Presbyter
Hieromartyr Alexander Ivanovich Yuzefovich was born in 1858 in the village of Gruzovo, Vilna Governorate, into the family of a church clerk. He received his education at the Molodechno Teachers’ Seminary of the Vilna Governorate. In 1875, he was admitted as a novice to the Holy Spirit Monastery in Vilna, and the following year he was appointed psalm reader at the Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Vilna.
In 1877, Alexander Yuzefovich was accepted into the Turkestan Diocese and appointed psalm reader at the church of the Lepsinskaya Cossack settlement. From 1879 to 1882, he served as personal secretary and subdeacon to the Turkestan Bishop Alexander (Kulchitsky). Alexander Ivanovich became a faithful assistant and follower of Bishop Alexander. In 1882, he was ordained to the priesthood and assigned to the Kazan Church in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Father Alexander received several ecclesiastical awards, including the right to wear the nabedrennik for his diligence in establishing the Issyk-Kul Monastery, and a purple skufia for his dedication in building a new church in the village of Preobrazhenskoye.
After the Revolution of 1917, Father Alexander served at the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Kara-Balta, Pishpek Uyezd, Semirechye Region.
On December 26, 1920, during the establishment of Soviet rule in Semirechye, Priest Alexander Yuzefovich suffered a martyr’s death by firing squad. The psalm reader John Menkov was executed together with him.
Hieromartyr Alexander Yuzefovich was glorified among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in August 2000 at the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Days of commemoration: December 26 (December 13 according to the old style calendar) and on the feast of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
