Martyr Alexander was born in 1877 in the city of Mitava, Courland Governorate, in the family of Senator Anton Ludwigovich Medem. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Saint Petersburg University, but legal service did not appeal to him. From childhood he was attached to the land and took part in agricultural work. In 1901 he married Maria Fyodorovna Chertkova, and they had four children. Until 1918 he managed the estate, but after the land was confiscated he rented a small plot.
When the Civil War began, Alexander Antonovich and two of his brothers agreed that, being Russians, they would not raise a hand against their own and would not take part in the Civil War. In 1918 Alexander was arrested and sentenced to be shot, but on the eve of the execution he was allowed to go home to say farewell to his family. He was already preparing to return to prison the next morning, but in the morning the Bolsheviks were driven out of the city by the Whites, and the sentence was annulled of itself.
He was arrested again in 1919 and imprisoned, where he found consolation in prayer. In 1923 he was arrested by the OGPU, but was released. Arrests and deprivations strengthened his faith. In 1925 his wife wrote that he had grown extraordinarily in moral stature and had gained true freedom. In 1928 he was arrested and settled in the city of Syzran. In 1930 he was arrested again, suffered from tuberculosis, and was transferred to a hospital. Alexander Antonovich reposed on April 1, 1931, in the prison hospital. He was given an absentee funeral service in the cathedral of the city of Syzran. In 1937 his contemporaries were shot, among them Archbishop Augustine and Archpriest John.
