Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

This article by Élisabeth Behr-Sigel focuses on the relationship between Mother Maria Skobtsova and Father Lev Gillet, in the context of Mother Maria's canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Drawing on personal testimony as much as historical study, it traces the deep friendship that united these two figures of French-speaking Orthodoxy, from their meeting in 1928 until Mother Maria's death at Ravensbrück. The author shows how their spiritual journeys converge around a shared vision of compassion, solidarity with the persecuted — notably Jews under the Occupation — and a renewed monasticism rooted in the world. The article's contribution is twofold: it illuminates the genesis of French-speaking Western Orthodoxy and situates Mother Maria's holiness within an ecclesiological and ecumenical perspective that extends beyond the sole framework of the Russian emigration.

This article takes the form of an interview given by Élisabeth Behr-Sigel to Michel Stavrou on the occasion of the two-hundredth issue of the journal *Contacts*, founded in 1949 and re-founded in 1959. The theologian retraces the historical circumstances of the twofold birth of this "French-language journal of Orthodoxy," restoring the context of the Russian diaspora in France, the void left by the disappearance of the great thinkers of the first generation — Bulgakov, Berdyaev, Lossky — and the departure of Schmemann and Meyendorff to the United States. The interview sheds light on the decisive role played by Jean Balzon, Germaine Revault d'Allonnes, Paul Evdokimov, Father Lev Gillet, and Olivier Clément in the re-founding of the journal. It also clarifies the founding orientations of *Contacts*: affirmation of the universality of Orthodoxy, rejection of ethnic or nationalist withdrawal, and resolute commitment to ecumenical dialogue.

This article by Élisabeth Behr-Sigel traces the history of Orthodox reflection on the ordination of women, from the World Council of Churches assembly in New Delhi in 1961 to the early 2000s. Taking a historical and theological approach, the author examines the main stages of this debate: the first positions taken by Orthodox theologians in the 1960s, the Agapia conference (1976), the inter-Orthodox consultation in Rhodes (1988) and its ecumenical extensions. She analyzes the arguments successively advanced against the ordination of women — canonical, typological, pneumatological — and demonstrates their limitations in light of the theological anthropology of the Cappadocian Fathers. The article highlights the diversity of positions within contemporary Orthodoxy and argues, on the basis of an ecclesiology of the common baptismal priesthood, that the question should be treated as an open one, calling for discernment and a deepening of authentic Tradition.

This article by Élisabeth Behr-Sigel addresses the question of restoring the female diaconate in the Orthodox Church. It takes the form of a letter addressed to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, co-signed by several renowned Orthodox theologians and public figures. The main idea is that the restoration of the female diaconate, far from constituting a break with Tradition, is part of the historical and canonical continuity of the Church, as evidenced by patristic practices and the resolutions of several pan-Orthodox consultations since 1976. The theological contribution of this text lies in the distinction between archaeological reconstruction and the "creative revitalization" of the female diaconal ministry, adapted to contemporary realities, particularly women's access to theological studies and their growing responsibilities within ecclesial communities.

This article by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, drawn from a theological conference, examines the conditions for a renewed Christian witness at the dawn of the third millennium. Drawing on the thought of Father Alexander Men, whose phrase "Christianity is only just beginning" serves as a guiding thread, the author develops a reflection in the mode of engaged theological meditation. The central idea is that fidelity to the living Tradition does not imply fixism, but a dynamic advance in the Holy Spirit, according to the Pauline tension between the "already" and the "not yet." The article's contribution is twofold: it draws on neo-patristic theology — notably Meyendorff — to distinguish living Tradition from rigid traditionalism, and it identifies concrete areas of work (bioethics, the place of women, Church-State relations, ecumenical dialogue) where a renewed Orthodox thinking proves both necessary and possible.

This article is the transcript of a lecture delivered by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel on the occasion of the founding of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge. Belonging to the realm of programmatic reflection, it examines the directions that Orthodox theological education should take at the threshold of the twenty-first century. The author argues that the faithful transmission of Tradition cannot be reduced to a rigid repetition, but requires a living return to the sources, capable of responding to the new questions raised by Western modernity. Drawing on the works of Lossky, Florovsky and Meyendorff, she identifies several priority areas: ecumenical dialogue, the theological response to the problem of evil, the deepening of Trinitarian theology as an anthropological foundation, and the question of the place of women in ecclesial ministries. The article thus constitutes a plea for a universal Orthodoxy, critical and embodied within its historical context.

This article by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel examines the question of the sources of authority in the Church, articulating ecclesiology, biblical hermeneutics and the theology of Tradition. Adopting a reflective and theological approach, the author draws on an Orthodox conception of the Church as a divine-human reality to interrogate the foundations and structures of ecclesial authority. The central idea is that authentic Tradition, far from being a rigid conservatism, constitutes a living and creative reality, capable of discerning the essence of the Gospel through historical conditionings. The article makes a significant contribution to the debate on the place of women in the Church by showing, drawing on Bulgakov, Meyendorff and Lossky, that Orthodox ecclesiology contains the theological resources necessary to distinguish living Tradition from relative human traditions, thus opening the way to a reconsideration of women's access to ministries of authority.

This article presents two unpublished letters by Father Lev Gillet ("A Monk of the Eastern Church"), discovered in the archives of the Greek Catholic metropolis of Lviv and addressed to the Ukrainian metropolitan Andreas Szeptitsky between April and June 1928. Elisabeth Behr-Sigel introduces and contextualizes them in a biographical and theological study. These letters shed light on Lev Gillet's conversion to Orthodoxy, precipitated by the publication of the papal encyclical *Mortalium animos* (1928), which condemned the nascent ecumenical movement. They reveal that this decision stemmed from a rigorous ecclesiological conviction — the rejection of the Roman conception of Petrine primacy — rather than from political circumstances, thus contradicting earlier hypotheses. The article provides previously unpublished documentary insight into Gillet's spiritual journey and into the tensions between Roman unionism and Orthodoxy in the early twentieth century.

This article by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel examines the relationship of Orthodoxy to peace, bringing together theological reflection, ecclesiastical history, and geopolitical current affairs. The approach is both meditative and analytical: the author begins with the Orthodox Eucharistic liturgy, in which the imploring of peace occupies a central place, and from there develops a study of the tensions between the evangelical ideal and historical realities. The main idea is that Orthodoxy carries a profound vision of peace — rooted in hesychast mysticism and liturgical prayer — but that its national Churches have often instrumentalized this tradition in the service of nationalist logic. The article makes a twofold contribution: it offers a critical rereading of the history of the Orthodox Churches in the face of war, and it signals the emergence of theological and spiritual currents working to break open the national orthodoxies in favor of an ecumenical commitment to peace.

This article announces the organization of an international symposium dedicated to Archimandrite Lev Gillet (1893-1980), a major figure of French-speaking Orthodoxy, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. Written in the form of an institutional announcement by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, on behalf of the preparatory committee, the text presents the program and the planned speakers for October 2 and 3, 1993, at the Institut Saint-Serge in Paris and at the Moulin de Senlis. The article recalls the journey of Lev Gillet — founder of the first French-speaking Orthodox parish in Paris, prolific spiritual author and promoter of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue — and emphasizes the deliberately ecumenical dimension of the commemoration. The contribution of this text lies in the testimony it offers on the reception and valorization of Lev Gillet's legacy within Orthodox and ecumenical circles in Europe in the 1990s.