Toward the Endless Day

Olga Lossky

Description

Elisabeth Behr-Sigel (1907-2005) was one of the most important Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century. For seventy years she helped her church, dispersed and uprooted from its cultural heritage, adapt to a new world. Born in Alsace, France, to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother, Behr-Sigel received a master's degree in theology from the Protestant Faculty of Theology at Strasbourg and began a pastoral ministry. It lasted only a year. Already attracted by the beauty of its liturgy and by its characteristic spirituality, Behr-Sigel officially embraced the Orthodox faith at age twenty-four.

During World War II her family (husband André Behr and their three children) lived in Nancy, France, where Behr-Sigel taught in the public school system. She later referred to this time as her real apprenticeship in ecumenism, when people of different traditions came together in opposition to Nazism, hiding Jews and providing escape routes.

After the war she took advantage of courses at St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris, where she later joined the faculty. Behr-Sigel also taught at the Catholic Institute of Paris, the Dominican College of Ottowa, and the Ecumenical Institute of Tantur near Jerusalem. She wrote and published books in Orthodox theology, spirituality, and the role of women in the Orthodox Church. In her retirement she continued to work on behalf of women and of the ecumenical movement.

Published in 2007 in France as Vers le jour sans déclin, this biography by the Orthodox writer Olga Lossky will bring to English-speaking readers of all religious persuasions the life and career of a remarkable and admirable woman of faith. Behr-Sigel fully cooperated with this biography, meeting with Lossky weekly during the last year of her life and giving Lossky access to her journal and personal letters.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Religious
• Philosophie et théologie
• Women
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Protestantism
• Nazism
• Institut Catholique de Paris
• Woman
• World War II
• Orthodox
• Nazi Germany
• Judaism
• History of Europe
• Christianity
• The Women
• History
• Élisabeth Behr-Sigel
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268085766
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Lossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page i
Toward the Endless DayLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page iii
o l g a l o s s k y
Translated by Jerry Ryan
Edited by Michael Plekon
Foreword by Olivier Clément
Toward the
Endless Day
The Life of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, IndianaLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/17/10 10:54 AM Page iv
English language edition copyright © 2010 by University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Translated by Jerry Ryan from “Vers le jour sans déclin” by Olga Lossky, published
by Les Éditions du Cerf, Paris, France © 2007 Les Éditions de Cerf
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lossky, Olga.
[Vers le jour sans déclin. English]
Toward the endless day : The Life of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel / Olga Lossky ;
translated by Jerry Ryan ; edited by Michael Plekon ; foreword by Olivier Clément.
p. m.
“Bibliography of works by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel”—P.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-268-03385-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-268-03385-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Behr-Sigel, Elisabeth. 2. Orthodox (Orthodox Eastern Church)—France—
Biography. I. Plekon, Michael, 1948– II. Title.
BX395.B44L6713 2010
230'.19092—dc22
[B]
2010001597
∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.Lossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page v
C o n t e n t s
Foreword by Olivier Clément vii
Acknowledgments xi
Acknowledgments to the English Translation ix
Introduction xiii
one The Encounters of the Formative Years, 1907–1932 1
two The Years in Nancy, 1933–1969 53
three Paris as a Turning Point, 1969–1980 179
four The Radiance of Maturity, 1980–2005 233
Epilogue 295
Notes 300
Bibliography of Works by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel 315
Index 335Lossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page viLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page vii
Fo r e w o r d
When I was attempting to become a Christian, one of the first
witnesses to the Gospel whom I met was Elisabeth Behr-Sigel. Despite
our long friendship and work together on numerous initiatives, I
never had fully realized the breadth of her life and work until I read
this biography. Olga Lossky, who comes from a great and noble line
(her great-grandfather Vladimir Lossky was himself a brilliant theo-
logian and the son of a remarkable religious philosopher), despite or
perhaps because of her own youth, was able to evoke with
incomparable tenderness and humor the complexity of Elisabeth—her person,
life, and accomplishments. Olga offers us this biography, born from
an ongoing dialogue with Elisabeth and based on the discovery and
use of her voluminous correspondence and papers.
Elisabeth Behr-Sigel appears in this biography as a modern saint
of the Orthodox tradition, who, impassioned by God, became capable
of witnessing here on earth the reality of the Resurrection and the
Kingdom of Heaven. She confronted all the tragedies of the twentieth
century, two world wars, and the weight of totalitarianism. In these
encounters she never hesitated or wavered. In the face of one
challenging situation after another, she was a woman with a fundamental
vocation, responding to a call from God with complete faith. Through
viiLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page viii
it all, she was a layperson. She was obliged to first teach German, then
philosophy, in order to support her family. And in all of her positions
she showed others how to live and to proclaim the Gospel, often in
new, creative ways.
In the editing and publication of the journal Contacts and in the
development of the Orthodox Fraternity, she was engaged with a
