Anne Kichilov

This article is a personal testimony about Father Alexander Men, a Russian Orthodox priest murdered in 1990, a prominent figure in the Soviet spiritual renewal. The author, a French emigree of Russian origin, recounts memories from the summer of 1975, a period of intense Brezhnevian repression against the Church. Through two concrete episodes — a scene in which children draw the church under the tacit supervision of the priest, and a visit to his dacha in Semkhoz — the testimony illustrates how Father Alexander Men combined pastoral courage, a sense of humor, and concrete charity in a context of constant police surveillance. The contribution of this account lies in the light it sheds on the daily life of a dissident priest, as well as on his role as a spiritual protector, particularly toward Nadezhda Mandelstam, whom he had baptized and sheltered.