Alexandre Men
1935-1990 20th century
Faith that stays young, even when everything around insists it is dead.
Who was Alexandre Men?
A Russian Orthodox priest of Jewish origin, baptized as a child in the clandestine catacomb Church. For thirty years under the Soviet regime he baptized, heard confessions and wrote (including The Son of Man, composed in secret), drawing intellectuals and seekers to his suburban parish. On the early morning of 9 September 1990 he was murdered with an axe on the path to the station, on his way to his parish. The crime was never solved.
In their own words
Christianity has only taken its first, timid steps in the history of the human race.
Only shortsighted people can suppose that Christianity has already happened: in the thirteenth century, or the fourth, or at some other time.
Christianity is not a new ethic, but a new life, which brings man into direct contact with God.