by James Millar
(1301-1339), prince of Tver and grand prince of Vladimir.
Alexander Mikhailovich was the second son of Michael Yaroslavich. In 1326, after Khan Uzbek had executed Alexander’s elder brother Dmitry, Alexander became prince of Tver and received the patent for the grand princely throne of Vladimir. The Novgorodians also welcomed him as their prince. The following year Uzbek sent his cousin Chol-Khan to Tver, but the latter’s oppressive measures incited the citizens to revolt. Other towns joined them in massacring Tatar agents, troops, and merchants. In 1328 the khan therefore punished Alexander for the revolt of his subjects by making his rival for Vladimir, Ivan I Danilovich “Kalita” of Moscow, grand prince. The khan also gave him a large Tatar force with which he devastated Tver. Alexander sought refuge in Novgorod but on this occasion the townspeople turned him away. He fled to Pskov where the citizens, who were seeking independence from Novgorod, invited him to be their prince and refused to hand him over to the khan. Kalita, who was determined to destroy Tver as a political rival, had Metropolitan Feognost excommunicate Alexander and the people of Pskov. In 1329 Alexander fled to Lithuania in order to free Pskov from the Church’s ban. But after some two years he returned to Pskov, where he ruled until 1337. In that year the khan summoned him to the Golden Horde and reinstated him in Tver. Subsequently many boyars deserted him and fled to Moscow to help Kalita fight for the grand princely throne. In 1339 the khan summoned Alexander to Saray and executed him on October 22nd or 28th of that year. After Alexander’s death, Tver declined in importance, and the prince of Moscow became the most powerful ruler in northeast Russia.
ALEXANDER YAROSLAVICH
(1220-1263), known as Alexander Nevsky, prince of Novgorod, grand prince of Vladimir, grand prince of Kiev, and progenitor of the princes of Moscow.
Born around 1220, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod Yurevich “Big Nest.” Between the years 1228 and 1233 he and his elder brother, Fy-odor, ruled Novgorod in the name of their father Yaroslav of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. After Fyodor’s death in 1233, Alexander’s younger brother Andrei helped him to expand Novgorod’s lands and to increase the prince’s control over the town. In 1238 the Tatars invaded Suzdalia but bypassed Novgorod. Nevertheless, the town’s expansion into the neighboring Finnish lands was challenged by the Swedes and by German Knights (the Order of Livonian Swordbearers, joined later by the Teutonic Order). In 1240, when the Swedes marched against Novgorod, Alexander and a small force confronted the enemy at the river Neva and routed them. He thereby secured Novgorod’s outlet to the Baltic Sea and earned the sobriquet “Nevsky” (of the Neva). After his brilliant victory, he quarreled with the Novgorodians and withdrew to Pereyaslavl Za-lessky. But less than a year later the Germans seized Pskov and threatened Novgorod’s commerce, therewith forcing the citizens to bring back Nevsky on his terms. He arrived in 1241 and began reclaiming Novgorod’s lost territories, including neighboring Pskov. He confronted the main force of Teutonic Knights on the frozen Lake Chud (Lake Peypus) where, on April 5, 1242, he defeated them in the famous “battle on the ice.” The next year the Knights and the Novgorodians concluded peace. This allowed Nevsky to continue asserting Novgorod’s jurisdiction over the Finns and to wage war against the encroaching Lithuanians.
41
ALEXANDRA FEDOROVNA
After his father died in 1246, Nevsky visited Khan Batu in Saray who sent him to the Great Khan at Karakorum in Mongolia. He came home in 1249 as the grand prince of Kiev and of all Rus, including Novgorod, to which he returned. However, his younger brother Andrei received the patrimonial domain of Vladimir on the Klyazma. After Nevsky visited the Golden Horde in 1252, the khan sent a punitive force against Andrei because he had rebelled against the khan. The Tatars drove him out of Vladimir. Nevsky succeeded him and gained jurisdiction over Suzdalia and Novgorod. Because he was a subservient vassal, the khan let him centralize his control over the other towns of Suzdalia. He also served the khan faithfully by suppressing opposition to the khan’s policies, with the help of the Tatar army. Nevertheless, after the citizens of many towns rebelled against the Tatar census takers, Nevsky interceded, evidently successfully, on behalf of his people. In 1262, on his fourth visit to the Golden Horde, he fell ill. While returning home he became a monk and died at Gorodets on the Volga on November 14, 1263.