number of friends in efforts to assure the encounter of Christians of the
East with those of the West while the Church in Russia was under-
going persecution. Her spirit of openness and dialogue played an
enormous role in the development of this work, enabling Christian
traditions to meet and enrich each other.
Elisabeth was also a writer of great talent who enlivened a
number of areas of theological work. Her first book dealt with the history
of holiness in Russia, shaped by her attachment to that country’s spiri -
tual tradition. Later, she dedicated herself to the place and condition
of women in Christianity, even asking for and receiving, from the
p atriarch of Constantinople, the promise to restore the diaconate to
women, a sacred office that had existed since the eleventh century but
that needed to be renewed and adapted to the present day.
All through her long life, this engagement of faith was sustained
by a deep friendship with a French priest, Fr. Lev Gillet, who, under
the pseudonym “a Monk of the Eastern Church,” wrote a number of
admirable books on spirituality. Their experience, at once chaste but
of extraordinary depth, revealed a common ascent toward the
Kingdom of God, a path particularly relevant and welcome in the chaotic
world in which we live. So here is the story of a vocation of true
holiness, a holiness rooted in eternity, in the Orthodox community of
western Europe, and one that underlines the promise of an
ecumenism that is no longer mere discussion but true friendship.
Olivier Clément
viii ForewordLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page ix
A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
This biography was indeed a collective effort, with its origins coming
from the urging of François Cousin. Many people have participated in
its preparation, and I would like to mention here the most important
of them.
First, I want to recognize Elisabeth’s three children and their
spouses: Nadine and the late Fr. Jean-M. Arnould, Mariane and Tony
Greenan, and Nadia and Nicolas Behr. They made this biography
possible by entrusting Elisabeth’s archives to me. All welcomed me
warmly, opening their doors as well as their memories and enriching
the text and its revision by their careful reading and suggestions.
I also want to thank Olivier Clément, who advised me throughout
my work and who was willing to do a detailed rereading as he crafted
the Foreword. The care and help of Fr. Alexis Struve, who charged me
with this project, was absolutely essential to its completion.
Those who agreed to read what I wrote have been a great source
of support to me: Fr. Boris Bobrinskoy; Mother Éliane of the Car-
melites of Saint Elias, who turned over to me her correspondence with
Elisabeth; Fr. Michel Evdokimov; Emmanuel Hériard-Dubreuil, whose
historical mastery and advice were very precious to me; Dom
Emmanuel Lanne; Paul Ladouceur; Sophie Lossky; Véronique Lossky;
ixLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page x
Gabriel Matzneff, who clarified my writing with his remarkable style;
Fr. Michael Plekon, Elisabeth Sollogoub, Anne Struve, and Xénia and
Jean Tchékan.
My thanks go also to those who were willing to share with me
their familiarity with many aspects of Elisabeth’s life and work: Lyn
and Fr. John Breck, Fr. Jean Gueit, Kyriaki FitzGerald, Pastor Michel
Freychet, Fr. Nicolas Lossky, Fr. Michael Plekon, Teva Regule, Michel
Sollogoub, Philip Tamoush, and Jacqueline Westercamp. It was with
the assistance of Jean-Jacques Laham that I was able to settle on the
title, the final quotation, by Charles Péguy, and a number of
bibliographic references. And finally, my gratitude goes to the family of
S ophie and Fr. Nicolas Rehbinder, who, by their hospitality, made
possible the organization of Elisabeth’s archives.
Olga Lossky
x AcknowledgmentsLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page xi
A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
t o t h e E n g l i s h Tr a n s l a t i o n
While Olga Lossky has expressed gratitude to many who made pos-
sible her work in writing this wonderful biography of Elisabeth
BehrSigel, there are some others who deserve recognition and thanks for
the appearance of this English language edition.
First, many thanks to Olga herself for writing this biography and
for agreeing to this translation of her labor of love, the account of
Elisa beth’s life and accomplishments, so much of it drawn from Elisa -
beth’s own writings, correspondence, and other archival material.
Thanks also to Elisabeth’s family for allowing all the photos to be
used, and to Laurence Rondinet of Éditions du Cerf for agreeing to
allow the University of Notre Dame Press to have the rights to
translate. We want to thank Barbara Hanrahan, director of the University
of Notre Dame Press, for her willingness to propose this project to the
board and for her support. Thanks also to copy editor Ann Aydelotte
for helping to iron out rough spots and make the English version flow
as did the French and for painstaking attention to many other
infelicities that required correction. Matt Dowd as always assisted in so many
ways in this project. I also want to thank Fr. John and Lyn Breck for
xiLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page xii
i ntroducing me years ago to Elisabeth and her marvelous work in
theology. Both of us thank God for the life, the work, and the witness of
Elisabeth, whom we were privileged to have known. Her discerning of
the signs of the times will endure for all the children of God.
Michael Plekon and Jerry Ryan
xii Acknowledgments to the English TranslationLossky_final_txt:Layout 1 2/2/10 12:29 PM Page xiii
I n t r o d u c t i o n
“God writes straight with crooked lines.” Elisabeth Behr-Sigel liked to
cite this Portuguese proverb in her writings and conversations. The
crooked lines of our lives sometimes trace meanderings that, from a
human point of view, can be thoroughly disconcerting. Such is the
case for the ninety-eight years of Elisabeth’s life. The journey of the
little Lutheran girl from Strasbourg, born German of a Jewish mother,
to the Orthodox theologian who, hardly any taller, nearly a century
later, would be