A Roman Catholic Abbe Who Became an Orthodox = Priest

From: Subject: A Roman Catholic Abbe Who Became an Orthodox Priest Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:42:31 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.roca.org/OA/126-127/126g.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028 A Roman Catholic Abbe Who Became an Orthodox = Priest

Orthodox=20 America

A Roman = Catholic Abbe=20 Who Became an Orthodox Priest

The future = Fr.=20 Vladimir was born 1 December 1816, in the town of Blois, on the Loire = River in=20 central France. = Ren=E9-Francois, as=20 he was called, received an upbringing typical for a boy from a wealthy = and=20 respected family of that time. = From=20 his first lessons with the local cur=E9, he went on to seminary and = completed the=20 graduate program. Even = then he=20 sensed the error of the scholastic approach, although it was still some = time=20 before he was sufficiently equipped to be able to repudiate it.

Ordained a = Roman=20 Catholic priest in 1839, he was first an assistant pastor in a small = country=20 town, and later had his own flock elsewhere, where he organized a school = for=20 children. His scholarship-his work in the libraries, his love for = reading and=20 textual analysis-drew the attention of the local bishop. It was at this time that the = 32-year old=20 Guett=E9e came out with his twelve-volume History of the Church in = France. Soon=20 thereafter Guett=E9e moved to Paris, where he found himself under attack = by the=20 cardinal of that city and the Jesuits, who vehemently objected to the = strongly=20 Gallican spirit of his History.

With the = promulgation=20 of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin (1854), = which=20 likewise troubled many other clergy and laity, Guett=E9e began = publication of The=20 Catholic Review, a journal in which he tried to refute this error. As he himself later recalled, = the issue=20 forced him to reexamine the grounds for the Roman Catholic teaching = regarding=20 the papacy. "Here I began to look at the papacy first-hand. ... And I = saw it for=20 what it really was. ... I re-read the words of the most erudite = defenders of the=20 papacy, and I became convinced that it is based neither on Holy = Scripture nor on=20 the Tradition of the Church Universal."

Guett=E9e's = examination=20 of the papacy opened his eyes to a whole system of errors, which, under = his=20 scrutiny, "collapsed like the walls of Jericho at Joshua's trumpets." =

Increasingly = disaffected by Roman Catholicism, Guett=E9e would no doubt have wandered = about in=20 limbo for some time were it not for a providential encounter with Fr. = Joseph=20 Vassiliev, who served the chapel in the Russian embassy on rue Grenelle, = and who=20 assisted Guett=E9e in his move towards Orthodoxy. Fr. Guett=E9e renamed his = journal The=20 Christian Union. = Initially=20 published under the editorial guidance of Fr. Joseph, the journal = attracted a=20 number of collaborators, including the Russian slavophile, Alexis=20 Khomiakov. It held aloft = the banner=20 of Orthodoxy, deflecting the attacks and slanders of its adversaries, = and=20 exposing the Catholic propaganda spread by Russians who had fallen prey = to the=20 Jesuits. In its pages Vladimir Soloviev was soundly rebuffed for his = Uniate=20 pretentions. The journal likewise proved valuable in acquainting Roman = Catholic=20 theologians with the teachings of the Orthodox faith.

If Fr. = Guett=E9e had any=20 lingering doubts concerning Orthodoxy, they were dispelled by Bishop = Leonty of=20 Petersburg, who came to Paris for the consecration of the Russian = church. By=20 this time no half-way solution such as Jansenism or Old Catholicism = could=20 satisfy Fr. Guett=E9e. He = saw that=20 outside of Orthodoxy, everything else simply wandered around or near the = truth,=20 but only Orthodoxy possessed it.

