Book Review: Alexander Men: A Witness for Contemporary Russia (A Man for Our Times)

Reviewed by Cathy Ramey

Alexander Men was a Russian Orthodox priest who lived his whole life in Russia. He was considered a controversial priest for several reasons. One, he preached in the common language the people could understand. Two, he was considered a priest to the intellectuals. Three, he wrote and published books abroad when it was illegal to do so in Russia. Four, he was Jewish. Fifth, he was open to other Christian religions, mainly Catholic, but also Protestant. He saw all these as brothers in Christ.
He was born January 22, 1935. Stalin was the leader of Russia at that time and the "Great Terror" was in progress. More than 95% of Orthodox churches were closed. There were no seminaries or monasteries. Only a few bishops were still tolerated. The majority had been sent to the gulags or killed.
Alexander's father was a textile engineer. He was of Jewish origin, but lost his faith in childhood through the influence of one of his teachers. He wasn't, though, a militant atheist. He was tolerant of religious ideas. His mother Elena also was Jewish and was raised by her mother to love God as Creator. From childhood she was attracted to Christianity and even began going to services in a Baptist community. This caused conflict in her family. Her cousin Vera came to Kharkov where they lived and took her to Moscow where she married and lived permanently. Vera was searching as well. Through her Elena became involved with an Orthodox group that centered around a certain priest. Just after Alexander's birth the two women were baptized secretly as well as the infant Alexander. Alexander grew up traveling frequently from Moscow to Zagorsk where this priest lived. It was an underground church, and the priest was like a grandfather to Alexander. There was also an elderly nun who participated in his spiritual development. Alexander also had contact with Christian intellectuals. He was a precocious child and his mother, as well as the others around him, encouraged him in his reading and studying. He spent long hours reading and studying a great variety of things. He was also very friendly and had as many friends as books. He loved to study literature, poetry, music, painting, history, nature, astronomy, and biology. He used to say that God has given us two books, the Bible and nature.
At the age of 12 he felt a personal call to the priesthood. Times were a little more open then, and a seminary was just opening. Alexander hoped to attend when of age. He had a friend who was a chemistry professor who gave him books to read each week. This professor had been converted through contact with Baptists, and he helped Alexander learn more about Western Christianity. Alexander read books from the church fathers. He began to write at a young age. He wrote his first theological essay when 15. He finished high school in 1953, a few months before Stalin died. Since he'd already on his own assimilated the whole seminary curriculum, he decided to attend university; however, because of his Jewish roots he wasn't allowed. Instead he attended the Moscow Fur Institute where he could study biology. He continued his theological studies on his own. The Fur Institute closed in 1955 and the students were transferred to Irkutsk to a school. In time it became clear that he was an active Orthodox. He planned to finish the institute and then work in that field for 3 years to get his final certification before attending seminary in Zagorsk. When final exams were starting, though, he was excluded on the grounds that he hadn't taken some required courses. The institute had found out his connections with a local bishop. He left school without any diploma.
He returned to Moscow and was ordained as a deacon even without having started seminary. He was sent to a parish to serve for two years with his wife and small son. He began his first series of lectures on the life of Christ and also took correspondence courses from Leningrad Seminary. In 1960 he was ordained a priest and was sent as a second priest to a place 30 miles outside Moscow. In a year he became the pastor. His parishioners were devoted to him, and he had good relationships with the city officials. He wrote articles for the Orthodox journal. An active community of Christians grew up around him. He visited and baptized in people's homes and went to the cemeteries for memorial services.
Alexander carried out his duties as a priest for many years without a change in the conditions of his ministry. He always tried to work in the shadows and avoid open confrontation with authorities. He wanted to be available to the next generation of Russians who were disillusioned and seeking new answers. He patiently led them to discover Jesus. His fame spread by word of mouth and more and more people were coming to see him. In 1970 he was transferred to the parish of Novaya Derevnia where he served there until his death in 1990. His home was about 90 minutes from Moscow by train.
His church had the usual babushki, but when he arrived, new people started to come, even from Moscow. He attracted young people and intellectuals. The newcomers didn't know how to behave in an Orthodox church, and the babushki didn't like that. They didn't like the babushki either because they were uneducated. Fr. Alexander was patient and skillful in eventually getting the two groups to accept one another. He was considered a priest for intellectuals, but never forgot the simple. He visited in all their homes. He even traveled to Moscow often to visit those who came to him and became believers. He often baptized the adults and children at their apartments at great risk to them all.
He wrote: When I became a priest, I tried to unite the parish, to make it one community and not just a group of people who knew very little about each other, whom fortune had thrown together. I wanted all the members to help one another, to pray together, to study the Scriptures together, and to receive communion together.
