Alexander Alexandrovich Glagolev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Глаго́лев; 14 February 1872 – 25 November 1937) was a

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

priest and religious philosopher as well as professor of the Kiev Theological Seminary.

Biography

Alexander Glagolev was born to a priestly family. He graduated from the Tula theological seminary (1894) and the Kiev theological seminary (1898) with a doctoral degree in theology. His thesis was called "Angels in the Old Testament". In the review of his thesis, professor Olesnitsky noted that: "Glagolev's dissertation has both breadth and depth of research covering all points in the Old Testament angelology... and should be considered a real contribution to our theological literature which has not had until now a serious study in angelology".

Alexander Men Alexander Vladimirovich Men (russian: Александр Владимирович Мень; 22 January 1935 – 9 September 1990) was a Soviet Russian Orthodox priest, dissident, theologian, biblical scholar and writer on theology, Christian hi ...

writes in the article on Glagolev in his ''Bibliological'' Dictionary (2002):

Glagolev in his dissertation gave an overview of the history of ange logy and analysed all names of angels in the Old Testament... His work also contains the history of biblical demonology. The author did not possess our modern scientific knowledge about the history of religions of heancient East, but he introduced a number of interesting considerations sometimes preempting the conclusions of modern biblical studies."

Glagolev and the Jews in Kiev

In 1905, Glagolev acted against the Jewish pogrom in Kiev. The Russian American journal ''Russkij Globus'' describes it as follows:

During the cruel autumn of 1905 in the buzz of pogroms and murder people poured out on the streets again. A small procession meddles into the outraged human crowd wearing complete priestly vestments, carrying crosses and church banners. It is headed by the Russian priests Alexander Glagolev and Mikhail Edlinsky. Across Kontraktova Square and Gostinniy Riad the procession moves towards the Jewish shops. They admonish the crowd not to participate in this evil, unchristian act. Some people recognize their spiritual leaders and take off their hats out of respect. The crowd starts hesitating, wobbling, gets thinner and gradually breaks up. And this happened more than once.

In 1909, Glagolev published an article "The Old Testament and Its Eternal Significance in Christianity" in which he expressed some sharp criticism of some antisemitic authors trying to discredit the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. Glagolev was a key expert witness for the defense during the 1913 trial of

Menahem Mendel Beilis Menahem Mendel Beilis (sometimes spelled Beiliss; yi, מנחם מענדל בייליס, russian: Менахем Мендель Бейлис; 1874 – 7 July 1934) was a Russian Jew accused of ritual murder in Kiev in the Russian Empire in a no ...

. At the trial he gave expert evidence against the idea that

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

used blood in their religious rituals. He stated during this trial that

Mosaic laws The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...

from the

strictly forbid shedding human blood and using it to prepare food. The

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

and other Jewish rabbinical laws confirm this prohibition. Specifically, he affirmed that "the Law of Moses forbids spilling human blood and using any blood in general in food." His statement went against the

ritual murder Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

accusation, upon which the whole case was constructed. The evidence provided by the Russian Orthodox priest and established religious philosopher was instrumental in convincing the solely Russian Christian jury that Beilis was innocent. In addition to direct interventions against pogroms and his testimony at the Beilis trial, there were multiple recollections of Glagolev helping the poor and needy population of Kiev, both Jewish and Muslim.

Family

Aleksander Glagolev was the father of Alexey Alexandrovich Glagolev, who saved Jews in Kiev during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and later became one of the

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

Last days and death

On 20 October 1937, Alexander Glagolev was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. He was tortured and died in prison on 25 November 1937.

References

External links

Download Glagolev's book Angels in Old Testament in Russian

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glagolev, Alexander Eastern Orthodox priests from the Russian Empire 20th-century Eastern Orthodox clergy Soviet prisoners and detainees Theologians from the Russian Empire Soviet Christian clergy Eastern Orthodox theologians 20th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs 20th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 19th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 1872 births 1937 deaths People from Tula Governorate