convened a meeting of eight of the ten Unia priests in America at Wilkes-Barre who petitioned the bishops of Eastern Europe to aid them, but they would not. He feared deportation and told his congregation that he should just return to Europe. They said "No". They had been under foreign domination long enough. They told Father Alexis to go to the Russian Orthodox bishop. Bishop Vladimir came to Minneapolis and on March 25, 1891, received Father Toth and 361 parishioners into the Orthodox Church of their ancestors. The parishioners regarded this event as a new Triumph of Orthodoxy, crying out with joy: "Glory to God for His great mercy!" That is St. Mary's OCA. The Saint went on to form or lead back to Orthodoxy 16 additional communities. He traveled to Southern New Jersey to try to regain his health in late 1908. Then he returned to Wilkes-Barre where he was confined to bed for his last months. He reposed on Friday, May 7, 1909. His relics were laid to rest at St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania.

St. Tikhon: April 7th
St. Tikhon Enlightener of North America began life as Vassily Bellavin, born on January 19, 1865 in Pskov. In 1891, he was tonsured Tikhon taking St. Tikhon of Zadonsk as his patron. In 1898, he was ordained bishop and appointed to the Aleutian & Alaskan Diocese in North America, where he served for 7 years. He participated in the elevation of St. Raphael to the episcopate. His vision for America was to have a Russian bishop, a Syrian bishop and a Serbian bishop all serving in the same archdiocese. In 1905, he was elevated to archbishop and transferred to Yaroslavl in 1907. Later, he was transferred to Vilno. In 1917, in the throes of the communist revolution, he was elected as the first Patriarch of Moscow since the time of Peter the Great. He worked tirelessly to preserve the Church in perilous times. He anathemetized the godless regime for their persecutions and their slaughtering of innocents. The Soviet regime attempted to set up a "renovated" church and imprisoned Patriarch Tikhon in May of 1922. The "Renovators" failed. St. Tikhon was released from prison, but in frail health. He was hospitalized for 3 months, then he reposed on Annunciation, March 25,1925 (April 7, new calendar). All of the church bells in Moscow rang on the day of his funeral and the streets overflowed with over one million of the faithful who came openly, and in defiance of the godless regime, to grieve the passing of their beloved shepherd.

This Icon is by the hand of Nicholas Papas.

Order #inp-130