Père Bernard Dupuy

This article by Father Bernard Dupuy examines the relationship of Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980), an Orthodox monk of the Eastern Church, with what he called the "mystery of Israel." Drawing on biographical and theological study, it traces the evolution of a thought long absent from Gillet's spiritual life, before a mystical experience that occurred in 1935 at the Sea of Galilee definitively oriented him toward Judaism. The article then analyzes the major work that resulted from this, *Communion in the Messiah* (1942), in which Gillet develops a theology of Jewish-Christian dialogue founded on a "communion in the Messiah," a Pauline reading of the mystery of Israel, and an original reflection on Zionism. The contribution of the article lies in shedding light on a pioneering Orthodox contribution to Jewish-Christian dialogue, predating the great conciliar declarations, and in the articulation between personal spiritual experience and theological elaboration.