Although Nevsky’s valor was generally admired, his collaboration with the Tatars was criticized by his contemporaries and by historians. Metropolitan Cyril, however, exonerated the prince in his “Life of Alexander Nevsky,” and the church canonized him during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible). See also: ANDREI YAROSLAVICH; BATU; GOLDEN HORDE; IVAN IV; KIEVAN RUS; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; VSEVOLOD III
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fennell, John. (1983). The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304. London: Longman. Martin, Janet. (1995). Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Vernadsky, George. (1953). The Mongols and Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press.
MARTIN DIMNIK
fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. A princess of the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany and granddaughter of England’s Queen Victoria, she lost her mother and younger sister to diphtheria when she was still a child, and she responded to this loss by turning inward. This tendency toward isolation intensified after her 1894 marriage to Nicholas, when her principles came into conflict with the reality of Russian court life. Scandalized by the seeming decadence of the aristocracy, she withdrew from society, eliciting the scorn of the Russian social elite.
Alexandra dedicated most of her time to her four daughters (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anasta-sia) and her son, Alexei, who was born in 1904. Soon after the birth of this long-awaited male heir to the throne, it was discovered that Alexei had hemophilia. His illness became Alexandra’s primary concern. Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, a self-styled holy man, managed to stop Alexei’s bleeding and thus became important to the royal family. Rasputin’s closeness to the ruling family led to speculation about his influence over political decisions and to disdain for the royal family among the educated layers of society. With the start of World War I, which pitted Russia against Germany, Alexandra’s German background further contributed to her unpopularity. Many accused her of heading a German faction in the government. Although these charges were groundless, they served to undermine the authority of the monarchy, thus helping pave the way for the February Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks brutally murdered the entire royal family in July 1918.
The negative image of Alexandra shaped by her detractors has given way to more objective, though not always dispassionate, accounts of her life. She is most often portrayed as a tragic figure and as a dedicated wife and mother. In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad canonized Alexandra, along with her family, for accepting death with faith in God and humility, and the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church followed suit in 2000.
ALEXANDRA FEDOROVNA
(1872-1918), wife of Tsar Nicholas II and last empress of Russia.
Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova was at the center of the political drama that led to the downSee also: ALEXEI NIKOLAYEVICH; NICHOLAS II; RASPUTIN, GRIGORY YEFIMOVICH; ROMANOV DYNASTY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kozlov, Vladimir A., and Khrustalev, Vladimir M., eds. (1997). The Last Diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra. New Haven: Yale University Press.
ALEXEI I, PATRIARCH
Massie, Robert K. (2000). Nicholas and Alexandra. New York: Ballantine Books.
NICHOLAS GANSON
See also: EISENSTEIN, SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH; MOTION PICTURES; ORLOVA, LYUBOV PETROVNA; PROLETKULT; SOCIALIST REALISM
ALEXANDROV, GRIGORY ALEXANDROVICH
(1903-1983), pseudonym of Grigory A. Mormo-nenko, Soviet film director.
The leading director of musical comedies in the Stalin era, Alexandrov began his artistic career as a costume and set designer for a provincial opera company. By 1921, he was a member of the Pro-letkult theater in Moscow, where he met Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein. Ale
xandrov served as assistant director on all of Eisenstein’s silent films and took part in an ill-fated trip to Hollywood and Mexico, which lasted from 1929 to 1932 and ended in Eisenstein’s disgrace and the entourage’s forced return home.
After this debacle, Alexandrov found it prudent to strike out on his own as a film director. By returning to his artistic roots in musical theater, he found a way to work successfully within the strictures of Socialist Realism by adapting the conventions of the Hollywood musical comedy to Soviet realities. His films from this era were The Jolly Fellows (1934), The Circus (1936), Volga, Volga (1938), and The Shining Path (1940), all of which enjoyed great popularity with Soviet audiences at a time when entertainment was sorely needed. Central to the success of these movies were the cheerful songs by composer Isaak Dunaevsky’s and the comedic talents of Liubov Orlova, Alexandrov’s leading lady and wife.
