Venerable Alexei Shepelev

Alexei Goloseyevskiy (Russian: Алексий Голосеевский, secular name Vladimir Ivanovich Shepelev, Russian: Владимир Иванович Шепелев; born 14 April 1840 in Kyiv, died 11 March 1917 in Kyiv) was an Orthodox saint and monk, venerated by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. As a child, he was entrusted to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, where he became a cleric. For the last 20 years of his life, he resided at the Goloseevsky Hermitage in Kyiv, serving as a confessor and spiritual guide. The Orthodox Church attributes to Alexei the gifts of prophecy, prayer, and confession. Saint Alexei Shepelev was born on 14 April 1840 in Kyiv to a noble family. His father, Joann Shepelev, served as a captain in the Kyiv arsenal. His mother, Maria Shepeleva, attended the unveiling of the relics of Saint Mitrophan of Voronezh on 7 August 1832, where she met Bishop Antony, who reportedly told her: Seven years later, Maria gave birth to a boy named Vladimir, who was mute. Joann died when Vladimir was three, leaving Maria to raise him, instilling Christian values and teaching him love for others. She took him to prisons to distribute alms and visited the Kitayevska Hermitage of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, home to the fool for Christ hieromonk Theophil. Theophil's words suggested Vladimir would become a monk. Despite the Russian custom of military families sending children to military schools, Maria received a letter from Saint Petersburg in spring 1852, ordering her to bring Vladimir to the capital for cadet training. Advised by Metropolitan Filaret Amfiteatrov of Kyiv, she responded that her son's muteness prevented military service. In 1853, Maria and Vladimir were invited to a Vespers service for Pascha at Metropolitan Filaret's domestic church. After the Liturgy, during the kissing of the cross on Filaret's crozier, Filaret addressed Vladimir three times with "Christ is Risen!", to which the boy miraculously responded, "Truly He is Risen!" – his first words.