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ON THIS DAY, SUNDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 1990, someone struck a fatal blow to Father Alexander Men. The assailant smashed the well-known Russian Orthodox priest in the back of his head with an axe just as he was leaving home to catch a train that would drop him off near his church. 

Men’s murder remains a mystery even today. The axe is the traditional Russian weapon of revenge, but who would have wanted vengeance on the godly man? 

Most Russians suspected the KGB. The secret police had harassed Men for years, sometimes interrogating him on a daily basis. They kept Men under surveillance because he was successful in turning people from Marxism to Christ—called a “one-man antidote to decades of Marxist propaganda.” However, the timing seemed wrong. The USSR had just emerged from its darkest years, so the KGB had less reason than in the past to kill him. At first, the KGB itself theorized the murder was the work of anti-Semitic monks, given that Alexander Men was a Jew who had converted to Christianity. Later the KGB suggested that a relative or someone from Men’s parish committed the crime. Conservative churchmen had resented his call to break down walls with other denominations. 

Men was born in 1935 when Stalin was attempting to stamp out Christianity. Faithful Christians had to worship in secret. Even so, Men’s mother became a Christian. Men soon followed her, and later determined to become a priest. Because of persecution, candidates for priesthood were few, so Men was accepted despite his Jewish background. 

In addition to baptizing and preaching, Men spoke to crowds of hundreds. He had a powerful mind—at thirteen he had read Kant—so it was natural for him to write apologetics for his faith. (He is sometimes called the “Russian C.S. Lewis.”) Copied by hand in the “underground press”, these books drew many intellectuals back to the church, including the famous writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Men’s faith was deep and Christ-centered. In his most notable book, Son of Man, he painted the wonderful richness and reasonableness of Christ: 

“Christ was far from morbid exaltation, from the frantic fanaticism characteristic of many zealots and founders of religions. An illuminating sobriety was one of the chief traits of his character. When He spoke about unusual things, when he called people to difficult deeds and bravery, he did it without false pathos and strain. He could converse simply with people at the well or at the holiday meal, and he could pronounce words that shook everyone— “I am the Bread of life.’ He spoke of trials and struggle, and he carried light everywhere, blessing and transforming life.”

Father Men was not killed instantly by the blow to his head. He dragged himself back to the gate outside his house and died there. A church now honors the site of his murder. His books are known around the world and his memory is highly regarded among Christians.

—Dan Graves

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For more about Alexander Men, read "A diversity of witnesses" in Christian History #146, Christ and Culture in Russia