An icon in the land of icons!

His 3 volume work on the Gulags was my first reading of any Russian author as a high school student. I do not recommend the shortened edition of the three volumes into one. It is a 2000 page work and needs to be read in total.

I have added a link to a speech where he had pointed remarks to us in the west.

A speech by Alexander Solzhenitsyn delivered 8 June 1978 on the occasion of Class Day Afternoon Exercises at Harvard University

In Russian
http://antology.igrunov.ru/authors/solzh/1121759601.html

In English

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/alexandersolzhenitsynharvard.htm

You can also hear him deliver the address in Russian and hear the translation from that day.

He now belongs to the ages. :(

Alexander Solzhenitsyn gets my vote for "Русское Имя".

What a great man! So sorry to hear of his death. While studying Russian Language here in Australia, I undertook an in-depth research essay about his dismissal from the Writers' Union and subsequent exile - learnt so much about his life, writings (read many), his struggles, etc. and have since kept up with his return and imput into modern Russia.
His contribution to the downfall of Stalin's tyranny was massive. He was a most courageous advocate of freedom.

An end of an era? "A day in the life..." transformed as a kid and hooked me onto all things Soviet. Was he the last great bastion of an old age?

J,
Here is an informative article from the Mises Intitute. http://mises.org/story/3065

In reply to the suggestion that Solzhenitsyn should be on the "Русское Имя" list, I'm all for it.

But what about the current number one?
СЕРГИЙ РАДОНЕЖСКИЙ

I'm finding almost no information about this fellow who lived in the 1300's and was later beatified as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

To be now listed as the #1 individual representing the Russian character in the current polling being done by a Russian TV channel strikes me as fairly profound and a dramatic counter to the listing for Stalin as the current #2.

I am an Orthodox Christian, my wife is Russian. When I was visiting her before the marriage, we visit Holy Trinity monastery in Sergiev Posad.

St. Sergius is important to Russia. When Dimitri Ivanovich was preparing to defeat the Tartars and restore freedom to the Rus people. He got the blessing of St. Sergius, with the famous words, "Go fearless prince and believe in God's help". The Prince won the battle of Kulikovo.

St. Sergius is the major Russian Saint. Even the Soviet government do not close the monastery he started.

You can read about him at http://orthodoxwiki.org/Sergius_of_Radonezh

By the way, I went to pray at his tomb. I asked his blessing on my pending marriage to a daughter of Russia. I also asked his blessing for her moving to the USA.

St. Sergius is not a question of a vote. He is spiritual figure of Russia.

Even if you are not Christian. A visit is recommended to the monastery. The examples of classic Russian icons are better than those in Moscow. (Moscow has many icons worth seeing. Some in Moscow were taken from here. Old copies hang in their places.)