Alexander I of Russia His wife died a few months later as the emperor's body was transported to Saint Petersburg for the funeral. He was interred at the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg on 13 March 1826. Alexander's supposed non-death is as controversial as his life. There were many rumors and legends of which the most often told claimed he became a Siberian Hermit named Feodor Kuzmich. Historians reject the legends, but popular writers resurrect them often. Attribution: Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, Aleksandr Pavlovich; – ) reigned as Emperor of Russia between
Church reform of Peter the Great century the majority of the Russian Orthodox Church was headed by people from Ukraine (Little Russia or Galicia). Between 1700 and 1762, out of the 127 hierarchs who headed cathedrals in Russia 70 were from Ukraine and only 47 from Russia (the rest originating from other regions). Peter I, known as "Peter the Great" (ruled 1682–1725), ushered in an era in which the church government was fundamentally transformed: instead of being governed by a patriarch or metropolitan, the government of the church came under the control of a committee known as the Most Holy Governing Synod, which was composed both