TRIPTYCH FOR FATHER MEN
A Poem by Fr John McGuckin written in Moscow in
November 2007
Triptych for Father Men
Softly,
as though stepping
through a mist of time
you sent me greetings,
Alexander Vladimirovitch,
long after your death
in this time.
They came by the winding
of long journeys
through many hands.
Three photographs were my inheritance
faded and cracked along the edges -
they had been handled so much.
They taught me
when your lips lay silent;
black and white
reflecting the times
slightly faded snaps
casually taken
but by those who loved you
which made the difference,
confecting them sacraments.
One showed you in priestly vestments
raising your hands like a prophet
reciting the Cheruvikon at the altar -
an open and zealous face;
a man among men,
a priest before his God.
The other: you standing in shirtsleeves
with family around you,
smiling out to history;
a beloved among his loved ones,
a father;
the playful irony in your smile
merely hinting at the depths
that shelved away steeply
as a shingled beach gives way underfoot
to fathoms unsuspected and unknown.
The third opened out the inside of your home:
plates of food, a guitar,
your books.
Once more you were setting a table
in the house of love.
These things you left for me as a trace.
Three, like those priestly greetings
in the old, the gracious style.
Three kisses among the Russians:
Hristos Posredi nas:
Christ is in our midst!
And so it was.
You were the medium then:
His smiling sacrament.
Peace upon you priest Alexander.
Peace upon your name.
Peace upon your house.
John A. McGuckin.
.
INTRODUCTION
WHO WAS FR MEN? AND WHY THIS WEBSITE? AND ON BEGINNING TO EXPLORE IT
Father Alexander Men (1935-1990) was a great leader,and one may say architect, of
religious renewal in Russia at the end of the Soviet period. He was a pastor, who
found the time to write a great number of books including a seven volume study of
world religions, ranging in style from the academic to the poplular, he lectured widely,
at the end gaining access to radio and television and becoming a nationally known
figure. He founded the first sunday school after the communist persecution, established
a university, made a film strip, started volunteer work at a childrens' hospital. He baptized
thousands into the faith, was at home with simple people but was also called "the
apostle to the intellectuals"
His life and person and writings speak powerfully to a wide range of people , not
only in Russia and not only Eastern Orthodox. It seems that he is one of the very
few who can touch and speak to and for all Christians and indeed ,through his
broadness of learning and heart, not only to Christians.
He was assassinated in 1990 but through his writings and through his memory
and his spiritual heritage he still speaks and it may be is an increasing presence
in the world as his work becomes better known.
Believing in the importance of this work and this presence we have made this
site. You will find here a selection of materials about Fr Men and his life. As to
his life we would reccomend perhaps first the very effective narrated slide film
which is offered as a free download in our third section. Then the very first entry
by Irina Yaziova gives an overview of his work and perhaps then the entry by
David Remnick to get a sense of the event and resonance of his death...and then
well you will find what is here...
We also and in particular are making available as much as we can of his writing
which is translated into English.
In this writing , if I may speak of my personal response which mirrors
maybe that of many, I find an absolute openness to everything that is here
and that is coming, and a way of speaking that is natural and without any
patronizing or artificiality, and yet also an absolute confidence in the realities
beyond the surfaces, a certainty of God--of the Presence of God in history
and today. There are no false notes. The writing is simple in a way, although
an intellectual festival at times with poets and philosophers introduced but
never with sense of display. There is an absence of ideology and even of
theology in the usual sense, and a presence instead of reality and of God.
As you read you will, it seems to me, encounter a man and that man and his
living message can perhaps be important for you and for the world in our time
and the time that is coming. So that is what this website is about,
and without further ado I invite your exploration.
+ Seraphim Joseph Sigrist
Bishop. Formerly of Sendai and East Japan
November 2007
Triptych for Father Men
Softly,
as though stepping
through a mist of time
you sent me greetings,
Alexander Vladimirovitch,
long after your death
in this time.
They came by the winding
of long journeys
through many hands.
Three photographs were my inheritance
faded and cracked along the edges -
they had been handled so much.
They taught me
when your lips lay silent;
black and white
reflecting the times
slightly faded snaps
casually taken
but by those who loved you
which made the difference,
confecting them sacraments.
One showed you in priestly vestments
raising your hands like a prophet
reciting the Cheruvikon at the altar -
an open and zealous face;
a man among men,
a priest before his God.
The other: you standing in shirtsleeves
with family around you,
smiling out to history;
a beloved among his loved ones,
a father;
the playful irony in your smile
merely hinting at the depths
that shelved away steeply
as a shingled beach gives way underfoot
to fathoms unsuspected and unknown.
The third opened out the inside of your home:
plates of food, a guitar,
your books.
Once more you were setting a table
in the house of love.
These things you left for me as a trace.
Three, like those priestly greetings
in the old, the gracious style.
Three kisses among the Russians:
Hristos Posredi nas:
Christ is in our midst!
And so it was.
You were the medium then:
His smiling sacrament.
Peace upon you priest Alexander.
Peace upon your name.
Peace upon your house.
John A. McGuckin.
.
INTRODUCTION
WHO WAS FR MEN? AND WHY THIS WEBSITE? AND ON BEGINNING TO EXPLORE IT
Father Alexander Men (1935-1990) was a great leader,and one may say architect, of
religious renewal in Russia at the end of the Soviet period. He was a pastor, who
found the time to write a great number of books including a seven volume study of
world religions, ranging in style from the academic to the poplular, he lectured widely,
at the end gaining access to radio and television and becoming a nationally known
figure. He founded the first sunday school after the communist persecution, established
a university, made a film strip, started volunteer work at a childrens' hospital. He baptized
thousands into the faith, was at home with simple people but was also called "the
apostle to the intellectuals"
His life and person and writings speak powerfully to a wide range of people , not
only in Russia and not only Eastern Orthodox. It seems that he is one of the very
few who can touch and speak to and for all Christians and indeed ,through his
broadness of learning and heart, not only to Christians.
He was assassinated in 1990 but through his writings and through his memory
and his spiritual heritage he still speaks and it may be is an increasing presence
in the world as his work becomes better known.
Believing in the importance of this work and this presence we have made this
site. You will find here a selection of materials about Fr Men and his life. As to
his life we would reccomend perhaps first the very effective narrated slide film
which is offered as a free download in our third section. Then the very first entry
by Irina Yaziova gives an overview of his work and perhaps then the entry by
David Remnick to get a sense of the event and resonance of his death...and then
well you will find what is here...
We also and in particular are making available as much as we can of his writing
which is translated into English.
In this writing , if I may speak of my personal response which mirrors
maybe that of many, I find an absolute openness to everything that is here
and that is coming, and a way of speaking that is natural and without any
patronizing or artificiality, and yet also an absolute confidence in the realities
beyond the surfaces, a certainty of God--of the Presence of God in history
and today. There are no false notes. The writing is simple in a way, although
an intellectual festival at times with poets and philosophers introduced but
never with sense of display. There is an absence of ideology and even of
theology in the usual sense, and a presence instead of reality and of God.
As you read you will, it seems to me, encounter a man and that man and his
living message can perhaps be important for you and for the world in our time
and the time that is coming. So that is what this website is about,
and without further ado I invite your exploration.
+ Seraphim Joseph Sigrist
Bishop. Formerly of Sendai and East Japan