Christian Mission and Poverty

Chapter 8: Holistic Mission

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for people with disabilities, and care for people in addiction. To support this work, other nuns and priests joined this new monasticism. Eventually, they founded the group Orthodox Action, which supported homes, schools, camps, hospitals, and publishing works around the world. Mary of Paris strove to combine theological study and charity/justice work in a way that was fully Christian and fully engaged in the struggles of the world. Involved in both prayer and social action, she found her work to be “too far to the left” for church circles and “too church- minded” for the left. 1 When the Nazis invaded France at the beginning of World War II, Mary had the chance to leave Paris for the United States but refused so that she could stay with the people. She clearly saw that many people would be systematically slaughtered by the Nazi regime. Mary claimed that to be a Christian meant to identify with the yellow star and to join with Israel, God’s chosen people. The priest in her monastic community began issuing baptismal certificates to Jews to protect them from being arrested by the Gestapo. She and her fellow monastics helped Jews escape Nazi-occupied Paris and were eventually arrested. When confronted by the Gestapo searching for Jews, Mary and others showed them an icon of Mary and a crucifix of Jesus. She and her fellow ministers were loaded on cattle cars and taken to various concentration camps, where they perished. During her imprisonment at Ravensbrück, Mary continued to minister to many in word and deed. She eventually became extremely ill and was sent to the gas chambers. Mary was canonized a saint by the Orthodox Church in 2004.

1 Mother Maria Skobtsova: Essential Writings , 31.