Many of those who came to him even rented summer dachas near him. Their community would grow closer together in the summer. As those who came to him increased, he set up groups that met weekly. These groups centered on prayer and mutual help. Some groups were for preparing the attendees for baptism. Others concentrated on Bible studies. Others read books on church history or theological works published before the revolution or published in other countries. These groups met in apartments.
He didn't baptize immediately when asked, but told people to wait and read the Gospel and let it soak in. He was careful to teach those who wanted to be baptized. He would take their confession and spend time with them listening and giving advice. He encouraged his followers to attend communion at least monthly. He didn't command them to do or not to do certain things. He wanted to lead them to the point of deciding for themselves. He was like a midwife who was there to help another give birth.
His teaching centered on Jesus. He used to say, "Christianity is not first and foremost a set of dogmas and moral precepts, but is above all Jesus Christ Himself." He compared Christianity to mountain climbing, a difficult and dangerous undertaking. Some stay at the bottom and read the guidebook and imagine they are already on the top. He said the same thing happens to us when we read the books of the mystics, repeat their words, and imagine we have arrived at the summit. He didn't want his spiritual children to turn away from life and lost interest in their professional and social activities. He said that faith should sanctify everything positive in their existence. He taught that every aspect of life should link us to God.
In regards to the Old Church Slavonic, he wanted things changed, but never proceeded ahead of the church. He felt there was wisdom in waiting on the church as a hierarchy to come to that change. He didn't want people to confuse Tradition and traditions and reminded people that liturgical forms changed over the centuries and couldn't remain unchangeable. He didn't want people to confuse the symbol to pass for the divine. But on the other hand he never worked to abolish religious rites. He was in favor of icons. At his core he was Orthodox.
He was open to other Christian confessions, especially Catholicism. "I have arrived at the conviction that in reality, the Church is one and that Christians have been divided especially by their narrowness and their sins." However, he felt like leaving the Orthodox Church to become Catholic didn't permit people to enter into an active church life since there were so few Catholics there.
His first book was The Son of Man, the story of Jesus Christ. This book came out of conversations he had with newly baptized people. He said that the purpose of his books was to help Christians, especially new ones, to discover the basic principles of the gospel in a language they could understand. He felt like his first book overcame a barrier people had to reading the Bible. It made the Bible more understandable. He included all of the data from history, archaeology, and other biblical writers to present the story as if the reader were an eye-witness of the events. It was through a Frenchwoman of Russian descent (a Catholic lady) who moved to Moscow to work in the French embassy that he was able to smuggle his manuscripts out to be printed in Belgium. These books were used by Orthodox in other areas of the world as well as being smuggled back into Russia. He also wrote Heaven on Earth about the Orthodox liturgy. In Search of the Way, the Truth, and the Life was a 6 volume work on the history of man's religions. He also wrote How to Read the Bible, commentaries of different books in the New Testament, and a 7 volume dictionary of Biblical studies. He also wrote books for children for catechism.
He put together a slide show called "In Jesus' Steps" with the help of a French priest. Thousands of copies were made for free and smuggled back into Russia. These were used, especially by the Baptists!
Father Alexander was often under surveillance by the Russian authorities and was also unpopular with many in the Orthodox Church. He was so well-received by the people that others were jealous. He also had an independent spirit and not one of conformity. He was often summoned to appear before Russian authorities. Friends asked him to leave Russia for the West, but he never approved of those who left. He felt his spiritual children were in Russia and needed him.
Under Gorbachev things eased considerably. In 1987 the Russian government announced the restoration to the church of two monasteries. In 1988 the Orthodox Church celebrated its 1,000 year anniversary. Permission to celebrate was given by the government who even took part. Father Alexander was allowed to give public lectures, even in state schools. He worked tirelessly during these years, lecturing, writing articles for journals, working with his own parishioners. He was prepared for the new freedom, to take advantage of it and spread the gospel. At this same time there were many who wanted to return to the ultra Orthodox ways of the past and reject everything foreign and any reform. He said, "If we do not convert our hearts, if we do not change our way of life, these buildings will be nothing more than empty shells."
Father Alexander, along with other Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics, founded the Russian Bible Society. When the Baptists had a large rally in the Moscow Olympic Stadium on Easter of 1990, they invited the Patriarchate to participate. No one attended expect for Father Alexander. He spoke there of Christ's Last Supper with his disciples.
He worked tirelessly during his last years, as if he knew that his time was short. He said, "At present I am like the sower in the parable. I have been given a unique chance to spread the seed. True, the vast majority of it will fall on rocky ground and will never sprout. You think I don't know what kind of mush people have in their heads? Nonetheless, if after having heard me, only a few people wake up, or even only one person, that's something, isn't it? You know, I have the feeling that this is not going to last long, at least not for me."
On Sunday, September 9, 1990, he arose to walk to church as he did every Sunday morning. As he left out of his garden, someone met him and struck him down with an ax to the back of his head. Father Alexander was killed, but his work lives on.
Author's Right to Discuss Topic:

