I Believe

by Alexander Schmemann

This is a remarkable collection of Fr Alexander Schmemann s sermons delivered over the course of many years over Radio Liberty to listeners in the Soviet Union. Selected from over 3000 sermons, his broadcasts were widely acclaimed. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in a private letter written in 1972, characterized with particular clarity Fr Alexander s gift of

...it amazes me how authentic, contemporary and eloquent is the art of his preaching. There is not a note of affectation, not a millimeter of stretching the interpretation...but always, there is powerfully deep thought and deep feeling...

The first of these sermons, under the title The Celebration of Faith uses the themes of faith, revelation, and the Nicene Creed as the symbol of faith. Though generally directed towards those in the church, these talks are unique in that they speak also to the person not in the church, to the person who has had no experience whatsoever of things religious, or whose experience of religion has convinced him of it emptiness. There are no prerequisites for appreciating these talks, no special knowledge required of the vocabulary of the Orthodox Church. Fr Alexander s only assumption is that he is speaking to seekers, to those who have a spiritual thirst, a yearning for something indefinable that calls them out of themselves. And in speaking to the non-religious seeker, he reaches also the religious seeker as well, the one who is seeking to grow in his faith, life and understanding of God s revelation in Christ and the Church.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction

124 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 1991

About the author

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann was a prominent Eastern Orthodox theologian and priest of the Orthodox Church in America.

Reviews

[Diana Kullman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd like to find more volumes from this author!

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am citit varianta în limba română - CRED, apărută în 2014 la Editura Basilica. Este o carte excepțională, o scriitură măiestrită, de bijutier, în stilul minunat al Părintelui Profesor Alexander Schmemann.
Cartea ne vorbește despre credință, despre revelație și mai ales despre Simbolul crediței, pe care Părintele Alexander îl tratează cu lux de amănunte.
”Miracolul, taina, cunoașterea, bucuria, dragostea: toate acestea își au ecoul în cuvântul ”Cred”, care este totodată o afirmație și un răspuns. Este răspunsul dat Celui care, primul, m-a iubit; este afirmarea primirii de către mine a acestei iubiri și realitatea acestei întâlniri. ”Cred!” - aceasta și tot ceea ce urmează în Simbolul de credință este relatarea, mărturia a ceea ce sufletul a învățat în această întâlnire.”
Este o carte care se citește destul de ușor și pe care o recomand cu mult drag.

[Dorotheos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear.
Covers faith, revelation and the basic beliefs of Christianity as summirized in the Nicene Creed.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waaaa. I don't want to be finished. What a rich time I've passed with this Russian priest, who cared so much about people that he spoke to them about God on the radio twice a week every week until he died in 1983.

This is basically a walk through the Nicene Creed, but it's written to challenge rationalism and atheism, so it's intellectually stimulating. His language is majestic and poetic, so it's spiritually stimulating, too. So many times I felt drawn up into the heavenlies just by his lovely phrasing.

I want to keep some of my favorite bits.

Why then is this feeling and condition we call faith so absolutely special and unique? Clearly, it is because faith is a response, which not only presupposes the presence of the one to whom we respond, but witnesses to that presence as well. Faith is a responding movement not of the soul alone, but of the entire person with his whole being. Suddenly he hears something, suddenly he sees something, and surrenders himself to that movement. This is expressed in the language of Christianity by saying that faith comes from God, through His initiative, through His call. It is always a response to Him, a person's surrender to Him who gives Himself. As Pascal said so wonderfully: “God says to us: you would not be searching for me unless you had already found me.” And because faith is a response, a responding movement, it always remains a search, a thirst, a yearning.

This leaves me with only one answer to the question of all questions: Why do I believe? I believe because God gave me this faith and continually gives it. He gave it precisely as a gift, as a present, witnessed within me by that joy and that peace I sense, which are so absolutely unrelated to anything in this world and life. Oh! I do not always sense this. In fact, I rarely sense it--only occasionally, at those moments when the word God ceases to be simply a word and becomes an underground hot spring erupting a geyser of light, love, beauty, and life itself.

I do not so much arrive consciously, deductively, or rationally at faith in God, but rather I find faith within myself; I find it and I am filled with wonder, joy, and thanksgiving. I discover it as the mysterious yet so clearly perceptible presence of the One who is everything: peace, joy, tranquility, light. I can’t be the source of this presence, since I find none of that joy, peace, light, tranquility, either within me or in the world around me. Where then do they come from? And so I say the word which expresses all of this, names all of it, and which taken apart from this experience, from the witness of this presence, makes no sense whatsoever: I say the word “God.”

[Roger Burk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A commentary on the Nicene creed by a well-known Orthodox scholar and priest.