Father Boris Bobrinskoy passed away. He was the last great theologian of the School of Paris.

In the night from the 6th to the 7th August 2020 Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Boris Bobrinskoy passed away in his residence in Busy-en-Othe (France). Father Boris was dean and professor of Dogmatic Theology at St Sergius Institute, Paris, and the main priest of the Holy Trinity Parish in Paris.

Boris Bobrinskoy was born in Paris in 1925, the son of Russian parents who migrated to France after the 1917 Revolution. Following the death of his mother when he was only ten, he was sent to boarding schools in Namur (Belgium) and Paris, run by Jesuits of the Byzantine rite. In 1942 he took Father Cyprian Kern as his spiritual father, and served as an acolyte at the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

After receiving his baccalaureate in 1944, Bobrinskoy began his theological studies at the St Sergius Institute, the same year as John Meyendorff. There, he came under the influence of faculty members such as Fathers Georges Florovsky, Nicholas Afanasiev, Cyprian Kern, and Alexander Schmemann, Antony Kartashev, and Leon Zander. He was also strongly influenced by Vladimir Lossky, who was Dean and Professor at the St Denys Institute. In 1949, he completed his studies with the submission of his thesis on the mystery of chrismation in fourth-century Syro-Palestinian tradition. Bobrinskoy began his master’s work under the direction of Father George Florovsky, who arranged for him to study for two years in Athens, Greece.

Upon his return to St Sergius, he began teaching history, but in 1954 he accepted the chair in dogmatic theology (which he held until 2009). This was followed three years later by his marriage to Hélène Disterlo, who was to give birth to the couple’s three children. He was ordained a deacon in the spring of 1959 and priest in the fall. In 1969, Father Boris became the main priest of Holy Trinity parish, the French-language congregation that meets in the crypt of St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. He was very much aware of the need of the inculturation of the Orthodox Church in a Western European reality. Therefor he was an active member of the ‘Fraternité Orthodox’ of Western Europe.

His life long he was a priest belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and was very active in the Ecumenical Movement. He was a member of Faith and Order (World Council of Churches), took several times part at General Assemblees of the WCC as a member of the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but also at high level panorthodox gatherings in Chambésy, Switzerland.

Since his childhood our Metropolitan Athenagoras was related to Father Boris. Father Boris was the spiritual father of the father of Metropolitan Athenagoras, Archpriest Ignace Peckstadt. Also His Eminence was spiritually related to Father Boris, who was a person with a great heart and an exceptional pastoral care. Someone who knew how to listen to the other person and understood the framework in which his spiritual children lived.

He came quite often to Belgium, where he gave lectures and had a lot of friends.

Some years ago he retired near the Orthodox Monastery of the Veil of Our Lady in Bussy-en-Othe, France.

May God grant him the rest of his soul! Eternal memory!