Fr. Alexander Men

This is one of the first biographies of this remarkable person which is available in English. It suffers from being a translation of the French, and a poor one at that. Even so, it conveys a very compelling picture of Fr. Men who to this day is one of the most influential figures in Orthodox Russia, especially in the renewed part of it. In that sense he played a very similar role for his church and country as Fr. Blachnitzky, the founder of the Light and Life Movement (Oasis) did in Poland.
Fr. Men was born on January 22, 1935 into a Jewish family. His mother converted to Orthodoxy, in part through the healing of her mother performed by St.John of Kronstadt. Men grew up in Stalinist Russia, and experienced both the official Russian church, which was often fearful of its existence, prone to compromise and traditionalism, and the undeground church, full of saintly figures, courageous men and women who passed on the faith through their example and their secret teaching. Men was also had a keen mind, which made him devour books, both science and philosophy. This laid the foundations for his later ability to bridge the gap between faith and reason, which became vital for his appeal to Russian intellectuals.
Men became a priest on September 1,1960 and thus started his ministry right around the time when Russian society was changing. Many people were becoming disenchanted with communism, dissidents like Andrei Sacharov andAlexander Solzhenitsyn were making their voices heard, and artists and writers were looking again for spiritual meaning in life. This is the period when people like Tatjana Goricheva came to faith, or Nadezhda Mandelstam. But when many of these people turned to the church, they encountered a seemingly unapproachable, traditionalist institution which demanded blind allegiance, without the ability or the desire to provide an apologetic, a defense of the faith, and without the means to answer the questions many of these people were asking themselves.
Fr. Men, on the other hand, saw that need, and embarked upon a vigorous campaign to change the way "church" was done: he encouraged the formation of small groups which would meet for intellectually stimulating discussions about the faith or which would study the Bible; his own sermons and conferences stressed the need of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; and he began writing books (often published abroad) in order to instruct these new believers who were clueless, but who also did not find any answers in the normal Orthodox church context.
As a result the parish of Fr. Alexander became a spiritual center, even though it was some thirty miles outside of Moscow. He gathered around him a circle of people who were attracted by his approachable personality, his intellectual rigour and his ecumenical openness. But he also attracted criticism and made enemies, both within the church where he was often thought to be too radical in his views, and within the Communist party. This opposition increased in the 80s when it became more possible to speak publicly about religous matters: as a result Fr. Men ended up adressing large crowds at evangelistic rallies (even a Baptist one) and via television. Many think that this step was one too far...On Sunday September 9,1990 Fr. Alexander Men was killed by a man with an axe, as he was on his way to his parish in order to celebrate the liturgy.
To this day, many vibrant Christian circles and institutions in Russia draw their inspiration from Alexander Men. He was a prophet for his time!



Hamant, Yves. 1995. Alexander Men: A Witness for Contemporary Russia. Torrance, California: Oakwood Publications.

White Mughals

White Mughals is a blend of a history and a biography, set in late 1700 Hyderabad- India. The main character is the British resident of Hyderabad, Major James Achilles Kirkpatrick (1764-1805). As resident his role is to represent British interests at the Nizam Ali Khan's court. Like many of his contemporaries in India, Kirkpatrick takes a real liking to the particular Indian culture of the time and enculturates to an amzazing degree: he becomes fluent in the local languages, wears local dress and runs his household according to local custom. Even more, he takes a wife from a noble Indian family, the Begum Khair Un-Nissa. All this makes him remarkably effective as a diplomat, as evidenced by his negotiating three crucial treaties between the Nizam and the British. But it also makes him suspect in the eyes of his own people, most notably some of the military establishment of the "colonial force". Because of Kirkpatrick's sympathies for the Nizam and his people, he also becomes increasingly by what he considers the bullying tactics of the British Governor General, RIchard Colley Wellesley. All this leads to his eventually downfall...
The book is very well researched and gives a deep insight into the life and culture of India at that time. It depicts the blending of Hindu and Islamic cultures at the court of the Nizam, and the moral depravity of many of the British of that time. In describing the life of Kirkpatrick and other "white Mughals" i.e. people who pretty fully inculturated themselves, Dalrymple wants to show that "East and West are not irreconcilable, and never have been. Only fear, bigotry, prejudice, racism and fear drive them apart. But they have met and mingled in the past; and they will meet again." (page 501).
A very good read indeed.


Dalrymple, William. 2003. White Mughals. London: Flamingo.