Wow -- what a link has been provided. It is written close to the nerve. I wish I could write a thank you to whoever wrote that -- though I definitely still think Alexei is a saint, he was certainly more a strastoterpche than a monk, as this story tells. These words make clear that what made him such a sweet boy and earned him a halo (besides his patience and long-suffering) was his courage, his enthusiasm and his compassion. Like some great saints who were in fact religious figures, Alexei was a young man willing to stick his neck out for the good of others. If this -- though written through a worldly, possibly even irreligious point of view -- is passion bearing, how nobly this boy did so!
