SCHMEMANN, ALEXANDER

SCHMEMANN, ALEXANDER, priest, liturgical theologian, educator (13 September 1921–13 December 1983). He did his theological studies at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute, Paris (1940–1945), and was a pupil of the church historian A. V. Kartashev (qq.v.). Under Kartashev’s guidance, Schmemann wrote his candidate’s thesis on Byzantine theocracy, then was an instructor of Byzantine Church history at St. Sergius from 1945 to 1951. In 1946 he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Vladimir (Tikhonitsky), head of the Western Europe Russian Exarchate. During his time in France Schmemann was deeply influenced by the “eucharistic ecclesiology” of Fr. Nikolai Afanasiev (q.v.), professor of Canon Law, and his theological horizons were broadened by interaction with Roman Catholic thinkers, Jean Danielou and Louis Bouyer.

In 1951 he was brought to the faculty of St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary, Crestwood, New York, by Fr. Florovsky (qq.v.), where he taught church history and liturgical theology (q.v.). Dean of the Seminary from 1962 until his death, he played a vital role in making it a center of liturgical and eucharistic revival. He had a weekly radio program to Russia on Radio Liberty for many years, and was active in the creation of the autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church in America (qq.v.) in 1970. His publications include The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy (1963), For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy (1973), Of Water and the Spirit, and Introduction to Liturgical Theology. He is survived by his wife, Julianna, who continues to edit and publish his lectures and notes.