Alexei Kondratiev

Alexei Kondratiev (February 15, 1949–May 28, 2010) was an American author, linguist, and teacher of Celtic languages, folklore and culture. He taught the Irish language and Celtic history at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan, New York from 1985 until his death on May 28, 2010.

A long-time member of the Mythopoeic Society, Kondratiev was the Scholar Guest of Honor at the organization's Mythcon 33 convention in 2002, papers coordinator for Mythcon 39 in 2008, and maintained a book review column in its publication, Mythlore. In 2010, the society named a new award after Kondratiev, the Alexei Kondratiev Memorial Student Paper Award, to be presented for the first time at its Mythcon 41 convention in Dallas, July 9–12, 2010.

He contributed significant portions of the text used on the website of the Celtic League's American Branch and book reviews for the organization's magazine, Keltoi.

On the File 770 science fiction fandom blog, Ken Gale reported that Kondratiev "spoke over 60 languages and was fluent in 13 to 20 of them".

Kondratiev encouraged students to think of language as a tool to connect with and understand the culture of its people. The collection of languages he acquired included the Native American languages of Cherokee, Lenape, Lakota, and Navajo. in New York, son of a Russian father and French mother, Kondratiev became fluent in the languages spoken by his parents: Russian, French and English. English was the later of these three languages; he did not speak it until he started school in New York. He was the eldest of six children, with four sisters and one brother.

In the 1960s, Kondratiev studied the Celtic languages and culture while traveling through Brittany, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. He lived for a while among native speakers of the Irish language on Inishmaan, the middle island of the Aran Islands group, where he acquired fluency in Irish Gaelic. During that period, the Aran Islands were still home to elderly Gaeilge monoglots. During the 1970s, he took music courses at the Mannes College in New York.

At the time of his death, Kondratiev had been high priest of Mnemosynides for more than 20 years. In her "Memoriam" to the group's former high priest, published by Circle Sanctuary, Mnemosynides high priestess Lisa Bodo explained how he taught her the importance of "the bridge between Celtic Paganism and early Celtic Christianity." He did not consider his Neopagan and Christian beliefs to be in conflict and never renounced his Christianity. He taught classes and served as program director for the Esotericon convention (which focused on science fiction, fantasy, magick and Neopaganism) in New Jersey from 1985 until 1991, when the convention discontinued.

Bird watcher His friends remember Kondratiev as an avid bird watcher. Queens was one of his favorite locations for studying birds, as well as a center for cultural diversity. He commented that over 100 different species of birds could be observed in a single day while walking through the park in Queens. The series of six comic books published under the trade name, Evolution Comics, by Ken Gale and Mercy Van Vlack in 1989, is unrelated to a comic book publisher with the same trade name founded by Nicholas Ahlhelm in 2007. Cover art for volume 1 of the series was by Michael Kaluta.

Significant articles and papers

"Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal". An Tríbhís Mhór: The IMBAS Journal of Celtic Reconstructionism, volume 2, issue 1/2, Samhain 1997, Iombolg 1998. "Basic Celtic Deity Types". IMBAS website. Retrieved 2010-06-01. "Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: an Enquiry into Biblical Mistranslation." Enchante, Number 18 (1994). pp. 11–15.

Contributions to periodicals Alexei Kondratiev also contributed articles about folklore, mythology and Celtic culture to the following publications. Mythlore. Semi-annual journal of the Mythopoeic Society. Mythprint. Monthly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society. Keltoi. Magazine published by the Celtic League American Branch. CARN. Quarterly magazine of the International Celtic League. Keltria: A Journal of Druidism and Keltic Magick. Quarterly publication by the Henge of Keltria, an organization of modern Druids. Six Nations, One Soul. Quarterly newsletter of the Celtic League American Branch. Butterbur's Woodshed. Mythopoeic Society's discussion group.

Radio show guest Nuff Said!, a radio show devoted to comic books and related subjects, produced by Ken Gale for WBAI radio. Alexei Kondratiev was a guest on five of the show's broadcasts from 1993 to 2002, speaking on the subjects of comic books, Celtic culture, mythology, history, and works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Notes in the show's archives for February 5, 2002, when Kondratiev talked about Tolkien, claimed that he could also speak Elvish, but did not identify which of the Elvish languages fabricated from Tolkien's stories. Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, a radio show about radical environmentalism, produced by Bill Weinberg for WBAI radio. Kondradiev was an occasional guest of the show, talking about the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. "Eco-Logic," a radio show on environmental issues, produced for WBAI-FM by Ken Gale. Alexei was on the Dec. 29, 2009 episode speaking on "Natural Cycles."