His Grace Bishop Alexandre

Vicar Bishop of the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe

Bishop Alexander was born on 19th February, 1956 in Geneva. In his youth, he often went to the Russian Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross, came to know many French-speaking parishioners, and in due course began to sing on the kliros. Acquaintance with Archbishop Anthony (Bartoshevich) of Geneva and Switzerland, who since 1963 headed the Western European Diocese, contributed to the young man’s approach to the adoption of Holy Orthodoxy. On 24th December, 1973 he was received into the Orthodox Church and named Adrian in honor of the martyr St Adrian of Nicomedia.

In 1977 he entered the University of Geneva, from which he graduated in 1981 with a diploma in ancient history, ancient Greek and Coptic languages. On 26th September, 1996 he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Ambrose (Cantacuzen), after which he spent six months in the Lesna monastery in France, where he studied the Divine Services and assisted Bishop Seraphim (Dulgov). In March 1997, Bishop Ambrose ordained him a Priest and appointed him as attached cleric of the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross in Geneva. He often had to replace Bishop Ambrose and serve in the church of St Barbara in Vevey and in the church of the Nativity of Christ in Lausanne; occasionally he served in the Holy Trinity parish in Bern and the St Nicholas parish in Basel. In 2007-2011 he performed monthly services at the Church of St Alexander Nevsky in the city of Pau in France. On June 23, 2018, he was elevated to the rank of Archpriest in the Church of the Great Martyr Barbara in Vevey.

On 20th September, 2018, at a meeting of the Synod of Bishops, he was elected Bishop of Vevey, Vicar of the Western European Diocese. He was named Bishop on January 19, 2019 and consecrated on January 20, having previously taken the monastic name of Alexandre.