Lev Gillet

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Born in 1893 in Saint-Marcellin (Isère, France), after studies of philosophy in Paris, Louis Gillet (Lev Gillet - Photo) was mobilised during the First World War, taken prisoner in 1914 and spent three years in captivity, where he was attracted by the spirit and the spirituality of the Russian prisoners. He studied mathematics and psychology in Geneva and joined the Benedictines of Clairvaux in 1919. Attracted by the Eastern Christianity, he became acquainted with Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Galicia, and pronounced his final vows at the Studite Monastery of Uhniv in Galicia.

Disappointed by the attitude of the Catholic Church towards Orthodoxy, Father Lev was received in the Orthodox Church in Paris in May 1928, and in November 1928 he became rector of the parish of Sainte-Geneviève-de-Paris, the first French-speaking Orthodox parish. In 1938 he left Paris to settle in London, within the framework of the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius [1], an ecumenical organization dedicated to the bringing together of the Anglican Church and the Orthodox Church. He remained in England until his death in 1980, going on many journeys abroad, in particular to France, Switzerland and Lebanon, where he took part in the spiritual revival of Antiochian Orthodoxy.

Principal publications in French (under the pseudonym "a monk of the Eastern Church" - English translations also available) include The Jesus Prayer, Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality, The year of grace of the Lord: A commentary on the Byzantine liturgical year, and Jesus, simple gazes to the Saviour.

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O strange Orthodox Church, so poor and weak, with neither the organization nor the culture of the West, staying afloat as if by a miracle in the face of so many trials, tribulations and struggles; a Church of contrasts, both so traditional and so free, so archaic and so alive, so ritualist and so personally involved, a Church where the priceless pearl of the Gospel is assiduously preserved, sometimes under a layer of dust; a Church which in shadows and silence maintains above all the eternal values of purity, poverty, asceticism, humility and forgiveness; a Church which has often not known how to act, but which can sing of the joy of Pascha like no other.

[edit] Source

Translated from [2],[3] (French)

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Writings by Fr. Lev Gillet

[edit] Other material

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