Paul Evdokimov

Paul Nikolaevich Evdokimov (rus. Павел Николаевич Евдокимов) was a Russian and French theologian, writer, and professor of theology at St. Sergius Institute in Paris. He was an invited observer to the Second Vatican Council.

He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on August 2, 1901, the son of an army officer who was assassinated by one of his soldiers in 1905. He was educated in a military school and served in the cavalry. He began theological studies just prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. Following the revolution, he and his family escaped from Crimea through Constantinople and settled in Paris circa 1923. Evdokimov continued his theological studies at St. Sergius Institute, studying with Fr. Sergius Bulgakov and Nikolai Berdyaev. He was among the founding members of the Russian Christian Student Movement.

He married Natasha Brunel in 1927, who died of cancer during the latter part of World War II. In 1942, he completed his doctorate in philosophy at Aix-en-Provence.

During the War, Evdokimov worked with the French Resistance. In 1954, he married Tomoko Sakai, a daughter of a Japanese Diplomat.

He reposed in Meudon, France, on September 16, 1970.