Theology Today - Vol 15, No. 4 - January 1959 - ARTICLE

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The Taize Community
By Malcolm Boyd

ONE cannot absolutism the work and witness of a Christian community. To indulge in comparisons, and to attempt to illustrate too much, in offering the example of a single Christian community is an acknowledged danger. Yet, in our age of communications, it seems necessary that there be reportage of new Christian forms of witness. Proclamation must rest within the witness itself. In 1957, I spent three months living and working within the Taizé Community, a Christian brotherhood located in the Burgundy region of France. Taizé has become celebrated in ecumenical circles of Europe as representing a most important contemporary witness both for the Churches and for non-Christians The Taizé Community has brought together some thirty-eight men representing various continental Reformation Church traditions and a number of different countries. They share in life, work, and worship in a brotherhood marked by common ownership, celibacy, and obedience. Taizé represents the opposite of withdrawal from the world into a cloister; in fact, the world itself is seen as being its monastery, and the frères go out from the tiny farming village in which the community is located into a wide variety of corporate Christian tasks spread from North Africa to Germany.

I well remember my own arrival at Taizé. Arriving unexpectedly early, I was naturally not met at the train. Indeed, there was very little place for meeting, there being no railway station or even a bench to sit upon at the place where the train stops after coming from the next village of Cormatin. A farmer directed me to the location of the community. I climbed up the winding, narrow way to the top of a hill where the old château and the church and surrounding buildings are located. The guest master served me a late lunch and showed me the room I would occupy for the next three months in the former pressoir. A watercolor by frère Bernard depicting a seaport hung on a wall; on another wall hung the lean light natural-wood cross which one finds in each room at Taizé.

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Essential to an understanding of Taizé is an awareness of its dynamic quality. It wishes always to avoid categorization. At the very moment one feels he might 'label' Taizé in a certain way, as standing for certain specific things and doing certain specific tasks, one comes up against an opposite set of facts about Taizé. It engages in serious theological work but also in farming, medicine, and art. It stands squarely in the Reformation tradition but also is uniquely involved ecumenically, having numerous and profound ties with liturgically and ecumenically-minded Roman Catholics. It combines the contemplative with the active, believing that each necessarily complements the other. Taizé is located in a remote village, but its frères en mission are vitally involved in work in industry, medicine, theology, evangelism, student work, life with Arabs, and other lines of activity which take the frères to crowded cities, North Africa, universities, theological seminaries, conferences, and even traveling to distribute Bible literature. Too, the intercessions of the community embrace the Churches of the world, political and economic events, the arts and sciences, and individual friends of the community representing many countries.

The ecumenical imperative is fundamental to an understanding of Taizé. Representing various church traditions within itself, it is, in effect, a rather advanced incarnational witness of ecumenical endeavor. Its prayers always are linked with the prayer of Jesus Christ that his Church may be united into one visible body on earth as it is in heaven. Taizé is rather than polemical in ecumenical matters; it does not seek defensively to maintain a 'position,' but rather to be open to the possibilities of being led by God the Holy Spirit.

The idea of Taizé was evolved by Roger Schutz, a young theologian active in the Swiss Student Christian Movement. In 1940, after the defeat of France, he moved into the tiny farming village of Taizé in rural France, located between Lyon and Dijon. Having harbored certain political refugees, including Jews, he was forced to flee from the Nazi secret police, and he went to Geneva. There he was joined by Max Thurian, another young Swiss theologian, and Pierre Souveran, an agricultural engineer. They lived a common life in Geneva until the end of the war, and then they returned to

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Taizé. Soon they were joined by others. The village of Taizé largely in ruins, was slowly and painstakingly restored to its present healthful condition. The twelfth-century church, built by Cluny monks, was restored along lines of liturgical reform, and the ancient château of the village became the community's headquarters. The frères, immediately after the war, began operating a hostel in Taizé for children who had been made homeless during hostilities. The Prior's sister, Genevieve Schutz, is responsible for this work which although still continuing, has abated in intensity as the young boys have grown up and left for military service, work apprenticeships or studies.

At Taizé, it is believed that the eschaton will bring the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven which is now already present. What is essential for the individual Christian, it is felt, is to accept whatever plan the Lord has for him, and to accept the readiness of the Lord to provide for his individual needs as he follows Christ on the way Christ has chosen for him. Undergirding the formation of the Taizé community has been a strong desire to take seriously the Gospel and to let it speak to men living modern life. In this treatment about Taizé, I will draw upon my own experience in sharing the life of the community and upon various documents, published and unpublished, concerning it.

The Taizé community does not call itself a 'monastic community' in spite of such explanations as that of St. Augustine about the meaning of the word monastic. Monastic comes from the Greek monos St. Augustine wrote: "monos enim unus solus est. Qui ergo sic vivunt in unum, ut unurn hominem faciant, ut sit illis vere quod scripturn est, una anima et unum cor; multa corpora, sed non multae animae; multa corpora, sed non multa corda; recte dicitur Monos id est, unus solus." The community of Taizé prefers the word 'coenobitic,' from the Greek koinos bios, meaning common life The term coenobitic has been used within the Church since the beginnings of monastic life to distinguish monks from hermits The term coenobitic is akin to the Latin coena, which carries the meaning of table, or people gathered around one table. This mitigates against the creation of hermetic associations.

The first frères of Taizé brought with them no preconceived notion of community life and purpose. They engaged in prayer studying theology, and working on the farm and in their household.

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They knew that they wanted to live a common life in which they would be attentive to the Lord's will and ready to go wherever he desired and to do whatever he willed. Earlier, in Switzerland, certain people generally associated with the Student Christian Movement had been in close contact with one or more of the first three frères and had formed a group which emphasized the importance of order, prayer discipline, and 'incarnated fellowship' in a Christian's life. This group remained a so-called 'large community' which had its center in the 'resident community.' Some members of the 'large community,' both celibates and family groups, came to Taizé. Soon it was realized that, by its nature, marriage claims wholeness; also, a frère's disposability of life was totally claimed by the community. It was seen that one cannot belong totally to more than one community of life, and it was decided that the married persons should leave the community, remaining friends but not becoming members.

Always motivating the community was the strong sense that the individual needs his fellow-Christians to help him discern the will of the Lord. The community looked back to the example of the early Church in Jerusalem. It realized that Christians need one another to be strengthened by the action of God in, and through, the fellowship. Members of the community live in close, vital contact. Christianity is seen as being a matter of relatedness: with God and with men. An incarnation of communion (with God and, through him, with men) is seen as being close to the essence of the Christian faith. At the same time, Taizé recognizes that community life may be contrary to Christian life if it pulls men away from God and places anything at all in the central place God alone may occupy. Yet, this danger in common life is also found in every phase of Christian life.

In 1947, the first seven frères took life vows. The engagements were celibacy, community of property, and acceptance of the authority of the community. The only aim of celibacy in the engagement of the frères is to be as disposable as possible for the Lord's service in the Church and in the world. Since the fulfillment of sex is in marriage, it is clear that renunciation of marriage calls for a renunciation of sexual acts. It is seen that this engagement may be taken only in obedience to God's call, with trust in his kingship over all creation including human nature and drives. There is no sense of

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negating sex. Rather, there is a sense of the consciousness of God's power over sex and paternal instinct. "Our celibacy means neither the rupture of human affections nor indifference, but it requires the,' transformation of our natural love. Only Christ brings about the change of the passions into total love of the neighbor" (Rule of Taizé, pp. 49-50). Celibacy is undertaken for the sake of the Kingdom (Mt. 19: 12).

Community of property does not mean acceptance of a certain economic system for reasons which are to be found in the system itself. Such community means only that everything one possesses, materially as well as spiritually, belongs not to himself but to the community as a whole. The community may use this in the accomplishment of its ministries as it sees fit. "The poor of the Gospel learn to live without assurance for tomorrow, in joyful confidence that all will be provided. . . . The spirit of poverty is to live in the cheerfulness of today" (Rule of Taizé, p. 54).

The acceptance of the authority of the community is related to a frère's recognition that his own personal will is not infallible; that he should esteem others better than himself; and that he needs his other frères in order to discern the plan of God. A unity can exist only if there is an authority which holds together the various frères and instigates the unity of the whole body. Following a novitiate of at least two years' duration, a frère engages the whole of his human personality in the community's life. The novitiate is a time of formation, becoming acquainted with the practice of community life and testing his vocation, not in an individual but in a corporate sphere. A new frère is admitted to profession and takes the engagements when all the professed frères, already engaged in the life of the community, agree that he is ready. The professed frères comprise the council of the community, in which all important matters concerning the community are discussed. Decisions, however, are made by the Prior, whose position is that of primus inter pares. The Prior's ministry is seen as standing alongside the other ministries within, the community, his being specifically that of instigating the community's unity. However, in making decisions the Prior is not bound by a 'majority vote' of frères; the council is not in any sense a political arena but a place wherein each frère, with his brothers, seeks to discern the will of God for the onward march of the community. The Prior "should not consider his charge as a superior one nor as-

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sume it with false humility. He has to remind himself that his charge has been given him by Christ to whom he must render account. . . He should arm himself with mercy and ask this grace of Christ as the most essential for himself" (Rule of Taizé, pp. 60-61). The present Prior, frère Roger, is the founder of the community and was designated for this ministry by the first frères. There are no provisions made for regulating his succession. The Rule of Taizé calls only for a sub-Prior, who is frère Max, the first frère who joined frère Roger, to sustain him and to assure a continuity after him.

Spiritual discipline is understood to be essential to community life. The cure of souls is the crucial point in the life of each frère. Each has another brother who hears his confession and functions as his counselor to help bring him back, again and again, to the joy of belonging to the Lord and being permitted to glorify him in the struggles of everyday life.

At Taizé, a visitor finds that everyone is involved continually in hard work of some kind, either in the kitchen or garden or farm, in the pottery or chapel or doctor's office, at the typewriter or stove or assisting retreatant visitors. One relates his work to his worship; the one is non-existent without the other, for prayer must be work and work must be prayer.

In the Taizé community, there is a fundamental concept of running to meet the Lord. Yes, it is understood that he runs to meet us, and this is surely the meaning of the incarnation and atonement. But we too must move towards him in our response to his will; and if we move, we can also-and better-run to him. Therefore, in the whole meaning of Taizé, there is the steady, joyful running movement towards the Lord. One does not idle, one does not say, 'It doesn't matter,' one does not 'take a vacation' from the will of the Lord. Always there is the urgency of his will and of his coming again. In the exhortation read at the profession of a new frère (I was at Taizé for the profession of frère Mark in September, 1957) - One finds this concept strongly expressed: "March henceforth on the steps of Christ. Do not concern yourself in care for tomorrow. Seek first the Kingdom and its righteousness. Abandon yourself, give yourself, and there will be poured out in your lap a good measure pressed, shaken up, over-flowing, because one will use the same

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measure for you which you will have used yourself�. And so, renouncing henceforth to look back, and joyful with an infinite thankfulness, never be afraid to precede the dawn to praise and bless and chant CHRIST YOUR LORD" (Rule of Taizé, pp. 72-75).

It is recognized at Taizé that all Christian life stands in a certain danger of sterilizing formalism which often results in dependence upon observance of forms rather than upon God the Holy Spirit. The community very slowly and gradually developed its Rule which did not find expression in writing until 1952. "The present rule contains the minimum necessary for the edification of a community in Christ and for the devoting of oneself to a common service of God" (Rule of Taizé, p. 10). However, it is understood that human beings need forms to express their spirituality and that empirical consciousness can only exist in the vital synthesis of form and matter. It is seen that it is impossible to accept God's order, without acceptance of order in our own lives. This is, in fact, a primary expression of our own response to God's will for us. An effort has been made in formulating the Rule (which is actually a superior devotional manual rather than an organizational statement) to fix only the essence of the community's common life, leaving its practical realization to the various decisions of the community. "If this rule were to be regarded as a final result, and would dispense us from searching always more for the plan of God, the charity of Christ, and the light of the Holy Spirit, it would be charging us with a useless burden; it would be better, if such were true, if it had never been written" (p. 70). The Rule is written in French, which is the language spoken within the community.

Sometimes, during the Morning Office in Taizé's ancient Romanesque chapel, sunlight streams through one or both of the small, modern stained-glass windows behind the altar, making a pool of color on the ancient stone floor. First, there will be simply pure blue or yellow; then, red will run slowly along the knife-sharp edge. of the stone before the altar onto the stone floor, mixing with the other colors and immediately creating a design, a movement. During the Evening Office, one may be startled to see on the totally plain stone wall of the church an artless daub of pure colors. A tryptich, showing our Lord with the eucharistic bread and wine, is placed on the left side of the chapel with a votive light always burning before it. When the Office candles are lighted and the frères are chant-

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ing a psalm, the color of the chapel's few windows is muted and its ,essential plainness somehow enriched in the soft, golden suggestion of the tiny flames. When a Bible lesson is read, a frère stands at the lectern-his figure enlarged and slightly distorted in the shadow of it thrown upon the stone wall behind him-and, when he has finished, he extinguishes the single burning candle alongside the lectern. During the Offices the Prior sits directly in front of the frères, on the left side of the altar, and the rest of the brothers sit, facing each other, on rows of wooden benches alongside the church walls. Visitors and guests of the community worship at extremely simple wooden benches in the back of the church close by the organ. Directly above the stark stone altar in the chapel stands a modern metal Easter cross, devoid of any element of sentimentalism, theologically sharply accurate in its being bound by a band of black at the bottom part, and completely open in the upper outreach of its arms. In candlelight it throws two shadows, one to either side of itself, upon the stone wall over the altar. During Lent, the Easter cross is replaced by a large crucifix, and the eucharistic tryptich in the church is replaced by one depicting the passion of Jesus.

Public worship at Taizé consists of Morning Office at 7 a.m., Evening Office at 7 p.m., Intercessions at 12 noon (in silence, followed by a corporate saying of the Beatitudes, or by a short litany), an the Holy Communion on Sunday mornings. There may also be celebrations of the Holy Communion on other mornings during the week, preceding the Office. The general form of the Office includes the elements of Invocation-Psalmody-Scripture lessons "(Old Testament and Gospel in the morning, Epistle in the evening-- Capitulum--response-Silent meditation-Hymn-Litany or other form of alternating prayer-Collect of the day-Intercessions--Closing prayer-Lord's Prayer (only said in the morning)- Benediction. The psalms are generally sung, and in the new Gelineau method, which is a French translation from the Hebrew made by the Dominicans, which follows a new musical system composed by a Jesuit. The different prayers and litanies have been brought together from various traditions of the Church: Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and others. While some persons might stress the voluntary character of such choices, it is rather seen by the frères as constituting a collection of the Church's treasures and emphasizing the ecumenical character of the Church. In public worship at

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Taizé the frères wear white robes. These serve the function of reminding the frères that each man's total being has been cloaked by the Lord; being white, these remind the frères to be joyful in the Lord's forgiveness and washing away of sins. The frères regard the robes not as showing what the frères are or do, but rather showing what the Lord desires every Christian to be and to do, i.e., to dwell in him and to respond to his special call to every Christian. Outside the chapel at Taizé, a frère wears ordinary clothing appropriate I to his particular kind of work. The only mark that he carries on his person which symbolizes his vocation is a simple wedding band on his finger.

"Let us abandon ourselves to the living Word of God, let us allow it to affect the intimate depths of our being in order that it may take possession not only of our spirit but also of our body. Christ, the Word made flesh, gives Himself to us in a visible way in the Sacrament. Therefore, nourish yourself at the meal of thanksgiving, the Holy Communion, and do not forget that it is offered for the sick of the People of God. It is there for you who are always weak and infirm" (Rule of Taizé, p. 20). On Sunday morning the Holy Communion is celebrated with three frères taking part, one as celebrant, one as deacon, another as sub-deacon. The celebrant is always an ordained minister. He may be assisted by frères who are not ordained. The liturgical synthesis combines various pre-Reformation elements of the Western Eucharist. Following is an outline of the Taizé liturgy: Psalm-Confession-Kyrie-Absolution-Gloria in Excelsis-Collect-Old Testament lesson-Gradual-Epistle-solemn reading of the Gospel-Hymn-Sermon-Hymn-Creed-Prayer for the Whole State of Christ's Church-Offertory Psalm-Offertory Antiphon-'Secreta'-Sursum Corda-Preface-Anamnesis-Epiclesis -Conclusion-Lord's Prayer-Fraction-Agnus Dei-Kiss of Peace-Invitation-Psalm-Antiphon of the Communion-Communion-Psalm-Post-Communion Prayer-Benediction. The Gospel Procession is found in the Taizé liturgy because it is an expression of the Word of God coming to the people. The Kiss of Peace is a sign of fraternity within the Body of Christ. On Maundy Thursday, the Washing of the Feet is practiced at Taizé as a witness of taking seriously the example the Lord has given. The Prior washes the feet of each of the frères in the ancient service which is a part of the liturgical tradition of the Church. The frères en mission return at least

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twice a year to Taizé, at Easter and in the autumn when a Retreat for all the frères is held.

III

Taizé actively participates in the movement of liturgical renewal in France. For Protestantism, this means a rediscovery of the pre-reformation treasures of the Church. For Roman Catholicism, this means a return to the simplicity and compactness of the early Western Mass. Each tradition stresses the same elements of actual participation of the congregation the acts of worship, the relation of man's bodily attitude to his spiritual attitude in worship, the Biblical approach to liturgical questions, and the actuality of the liturgy. Liturgy is seen as being primarily a matter of pastorate rather than of Church history or aesthetics; hence, the center of the Roman Catholic liturgical research in Paris is called the center of pastoral liturgy. Taizé uses the new translation of the Bible into French made by the French Dominican Bible Institute at Jerusalem. Known as the Jerusalem Bible, this translation is increasingly used by numbers of French Protestants (La Sainte Bible, traduite en francais sous la direction de L'Ecole Biblique de Jerusalem. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 29, boulevard Latour-Maubourg, 1956). A centeredness in Biblical and Christological piety is found in important centers of Roman Catholicism in France, and this provides a definite point of contact for Taizé in its desire to maintain a continuing dialogue with Roman Catholics on an ecumenical basis. Ecumenism in France means vital and positive contacts of Protestantism with Roman Catholicism. Begun by the late Abbe Couturier, and favored by the general Christian Biblical, liturgical, and evangelistic renewal, this movement is a typical feature of French Church life.

Taizé has close connections with the World Council of Churches, whose headquarters are in nearby Geneva. The community participates in conferences, lectures given at the Ecumenical Institute the Château de Bossey, Switzerland), committees of the W.C.C. received at Taizé for conferences and retreats, and in the work of the W.C.C. Department of Study. As Taizé unites within itself members of different national Churches and even of different confessions, and is situated in a totally non-Protestant district of France, it justly feels that the ecumenical movement belongs to the core of its being.

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"Love your neighbor whatsoever may be his religious or ideological horizon. Never resign yourself to the scandal of the separation of Christians who confess so easily the love of the neighbor but remain nevertheless divided among themselves. Have the passion of the unity of the Body of Christ" (Rule of Taizé, pp. 14-15).

When one is staying at the community of Taizé, he has always to remind himself that he is not participating fully in the multi-dimensional life of Taizé itself. More than half of the frères are not at Taizé but are away en mission in various ministries, relating the Christian faith to the most down-to-earth problems of everyday work, leisure, and simple existence. This is the practice of la présence au monde, the presence of Christ himself in members of his mystical Body, doing the most humble, difficult, unrewarding types of human work and sharing a solidarity with others engaged in such work. When a Christian lives in the world, it not only matters what he may speak or preach or do, according to the point of view in Taizé; simply by being a Christian, and praying, he represents the presence of Jesus Christ himself in the milieu in which he lives. The first obligation of a Christian is this sense of 'presence,' and it is never limited by facilities for evangelistic approach. Such 'presence' is a gratuitous act, based firmly on the knowledge that Jesus Christ in his incarnation did not exclude any part of the world, or any man, or any kind of society. He came to save all men and all conditions of men. Indeed, all Christian living is gratuitous: Christian prayer (wherein God knows before we pray what we need), Christian actions (God himself acts), good works (gifts of God). The motor of the Christian life is recognized as being love of, and obedience to, Jesus Christ and one's neighbor. St. Paul spoke of Jesus Christ living in him; when this is seen as true-that the life of Christians is the life of Jesus Christ within them-then a simple 'presence' in the world cannot be without effect. The presence of Jesus Christ cannot be without effect; and Christ said that what we pray in his name, shall be given us. How does Taizé translate this concept of la presence au monde into practical experience? The community waits for occasions, believing that God creates the occasions when Christians should speak and act. This reflects a basically different evangelistic concept than that frequently found in our time. This calls for more contrasts between times of work and times of waiting in prayer and faith, and for fewer 'programs of action' and more analysis of 'results.'

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If possible, a Christian should not be alone because a milieu can best be influenced by another milieu, it is thought at Taizé. Two or three Christians comprise a milieu. Men do not live like Robinson Crusoes, and all thoughts have to be translated into a milieu life. When a Christian cell comes into another milieu, the conditions of the life of the cell are determined by the milieu in which it lives. The exception of freedom is the prayer life of the Christian cell. Prayer life is the integral sense of its very existence, of its la présence au monde.

When the frères go out en mission, generally they go by two's or three's, living together in the place where they exert their ministry and forming there a so-called fraternity. Such a fraternity has no independent character. It is the community in dispersion, being present itself in an adopted way by the presence of its frères. These frères primarily seek to be a sign of the presence of Christ among all men and carriers of joy. "Always and everywhere, they represent the community; the witness of all the frères is engaged by their attitude" (Rule of Taizé, p. 63). The frères of Taizé retain their membership in the churches in which they have been baptized, confirmed, and, if they are ministers, in which they have been ordained.

Like almost all other human beings, the frères of Taizé must earn their own living. The community maintains no savings accounts or assurances for the future. There is only one 'cash,' that of the community; what has been earned during one month is spent during the next. The frères living outside of Taizé have their conditions determined by the same possibilities as exist for other people in the same circumstances. For example, a frère who is a pastor will have at his disposal whatever money he earns as a pastor. However, he must be careful that there arise no unjustified differences between his way of living and that of the majority of his parishioners. Any difference between his and their standards of living should tend to be lesser. A frère working in industry has his standard of living determined in the same way, by comparison with his fellow-workmen. If a frère receives more money than is necessary for his needs, this goes into the common 'cash' at Taizé.

Some frères serve in the Church in parish ministries. In the winter of 1957, two were pastors in a French Lutheran church, another

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in a Reformed parish in Switzerland, and another in a Reformed, parish in North Africa. One frère was in charge of Christian Education in a Lutheran church in Eastern France. Often parish councils invite one or more of the frères to hold parish missions. Three frères were in Germany serving in the social department of the Evangelical Church in Westphalia and in students' work known as 'Haus Villigst. Villigst, trying to move the world of labor and the world of science closer together, obliges its students to work at least six, months in heavy industrial work of the Ruhr. These three frères were serving the German churches also by holding retreats, lectures, . and preaching. Another frère was engaged in youth work and Boy Scout activities in French West Africa and the Ivory Coast. The pastoral ministry of the community is exercised also at Taizé itself in the conducting of retreats for clergy and laity. Generally such retreats are for individuals only, with group retreats being rare exceptions (one of these was for Orthodox theological students of Paris another for theological students of Basle).

One of the theological ministries of the community is that concerned with the theological and ecclesiastical quarterly review Verbum Caro, which is one of the most highly-respected journals in ecumenical circles in Europe. Articles are contributed by various frères, on assignment, and by a wide circle of theologians and Church leaders. Another theological ministry of Taizé is expressed through the books of the sub-Prior, frère Max. His books include Joie du Ciel sur la Terre, La Confession, and Mariage et Celibat. The last two titles have been translated into English. He has completed a new book on the subject of confirmation. Of course, the theological ministry of Taizé is implicitly expressed in all of its varied activities.

Taizé, in its concepts of evangelism and witness, is deeply influenced by the climate of spirituality in Roman Catholic and Protestant circles in France at the present time. The totality of life has replaced the spoken word (or written word) as the primary mark of evangelism and witness. Instead of pulling non-Christians out of their environment, the Church might better today be pushing he own members into a non-Christian environment (one frère commented), so that they may live in solidarity, love, and esteem-and without prejudice or pretensions-with persons who do not know or comprehend the Gospel. It is stemming from this concept of evangelism and witness that three frères were working in Marseilles shar-

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ing the life of their fellow-workers and engaged in Labor Union activities, and three other frères were living with the Arabians in North Africa (one as a carpenter, one as a factory worker, one as a physician without equipment). Yet Taizé avoids an exact definition ,of evangelism and takes part with enthusiasm in activities which are .recognized as being more orthodox evangelism within our culture. For example, the community has engaged in Bible colportage, exhibitions of the Bible, and concert tours of young people singing Negro spirituals in France, Switzerland, Spain, and North Africa. The community avoids categorization in its witness, as we have seen; and one of the most qualified theologians of Taizé worked for two years in a record shop selling classical and popular discs.

One frère has raised the question which so typifies the Taizé spirit: which kind of activity is 'highly evangelistic' and which type of activity is 'less evangelistic'? For example, is Bible colportage more evangelistic than the work on the farm at Taizé? Or is a frère who conducts a retreat being a better evangelist than a frère who is working as a ceramist, or a member of the village civil-community council, or a physician?

Betty Thompson, Secretary for Publicity of the World Council of Churches, wrote a short and discerning report, "Brothers in Christ: The Story of the Community of Taizé, France" (August 1, 1956). She told briefly the story of two 'evangelist' frères, a doctor and a farmer. Dr. Robert Giscard came to Taizé at Easter in 1948 to take part in a retreat. He was a medical student finishing his work in Paris and had no intention of joining the community. However, when he left Taizé ten days later to return to Paris for the completion of his thesis, he recalls that "all my past life had prepared me for this." Becoming a member of the community, frère Robert became also Taizés first resident doctor. He has a small clinic in a yellowstone building of Taizé and treats hundreds of villagers and nearby farming families.

Frère Alain is frère Robert's brother by birth as well as in the Taizé community. He has organized a modern dairying cooperative for the region, having convinced the local farmers in a formerly cattle-raising region that their best opportunity is in dairying. His ability to deal with the local milk trust, which sought to oppose the new venture, achieved impressive results in a relatively short time, In the big barn of the Taizé community are forty-eight cows and

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bulls, some of them prize-winners at the regional show at nearby, Macon. Taizé is the center of a new way of agricultural life for the' neighboring Burgundian farmers, and more than eighty communities belong to the milk cooperative organized under the guidance of the 28-year-old frère Alain. Modern electrical milking equipment is used at Taizé, and local farmers have been instructed in the care of their animals as well as the marketing of their products The barn and the doctor's office are indeed places where one may graphically witness the spiritual progress of Taizé in the practical realm.

