Софиология

The unorthodoxy of the icon of Sophia remained an obstacle however for the reception of sophiology in official Russian Orthodoxy. For Bulgakov, Sophia was not a hypostasis of God, but an icon of his nature for humanity, and an instrument of hermeneutics for the interpretation of God′s presence in the modern world.[533] Sophia is not only instrumental for human reason as object of human contemplation – the vision of God (theo-reia), but also instrumental for human practical reason that tries to build a better world. Sophia is the key for understanding the relation of humanity to God and of God to humanity, because her world-immanent being reflects her world-transcendent being.

Sophia, on the other hand, is never only an instrument of hermeneutics, or of social ethics, but she is also an active and divine principle. Humanity not only strives up to God, God also comes down to elevate humanity. From an exclusively immanent, e.g. a secular sociological standpoint such as Max Weber′s, it is impossible to decide about true and false phenomena of God′s presence in the world, or to choose between Christ and Anti-Christ. This problem puts us right in the middle of Solov’ëv′s last work Tri razgovora[534] that concluded it is impossible to decide on the question of just wars and the nature of evil from an immanent or exclusively inner-worldly standpoint.

According to Tri razgovora only true belief makes it possible to discern between Christ and Antichrist. The ability to discriminate between good and evil in the world that is given in Sophia is of the utmost importance for sophiology as the study of the progress of Christian humanity in its double task to relate the world to God in a humanization of nature, and to relate humanity to God in a deification through the Church that is Divine humanity or Sophia in actu.[535]

4. The Osnovy and sophiology

The Osnovy (foundations or principles) of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church are in the plural. This seems to imply the Osnovy depart from various principles and not from the one principle of Sophia

– The Wisdom of God. Chapter I on the basic theological provisions of the Osnovy starts with giving several definitions of the Church. The unifying principle of the Osnovy, therefore, seems to be the Church itself that is at once the universal Church, and the historical Russian Orthodox Church as an expression of the universal Church in this world. The Osnovy depart from the position of the Russian Orthodox Church and its mission in the world and try to determine its inner-worldly relations.

The Church is the assembly of believers in Christ (par 1.1), but also a divine-human organism (1.2, bogochelovecheskll organlzm) and the Body of Christ in this world. The Church is a ′unity of the new humanity′ in Christ. The Osnovy here quote Slavophile Orthodox philosopher A.S. Khomiakov who used the term sobornala cerkov′ in the sense of ′conciliar church′. According to the Osnovy, the Church shares Christ′s mission to save the world, but can only do this through sobornoe sluzhenle or conciliar service

(1.2). In the official document Baslc Teachlng of Russlan Orthodox Church on Human Dlgnlty, Freedom and Rlghts (2008), the substantive sobornost′ is used to denote the Orthodox tradition that ′wants to keep the unity of the society on the basis of the eternal ethical values.′ Here the ROC seems to subscribe to the interpretation of sobornost′ as the principle of cohesion and organization of Orthodox society.

The Osnovy also use the formula ′continuous service (sluzhenle) to God and neighbor′ to describe the life in the Church of every Christian. This formula at first sight seems close to Tolstoi′s ′love of God and neighbor′. In contradistinction with Tolstoi, the sluzhenle of the Osnovy is not individual, but conciliar action. This continuous conciliar service of God and neighbor is closer to Bulgakov′s concept of podvlzhnlchestvo than to Tolstoi′s asceticism. Furthermore, like Bulgakov, the Osnovy explicitly do not admit ′to shun the surrounding world in a Manichean way,′ as Tolstoi preached.[536] The Church on the contrary calls all Christians to participate in the world. This participation in the world ′should be based on the awareness that the world, socium and state are objects of God′s love.′