Alexander Men’s view of human search for God in the world religions in the light of the Catholic magisterial teaching

ENFather Alexander Men is one of the best known 20th-century Russian Orthodox authors in the West. Significant part of his writings and lecturing is devoted to the world religions. The present paper analyses Men’s views on humanity’s searches for God as they are expressed in the world religions. Catholic conciliar and post-conciliar magisterial teaching is taken as reference point for the analysis. Alexander Men gives ample attention to these searches in his writings. According to him, desire for God and search for Him is the basis of religion itself. Men stresses role of individual persons, for he sees historical processes as shaped first of all by personalities. Desire and search for God expresses itself in various ways, of which prayer is seen by Men as especially important. At the same time, he indicates that this desire for God might be gradually stifled or even consciously rejected by human free choices. The analysis permits to conclude that Men’s position is in line with the Catholic magisterial teaching on these issues.