Venerable Alexander Vochskiy

Alexander of Vochma (Alexander of Galich; 2nd half of the 14th century – 1st quarter of the 15th century) is a saint of the Russian Church. He is venerated as a venerable monk, with feast days (according to the Julian calendar) on January 23 (Synaxis of Kostroma Saints) and August 30. Alexander of Vochma is considered the founder of the Transfiguration Monastery at the confluence of the Veksa and Vochma rivers. The first written records of the monastery date to 1533, by which time Alexander was already deceased. No biographical details have survived; brief information is known from a church service dedicated to him, written in the 16th century. It states that Alexander took monastic vows at the Resurrection Monastery in Soligalich and was a companion of Saint Abraham of Galich. The exact time of Alexander’s canonization is unknown; local veneration began in the late 16th century, when the service was composed for him. In various 17th-century documents, Alexander is referred to as "saint," "venerable," and "wonderworker." Ancient icons of Alexander have not survived; an 18th-century description notes that "his image is in a stone chamber, in the style of Zosimas of Solovki, with a narrower beard, monastic robes, and a schema on his shoulders." The relics of Saint Alexander were interred beneath the floor of the monastery he founded. In 1764, the monastery was abolished and converted into a parish church. The Transfiguration Cathedral, built over his tomb, was closed and subsequently destroyed in the 1930s, but the saint's relics were never exhumed. For unknown reasons, the local veneration of Alexander of Vochma ceased in the 1830s. In 1981, his canonization was reaffirmed by the inclusion of his name in the Synaxis of Kostroma Saints for universal church veneration.