ELCHANINOV, ALEXANDER

ELCHANINOV, ALEXANDER, priest, spiritual director (1881–1934). One of the most gifted priests in the Russian emigration in Paris, Elchaninov is best known for his spiritual direction, which has been excerpted posthumously in The Diary of a Russian Priest. After graduating from the University of St. Petersburg with a degree in history and philology, Alexander gave up his scholarship and lived in Russia’s religious-philosophical circles of the progressive and artisitic intelligentsia (1900–10), including people like Sergius Bulgakov, Nicholas Berdiaev, Pavel Florensky (qq.v.), S. Merezhkovsky, and others. During the first Russian revolution (1905–06) this group tried to enter politics as the “Christian Brotherhood of Struggle,” an underground organization with anarchical tendencies. After experiencing the repressiveness of revolutionaries, every member in the group became conservative, endured the second revolution, and was expelled from Russia by the Communists, several becoming priests, including Elchaninov. After establishing himself in France, Fr. Elchaninov continued teaching adolescents as he had in Russia, and was spiritual director of the Russian Christian Student Movement in Exile. Known as a “serene and kind counselor” (Dimitri Obolensky), his gifts lay in his mastery of spiritual self-examination and in his ability to guide others in this discipline.