Isabel Hapgood, a lifelong and faithful Episcopalian, was a force behind ecumenical relations between the Episcopal Church and Russian Orthodoxy in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century. Born in Massachusetts on November 21st, 1851, Hapgood was a superior student with a particular talent for the study of languages. In addition to the standard fare of the time—Latin and French—she also mastered most of the Romance and Germanic languages of Europe as well as Russian, Polish, and Church Slavonic. She possessed the particular gift of being able to translate the subtleties of Russian into equally nuanced English. Her translations made the works of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gorky, and Chekov, among others, available to English readers.

From 1887 until 1889, Hapgood traveled extensively in Russia, cementing her lifelong love of Russia, its language and culture, and particularly the Russian Orthodox Church. She would make return visits to Russia almost every year for the rest of her life.

Her love of Russian Orthodoxy and its Divine Liturgy led her to seek the permission of the hierarchy to translate the rites into English. Hapgood’s already established reputation as a sensitive translator certainly contributed, but in the meantime she had developed close relationships with Russian clergy and musicians at all levels. The work, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Church, took eleven years to complete. It received support of the Russian Orthodox bishops in North America, particularly Archbishop Tikhon, who was later to give Hapgood’s work a second blessing when he became Patriarch of Moscow.

Isabel Florence Hapgood is faithfully remembered among Russian Orthodox Christians in North America for her contribution to their common life, her desire for closer relations between Orthodox and Anglican Christians, and for her making the liturgical treasures of their tradition available to the English-speaking world.

She died on June 26th, 1928.