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beyond rational understanding and shows itself in its full form in the
Incarnation of the Logos in Jesus Christ.
We have already mentioned Men’s attraction to Berdyaev’s ideas
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concerning freedom. On numerous occasions in his lectures and writings ,
Men refers to the absolute irrationality of evil; its origins are not accessible to
philosophical investigation. This is an area where Men believes intuitive
creative arts can tell us more than ‘the sciences’. In Conversation about
Redemption he tells us that we can only understand evil tentatively. He looks
towards poetry as the medium that provides the fullest picture of this
irrational impulse .
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The final word on evil for Men is the Biblical story of Job. Commenting
on God’s revelation to Job (ch. 38-41) after his period of suffering, Men tells us
‘he saw and heard God, and it is not important what He said. In that instant all
the problems were resolved. But they were not resolved in a discursive, or
logical manner, not by way of building some kind of new metaphysical
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theodicy , but by way of an enormous, instantaneous dawn, which allowed
Job... to catch hold of all this [that had happened] and accept it’ .
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Commenting on Job’s response in ch. 42, Men tells us that ‘this is the...
astounding mystery of the enigmatic confrontation or meeting, where God is
no longer ‘It’, but becomes ‘Thee’, a Personality that can relate to
personality’ . Here we see another of Men’s master themes – the revelatory
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and personal concept of ‘vstrecha’ or ‘meeting/encounter’ that cannot be
wholly contained in words or by rational categorisation/explanation.

38 For example in ‘About Good and Evil’, ‘The Mystery of Evil’ and ‘Origins of Religion’
39 Men: Conversation about Redemption. Contained in: Мировая духовная культура. [Фонд имени
Александра Меня. Москва. 2002 г. ](World Spiritual Culture. [Alexander Men Foundation.
Moscow. 2002]). Can be found at http://www.alexandermen.ru/pan.html
40 Men tells us that this was the mistake of Job’s friends in Book 6 of ‘In Search of the Way, the Truth
and the Life’: On the Threshold of the New Testament, chapter 12
41 Men: The Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes, p209. “Книга Иова и Книга Экклесиасиа”, От
Рабства к Свободе. [Жизнь с Богом, Москва, 2008] (‘The Book of Job and the Book of
Ecclesiastes’, From Slavery to Freedom. [Life with God, Moscow, 2008]). Can be found at
http://www.alexandermen.ru/pan.html
42 Men: The Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes, p209.
43 French, April (ed.) An Inner Step Toward God:Writings and Teachings on Prayer by Father Alexander
Men. p8. [Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 2014]

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