Thanksgiving, Salvation, and Eternal Joy The Embrace of a Full, Joyous Christian Life by Serge Schmemann Summer/Fall 2014
I don’t know what the setting was or when it happened – perhaps a reader will remember – but at some point in his life Father Alexander remarked that he had no doubt God had a sense of humor. The proof, he said, was the hippopotamus, a beast for which there was no other possible explanation. He wasn’t serious, of course; my father did have a sense of humor and liked to leaven his conversation and talks with quips and jokes. This one, however, took on a life of its own. The quip got around, and people began giving him little plastic hippos, hippo cards, cuddly hippos... I even got a necktie with a hippo. The hippo became a wonderful reflection of the warmth and happiness he brought to his family, friends, students and flock. He invited informality, sharing, celebration.
I think of this and all the other ways he extended his full, joyful life in the Church to an embrace of life in all its forms when I am invited to talk about how it was to grow up with him as my father, and especially now when I travel to Russia and encounter the remarkable impact Father Alexander’s Journals have had there. When my mother first decided to publish these On the eve of departure to the very personal diaries, she feared that United States, Clamart, France they might give the impression of a man given to complaining about the burden of his daily work. Certainly there is a sense of frustration now and again with the fuss of administrative work and the many inevitable small crises of the Seminary and the OCA, but I believe one purpose of the diaries was precisely to grouse a bit, to get things off his chest. What is more important is that these passages reflect a constant recognition, a constant yearning to return to what Father Alexander again and again refers to as the “most important” – the glorious joy of a full life in Christ.
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Leaving our home early in the morning for Matins at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, he would walk briskly through the Crestwood suburb in his cassock, greeting smiling neighbors and dog-walkers, and from his office I can still hear the echo of David Drillock’s loud laughter as they shared some new anecdote. It was good to be around Father Alexander. For us as kids that was especially true at our summer retreat in the Laurentian hills of Quebec, where Father Alexander did much of his writing, and where we built a chapel in which Fathers John Meyendorff, Tom Hopko, Alexis Vinogradov, John Tkachuk and John Hopko were among the generations of relatives and friends to share in radiant summer worship. Father Alexander had a way of making everyday life a celebration. His daily brisk walks had grandiloquent names – “Versailles,” “Road of Ruins” – and, as he did wherever he was, he plunged fully into the history, lore, politics and life of French Canada. The summer feasts included St. Serge, Sts. Boris and Gleb, St. Mary Magdalene and of course Annunciation and Transfiguration, and to these we added our unique summer tradition of blessing the lake, which included a procession that neighbors stopped to watch. There were always many kids up there, and all were drawn into the celebration as singers or altar boys. Father Alexander’s love of America was equally full and contagious. He relished his walks through New York, his discovery of new cities, his visits to Orthodox parishes in the heartland. When I was drafted into the Army, and ordered to Vietnam, my father was proud, and I will never forget his parting words: “Today the rest of us are going back to what we always do, but you are headed for a great challenge.”
“The source of ‘false religion’ is not knowing how to be joyful, or, more accurately, the rejection In truth, Father Alexander was not a complainer. of joy,” Father Alexander wrote in the Journals. My recollections are of a father whose daily routine, “At the same time joy is so absolutely important extensive travels around America and the world, because it is the indisputable fruit of an awareness meetings, readings, writings and conversations of God’s presence. It is impossible to know that were suffused with discipline and good spirit. God is and not rejoice.”
