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However, there was trouble brewing with Fr. Alexandrof's time at Holy Trinity. One of the "reforms" that Fr. Alexandrof instituted was to change the deed for Holy Trinity so that instead of the "church trustees" holding the deed for the property, the ruling bishop would hold the deed. Holy Trinity's Parish Council approved this change early in 1911, although it was not a move that all agreed with.
==Schism==This would not be the biggest trouble, though. Holy Trinity's Centennial book is very vague on details, citing the dispute between Fr. Alexandrof and a large portion of the Holy Trinity membership as probably stemming from an "unauthorized" land purchase of one of the church brotherhoods, the Russian newspapers in Chicago paint quite a different picture. According to them, on Pascha, 1912, the St. Nicholas brotherhood collected $600 in donations for the church. According to them, the count was witnessed and verified by brotherhood members. The next day, Fr. Alexandrof announced that the brotherhood had made a donation of $500. Knowing this to be in error, members of the brotherhood demanded to take a look at the entries made to the books regarding this. Fr. Alexandrof refused. As priest and head of the brotherhood, he also demanded that brotherhood members insisting on seeing this information be kicked off the board of the brotherhood. Chaos ensued, and Fr. Alexandrof called in the police, and, claiming that he didn't know who the "rabblerousers" were, had a large number of people arrested. Holy Trinity even footed the bill for prosecuting these people, one claim putting the price of this as high as $12,000, though by inspection of church books, it seems that the number was closer to $1000 (which was reimbursed to the church by the diocese).
The bishop was called in, and a second meeting was called. This "meeting" is notorious, since reportedly, things got so heated that Fr. Alexandrof took his cross and started hitting people over the head with it, allegedly injuring one woman in so doing.
(Chicago Russian papers also reported that after Fr. Alexandrof left, all the church financial records - except for records of Holy Trinity's debts - were "chewed by rodents", despite having been secured away in a lock box.)
Fr. Alexandrof was soon moved from Holy Trinity in Chicago and eventually moved to Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco, where he became head priest. In 1917, his wife, Rose, ran off with the assistant priest, Rev. Vasily Dvornikoff. They also absconded with $19,000 of the Alexandrofs' money, and tried to escape to Buenos Aires. Dvornikoff was arrested upon arrival to Argentina, and the pair were both sent back to the United States. In the meantime, Fr. Alexandrof made a desperate plea for his wife to return, which was published in the newspapers.
(Holy Trinity in San Francisco would soon have a new priest, Fr. Vladimir Sakovich, who discovered that the Cathedral was deeply in debt - including taxes that hadn't been paid, resulting in the State taking deed of the land - and needed immediate assistance of the bishop (Nemolovsky) was needed in order to save the Cathedral. )
==Activities as a 'Bishop' in the Living Church==
Fr. Alexandrof apparently returned to Russia, and joined the Soviet-backed Living Church. During this time, he became "Archbishop", in the Living Church.
In the early 1930s, "Bishop" Alexandrof reappeared in Seattle, this time demanding church property in Alaska and St. Spiridon Church in Seattle. The demands for the Alaskan churches apparently went nowhere, but he filed suit in King County, Washington for St. Spiridon Church and won. (Undoubtedly, the church had been deeded to the Bishop.) The parishioners of St. Spyridon were so incensed that they came to the church and removed everything that wasn't nailed down. Pretty much all that was left to him was a building in dire need of repair and the iconostasis.
==Renunciation of the Orthodox Faith==
Shortly thereafter, in 1933, as the Living Church fell apart, Fr. Alexandroff renounced Orthodoxy and became Roman Catholic, after securing recognition of his rank, henceforth recognized as "Archbishop Elect".
*''A History of Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Chicago'', 1892-1992 (ISBN 0963274309)
*[http://www.rusembassy.ca/node/76 Russian Orthodox Church - Canada]
*[http://www.dowoca.org/news_110902_1.html Diocese of the West - Wilkenson]*[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5256103 Findagrave.com Nicholas Alexander ([Alexandrof)]]
*[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/ACF2AA.pdf Circuit Riders to the Slavs and Greeks: Missionary Priests and the Establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church in the American West, 1890–1910] by Brigit Farley
*[http://orthodoxhistory.org/2009/09/29/the-tragic-story-of-fr-vladimir-alexandrov/ OrthodoxHistory.org - The tragic story of Fr. Vladimir Alexandrov]
