Letters to a young woman in spiritual search
Between 1951 and 1967, Father Alexander Schmemann, living in New York where he taught at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary, sent letters of encouragement and advice to France, to a young mother of a family, to guide her in her spiritual search.
“These letters perhaps reveal the true mission of theology: to speak of life in all its dimensions, not only of what we call ‘spiritual’. For the young Orthodox priest who wrote these letters, the divine can and must be discerned in every facet of human life. In this search nothing is insignificant, everything is measured by its relevance to the quest.”Alexis Vinogradov, architect, essayist, priest of the Orthodox Church in America
“This correspondence consists neither of pious words nor of ready-made answers. It is a sharing rooted in the reality of life, where nothing is easy, but where everything is given. We sense that for Father Alexander Schmemann, fidelity to this love, recognized as a free gift, gives an incredible strength to persevere in the most complex situations.” Brother Matthew, Prior of the Taizé Community.
Father Alexander Schmemann (1921–1983), born in Estonia and trained in Paris at the St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute, was a professor and then dean at St Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. One of the most prominent Orthodox theologians of the second half of the 20th century, he is the author of For the Life of the World, Paris, Desclée de Brouwer, 1969 (reissued by Presses Saint-Serge, 2007), The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom, Paris, YMCA-Press/O.E.I.L., 1985 (reissued by YMCA-Press/F.X. de Guibert, 2008), and Journal 1973–1983, Geneva, Éditions des Syrtes, 2009.