August 31, 2015
Jordanville, NY: 10th Anniversary of Repose of Bishop Alexander (Mileant) to be held on September 12

Saturday, September 12 will mark the 10th anniversary of the blessed repose of Bishop Alexander (Mileant), former Bishop of Buenos Aires & South America. A panihida will be served at his grave at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY at 11:00 AM. Diocesan clergy are encouraged to remember His Grace in their prayers at the divine services.

Bishop Alexander was born Alexander Vasilievich Mileant in Odessa in 1938. During the Second World War, his family fled the Soviet Union, eventually settling in Buenos Aires. From the age of 8, Alexander served as an altar boy. At the end of 1963, he enrolled at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, which he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology in 1967. A year earlier, Archbishop Averky (Taushev; +1976) ordained him to the deaconate, and during Great Lent, Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky; +1985) ordained him to the priesthood and sent him to Holy Virgin Protection Church in Los Angeles, CA, where he served as rector for 31 years. While spiritually nourishing his flock, Fr. Alexander continued his scientific education, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics in 1978, then a Master’s Degree in Electronics, and finally, in 1983, an Engineer’s Degree from the University of Southern California in Communications. He worked in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. His lay work enabled Fr. Alexander to become an expert in computers, which in turn helped him publish numerous missionary pamphlets which enjoyed great popularity in Russia and abroad. Today there are over 300 of his brochures published in Russian, English, and Spanish on Orthodox Christianity.

In 1995, Archpriest Alexander was tonsured a monk at Holy Trinity Monastery and given the name Alexander in honor of Holy Hieromartyr Alexander of Kharkov, who died in prison in 1939 (until then, Fr. Alexander bore the name of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, on whose feast day he reposed). On May 28, 1998, Archimandrite Alexander was consecrated a bishop at the Synodal Cathedral in New York and appointed Ruling Bishop of Buenos Aires and South America.

He reposed peacefully on September 12, 2005, after a battle with cancer.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese