The Case of Sophia: a roundtable in the Russian émigré religio-philosophicalcommunity of 20-30 years of XX century

We studyits progress and theoretical positions of the participants. Its main members are S. Bulgakov, G.Florovsky and Vl. Lossky. Bulgakov's supporters were a circle of Berdyaev and almost all teachingstaff of St. Sergio's Orthodox Theological Institute. Their opponents were Florovsky, Chetverikov,Vladimir & Nikolai Lossky, and members of the "Brotherhood of St. Photios". Bulgakovbelieved that "Sophia" or "God's Wisdom" is an ontological bridge between God and theworld. "Divine-humanity" is the total unity of God with the created world. Sophia and the Divinehumanityconstitute a meaning, content, forms, and the initial-final stages of the universe. Florovskyclaimed that Vladimir Solovyov was a conductor of Western and Gnostic influences in Russian spiritualhistory. He also emphasized the radically free nature of the act of the Creation. Florovsky declaredthat Bulgakov's abstract symbolism subjective philosophizing replaced the real Holystory. Vladimir Lossky consistently crushed fundamental concepts of "Sophiology": Sophia, Divinehumanityand the logic of their relationship. Vladimir Lossky pointed that Bulgakov's Sophia begins toplay a special role to the Holy Trinity. He called the term of "Divine-humanity" as a "chaotic concept",where the two God's natures are mixing indistinguishably and forming "a new God-nature essence".Vladimir Lossky described the Bulgakov' philosophical-religious conception as a cosmological-natural process between God and Divine-humanity, as the return of created Sophia in the unity ofthe Divine Sophia. As a result, Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Fathers were distorted.Therefore, it was likely philosophical teaching on the theme of Revelation. This debate hasformed new leaders of the theoretical renaissance of Orthodoxy. Their approach to the study of Holyhistory was called "patristic revival" and "Neo-patristic synthesis" in Orthodoxy.

Keywords

Authors

References