www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Fr Lev Gillet

From another thread:

Lev Gillet, a RC turned GC and who was secretary to Met. Andrew himself, became Orthodox and a famous writer as the "Monk of the Eastern Church."

Here is a fascinating, altogether exceptional figure worth discussing here. There is a thick biography that's been recommended to me. And an expert has told me Fr Lev's claim to be a secret Catholic all those years as an Orthodox (he died in 1980) is true. He changed bishops, from Met. Andrew (Sheptytsky) in L'vov to Met. Evlogy in Paris, in the 1920s because he wanted to minister to the Russian exiles living around him in France but couldn't as a Ukrainian Catholic priest. Apparently the transfer was a top-secret agreement between the two bishops, so Fr Lev not only acted with Met. Andrew's knowledge but permission. And apparently he wasn't a Trojan horse or infiltrator out to get born Orthodox to leave. A tortured soul? Perhaps? A holy one? Perhaps. Seems he was living right on the fault line of the Schism, a man of confused and divided loyalties. Or perhaps a witness to greater Catholicity than most on both sides realized at the time.

http://oldworldrus.com

Slava IC XC~

Serge;

Do you have any more info on the above mentioned biography? Is it in English?

Thanks,

Stefan-Ivan

Serge,

Thank you for this info. I've read some of his writeings under "monk of the Eastern Church". I always wondered who this masked man was.

He seems like my kind of guy. Way ahead of his time. I would of done the same thing. I declared the schism dead many years ago!

Joe Prokopchak
"All you need is Love"----John Lennon

Stefan-Ivan, I haven't got more information but I think the book is in English. Joe, you're welcome.

The Lord loves the one who loves the Lord. - George Harrison

(Yes, I know, he was talking about Krishna but I like the man and the quotation. May God have mercy on the soul of George.)

http://oldworldrus.com

Amen, Brother Serge!!!

Blessings!

Serge,

What's the name of the book that was recommended to you? I'd be interested in looking at it someday. Your comments reminded me of this exchange from the CINEAST archives. In it the claim is made that Fr Lev Gillet was received into Orthodoxy simply by concelebrating the Eucharist and that he continued to take the Sacrament of Penance in Catholic churches all his life:

http://www.cin.org/archives/cineast/199804/0153.html

http://www.cin.org/archives/cineast/199804/0137.html

Dave Ignatius DTBrown@aol.com

Dave,

I wasn't given a title but an online search using his name should help you find it. I remember that claim too about Confession — the expert I talked to said it was true. Yes, Fr Lev was received into Orthodoxy simply by concelebrating with Met. Evlogy.

http://oldworldrus.com

Well, well. Guess 'grandstanding' isn't all it's cut out to be. Service to God's people seems to still be the hallmark. Fr. Lev seems to have tap-danced through the administrative mine-field, but still managed to serve God's people as they needed the service. Would that we had more folks with the guts to do this.

Screw the papers; love God and one's neighbor.

Blessings to Fr. Lev and the rest of us!!!

I think I found the book:

Lev Gillet, Monk of the Eastern Church
by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel translated from the French by Helen Wright

It is $33.95 and available from Light & Life,
http://www.light-n-life.com/

Apparently Elisabeth Behr-Sigel is still living and in her mid 90's.

Father Lev reposed in the Lord in 1980.

Stefan

Dear Serge,

I met a Ukrainian Catholic Studite priest and Ihumen who knew Fr. Lev Gillet well and this is what he told me about him.

He said that Fr. Lev admitted to him that he never "rejected" Catholicism and that this was not required of him to adhere to Orthodoxy.

He did believe that the Orthodox Church was not a "new light" but a "clearer light" and this is why he became Orthodox.

He was formally Orthodox, but didn't regard Catholicism as heretical.

But he clearly also referred to Byzantine Catholics as "Roman Catholics of the Byzantine Rite" (in a well-meaning way, though).

For him, the spiritual experience of Theosis and the Jesus Prayer was most important.

He would say the word, "Jesus" over everyone he met and over everyone he saw on the public transit.

Met. Andrew did encourage him, not because he thought he was a "secret Catholic" but because the Metropolitan actually did believe in other forms of unity and did not stand in his secretary's way to follow his vocation.

Alex

Belated thanks, Stefan-Ivan, for the pertinent info about the book so one can get it, and thanks, Alex, for the biographical details about Fr Lev. He and I have similar views, though I never would call Byzantine Catholics "Roman Catholics'!

http://oldworldrus.com

Dear Serge,

Good!

Alex

People interested in Father Lev might want to check out this url:

http://www.jacwell.org/Spring_2001/father_lev_gillet.htm

which has a long review of his biography and gives some good detail on his life.

Frank