Tag: Alexander Schmemann


Fr. Alexander Schmemann in Detroit, 1962


Recently, I was alerted to several photographs of a visit Fr. Alexander Schmemann made to Detroit in the winter of 1962.  Today would have been Fr. Alexander's ninety-first birthday, so I thought this to be as good an opportunity as any to share these pictures with our readers. 1962 was...

This week in American Orthodox history (Sept. 10-16)


September 11, 1893: The World's Parliament of Religions opened in Chicago. I've written quite a bit about the Parliament in past articles, and you can read all of them by clicking here. The super-short version: In conjunction with the Chicago World's Fair, representatives from every major world religion convened in...

Met. Leonty: A Life in Moments


As Matthew pointed out in his post yesterday, this week marks the 47th anniversary of the death of one of the truly  great Orthodox churchmen of the 20th century, Metropolitan Leonty Turkevich.  With an ecclesiastical career in the United States spanning from 1906 to 1965, there are few figures in the...

St. Herman and Fr. Alexander


Today, December 13, is the New Calendar feast day of St. Herman of Alaska. A year ago on this feast, we reprinted a life of St. Herman written by Vera Johnston and published in 1919. To read (or re-read) that biography, click here. Today is also the 28th anniversary of...

Source of the week: Schmemann on Vatican II


Fr. Alexander Schmemann was one of the observers at Vatican II, the landmark 1960s council of the Roman Catholic Church. His reaction to the event is priceless -- Schmemann took the "opportunity to thank God" that he was Orthodox. Here's the story, from the New York Times (11/16/1963): A Russian Orthodox...

The Myth of Past Unity: some clarifications


On today's episode of my American Orthodox History podcast, we're airing my talk, "The Myth of Past Unity," given at the St Vladimir's Seminary conference in June. For video of that lecture, click here. I wrote an "author's note" to go at the end of my paper. I didn't have...