Changes

Fr. Vladimir V. Alexandrof (Jul. 14, 1871 - May 20, 1945) (also Alexander, Alexandroff, Aleksandrov, and Alexandrov) was an early priest to the Russian Orthodox mission in North America. He was one of the first priests to visit Western Canada, and travelled extensively around the western United States, particularly to Montana. His life was filled with scandal and controversy, especially through his tenure at [[Holy_Trinity_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Chicago, Illinois)|Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chicago]] (which created the schism that led to the founding of [[St. George Cathedral (Chicago, Illinois)|St. George Cathedral]] there), the family scandal that marred his tenure at [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (San Francisco), California|Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco]], his return to Russia and embrace of the Soviet backed [[Living Church]], his return to lawsuits in Seattle and lawsuits he filed over church property, as well as his eventual departure from the Orthodox Church into the Roman Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, tragedy would strike the Alexandrof household in Seattle. In January of 1904, the Alexandrofs' oldest child, five-year-old Nicholas, fell ill, and his father accidentally gave him a teaspoon of strychnine, used for poisoning rats and other vermin, mistaking it for the child's medicine, which was in an identical bottle. The child Nicholas died as a result. Fr. Alexandrof was allow to continue serving as a priest, but another tragedy would strike the family in Seattle, that being the destruction of their home by fire.

Fr. Alexandrof was soon moved from Holy Trinity in Chicago and eventually moved to [Holy Trinity Cathedral (San Francisco), California|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 [[Alexander_%28Nemolovsky%29_of_Brussels|Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) ]] was needed in order to save the Cathedral. )

*[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5256103 Findagrave.com Nicholas Alexander [(Alexandrof])]