Caring for others and drawing on sources of spiritual life in times of crisis: Mother Maria Skobtsova and Madeleine Delbrêl

Abstract This paper examines the theology and lived experience of caring for others in the lives of Mother Maria Skobtsova and Madeleine Delbrêl, two women who embodied radical Christian care in Paris during the Second World War. Although they never met, they both responded to suffering by applying the twin commandments of the Gospel—to love God and neighbor—and developed a form of care characterized by openness, presence, and solidarity. Mother Maria, an Orthodox nun, understood care as kenotic co-suffering, shaped by a reinterpretation of hesychasm as self-emptying solidarity with refugees, the poor, and Jews. Madeleine Delbrêl, a Catholic laywoman and “mystic of the streets,” practiced everyday care through her attention to ordinary people, cultivating contemplative action within a Marxist context. Rejecting any division between contemplation and action, both women integrated care as a theological vision and a practical response. Their homes became open spaces of theological hospitality for all in need and their vision of the church extended beyond its walls to the streets. The article argues that their lives offer a compelling example of resilient, relational, and sacrificial care in contemporary society. It also explores tensions in their understanding of care, such as the tension between self-care and self-sacrifice, and between radical openness and the need for privacy and intimacy.