Saint Alexis Toth

Alexis Georgievich Toth (also Alexis of Wilkes-Barre; March 14, 1853 – May 7, 1909) was a Ruthenian priest who later became a Russian Orthodox missionary in the United States. He was born in the village of Kobylnice in Slovakia, near Prešov, belonging then to Sáros County of the Kingdom of Hungary (part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Toth belonged to the Rusyn (Ruthenian) ethnic group that inhabited the Carpathian region. Toth was originally a Greek Catholic priest. After being rejected by the American Catholic bishop John Ireland, he and many of his parishioners converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, leading to the reception of an estimated 20,000 Eastern Catholics into the Russian Orthodox Church. This movement significantly contributed to the growth of Orthodoxy in the United States and the eventual formation of the Orthodox Church in America. He was glorified as a saint by the Orthodox Church in 1994. Alexis Toth was born to George and Cecilia Toth (or Tovt) on March 14, 1853, in Kobylnice, near Prešov, in Sáros County of the Kingdom of Hungary (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He belonged to the Rusyn (Ruthenian) ethnic group, which inhabited the Carpathian highlands. Having completed his primary schooling, he attended a Latin Catholic seminary for one year, followed by three years in a Greek Catholic seminary and later at Charles University in Prague, where he graduated with a degree in theology. Toth married Rosalie Mihalics on March 12, 1878, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1878 by Bishop Nicholas Toth, the Greek Catholic Bishop of Prešov. Following the death of his wife and child a few years later, he served in local parishes, as diocesan chancellor, and as professor and director at the Greek Catholic seminary of Prešov. In 1889, Fr. Alexis' bishop received a petition from the Ruthenian Catholic Church in the United States, asking that Toth be sent to them as a priest.