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Book Review 1

XENIA DENNEN
Russia’s Uncommon Prophet: Father Aleksandr Men and His Times. Walace L. Daniel.
Northern Illinois University Press, 2016, 422pp + xvii.
AT LAST a scholarly study in
English about the life and times of
the Russian Orthodox priest, Fr
Aleksandr Men, who was murdered
in 1990 a few miles from Moscow,
has been published. The author
points out that this remarkable
priest and his ministry remain
“nearly unknown” in the US; this is
also true of the UK. Yet Fr Men’s
witness and writings are important
for a much wider audience than
Russia alone.
This “uncommon prophet”
was a man of great erudition with
an unusual ability to communicate
with a generation who knew little
if anything about the Christian
faith. He was born during the
Stalin period and was nurtured
within a branch of the Russian
Orthodox Church which resisted
the control of the Communist system and existed underground. After his
ordination he was at first able to publish articles in an official church
publication, but this outlet was soon blocked as he became the target for
intense KGB scrutiny. Russia’s Uncommon Prophet is especially valuable for the
way it places Fr Men within the context of Soviet history and the political

1 This review first appeared in the Church Times. For a free sample paper, email
subs@churchtimes.co.uk or look on www.churchtimes.co.uk

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