Venerable Alexis of Carpatho-Russia (Kabaliuk)

Venerable Confessor Alexis (Alexander Kabaliuk in the world) was born September 1, 1877, in the village of Yasinia in Carpathian Ruthenia (then Austria-Hungary), the son of a woodcutter. Growing up in a region forcibly converted to the Uniate church, he was drawn to Orthodoxy through literature from the Pochaev Lavra and dedicated his life to leading Carpatho-Rusyn villages back to Orthodox faith. After monastic training at Jableczna Monastery and on Mount Athos, he was ordained in 1910 and returned secretly to his homeland carrying a portable antimins, celebrating liturgies for underground Orthodox communities. His mission provoked fierce persecution from Hungarian authorities and Uniate clergy, including repeated arrests and the notorious Máramarossziget trials (1913–1914). After Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Czechoslovakia he continued openly, was elected hegumen of St. Nicholas Monastery in Iza in 1921, and was raised to archimandrite in 1925. He also endured later Soviet persecution. He reposed on November 19, 1947, and was glorified in 2001.