The Poet Who Moved Mountains: The Living Legacy of Mother Maria of Paris
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
Mother Maria Skobtosova {1891-1945} remains a legend who inspires activists fighting for the homeless, poor and anyone who lands in trouble. The unconventional nun not only helped the poor and the homeless but became part of the French Resistance which aided Jews fleeing from the Nazis in wartime Paris. She was arrested, and she died in a German Concentration Camp in 1945.
"Piety, piety but where is the love that moves mountains? We must not allow Christ to be overshadowed by any regulations, any customs, any traditions, any ascetic considerations or even any piety... The way to God lies through love of people. At the last judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked, ‘Did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners?’ That is all I shall be asked."
These words are from Mother Maria of Paris, a poet who had fled the Russian revolution to seek refuge in Paris, where she became a nun and resolved to devote all her time to helping the homeless, the destitute and the refugees. She aimed to profoundly practice a new type of Monasticism which rather than withdrawing from the world into a secluded cloister to pray and fast, sought to serve the needs of the poor in Paris. In this regard, Mother Maria along with a team of priests and volunteers managed to establish a shelter for homeless women, a soup kitchen and a place where anyone could come to receive some kind of social and spiritual aid.
Not everyone within the Orthodox Church welcomed or understood her words or actions! They viewed the church as simply a ritualized and rigid institution to come and pray, observe the sacraments, fasts and commemorate special celebrations. The Church was looked by some as a pleasant safe haven where people went to forget problems rather than confront them. It was a beautiful fairy tale kingdom where people escaped and even turned their backs against a world they perceived as 'hostile, evil and against' them. You had to avoid sinners in order not to be infected by them. When Mother Maria suggested that on the contrary, you had to embrace sinners to help them some were scandalized by this. In fact, they were shocked to find a nun who openly drank beer, smoked cigarettes and would come late to church services or leave early. When someone rang the doorbell of the church for help during the church service she ran to open it. This was seen as almost a kind of blasphemy. But she argued hospitality was much more important than rigidly observing the liturgy.
An indication about how people felt offended by her behavior is indicated by the words of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh who wrote, “She was a very unusual nun in her behavior and manners. I was simply staggered when I saw her for the first time. I was walking along the Boulevard Mountparnasse in front of a café; there was a table. On the table was a glass of beer and behind the glass was sitting a Russian nun in full monastic robe. I looked at her and decided that I would never go near that woman.”
She was 'a wicked woman' best avoided. Nuns were not supposed to drink beer and chain smoke. When some girls asked her whether they could try on her robes she freely agreed. "Go ahead and try them on," she answered. Nuns were not supposed to share their 'holy garments' with non-nuns and certainly not with non-believers. But Mother Maria was not distracted by such idle chatter. She just went ahead performing the liturgy after the liturgy which meant devoting all your time to assisting other people in distress.
In 1932, Mother Maria and their team had managed to secure a three-floor house at 77 Rue De Lourmel. There, they could feed and aid at least 100 people and serve out 120 dinners. This was to be the start of a massive social charity program that later widened out to other parts of Paris. Once she visited a poor family and gave a kind of sermon to them and proposed some form of help. The poor family were not impressed. They told her, "If you really want to help us you should mop the floor." Instead of being offended, she took up a mop and started to clean the floor. The poor family were startled by this unexpected response. They were moved. Now they knew she was genuine. In fact, she said that when helping poor people you must make them perfectly at ease and at home and not undermine their dignity in any way.
What is the point of helping a person if you weaken rather than strengthen their dignity? She was no snob! She declared, "Christ who approached prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners, can hardly be the teacher of those who are afraid to soil their pristine garments, who are completely devoted to the letter, who live only by the rules, and who govern their whole life according to rules."
We usually imagine Paris as a romantic, scenic and stunning city where you can enjoy a life of gaiety and indulge in all kinds of amusements. Paris is also seen as a mecca for all kinds of artists and writers seeking some kind of inspiration. And certainly the Paris of the pre-war years acted as an irresistible magnet for writers such as Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett—not to mention countless artists and exiled Russian philosophers, composers, and poets.
The alluring and amazing atmosphere of those times was captured by Ernest Hemingway who wrote “A Moveable Feast.” Hemingway stated, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then whenever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." However, not everyone experienced the joys of Paris. Not everyone was invited to the feast. Thousands of Russian refugees found themselves having to take on soulless low-paid and long-hour jobs as dishwashers or waiters. A woman who had once been a princess in Russia was now a poor waitress in Paris. I think if you read George Orwell's “Down and Out in Paris and London” you will find the downside of Paris. The detective novel of Georges Simenon “A Man's Head” is evocative of those times—especially in a description of a young Russian woman who always enters a restaurant to order the cheapest drink so she can read all the Russian newspapers to the disgust of a waiter who openly despises her while talking to the detective Maigret. The Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva who lived in Paris stated, "There {Moscow} a broken shoe is unfortunate or heroic, here {in Paris} it's a disgrace. People will take me for a beggar and chase me back where I came from. If that happens I'll hang myself." Tragically, that turned out to be the fate of this poet.
A poet, Mother Maria herself was stunned by the plight of the dreadful poverty and misery being experienced by the Russian refugees she noticed around her. She evidently had literary talents and wrote very good poems, plays and stories {there is a famous photo of her with Aleksander Block when she was only 15. The poet was smitten by her.} Despite all of these talents, she decided to dedicate her life to alleviating the misery of the poor. If you look at some of the photos of Mother Maria, you'll notice she had some kind of almost enigmatic smile. It seems to be an almost mischievous smile—and you would expect her to crack a joke or tell an anecdote. She had a great sense of humor and could be very witty. She enjoyed a good argument with the Russian philosopher Berdeyaev. However, she thought that without action all this philosophy remained just idle chatter and talk. The main point was to practice this philosophy by going out on to the streets and helping people. It did not matter whether those people were alcoholics, criminals or outcasts, you still had to help them.
A Japanese writer once wrote, “It is easy to love the beautiful and the good but it is not so easy to love the ugly and the bad.” The Church had to fully open their doors to the unwanted and abandoned. It should not put up no entry signs to unwanted people on all kinds of spurious grounds. The church had to be a place of hospitality and love in the real sense of the word.
When the Germans invaded Paris in 1940, Mother Maria and Father Dmitri worked to set up clandestine escape routes for Jews fleeing the Nazis. They even managed to smuggle out Jewish children detained in a German stadium. They forged all kinds of documents to help the Jews. Unfortunately, Mother Maria and Father Dmitri were arrested by the Germans in February 1942 and Mother Maria was sent to Ravensbruck where she died. Surviving ex-prisoners remembered her with great fondness as being a great source of comfort and aid to prisoners.
Mother Maria could have fled occupied France to live in England but chose to stay and help others. She refused to stay at home, lock herself up in an ivory tower, and play safe. Instead, she and others became part of the French resistance that helped the persecuted, whether they were Jews, prostitutes or the homeless. Here was a heroine who along with Martin Luther King and the Russian Theologian Aleksandr—men who sacrificed their lives to aid the poor and persecuted. All of these people definitely made a difference—and helped build a more caring world!
Acknowledged sources:
Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell, 2009 printing. London: Penguin Books.
A Man's Head, by Georges Simenon, 2003 printing. London: Penguin Classics.
A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway, 2011 printing. London: Arrow Books.
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, by Orlando Figes, 2003. London: Picador.
Pearl of Great Price: The Life of Mother Maria Skobtsova, by Sergei Hackel, 1981. New York: Saint Vladimir Seminary Press.