I chose this book because I have heard people speak of Alexander Men with great respect. His books are still available and read. I wanted to know more about him.
The author Is Yves Hamant. He completed advanced studies in Russian and has a PhD in political science. He teaches Russian civilization at the University of Paris. He lived for years in Russia during the Breshnev period. He knew Father Alexander personally, having first met him in 1970. Mr. Hamant was chosen to be a member of the commission created by the Patriarchate of Moscow to preserve and make known Father Alexander's works. Solzhenitsyn said of him, "He was very much in love with Russian culture and helped us a great deal at that time."

Application and Reflection:

This book enabled me to understand more about Russian history as the chapters on Father Alexander were interspersed with chapters about the different times under different Soviet leaders. I understood more about the persecution of the church and the state of the Orthodox Church with varying periods of Soviet history. I can more understand where the Orthodox are today from reading about the past and how they came to be what they are. As far as how this applies to my ministry, I see the following.
1) This book encourages me that there are evangelical Orthodox who genuinely teach and preach the gospel. This encourages me to pray for more leaders like Alexander Men and to pray that the Orthodox Church will reach many with the true gospel. I may not agree with them on all points, but we do share belief in Jesus Christ as God's Son and the propitiation for our sins. This book rebukes me when I assume that only we Baptists have the truth.
2) This book gives me something to talk about with the Orthodox that I encounter. Many have heard of Father Men and some have read his books. I can use something from their own faith to start a religious conversation at a point of connection and agreement. I can use something from their own culture as a bridge to the gospel. Just last week we were riding with two ladies in our back seat. One is a baptized believer of our Baptist church who came out of an Orthodox background. The other is a Russian speaking Catholic. They were actually the ones who brought up Alexander Men and had both read "The Son of Man." I was able to participate in the discussion with them as well.
3) I can perhaps use his book, Son of Man to give out to selected people. I have read some of this book on the internet in English. That parts that were available free were very interesting, accurate, and centered on the gospel accounts of Christ. This could be a wonderful tool to introduce Orthodox to the Christ they claim to believe in. This would also be an excellent book for Jewish people. Since Father Alexander was Jewish himself, this could also be a bridge to them. He never gave up his "Jewishness" but instead felt that this was a wonderful part of who he was, having blood ties to Jesus as well. I have also thought that this could perhaps be a book that we could use for a book club, to read together and discuss. I would next like to obtain the entire copy of whichever of his books I can locate in English, to read them for myself.