The new saints

This article is the transcription of an address delivered on June 20 at the Saint Sergius Institute (Paris), under the presidency of Archbishop Gabriel of Comane, Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch. On the occasion of the commemoration of new Orthodox saints canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate — Saint Maria of Paris, the priest-martyr Dimitri Klepinine and their companions, as well as Saint Alexis Medvedkov — the Archbishop offers a theological meditation on holiness in the context of the Russian emigration in Western Europe. The central idea is that these saints accomplished what he calls "the sacrament of the brother," that is, the service of Christ through the service of the poor, animated by an inner spiritual freedom. The theological contribution lies in the juxtaposition of two forms of holiness — social engagement and ordinary pastoral faithfulness — unified by the action of one and the same Holy Spirit.