The artistic work of Taizé is another of its 'evangelistic' ministries. The handsome modern pottery comes out of the pottery shop and kiln located directly across the narrow, winding village road from the château, the house where the novices dwell, and the salle d'exposition which exhibits the community's artistic work. Three frères work also in the atelier making stained-glass windows. The musical standards of the community are exceptionally high Three records have been produced for public consumption, one of the Morning Office, one of the Christmas Liturgy at Taizé, and one-a combination of narration and unique musical effects-which tells the Biblical story of Abraham. Frère Roger's voice and the voices of certain other frères are heard on the latter record, which uses the modern French translation of the Jerusalem Bible. The recording of the Taizé Morning Office won the Grand Prix in the section for religious music in France's annual competition in 1955. In addition, the community has participated in two recordings of psalms in the new Gelineau system. This system is based on a new translation of the psalms, as close as possible to the original text and, therefore, to the original form of the poetry. The translation made it possible for Fr. Gelineau, a Jesuit, to invent a new system of psalm-singing which has the advantage of being at the same time very easy to practice (thereby permitting a rebirth of congregational participation and very close to the original text.

Inside the small chapel of Taizé where the strong voices of the frères sing the Office responses, the recordings are made. If one listens very closely to a Taizé recording, he can sometimes hear- quite softly-the distant crowing of a cock outside the church, or the friendly bark of a dog-no doubt the bark of one of the community's two shepherd dogs, Deak or Elo.

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One of the artistic ministries of the Taizé community is fulfilled by frère Eric. In 1949, a young Florentine-trained artist, Eric de Saussure, son of a Swiss pastor, visited the community with his father for what he supposed was to be just a casual look-around. He never left and very shortly became a frère. He found that being a member of the community gave a precise sense to his vocation to be all artist. He would express the community's spirituality in a particular form.

Since that time, he has created sculptor, mosaics, canvasses, frescoes, stained-glass windows, and etchings. He has contributed to churches throughout Europe and North Africa. He has developed a style-and has found something to say in his art-which has won for him already a discriminating following of persons in several countries. For St. Paul's Church in Strasbourg he made a stained glass window showing, on one panel, a Negro angel playing a saxophone. He was moved to do this by the plaintive line in a Negro spiritual inquiring why all angels are white and never black.

Frère Eric visited Algeria for the first time in 1953, admittedly for ,acquaintance with another civilization and for artistic stimulus. He found the color seductive and the Arabic way of life fascinating. He saw in the mysterious city of Laghouat, on the Sahara, his concept of Jérusalem Célèste. He painted it in reds and yellows (colors of glory, contrasted with blues and greens which represent, for him, coldness and death). Laghouat, with its labyrinths, is hidden and lacking in superficiality. For frere Eric, his painting of Lagliouat has definite psychological construction, e.g., in its twisting streets, its being walled-in. A city of a religious sect, Laghouat may not be entered at night by a European; if an outsider is detected there, he is killed. Frère Eric's confrontation with Islam made him see Christianity from another point of view. "In Europe, people study Islam as something strange and not 'real.' . . . In the political situation of Algiers, frère Eric had many contacts with the nationalistic movement. He saw police action against natives in a violent manifestation of power. He discovered the racial problem. His contacts with poor masses of people dramatically influenced his painting, which had previously been much more intellectual than social.

The Negro angel in the stained-glass window at Strasbourg is one

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expression of frère Eric's discovery of racism as a great Christian issue. Another expression is his painting of a Negro Virgin and Child, "Vierge Noire." The Virgin wears a yellow gown, white hennin, a blue ring on her finger, and a simple gold bracelet on her arm. The picture has a vivid red background. The picture is extremely popular in Africa where reproductions of it hang in many homes. In another painting, "Libération," we see a helmeted figure representative of totalitarian power look on while a young Negro woman lets a red bird loose from her hands, to freedom Frère Eric has also designed the covers for two French albums of Negro spirituals.

His paintings represent both implicit and explicit Christian art The implicit work-like "Danse jaune," a study in color and composition-has no 'religious' theme but is the work of a Christian artist. "You don't have to do some Christian art, you have to be a Christian," he says. He is fascinated by the structure of cities and has painted many Arabic villages and also some concepts of urban existence. He would like to visit New York to paint it. Modern man, unable to control forces he has let loose upon himself, is the theme of frère Eric's study of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." In his painting "Enfant avec Avions," he portrays a young boy standing innocently in front of massive, powerful forces capable of destruction.

