Alexander Schmemann, Estonian-American priest and theologian (b. 1921)
Alexander Dmitrievich Schmemann (Russian: Алекса́ндр Дми́триевич Шме́ман, Aleksandr Dmitrievich Šmeman; 13 September 1921 – 13 December 1983) was an influential Orthodox priest, theologian, and author who had most of his career in the United States.
Born in Estonia to émigrés from the Russian Revolution, he grew up primarily in France, where there was a large émigré community in Paris. After being educated there in both Russian and French schools and universities, from 1946 to 1951 he taught in Paris. That year he immigrated with his family to New York City to teach at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. In 1962 he was selected as dean of the Seminary, serving in this position until his death. For 30 years, his sermons in Russian were broadcast by Radio Liberty into the Soviet Union, where they were influential as a voice from beyond the Iron Curtain.
Schmemann was among the leaders in forming the Orthodox Church in America as an autocephalous institution, which status it gained from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970. While identifying strongly as Russian, Schmemann sought to make the OCA independent of any ethnic or national group, and open to all peoples. He believed the Orthodox Church had a mission to the West. In his teachings and writings, he explored the many ways that Christian liturgy was an expression of Christian theology.