"From my = conversations=20 with His Grace," wrote Fr. Guett=E9e, "it became clear that although = formally I=20 was not Orthodox, I was nevertheless a genuinely Orthodox writer....And = I=20 fervently desired to become Orthodox in deed, i.e., to belong to the = Russian=20 Church." An exception was = made and,=20 by order of the Holy Synod, Guett=E9e was received into the Orthodox = Church in his=20 clerical rank (under the present circumstances such economy would = clearly be=20 inadmissible). "I became = Orthodox,"=20 said Fr. Guett=E9e, "without having read a single book about Orthodoxy, = simply=20 having studied the Fathers of the Church, the decrees of the first = ecumenical=20 councils, and the incontestable facts of the history of the Church." =

In answer to = those who=20 scornfully referred to Orthodoxy as a "schism," Fr. Vladimir titled the = first=20 part of his theologico-historical work, The Schismatic Papacy. It was = followed=20 by a second volume, The Heretical Papacy. =20 Instead of any scholarly refutations or arguments, Fr. Guett=E9e = was=20 showered with abuse, anonymous letters, threats. Still, among the more = perceptive and=20 honest of the Roman Catholic theo-logians were those who understood the = essence=20 of these works. An = eminent German=20 theologian responded, "This is one of those works which is absolutely=20 irrefutable!" Fr. Vladimir became Orthodox from within, from study and=20 reflection. Apart from = the services=20 in the Russian Church in Paris, he was still not acquainted with the = external=20 aspects of Orthodoxy. Then he went to Russia, where he found himself = immersed in=20 a thoroughly Orthodox milieu. "Everything in the conduct of the services = was=20 majestic, solemn, superb-without being in the least theatrical! Such a contrast to what we = have become=20 accustomed in the West. = This is=20 what struck me first. In their profound simplicity of services, which = transport=20 the spirit back to the Church of the first centuries, the bishop, = priest,=20 deacon, and devout people comprise a single entity, offering praise to = God and=20 entreating His mercy."

At the = recommendation=20 of the professors of the Moscow Academy, Fr. Vladimir was awarded the = rank of=20 doctor of theology, and he was given a diploma written up by = Metropolitan=20 Philaret himself. He also = had the=20 honor of being received by Tsar Alexander II.

His = enthusiasm and=20 love for Russian Orthodoxy did not mean, however, that in order to be = Orthodox=20 one necessarily had to become Russian, Greek, Serbian... And this point of view, held = by Fr.=20 Guett=E9e, was wholly shared by his Russian friends and supporters.

Returning to = France he=20 commenced work on his monumental History of the Church. The work was = designed to=20 show "what seems evident enough-that the Orthodox Church is the heir of = the=20 Early Church. And a faithful heir, having neither added to nor changed = the=20 doctrines of the faith. = For this=20 reason this is the true Apostolic Church of Christ."

In order to = work in=20 peace, Fr. Guett=E9e was compelled to emigrate from his native France. = He moved to=20 Luxembourg, and there managed to produce seven of the ten proposed = volumes of=20 his History. His = missionary=20 accomplishments also include translation into French of the Divine = Liturgy of=20 St. John Chrysostom, with explanatory notes, and publication of An = Explanation=20 of the Doctrine of the Orthodox Church: Differences with other Christian = Churches. His autobiographical book, Memoirs of a Roman Catholic Priest = Who=20 Became Orthodox (Paris 1889), was soon translated into Russian and, in = view of=20 Roman Catholic proselytizing efforts today, deserves to be reprinted. = Guett=E9e=20 died March 10/23, 1892, at the age of 76. =20 His remains were brought back to Paris for the funeral and were = buried in=20 the Batignole cemetery. On the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent, 1992, in=20 commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of his repose, clergy of = the=20 Russian Church Abroad served a memorial service at his grave.

Guett=E9e's=20 contemporary, Monseigneur Emile Boujeau, once declared, "Who in France = could=20 possibly take it into their head to become a Greek [i.e., Orthodox]=20 schismatic!" Abb=E9 = Guett=E9e was not=20 the only one to prove wrong the Roman prelate's contemptuous = remark. Roughly calculated, the number = of=20 Orthodox clergy in Western Europe, who, like Guett=E9e, converted to the = Faith,=20 now exceeds the number of those born in the Faith.

From an = article in=20 Pravoslavnaya Rus', No. 9, 1992, which was compiled from = materials in the=20 Diocesan Messenger of the Western-European Diocese of the Russian = Orthodox=20 Church Abroad. A more = complete=20 biography of Fr. Guett=E9e was recently authored in French by Jean-Paul = Besse=20 (Lavardac 1992).

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