Honoring Alexander Rud Mills
- Apprentice Caitlin Covington
- Jul 15
- 1 min read
Alexander Rud Mills
ᛉ July 15, 1885 - April 8, 1964 ᛦ
Born in 1885 in Tasmania, Australia, Alexander Rud Mills was a barrister, author, and early proponent for the revival of our ancestral faith. The Asatru Folk Assembly honors him with a Day of Remembrance every year on the 15th of July, and Þórshof holds a shrine in his name!
While there is not a great deal of knowledge on his early life, we do know that Mills attempted to serve in the Australian armed forces in World War I but was rejected on medical grounds. Regardless of this rejection, he devoted his life to serving our Folk, and honouring our Gods, by establishing the Anglecynn Church of Odin.
Alexander Rud Mills was something of an outlier among our Folk Heroes, as he was one of the first people to embrace what we call “forward-facing Ásatrú”— he established a real church with hymns, vigils, virtues, and communion, and with an authentic English flavor reminiscent of the faith of his Anglo-Saxon ancestors.
He had the courage to forge a new path and to restore our ancestral troth against overwhelming opposition. He built something beautiful, without example, without a blueprint, fueled by determination to do what was right and restore the connection of our Folk to the Æsir.
Hail Alexander Rud Mills!
