Alexander Segen wrote this book on a special and highly honorable commission from His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II. As is known, the Patriarch's father, priest Mikhail Ridiger, found himself on enemy-occupied territory during the war and continued his pastoral ministry. The time has long come to rehabilitate those who continued to live, raise children, and survive under the enemy's yoke โ doctors, teachers, peasants, workers, and priests. The novel tells the story of an Orthodox priest who served during the war in the Nazi-occupied territory of the Pskov region. Compelled to pretend he was acting under the wing of the Hitlerites, Father Alexander helped partisans and Soviet prisoners of war, took into his family children left orphaned, refugees, and prisoners from the Salaspils children's concentration camp.
The film by Vladimir Khotinenko, made based on this novel, is also called "The Priest".