Archpriest Alexis Poluektov passed away on this day in 2010. On May 19, I wrote about Fr. Evgenii Sapronov, a man who grew up in Russia but dedicated himself to the Russian Church Abroad. Fr. Alexis Poluektov belongs to the same category of people who joined the Russian Church Abroad after World War Two. He was born in 1929 in the USSR and, during the war, was in the Nazis’ occupied territories. When summoned to the mandatory military service in 1949, Alexis was sent to East Germany. From there, he deserted to West Germany and arrived in America. There, he enrolled in Holy Trinity Seminary. In 1962, he graduated in the same class as Gleb Podmoshensky (the future Abbott of St. Herman of Alaska Monastery), Abbot Maksim (Prodanovic, a brother of St. Job of Pochaev Monastery in Munich), and the mitered Archpriest Nicholas Tkachow (who served in Erie, PA and Syracuse, NY). In 1967, Metropolitan Philaret ordained Fr. Alexis a priest and assigned him to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in San Francisco. This church had stauropegion status because its parishioners opposed St. John of Shanghai during the 1960 cathedral construction in San Francisco. Through his peaceful pastorship, this parish returned to the diocese. Fr. Alexis was the confessing father of many clergy of the Western American Diocese. He founded St. Elajah’s Press, where he published a book containing unique materials from the pre-war Ukraine Episkopy Ispovedniki (Bishops Confessors). In 1996, Fr. Alexis went to Russia for the first time. In 2003, he retired. Let his memory be eternal! Source: Archpriest Peter Perekrestov, “Pamiati Protoiereia Alekseia Poluektova” [Archpriest Aleksei Poluektov: In Memorium] Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. | 
