Archbishop Alexander (Shchukin)
Alexander (Shchukin, 13th of May 1881– 30th of October 1937) – a priestly martyr, the Archbishop of Semipalatinsk, graduate of Riga Theological Seminary.
Alexander Shchukin was born in the district town of Porkhov, Pskov Governorate, in the family of priest Ioann Shchukin. Later, his father taught ancient Greek at the Riga Theological Seminary.
In 1905, Alexander Shchukin graduated from the Riga Theological School with first-class honors, and in 1911 he graduated as the top student from the Riga Theological Seminary. He then entered the Moscow Theological Academy, graduating in 1915 with a Candidate of Theology degree.
In 1915, due to the wartime circumstances, the family moved from Riga to Nizhny Novgorod. That same year, Alexander began teaching physics and mathematics at the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary.
On May 21, 1919, Archbishop Evdokim (Meshchersky) ordained Alexander Shchukin as a priest and assigned him to the Church of St. George in the village of Lyskovo. The following year he became the spiritual father of the Makaryev Zheltovod Monastery.
On August 21, 1923, at the height of the Renovationist turmoil, with the blessing of the diocesan administrator Bishop Philip (Gumilevsky), he was consecrated as Bishop of Makaryev. On September 4 of the same year, Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) and the Higher Church Administration confirmed the appointment of Father Alexander Shchukin, who had taken monastic vows, as Bishop of Makaryev, vicar of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.
Despite state policies, the bishop established the teaching of the Law of God to children. However, authorities soon prohibited the subject. In 1927, the Makaryev Monastery was closed by the authorities, despite Bishop Alexander’s efforts to preserve it, although a farm cooperative was formally organized at the monastery, which housed more than two hundred nuns.
In his sermons, unafraid for his personal fate, the bishop spoke against the godless authorities’ persecution of the Church. In 1928 he was arrested. In 1929 he was charged with anti-Soviet activity and sentenced to three years in corrective labor camps. He served his sentence in the Solovki Camp.
After his release, he was forbidden to serve in the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) region. On December 31, 1931, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) appointed Alexander as vicar bishop of Bolkhov, administrator of the Oryol diocese. From July 27, 1932, he became the ruling bishop of the Oryol diocese. On January 3, 1934, for his zealous service to the Church, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.
On September 30, 1935, he was appointed Archbishop of Kursk, but was unable to travel there and continued living in Oryol. From March 18, 1936, he was Archbishop of Rzhev, and from July 5 of the same year, Archbishop of Tula. He never managed to assume leadership of the latter diocese. Receiving a warning about a planned arrest, he went to the Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) region, to the village of Semyonovo to relatives. In September 1936, he was appointed to the Semipalatinsk See in Kazakhstan. Such frequent relocations were due to state repression against clergy. Episcopal sees were emptying one by one during those years.
In August 1937, Archbishop Alexander (Shchukin) was arrested. He was accused of espionage and counter-revolutionary activity. Despite torture, he did not confess to the charges. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to death and on October 30, 1937, near Semipalatinsk, he was executed. He was buried in a mass grave. Relatives and inquirers were told that the archbishop had been exiled for ten years without the right to correspondence. However, people learned of the tragic death of the bishop, and a funeral service was held in Lyskovo.
In 2000, Archbishop Alexander (Shchukin) was glorified among the new martyrs and confessors of Russia by the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church for veneration throughout the Church.
The memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Alexander is celebrated on October 30.
Text prepared by Sergey Tsoya
Sources of information:
1) Разрядный список воспитанников Рижского духовного училища, составленный в заседании Педагогического собрания правления училища 13 мая 1905 года. // Рижские епархиальные ведомости, 1905, № 12, с. 479;
2) Разрядный список воспитанников Рижской духовной семинарии, составленный правлением семинарии 10-13 июня 1911 г. после годичных экзаменов и утвержденный его преосвященством 18 июня. // Рижские епархиальные ведомости, 1911, № 12-13, с. 395;
3) Дёгтева О.В. Новомученики и исповедники Нижегородские. По материалам Нижегородской епархиальной комиссии по канонизации. Священномученик Александр (Щукин), епископ Макарьевский. // Нижегородская старина, № 27-28, 2011, с. 109-114.
