‘Eucharist. The Sacrament of the Kingdom’ as an Example of the Formation of the Personality and Theological Views of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

Abstract

On the basis of the sources, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann writes the main book of his life — «The Eucharist. The Mystery of the Kingdom». The purpose of the analysis is to trace the change in individual views and judgments of Father Alexander and the history of the formation of the final text of his main theological work. For this, the «Diaries» of Father Alexander and his publications on the pages of the «Bulletin of the Russian Student Christian Movement» were analyzed. These two sources (one personal and the other open) made it possible to imagine how the work on the text of the book was going on, how many of its aspects were rethought and rewritten almost until the last days of the author’s life. Many thoughts on the Eucharist were published by Father Alexander in the «Bulletin». One of the difficult chapters, which Schmemann rewrote many times, was the chapter «The Sacrament of the Holy Spirit». This is largely due to the author’s attempt to consider the problem of East and West, Orthodoxy and Catholicism on the pages of this chapter.