Alexandrov was a great favorite of Stalin’s, and was named People’s Artist of the USSR in 1948, the country’s highest award for artistic achievement. Although Alexandrov continued to direct feature films until 1960, his most notable post-war venture was the Cold War classic, Meeting on the Elba (1949). This film was quite a departure from his oeuvre of the 1930s. Alexandrov’s final two projects were tributes. He honored the mentor of his youth by restoring and reconstructing the fragments of Eisenstein’s Que Viva Mexico! (1979), and he commemorated his wife’s life and art in Liubov Orlova (1983).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kenez, Peter. (2001). Cinema and Soviet Society from the Revolution to the Death of Stalin. London: I.B. Tauris.
DENISE J. YOUNGBLOOD
ALEXEI I, PATRIARCH
(1877-1970), patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from January 31, 1945, to April 17, 1970.
Sergei Vladimirovich Simansky took monastic vows in 1902. He served as rector in several seminaries and was subsequently made a bishop. He became metropolitan in Leningrad in 1933 and endured the German siege of that city during World War II. According to eyewitness accounts of his situation in 1937, he anticipated arrest at any moment, for virtually all of his fellow priests had been seized by then. He celebrated the liturgy with the only deacon left in Leningrad, and even that coreligionist soon died. During the siege of the city he lived on the edge of starvation. The members of the cathedral choir were dying around him, and the choirmaster himself died in the middle of a church service. Alexei himself barely had the strength to clear a path to the cathedral through the snow in winter.
Under war-time pressures, Stalin permitted the election of a patriarch, but the one chosen soon died. Alexei was elected in January 1945. He reopened a few seminaries and convents and consecrated some new bishops. Of the parishes that were still functioning at the time, most were in territories that had been recently annexed or reoccupied by the USSR. In fact, one could travel a thousand kilometers on the Trans-Siberian Railroad without passing a single working church. The later anti-religious campaign of communist general secretary Nikita Khrushchev resulted in the closing of almost half of those churches still functioning in the 1950s.
Alexei reached out to Orthodox religious communities abroad. He was active in the World Peace movement, supporting Soviet positions. The Russian Church joined the World Council of Churches, and Alexei cultivated good relations with Western Protestants. He was criticized for his cooperation with the Soviet regime, but no doubt believed that
ALEXEI II, PATRIARCH
collaboration was necessary for the church’s survival. See also: LENIGRAD, SIEGE OF; PATRIARCHATE; RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Davis, Nathaniel. (1995). A Long Walk to Church. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
NATHANIEL DAVIS
ALEXEI II, PATRIARCH
(b. 1929), secular name Alexei Mikhailovich Ridi-ger, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (1990- ).
Born in Tallinn, of Russian and Baltic German extraction, Alexei graduated from the Leningrad Theological Seminary in 1949 and was ordained in 1950. In 1961 he was consecrated bishop of Estonia, and later appointed chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate (1964). In 1986 he became metropolitan of Leningrad, and was elected patriarch on June 7, 1990.
From his election to early 2003, over 13,000 parishes and 460 monasteries were established. A decade after his enthronement, nearly three-quarters of Russians considered themselves members of the church (although only 6% were active churchgoers), and the patriarch enjoyed high approval ratings as the perceived spokesman for Russia’s spiritual traditions.
Alexei, a former USSR people’s deputy, envisioned a partnership between church and state to promote morality and the popular welfare. He met regularly with government officials to discuss policy, and signed agreements with ministries detailing plans for church-state cooperation in fields such as education. His archpastoral blessing of Boris Yeltsin after his 1991 election began a relationship between patriarch and president that continued under Vladimir Putin. Alexei saw the church as essential for preserving civil peace in society, and used his position to promote dialogue among various parties, gaining much credibility after trying to mediate the 1993 standoff between Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet.
