Alexander Dmitrievich Schmemann (also Shmeman; ; 13 September 1921 – 13 December 1983) was an influential Orthodox priest, theologian, and author who spent most of his career in the United States.

Born in Estonia to émigrés from the Russian Revolution, he grew up primarily in France, where there was a large émigré community in Paris. After being educated there in both Russian and French schools and universities from 1946 to 1951, he taught in Paris. That year he immigrated with his family to New York City to teach at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. In 1962, he was selected as dean of the Seminary, serving in this position until his death. For 30 years, his sermons in Russian were broadcast by Radio Liberty into the Soviet Union, where they were influential as a voice from beyond the Iron Curtain.

Schmemann was among the leaders in forming the Orthodox Church in America as an autocephalous institution, which status it gained from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970. While identifying strongly as Russian, Schmemann sought to make the OCA independent of any ethnic or national group and open to all peoples. He believed the Orthodox Church had a mission to the West. In his teachings and writings, he explored the many ways that Christian liturgy was an expression of Christian theology.

Early life and studies

Alexander Schmemann was born as one of twin boys in 1921 in Tallinn, Estonia, into a family of Russian émigrés from St. Petersburg. His twin brother was named . Their grandfather Nikolai Schmemann had been a Lutheran of Baltic German ancestry, who served as a senator and a member of the State Council in St. Petersburg, along with numerous other foreigners. After Schmemann married a Russian Orthodox woman, their children were raised in that tradition, as required by the state. His father Dmitry, was studying law when interrupted by the First World War. He served as an officer of the Imperial Life-Guards, also in St. Petersburg. After the Revolution broke out, Schmemann fought with the Life-Guards and other anti-Bolshevik forces, but they were ultimately pushed into Estonia, where they disbanded.

When Schmemann was a child, his family moved to Paris, France, where, like most children of the large émigré community, he was first educated in Russian-language schools. There were tens of thousands of Russians in Paris, generally gathered in St. Petersburg and Moscow-affiliated communities. But Schmemann also chose to go to a French lycée. During this period, he served as an altar boy and subdeacon at Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, participating in the liturgy and building his life in the church. In college, he studied the Orthodox church and Christian history related to the Byzantine and Roman churches more deeply. At the University of Paris (1940–1945), he wrote a thesis on theocracy and the Eastern Roman Empire. He began graduate studies at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute, also in Paris.

In 1943, Schmemann married Juliana Osorguine (also spelled as Osorgina) (1923–2017), whose family after the Revolution had been expelled from their estate, which included the village of Sergiyevskoye (now Koltsovo) south of Moscow. Her family was also émigrés in Paris, where Russians gathered in St. Petersburg and Moscow-related communities. The Osorguines attended a small Russian Orthodox Church in Clamart near Paris, known as Saints Constantine and Helen Church. Lafayette College, Iona College, and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

Schmemann's work, including entire courses on his theology, are taught at theological schools. In 2018, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at St. Michael's College in Toronto offered a course titled The Liturgical Theology of Alexander Schmemann (1921-1983).

In 1984, soon after his death, CBS network produced a documentary about him and his work, The Spirit of St. Vladimir's.

Works

Fr. Schmemann published many books and articles, some directed at general readers. For the Life of the World, a popular volume on Christian faith as reflected in liturgy, has been translated into eleven languages. Originally prepared as a study guide for the National Student Christian Federation in 1963, it was published anonymously by the underground samizdat in the Soviet Union.

The Eucharist was finished just before Schmemann's death. This and several collections of his writings were published posthumously.

  • Introduction to Liturgical Theology (1961)
  • The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy (1963)
  • (Françoise Lhoest and Daniel Struve, translators) Le Chemin Historique de l'Orthodoxie (Paris: YMCA-Press, 1995)
  • Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (1969; revised ed. 1974)
  • Le Grand Carême : ascèse et liturgie dans l'Église orthodoxe (Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1999)
  • For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy (1970)
  • Pour la vie du monde (Paris: Desclée)
  • Liturgy and Life: Christian Development Through Liturgical Experience (1974)
  • Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism (1974)
  • Ultimate Questions: An Anthology of Modern Russian Religious Thought (1977)
  • Church, World, Mission: Reflections on Orthodoxy in the West (1979)
  • The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom (1988)
  • L'Eucharistie, sacrement du Royaume (Paris: YMCA-Press)
  • Celebration of Faith: I Believe... (1991)
  • Celebration of Faith: The Church Year (1994)
  • Celebration of Faith: The Virgin Mary (1995)
  • The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann 1973–1983 (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000)
  • Our Father Translated by Alexis Vinogradov (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001)
  • Liturgy and Tradition: Theological Reflections of Alexander Schmemann Edited by Thomas Fisch (2003)
  • O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? Translated by Alexis Vinogradov (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2003)
  • The Liturgy of Death: Four Previously Unpublished Talks Edited by Alexis Vinogradov (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2017)
  • A Voice For Our Time: Radio Liberty Talks, Volume 1 Translated by Alexis Vinogradov and Nathan Williams (2021)
  • Foundations of Russian Culture. Translated by Nathan Williams (Holy Trinity Seminary Press, 2023)

See also

References

Further reading

  • Brian A. Butcher, Andrew Louth, Liturgical Theology after Schmemann: An Orthodox Reading of Paul Ricoeur (New York: Fordham University Press, 2018)
  • Paul Garrett, "Fr Alexander Schmemann: A Chronological Bibliography", in SVTQ; 28 (1984), pp. 11–26
  • Archpriest John W. Morris, The Historic Church: An Orthodox View of Christian History, Author House, 2011 (self-published), p. 539
  • Serge Schmemann, Echoes of a Native Land: Two Centuries of a Russian Village (New York: Vintage Books, 1999)
  • Porter C. Taylor, We Give Our Thanks Unto Thee: Essays in Memory of Fr. Alexander Schmemann (Pickwick Publications, 2019)
  • Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann
  • St. Vladimir's Seminary Library: The Fr. Alexander Schmemann Papers