"Words of Farewell"

This article is a personal testimony by Vladimir Zelinsky about Father Alexander Men, a Russian Orthodox priest murdered in September 1990. Written in the form of a eulogy and published a few days after the murder, the text adopts a register that is both intimate and theological. The author draws the portrait of an exceptional pastor, whose vocation, biblical scholarship, pastoral fruitfulness and spiritual joy formed a remarkable unity. The central idea is that the death of Father Men, which occurred at the very moment when religious freedom seemed to be opening up in Russia, reveals the persistence of an active hostility toward evangelical witness. On the theological and historical level, the article contributes to the memory of Father Men as a martyrial figure, whose considerable catechetical and literary work remains a fundamental legacy for the contemporary Russian Orthodox Church.