Alexei’s leadership was not without controversy. Some have voiced concerns that the church was too concerned with institutional status at the expense of pursuing genuine spiritual revival. Business ventures designed to raise funds for a cash-strapped church were called into question. Alexei was criticized for his role in promoting the 1997 legislation On Religious Freedom which placed limitations on the rights of nontraditional faiths. Allegations surfaced about KGB collaboration (under the codename Drozdov), something he consistently denied. He justified his Soviet-era conduct (one CPSU document described him as “most loyal”) as necessary to keep churches from closing down. Defenders note that he was removed as chancellor after appealing to Mikhail Gorbachev to reintroduce religious values into Soviet society.
Alexei was outspoken in his determination to preserve the Moscow Patriarchate as a unified entity, eschewing the creation of independent churches in the former Soviet republics. Although most parishes in Ukraine remained affiliated to Moscow, two other Orthodox jurisdictions competed for the allegiance of the faithful. When the Estonian government turned to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to restore a church administration independent of Moscow’s authority, Alexei briefly broke communion with him (1996), but agreed to a settlement creating two jurisdictions in Estonia.
The patriarch worked to preserve a balance between liberal and conservative views within the church. The Jubilee Bishops’ Council (2000) ratified a comprehensive social doctrine that laid out positions on many issues ranging from politics (offering a qualified endorsement of democracy) to bioethics. Compromises on other contentious questions (participation in the ecumenical movement, the canonization of Nicholas II, and so forth) were also reached. In the end, the council reaffirmed Alexei’s vision that the church should emerge as a leading and influential institution in post-Soviet Russian society. See also: PATRIARCHATE; RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alimov, G., and Charodeyev, G. (1992). “Patriarch Alek-sei II: ‘I Take Responsibility for All That Happened.’” Religion, State, and Society 20(2):241-246. Bourdeaux, Michael. (1992). “Patriarch Aleksei II: Between the Hammer and the Anvil.” Religion, State, and Society 20(2):231-236. Pospielovsky, Dimitry. (1998). The Orthodox Church in the History of Russia. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
NIKOLAS K. GVOSDEV
ALEXEI MIKHAILOVICH
ALEXEI MIKHAILOVICH
(1629-1676), the second Romanov tsar (r. 1645-1676) and the most significant figure in Russian history between the period of anarchy known as the “Time of Troubles” (smutnoye vremya) and the accession of his son, Peter I (the Great).
The reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was notable for a codification of Russian law that was to remain the standard until the nineteenth century, for the acquisition of Kiev and eastern Ukraine from Poland-
Lithuania, and for church reforms. Alexei also laid the foundations for the modernization of the army, introduced elements of Western culture to the court, and, despite a series of wars and rebellions, strengthened the autocracy and the authority of central government. He anticipated directions his son Peter would take: He substituted ability and service for hereditary and precedent as qualifications for appointments and promotions; engaged Dutch shipwrights to lay down the first Russian flotilla (for service in the Caspian); and introduced other forms of Western technology and engaged many military and civil experts from the West. Not all of his initiatives succeeded, however. His attempt to seize the Baltic port of Riga was thwarted by the Swedes, and his flotilla based at Astrakhan was burned by rebels. Nevertheless Russia emerged as a great European power in his reign. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich holding symbols of Russian state power. THE ART ARCHIVE/RUSSIAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM MOSCOW/ DAGLI ORTI
REPUTATION AND ITS ORIGINS
Despite his importance, Alexei’s reputation stands low in the estimation of historians. Earlier works, by Slavophiles, religious traditionalists, and those nostalgic for the old Russian values, depict him as pious, caring, ceremonious, occasionally angry, yet essentially spiritual, distracted from politics and policy-making. Vladimir Soloviev concluded that he was indecisive, afraid of confrontation, even sly. Vasily Klyuchevsky, Sergei Platonov, and most later historians, Russian and Western, also conclude that he was weak, dominated by favorites. This erroneous view derives from several sources: from the Petrine legend created by Peter’s acolytes and successors; from his soubriquet tishaysheyshy, the diplomatic title Serenissimus (Most Serene Highness), which was taken out of context to mean “quietest,” “gentlest,” and, metaphorically, even “most underhanded”; from the fact that the surviving papers from Alexei’s Private Office papers were not published until the first decades of the twentieth century (even though registered in the early eighteenth century by order of Peter himself) and were ignored by most historians thereafter.