Lev Gillet

This article presents the French translation of Chapter III of Lev Gillet's work *Communion in the Messiah* (1942), devoted to the theological relations between Judaism and Christianity. Proceeding through comparative and synthetic study, Gillet examines the main points of divergence and convergence between the two traditions: the opposition between Greek and Hebrew categories of thought, the question of monotheism in relation to Christian Christology and Pneumatology, as well as the Jewish notions of Memra, Shekinah, Ruah-ha-Kodesh, and messianic redemption. The central idea is that Christianity carries a deeply Jewish core, and that fundamental rabbinic concepts constitute prefigurations of the Christian doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Forgiveness. The contribution of the article is to propose a "Hebrew Christology" capable of grounding a renewed theological dialogue between the two traditions, by showing that their apparent divergences rest in part on differences of language rather than of substance.

This article publishes an anthology of unpublished letters addressed between 1921 and 1929 by Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980) to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The publication, introduced by Élisabeth Behr-Sigel and presented at a Canadian academic congress in 1996, takes the form of a thematic anthology organized around several axes: liturgical style, Eastern monasticism, kenotic spirituality, hesychast prayer, and apostolate among Russian emigrants. The central idea is that these letters reveal the founding intuitions that would lead Gillet toward the Orthodox Church: an aspiration to unite mystery and freedom, an ideal of total self-giving inspired by the Russian ascetic tradition, and an ecclesiology of "Catholic Orthodoxy" distinct from Uniatism. From a theological standpoint, these documents shed unprecedented light on the spiritual and ecclesiological genesis of a major figure of Western Orthodoxy in the twentieth century.

This article publishes two previously unpublished letters by Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980), addressed in 1928 to his Greek Catholic bishop, and introduced by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel. These epistolary documents shed direct and personal light on the intellectual and spiritual process that led Gillet to leave the Roman Catholic Church and join the Orthodox Church. The approach is that of an edition of primary sources with testimonial value. The central idea is that this transition did not result from an emotional rejection, but from a carefully argued ecclesiological conviction: Gillet contests the historical and theological legitimacy of the papacy as defined by the Vatican Council, and recognizes in Orthodoxy the authentic continuity of the ancient Church. The contribution of these letters is twofold: they document a pivotal moment in the reception of Orthodoxy in the West and illustrate the question of ecclesial unity at the beginning of the twentieth century.

This article by Father Lev Gillet, known as the "Monk of the Eastern Church," published in 1954 in the Cairo journal *La Part du Sable*, offers a pastoral and theological reading of Franz Kafka's work. Taking as its starting point the chapter "In the Cathedral" from *The Trial*, the author engages in a fictional spiritual dialogue with the Prague writer, in response to the Kafkaesque priest who is unable to offer help or hope. The study argues that Kafka's work possesses a fundamentally positive religious significance: despite the apparent failure of his heroes, it bears witness to an authentic quest for divine grace. Gillet analyzes the obstacles — familial, psychological, religious — that delayed this deliverance, and draws a parallel between Kafka's spiritual journey and the Johannine-Crucian dark night of the soul. The theological contribution lies in this orthodox and merciful rereading of a modern literary work as a path toward God.