Priest, Philosopher, and Theologian Pavel Florensky in the Perception of Generations (in the Russian Emigration and Russia)

The article discusses some works on priest Pavel Florensky’s philosophical and theological legacy of the 1930s–2020s. The author of the article has examined changes in the perception of Florensky and his ideas among Russian émigré philosophers as well as in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. The difference in such assessments is clearly visible in two reviews of 1930 of the priest’s book called The Pillar and Ground of the Truth. The review written by G.V. Florovsky has a critical bias, while that of V.N. Ilyin is very positive. We find a more comprehensive expression of Ilyin’s attitude to Florensky in the article Father Pavel Florensky. The Silenced Great Miracle of Twentieth Century Science (1969). The works published in the Russian emigration are characterized by subjectivity due to lack of sources, as most of Florensky’s works remained unpublished. In Soviet Russia, one of the most famous works about Florensky was S.S. Khoruzhy’s book named Florensky’s World View (1999). In this book, Father Pavel’s worldview was reconstructed from the perspective of “existential” experience. S.M. Polovinkin gave another, “personalistic” interpretation in his book Christian Personalism of Priest Pavel Florensky (2015). Hegumen Andronik (Trubachev) was the first to highlight the significance of anthropodicy and its connection with theodicy in his work Theodicy and Anthropodicy in Priest Pavel Florensky’s Works (1998). He presented Florensky’s worldview as a system of concrete metaphysics, combining theodicy and anthropodicy. Moreover, he refuted the popular misconception of Florensky’s philosophy as “the allunity metaphysics.” Further, Hegumen Andronik wrote a fundamental work on Florensky’s life and works that he named The Way to God (2012–2020). The present article states that Hegumen Andronik’s work trailed the path to objective research, overcoming the inertia of thought that arose from bias and lack of sources.

1. Andronik (Trubachev) (1998) Theodicy and Anthropodicy in the Works of the Priest Pavel Florensky. Tomsk: Vodoley (in Russian).

2. Andronik (Trubachev) (2012) The Way to God. The Personality, Life, and Works of Priest Pavel Florensky (Book 1). Moscow: Gorodets Publishing House (in Russian).

3. Bulgakov S.N. (1993) Priest Fr. Pavel Florensky. In: Bulgakov S.N. Works in 2 Vols. (Vol. 1, pp. 538–547). Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).

4. Florensky P. (1972) Iconostasis. In: Theological Works (Issue 9, pp. 83–148). Moscow: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate (in Russian).

5. Florensky P. (1977) From the Theological Heritage. In: Theological Works (Issue 17, pp. 85–248). Moscow: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate (in Russian).

6. Florensky P. (1992) For My Children: Memories of Past Days. In: Florensky P. For my Children: Memories of Past Days. Genealogical Researches. From Solovki Letters. Will (pp. 24–266). Moscow: Moskovskiy rabochiy (in Russian).

7. Florovsky G.V. (1930) The Languor of Spirit. On Fr. P. Florensky’s book “The Pillar and the Ground of Truth.” Put’. No. 20, pp. 102–107 (in Russian).

8. Florovsky G.V. (1937) The Ways of Russian Theology. Paris: YMCAPress (in Russian).

9. Ilyin V.N. (1930) [Book review:] Priest Pavel Florensky. “The Pillar and the Ground of Truth: The Experience of Orthodox Theodicy in Twelve Letters.” Put’. No. 20, pp. 116–119 (in Russian).

10. Ilyin V.N. (1997) Father Pavel Florensky. “The Silenced Great Miracle of 20th Century Science.” In: Ilyin V.N. Essay on Russian Culture (pp. 362–383). Saint Petersburg: Acropolis (in Russian).

11. Khoruzhy S.S. (1999) The World View of Florensky. Tomsk: Vodoley (in Russian).

12. Polovinkin S.M. (2015) Christian Personalism of Priest Pavel Florensky. Moscow: RSUH (in Russian).

13. Polovinkin S.M. (2020) Russian Personalism. Moscow: Sinaxis (in Russian).

14. Zenkovsky V.V. (2001) The History of Russian Philosophy. Moscow: Akademicheskiy proyekt; Raritet (in Russian).