Born on February 14, 1949 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.

Kondratiev grew up in both New York City and Bourgogne, France, as he traveled back and forth between the home of his parents in New York City and his grandparent's home in the Saone Valley. His interest in the Celtic culture began as a child, exploring the ancient Celtic ruins near his grandparent's home in eastern France. He began learning the Irish language from library books.

In the 1960s, Kondratiev studied the Celtic languages and culture while traveling through Brittany, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. He lived for awhile among native speakers of the Irish language on Inishmaan, the middle island of the Aran Islands group, where he acquired fluency in all six of the living Celtic languages. During that period, the Aran Islands were still home to elderly Gaeilge monoglots.

Education

A graduate of New York's Columbia University (anthropology and linguistics), Kondratiev also studied Celtic philology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris. His studies at both schools included archaeology. During the 1970s, he took music courses at the Mannes College in New York.

A frequent participant and occasional speaker at science fiction conventions, Kondratiev met Judy Harrow at a science fiction convention in the early 1980s. During an interview at the Etheracon convention in Poughkeepsie in January 1993, Kondratiev commented about how Harrow practiced a "heritic" form of Gardnerian Wicca he found appealing. He attributed his gradual attraction to Neopaganism in the 1980s to his contact with science fiction fans who had become Neopagans. When he met Harrow, Kondratiev still considered himself a Christian, and continued to identify himself as such throughout the 1980s while attending Neopagan religious ceremonies.

"Children of Memory"

Although he did not join Harrow's Proteus Coven, Kondratiev was initiated into the "Proteus tradition" by Night Rainbow. After his initiation, he joined Mnemosynides Coven. This group was founded by Len Rosenberg (known in the Neopagan community as "Black Lotus") in 1988. Mnemosynides, which means "Children of Memory," was named after the titaness of Greek mythology, Mnemosyne. Mnemosynides Coven belonged to the Protean-Gardnerian tradition of Wicca, which originated with Judy Harrow's Proteus Coven. Kondratiev remained a member of Mnemosynides, and a Christian, until his death in 2010.

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.

The members of Mnemosynides enjoyed a friendly relationship with the Kondratiev family. His mother invited the group to visit each year for Russian Orthodox Easter at the house she shared with Alexei and one of his sisters in Flushing.

The goddess Brigid, according to Lisa Bodo, served as Kondratiev's link between his Christian upbringing and his Neopagan beliefs. His family, aware of this link, selected a grave site for Alexei by a life-sized statute of St. Brigid.

Guest speaker and teacher

His knowledge of Celtic mythology and language made Kondratiev a frequent guest speaker at conventions, conferences and retreats, especially events with an emphasis on magic, Neopaganism or Wicca. 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. Then he served as a guest speaker for Ethericon, a similar convention which started operating in 1992 at Poughkeepsie, New York. In more recent years, Kondratiev has been a guest at the Sacred Space and Ecumenicon conferences in Maryland, and the CWPN Harvest Gathering in Connecticut. As a featured guest at the Chesapeake Pagan Summer Gathering (Maryland) in 2008, he recited 108 names of the Hindu goddess, Kali, at a puja led by Len Rosenberg.

An openly gay man, Alexei Kondratiev was often accompanied at conventions and conferences by his life partner, Len Rosenberg. He participated in New York's Gay Pride March and other gay pride parades, and faithfully attended New York Bear Den, a gay men's group in Queens.

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. Birds and animals are one of the interests Alexei Kondratiev had for all of his life.

Books

• Devoted to You: Honoring Deity In Wiccan Practice. Co-authored with Judy Harrow, Geoffrey W. Miller, and Marueen Reddington-Wilde. Kensington Publishing Corp. (2003). ISBN 0806523921.

• Celtic Rituals: A Guide to Ancient Celtic Spirituality. Scotland: New Celtic Pub. (1999). ISBN 1902012186.

• The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual. Cork, Ireland: The Collins Press (1998). American edition: Citadel Press (2003). ISBN 0806525029.

• Learning the Celtic languages: a resource guide for the student of Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Breton, Manx, or Cornish. Co-authored with Liam O Caiside. New York: Celtic League American Branch (1991).

Comic books

• Dangerous Times, Featuring Beleagean Days and Vidorix the Druid, Evolution Comics (1989). A series of six comic books, with Vidorix the Druid by Alexei Kondratiev and Beleagean Days by Margie Spears. Artwork for Vidorix the Druid was by Jim Fletcher, Don Hudson, Jordan Raskin and Sandu Florea. 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.

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 folkore, 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.