Twenty years later: the difficult return of a name

This article examines the reception of the work and figure of Father Alexander Men within the Russian Orthodox Church, twenty years after his death. Through an analytical study, Philippe Parfenov traces the process by which this priest, long marginalized and opposed by traditionalist currents within the Russian Church, gradually reintegrated the Orthodox public sphere. The author analyzes the institutional and theological resistance that hindered this recognition, as well as the internal dynamics that allowed, despite these obstacles, a partial rehabilitation of his legacy. The contribution of the article lies in its illumination of the ecclesiological tensions specific to contemporary Russian Orthodoxy, revealing how the memory of a prophetic figure can become the stake of deep identity conflicts within a single confessional tradition.