Christ in Russia: The History, Tradition, and Life of the Russian Church

Helene Iswolsky (1896-1975) was a Russian noblewoman, anti-communist political refugee, writer, translator and journalist. She was born in 1896, the daughter of Alexander Izvolsky, a Russian diplomat, and niece of Peter Izvolsky, Procurator of the Holy Synod. At the start of WWI, Helene managed to escape from Berlin to France and settled in Paris, where she attended the Sorbonne University and earned her living by writing for French journals of spiritual direction and translating the philosophical prose of Nicholas Berdyaev. In 1923, she converted to the Catholic Church, having been raised in the Russian Orthodox faith. During WWII, she moved from France to the United States in 1941, settling in New York City. With the support from the Tolstoy Foundation, she founded the ecumenical journal The Third Hour, aimed at uniting all Christian denominations: Catholic, Orthodox and Protestants. The first issue was published in 1946 in three editions, English, Russian and French, and articles were contributed by authors such as Simone Weil, Edith Stein, Mother Maria Skobtsova, and Teilhard de Chardin. The magazine was highly regarded by eminent scholars such as Berdyaev, Jacques Maritain, Karl Barth, and Jean Daniélou. From 1950-1959, Helene was a teacher and lecturer of Contemporary Russian Studies at New York’s Fordham University Institute. She was also a guest lecturer at Seton hill College in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Towards the end of her life, Helene lived at times in Tivoli, New York, where she began to take an active part in the spiritual life of the small nearby Benedictine monastery. When it was moved to Cold Spring, New York in 1972, Helene followed in 1974, and took her vows as a nun with the name Olga, shortly before her death on Christmas Eve in 1975. Her other published books include Soviet Man—Now (1936), Light Before Dusk: A Russian Catholic in France, 1923-1941 (1942) and, Soul of Russia (1944).