Alexander Bulatovich Alexander Ksaverievich Bulatovich ( ; 26 September 1870 – 5 December 1919 ) tonsure d Father Antony ( отец Антоний ) was a Russia n military officer , explorer of Africa , writer , hieromonk and the leader of the imiaslavie movement in Eastern Orthodox Christianity . Biography . Alexander was born to a family of Oryol nobility . He studied in Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum , then served in the Hussar Leib Guard regiment . In 1896 he was a member of the Russian mission of the Red Cross in Ethiopia , where he became a confidant of Negus Menelek II of Ethiopia . He begins arrival to Ethiopia with phenomenal showy courier ' s marathon by reason of record speed with the use of camel , during this courier ' s march the Nikolay Leontiev meets him to give help . In 1896 - 1899 he became a military aide of Menelek II in his war with Italy and the southern tribes . Bulatovich joined the expedition of Ras Wolde Giyorgis and became the first European to provide a scientific description of the Kaffa province ( conquered by Menelek II with Bulatovich ' s help ) . He was the first European to reach the mouth of the Omo River . Among the places named by Bulatovich is the Nicholas II Mountain range . He had to ask permission from the Emperor himself to name the range in his honour . After Bulatovich returned to Russia he received a Silver Medal from the Russian Geographical Society for his work in Ethiopia and the military rank of a poruchik ( later rotmistr ) of the Leib Guard Hussars . He served in Saint Petersburg . In 1903 after his talks with Saint John of Kronstadt he resigned from the Army and became a monk ( later hiero - schema - monk ) of the Russian monastery Skiti Andreou , near the much larger St . Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece . He also visited Ethiopia again trying to establish a Russian Orthodox Monastery there . He was tonsured as Father Antony and became known as Hieromonk Antony Bulatovich . In 1907 after reading the book " On Caucasus Mountains " by the schema - monk Ilarion , he became one of the leaders of the imiaslavie movement within the Russian Orthodox Church . When the movement was proclaimed a heresy and disbanded by a Russian military force in 1913 , he was in St . Petersburg pleading the cause of monks . He continued his fight for the recognition of " imiaslavie " , published many theological books proving its dogmas , obtained an audience with the Tsar and eventually managed to secure some sort of rehabilitation for himself and his imiaslavtsy comrades . They were allowed to return to their positions in the Church without repentance " since there is nothing to repent about " . On August 28 , 1914 Antony Bulatovich received permission to join the Russian Army as an Army priest . During World War I Father Antony not only served as a priest but on " many occasions led soldiers to attack " and was awarded the Cross of St . George . After returning from the war he took part in the discussion about the " imiaslavie " . In October 1918 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church canceled the decision allowing imyaslavtsy to participate in church services . The decision was signed by Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow . In January 1919 Anthony Bulatovich stopped any relations with the Holy Synod and Tikhon and returned to his family estate in Lebedinka , where he started a small skete and lived the life of a hermit . He was the spiritual opponent of any civil war . On the night from 5 to 6 December 1919 he was murdered . There are conflicting accounts if the killers were deserters of White Army or Red Army or some unaffiliated robbers , but more relevant is he protected an unknown woman in fact . Bulatovich in Russian literature . Antony Bulatovich was most probably the original for the grotesque Schema - Hussar Alexei Bulanovich from the novel The Twelve Chairs by Ilf and Petrov . He is also the hero of Valentin Pikul ' s story " The Hussar on a Camel " . In addition he is the hero of the novel " The Name of Hero " by Richard Seltzer ( published by Houghton Mifflin in 1981 ) .