Elder in the world Holy Righteous Alexei Mechev (1859-1923) Holy Righteous Alexei Mechev was called the Optina elder living in Moscow . Father Alexei can not be imagined without people for a minute, without a crowd that walked around him and buzzed around him like bees, and children especially. When he left the temple, his hand tired of blessing, and from the loving and gentle pressure of the crowd it became difficult for him to breathe, and he had to escort him through the crowd so that she would not caress him. Many names were mentioned by them at the proscomida, during the Cherubim, at the transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts, at the salutary litany, in the prayers of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas .. Sometimes he performed proscomdia for an hour and a half or even more, read one, with the help of fellow worshipers and even with the help of laity praying in the altar, whole notebooks of names .