The theme of dehumanization of man is a frequently recurring one in the frère's work. One finds this explicitly in his painting "David et Goliath"-"transpose dans un univers moderne la victoire de I'Esprit sur la matiere." Young David stands naked and quietly confident, holding a flower, in front of monolithic structures of steel in which men are cruel to each other, and helpless, and there is a sense of demonic power. Three figures in black, representing the women of Jerusalem, sit in front of the structure. The same theme is implicitly found in his painting "Psalm 137": "qui raconte l'exi au bord des fleuves de Babylone."

Frère Eric entitled his painting of Babel as "Tour de Babel" or "Explosion Atomique." Yet, literal atomic explosion need not be assumed, for the painting depicts the atornization of society which modern man is experiencing, the breaking-off of all communication the dead-end roads of mental searching for answers, the profound comprehension of falling into an abyss.

Whereas his preoccupation with racism began in Africa, the frère

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basic involvement in social problems came about within the community of Taizé. The frères, motivated by their desire to represent the presence of Jesus Christ "in the world," go out from the tiny farming village of Taizé in their ministries en mission. The frères who work in industry in Marseilles, and who share fully the life of the workers there, sharply influenced frère Eric's perspective on social problems. In his painting of "Operation Casbah" (painted in Algeria in June, 1956) we see faceless soldiers rounding up and brutalizing faceless natives, as one man lies face-down in a pool of blood. "Opération Bidonville" shows police action in the notoriously wretched slum-dwelling area in Algiers. "La Faim," painted in Algeria in 1955, is an inexpressibly moving study of hunger. The frère also has painted "Emigres Juifs 'a Haiffa." Eric de Sausure came to Taizé as an artist. At Taizé, in the community with his frères, frère Eric has become an artist-theologian and an artist-prophet.

Undergirding the various ministries of the Taizé community is the spirit of the Beatitudes. Each morning before breakfast the following is said by the frères: "In this day's labor and rest may you be vivified by the Word of God. Maintain interior silence in all things in order to rest in Christ. Penetrate yourself with the spirit of the Beatitudes: joy, Simplicity, Mercy. The Rule of Taizé states: "Your disposability implies a simplification of your existence, not by fear but by faith. . . . Reject useless burdens so that you may better carry to Christ your Lord those of other men, your brothers (p. 41). "He who lives in mercy knows neither susceptibility nor deception. He gives himself simply in self-forgetfulness, joyously with all his fervor, gratefully without expecting anything in return" (pp. 46-7). "The spirit of perfection, if it consists of imposing one s own point of view as being the best, is a plague in the community. Perfection is precisely to support the imperfections of one's neighbor, and this by love" (p. 59). The concept of maintaining within oneself interior silence is integral to Taizé's life and conduct. "Interior silence requires first self-forgetfulness in order to bring discordant voices to peace and to master one's obsessive care, in the continual recommencement of a man never discouraged because he is always pardoned. This interior silence makes possible our conversation with Jesus Christ" (p. 33).

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A similar community is the Grandchamp Community in Switzerland, consisting of sisters. It has adopted the Rule and the liturgy of Taizé. Around these two communities there exists a third order called the Third Order of Unity. This brings together clergy and laity, men and women, married and unmarried persons, belonging to the Reformation tradition in various countries. Members of the third order take three engagements: discipline in prayer life, engagement in the parishes in which they legally belong, and witness for the ecumenical thought.

One cannot yet attempt to evaluate the long-range influence of Taizé upon the churches either of Europe or America. Its frères now represent France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and Spain, Its visitors and retreatants represent many countries throughout the world and widely-varied traditions. One will not absolutize any categorization of Taizé. It is a community of professed Christian ministers and laymen who have taken common vows which express concretely their awareness of Christian pilgrimage towards Jesus Christ who, even now, indwells men who love and follow him. The Rule of Taizé says more clearly and more profoundly what an observer of the community might try to say, in speaking of its life and witness. "Never remain in your place but march with your brothers, running to your goal on the steps of Christ. . . . In order that the brightness of Christ penetrate you, it is not sufficient for you to contemplate it as if you were only pure spirit, but rather you must engage yourself resolutely in body and soul in this way. . Be among men a sign of fraternal love and joy. . . . You would narrow your comprehension of the Gospel if, because you feared to lose your life, you would keep it yourself. If the grain does not die, you cannot hope to see your person open up in the fullness of the Christian life" (Rule of Taizé pp. 9-15). "Like Abraham you can advance in this way only by faith and not by sight, being assured always that lie who will have lost his life on account of Christ will find it" (p. 72).