Ilya Isidorovich Fondaminsky (''Илья′ Исидо′рович Фондами′нский'', February 17, 1880, Moscow,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

— November 19, 1942,

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, Nazi-occupied

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

), was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

author (writing under the pseudonym ''I. Bunakov'') and political activist, in 1910s one of the leaders of the

Esers The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

party, in 1917 a senior member of the

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; Reforms of Russian orthography, original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months ...

Provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

. In 1918, Fondaminsky took part in the

Iași Conference The Iași Conference, historically known as the Jassy Conference, was a gathering of anti-Bolshevik political figures that met in Iași, the temporary capital of Romania at the time from November 16 through December 6, 1918. The conference was orga ...

. In Paris, where he has been living since 1919, Fondaminsky veered off from the left and became an influential newspaper editor (''Sovremennye Zapisky'', among others), author of philosophical essays and in the later years — much admired philanthropist, supporting Christian magazines and charity funds. In his biography of Mother

Maria Skobtsova Maria Skobtsova (20 Old_Calendar.html"_;"title="_Old_Calendar">_Old_CalendarDecember_1891_–_31_March_1945),_known_as_Mother_Maria_(russian:_Мать_Мария),_Saint_Mary_(or_Mother_Maria)_of_Paris,_born_Elizaveta_Yurievna_Pilenko_(),_Kuz ...

, ''Pearl of Great Price'', Father Serge Hackel wrote that Fondaminsky gave occasional lectures at the Sunday afternoon gatherings at the house on th
Rue de Lourmel
Facing the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation, Fondaminsky refused to leave Paris, saying he would accept his destiny whatever it would be. Arrested in July 1941 as a

Jew 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""Th ...

and sent to the concentration camp, he adopted Christianity and was received into the

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 ...

Church not long before being sent to Auschwitz. Ilya Fondaminsky died there on November 19, 1942, aged 62. In 2003, he was officially pronounced a Russian Orthodox saintly martyr by the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

References

External links

''Who is St Ilya Fondaminsky?''
- Ilya Fondaminsky @ In Communion, website of the Orthodox Peace fellowship. 1880 births 1942 deaths Politicians from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Russian Jews Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Judaism Socialist Revolutionary Party politicians Russian Constituent Assembly members White Russian emigrants to France French people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish socialists Politicians who died in Nazi concentration camps 20th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs {{Europe-activist-stub