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GEORGII FLOROVSKII on DIGNITY and HUMAN RIGHTS Nicholas Sooy

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GEORGII FLOROVSKII on DIGNITY and HUMAN RIGHTS Nicholas Sooy Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 71(3-4), 327-342. doi: 10.2143/JECS.71.3.3286904 © 2019 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. GEORGII FLOROVSKII ON DIGNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS NICHOLAS SOOY Georgii Florovskii (in alternative English transcription Georges Florovsky, 1893-1979) was a patristic scholar, historian, and theologian. He was not a lawyer, diplomat, or politician. Therefore, it is perhaps unsurprising that Florovskii said very little directly about human dignity and essentially nothing on the topic of human rights.1 Furthermore, while the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, contemporary human rights movements, and therefore most contemporary discourse around human rights, are shaped by events in the 1970s, 1990s, and beyond.2 Therefore, we should expect nothing from Florovskii on these specific contemporary concerns. Beyond this, Florovskii himself stated his aversion to anything remotely political. “I am an antipolitical being: politics is something I do not like. It does not mean I ignore the existence of politics, I know it does [exist], but I have not the slightest desire to be involved.”3 The prima facie ambiguities and difficulties of bringing Florovskii into dialogue with contemporary concerns about human dignity and Human Rights are only compounded by the larger ambiguities regarding the rela- tionship between Orthodox Christianity and human rights. The contempo- rary voice of Orthodox Christianity concerning the issue of Human Rights is anything but homogenous, beyond a certain level of critical adoption. The Ecumenical Patriarchate sees human rights advocacy as central to its global 1 While lack of evidence is not necessarily itself evidence of anything, the lack of discus- sion of human rights in Florovskii’s writings is more likely to be evidence of his implicit support rather than his implicit opposition. Florovskii would have had the opportunity to express any misgivings about international law, but it was apparently not a concern for him, and he apparently did not challenge those he knew personally who were involved in any such efforts. 2 This is suggested by some of the recent contributions to the field, as e.g. Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia. Human Rights in History (Cambridge, MA, 2010). 3 Quoted in Paul Gavilyuk, Georges Florovsky and the Russian Religious Renaissance (Oxford, 2013), p. 72. 328 NICHOLAS SOOY leadership, with Metropolitan John Zizioulas providing a theological justifi- cation for human dignity and rights in terms of Christian personalism.4 This emphasis is not as strong in every Orthodox Christian body. For example, while the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate endorses the notion of intrinsic dignity and supports human rights, many caveats are often made (for example, rights must not conflict with national interests, religious incli- nations, or moral obligations) such that the intrinsic nature of human rights seems to be up for debate.5 Given Florovskii’s international standing as an Orthodox thinker of the highest pedigree, it is therefore natural to ask what light Florovskii’s thought might shed on the notion of dignity and on prac- tices of human rights. Florovskii is becoming increasingly popular in Russia, with his rhetoric about a “Western captivity” of Orthodox theology aligning with other “clash of civilizations” rhetoric which is currently in vogue in some corners. At times this rhetoric has even been used to cast aspersions on human rights movements, which can be construed as tools of foreign inter- ference in the affairs of a nation. However, recent work on Florovskii has questioned the anti-Westernist interpretation of his thought, while an ecu- menically minded theologian like John Zizioulas was himself a student of Florovskii’s and his personalism can be read as a direct continuation of the Florovskian project.6 As such, this article will argue that Florovskii’s thought 4 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew betrays a general, albeit not always uncommented acceptance of, and support for Human Rights in his various writings. See for example, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Speaking the Truth with Love (New York, 2011), pp. 171, 254, etc. Metropolitan John Zizioulas has been instrumental in articulating the social vision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. For example, the draft text of the ‘Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World’ document adopted at the 2016 Council in Crete was largely the brain-child of Metropolitan John. 5 The main patterns of the Moscow Patriarchate’s official attitude towards human dignity and Human Rights are entailed in its ‘Basic Teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church on Human Dignity, Freedom and Rights’, released in autumn 2008. Cf. for an English version https://mospat.ru/en/documents/dignity-freedom-rights/. Controversy around this document produced a vast corpus of literature. A good insight can be taken from Alek- sandr Agadjanian, The Russian Orthodox Vision of Human Rights. Recent Documents and their Significance, Erfurter Vorträge zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums, 7 (Erfurt, 2008); id., ‘Tradition, Morality and Community: Elaborating Orthodox Iden- tity in Putin’s Russia’, Religion, State & Society, 1 (2017), pp. 39–60. 