St. Alexis Toth (1853-1909) Saint Alexis Toth/Tovt (or Alexis of Wilkes-Barre) (18 March 1853, Kobylnice - 7 May 1909, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) was a Russian Orthodox church leader in the American Midwest who, having resigned his position as a priest in the Uniate church, became responsible for the conversions of approximately 20,000 Uniates to the Russian Orthodox faith. This in turn contributed to the growth of Orthodoxy in America and the ultimate establishment of the Orthodox Church in America. He was canonized by that church in 1994.

Early life

Alexis Georgievich Toth was born to Father George and Cecilia Toth on March 14, 1853, near Pre?ov in Zepes county of Slovakia (then a part of the Austrian Empire) during the reign of Franz Joseph. Having completed his primary schooling, he attended a Roman Catholic seminary for one year, followed by three years in a Greek Catholic seminary and additional time at the University of Prague, where he graduated with a degree in theology.

Toth married Rosalie Mihaluk on April 18, 1878, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1878 by Bishop Nicholas Toth, the Greek Catholic bishop of Pre?ov. Following the death of his wife and child a few years later, he served in local parishes, as a diocesian chancellor, and as professor and director at the Greek Catholic seminary of Pre?ov. In 1889, Fr. Alexis' bishop received a petition from the Ruthenian Greek-Catholic church in America, asking that Toth be sent to them as a priest. He arrived on November 15, 1889, and by the 27th of that month was holding services at St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Finding the church practically barren of furnishings and deeply in debt, he set about rectifying the situation, ultimately bringing the parish to a place of fiscal stability--all while never receiving a salary.

Conflict with Bishop John Ireland

As a Uniate, Toth honored the custom that required him to visit the local Roman Catholic bishop in his new area, even though as a Ruthenian Catholic he had been given authority to serve in Minneapolis by his own prelate and did not require the Roman bishop's permission to function as a priest there. The Catholic bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis at this time was John Ireland, who was involved in attempts to "Americanize" German and other Catholic immigrants, and who desired the expulsion of all Uniate clergy from the United States. When speaking of their meeting, Toth later reported that Bishop Ireland became angry and threw Toth's priestly credentials onto his table while ardently protesting his presence in the city. Ireland even insisted that neither Toth nor his bishop were Catholic at all, in clear contradiction of the Union of Brest and Papal decrees to the contrary. Toth reported that the conversation became more heated as it progressed, with both men losing their tempers.

Ireland refused to give Toth permission to serve as a priest in Minneapolis, although such permission was not legally required under Catholic law (as Toth was Ruthenian Catholic, and thus under a separate synod of bishops from the Roman Catholic church). He furthermore ordered the Roman Catholic parishes and priests in the city not to have anything to do with Toth or his parishioners. Although Toth sent letters to his bishop in Slovakia detailing his experience with Ireland and requesting specific instructions, he never heard anything in reply. Later, Fr. Toth learned that he and other Uniate priests in America were to be recalled to Europe, and their parishioners folded into existing Roman Catholic congreations in their respective cities.

From Rome to Russian Orthodoxy

For Alexis Toth, this was the last straw. Having heard nothing from his own bishop, he and other Uniate priests who had shared in similar experiences began to cast about for a different solution to their dilemma. In December of 1890, they contacted the Russian consul in San Francisco, asking to be put in touch with a Russian Orthodox bishop. Correspondence and personal meetings with Bishop Vladimir Sokolovsky of San Francisco followed, culminating in Toth's decision to formally enter the Russian Orthodox church in March of 1892. Toth was accompanied by 361 fellow Uniates; thousands more would follow in the years to come, largely due to his own efforts to evangelize them toward this move.

Following his conversion to Orthodoxy, Alexis Toth tirelessly preached his new religion to other Uniates in North America. This combined with further demands by American Roman Catholic bishops against Eastern Rite parishes to facilitate the conversion of over 20,000 Uniates to Russian Orthodoxy by the time Toth died in 1909. Although critics would insist that Pan Slav nationalism was more to blame for this than genuine religious feeling, a further 80,000 or so would leave Rome for Orthodoxy after publication of the Papal encyclical Ea Semper in 1907 by Pius X (requiring celibacy for Uniate clergy in America; Uniate clergy have traditionally been allowed to marry). By 1916, the Roman Catholic church had lost 163 Uniate parishes, with over 100,000 faithful, to the Russian missionary diocese.

Death and canonization

Toth was elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter later in his life, continuing his efforts to convert the Uniates of America to Eastern Orthodoxy. He died on May 7, 1909, and was honored with a special shrine at St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. On May 29, 1994, Toth was canonized as St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre by the Orthodox Church in America, whose establishment and membership numbers are largely traceable to his efforts.

External links

• Alexis of Wilkes-Barre. Biography of St. Alexis Toth from the OrthodoxWiki website.
• Orthodox Christians in North America: 1792-1994, Chapter 2. Contains info on St. Alexis, including particulars of his conversation with Bishop Ireland.

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