The well-known conductor Vladimir Spivakov has said that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair asked him to find Father Alexander Men's books in English.
“It happened at a home concert held by a French pianist. After the performance we talked and I saw a sensible, vulnerable man in this eminent politician. It's not by chance that Blair has turned to religion in recent years. It was the reason for his interest in Men's heritage," the musician said in his interview with Itogi magazine.
According to him, he has met Father Alexander's followers not only in Europe, but in Canada, the USA, and Argentina.
Father Alexander, killed on September 9, 1990, was Spivakov's spiritual father. "I heard about him accidentally. Someone of my acquaintances told me there was an Orthodox priest, Jewish by origin. I became interested. Just out of curiosity I went to Father Alexander's lecture at the Steel and Alloys Institute. I was shocked; when I left the class I was another man. Since that time I tried not to miss any public speeches of the preacher. Then we got acquainted and Father Alexander even blessed me," he said.
Priest Alexander Men was a spiritual father for many Soviet intellectuals and figures of culture. He was killed in the morning of 9 September 1990 on a path to the Semkhoz railway station by an unidentified criminal, who hit him over the head with a heavy object. The priest died at the entrance to his house from blood loss. The murderer was not found.