6 Indeed, Florovskii’s concepts of a “Sacred Hellenism” in connection with his critical, although not categorically negative stance towards Western influences on Orthodox theol- ogy can be misinterpreted. The question is, to what extent do binary or even anti-Western GEORgII FLOROVSKII On DIgnITY And HUMAn RIgHTS 329 bears a conception of human dignity that is complementary to contemporary movements which appeal to dignity, and that Florovskii’s historical and social vision is compatible with the aims of such movements. FLOROVSKII On DIgnITY At times, Florovskii appears to be ambivalent about human dignity. For example, when summarizing Dostoevskii’s view of contemporary society, Florovskii states (and possibly endorses the view), “Modern man is an arro- gant, rebellious creature; he may even make blasphemous claims and assign a God-like dignity to himself.”7 Florovskii himself resisted any utopian ide- alism such that humans, by their own efforts and nature, could create a perfect society. He even resisted the idea that a theocratic society could live up to the eschatological vision of the Kingdom of God. Elsewhere, Florovs- kii summarizes the fall in terms of man’s misplaced sense of dignity: “The evil one caught man, having promised him divine dignity.”8 One might think that such a statement reflects both Florovskii’s familiarity with some of the early Church fathers and his initial rootedness in a 19th century anthropo- logical tradition.9 However, at other times, Florovskii seems quite enthusiastic about human dignity. For example, in an article on the anthropomorphite controversy, Florovskii attempts to revive the reputation of Aphou and others who were accused of anthropomorphizing God.10 Florovskii insisted that “Aphou only contended that man, even in his present condition and in spite of all his models formally derived from these concepts actually do justice to the complexity of his thought, which on closer look was neither categorically anti-Western nor did it aim at any kind of Greek nationalism or the like. For a both balanced and critical comment see Gavrilyuk, Religious Renaissance (see n. 3), pp. 268-270. 7 Georgii Florovskii, ‘Theology and Literature’, The Collected Works of Georges Florovsky, vol. 11 (Vaduz, 1989), p 25. 8 Georgii Florovskii, ‘The Byzantine Fathers of the Sixth to Eighth Century’, The Collected Works of Georges Florovsky, vol. 9 (Vaduz, 1987), p. 267. 9 Cf. the articles by Petr Mikhaylov and Konstantin Antonov in this volume. 10 The “anthropomorphite conteroversy” refers to a fourth century dispute, where certain Egyptian monastics were accused of holding that God had a body. The discovery of the “Life of Aphou” changed the received picture of this controversy, for Aphou (who was accused of anthropomorphizing God), clearly did not do so. Instead, Aphou was defend- ing the incarnate Christ as representing God, and emphasized the dignity of the human 330 NICHOLAS SOOY misery and destitution, had to be regarded still as being created in the image of God, and must be, for that reason, respected. Aphou was primarily con- cerned with man’s dignity and honor.”11 Florovskii takes it to be admirable for Aphou to be concerned with the dignity of the human being, despite any sin or destitution. This interpretation of Aphou is remarkable, for what Aphou spoke about was the imago Dei. Thus, we see that Florovskii inter- preted defending the imago Dei as defending an intrinsic dignity of the human person. These two strands in Florovskii’s thought are not as incompatible as they might first appear. Philosophically and historically, we can distinguish between two different notions of dignity. Dignity can mean worth, or dig- nity can mean status. The more classical sense is dignity as status, which refers to a person or thing’s extrinsic value which appears as a function of the thing’s place in a hierarchy.12 Dignity as worth refers to the intrinsic value that inheres in a person or thing simply because it is what it is. If we distin- guish these two senses of dignity, then it becomes much easier to interpret Florovskii’s comments. Insofar as the human being claims for itself a status proper only to God, a “divine dignity,” humanity is fallen and blasphemous. However, there is a worth, an intrinsic value to the human being, which comes from the image of God in humanity (according to Gen 1: 26), which is proper, and which should be claimed and defended. When Florovskii does speak about human dignity and social responsi- bility, it is almost always in this latter sense. When writing about the impact of Christianity in Russia, for example, Florovskii states: “the impact of Christian principles on the whole life was not negligible: it was the same traditional emphasis on mercy and compassion and on human dignity which is never destroyed, even by sin or crime.”13 Here and elsewhere, Florovskii explicitly endorses the idea of intrinsic and inalienable human dignity.
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