FROM THE ARCHIVES The Truth of Orthodoxy

Nikolai Berdyaev Translated by Alvian Smirensky

The Christian world does not know to the Catholic Church, which is the Note: When it was Orthodoxy well. It knows only the church of authority, and to the Prot- originally published in Вестник РХД in external and, for the most part, nega- estant churches, which are essentially 1952 (no. 11), this tive features of the Orthodox Church, churches of faith. The Or- text by Berdyaev while her inner spiritual treasures thodox Church has never been subject (1874–1948) included remain unknown. For a long time to a single authority, but has been held the following editor’s note to clarify some Orthodoxy was locked inside itself; together unshakably by the internal of the philosopher’s it did not have a spirit of evangelism strength of tradition. Of all forms of more difficult for- and did not reveal itself to the world. Christianity, it is the Orthodox Church mulations: “When Orthodoxy did not have the world- which has remained the most closely Berdyaev, insisting on the pneumato- wide significance of Catholicism and tied to early Christianity. The strength logical character of Protestantism. For hundreds of years of internal tradition in the Church is Orthodox theology, it remained apart from passionate re- the strength of spiritual experience speaks of ‘the expec- ligious battles, it lived under the pro- and the continuity of the spiritual tation of the new out- tection of large empires—Byzantium path, the power of superpersonal spir- pouring of the Holy Spirit in the world,’ and —and preserved its eternal itual life, in which every generation he does not mean a truth from the destructive processes shakes off feelings of self-satisfaction ‘Third Covenant’ or of world history. It is characteristic of and exclusivity and is united with the some new era of the Orthodoxy’s religious nature that it spiritual life of preceding generations Holy Spirit to replace the Christian revela- was not substantially actualized [that extending back to the Apostles. In that tion. It is clear from is, it was not instrumentalized as the tradition, I have the same experience context that these basis for social order] nor exposed and the same sagacity as the Apostle words refer to the externally, it was not militant, and Paul, the martyrs, the saints, and the eschatological fulfill- ment, the ‘Heavenly precisely because of this the heavenly whole Christian world. In tradition, Jerusalem.’ Similarly, truth of Christian revelation was not my knowledge is not only personal Berdyaev’s mention distorted as much. Orthodoxy is the but also superpersonal, and I live not of apokatastasis (as form of Christianity that has suffered in isolation but in the body of Christ, an alternative to the Western doctrine the least distortion in its substance as in a single spiritual organism with all of predestination) a result of human history. The Ortho- my brothers in Christ. should not necessar- dox Church had its moments of his- ily be understood as torical sin, for the most part in connec- Orthodoxy is, first of all, an orthodoxy heresy on his part: tion with its external dependence on of life and not an orthodoxy of indoc- indeed, the idea of a divinely determined the state, but the Church’s teaching, trination. From this point of view, her- universal salvation her inner spiritual path, was not sub- etics are not so much those who con- would not have ject to distortion. fess a false doctrine but those who lead been acceptable to a a disordered spiritual life and follow philosopher whose thought was founded The Orthodox Church is primarily a false spiritual path. Orthodoxy is, on the pathos of the church of tradition, in contrast before all else, not a doctrine, not an freedom.”

The Wheel 8 | Winter 2017 47 external organization, not an external has never attained such a sacred sig- norm of behavior, but a spiritual life, nificance and dogmas have not been a spiritual experience, and a spiritual so attached to mandatory intellectual path. It holds the substance of Chris- theological teachings; they have al- tianity to consist in internal spiritual ways been understood primarily as activity. Orthodoxy is less the norma- mystical truths. were less confined tive form of Christianity (in the sense by theological and philosophical in- of a normative-rational logic and moral terpretations of dogmas. Nineteenth- legalism) but is rather its more spir- century Russia witnessed a genesis itual form. And this spirituality and of creative Orthodox ideas, which ex- “innermostness” of Orthodoxy have pressed more freedom and spiritual not infrequently been the sources of talent than did Catholic or even Prot- its external weakness. The Church’s estant thought. external weakness and insufficient de- velopment, her insufficiency of exter- To the spiritual nature of Orthodoxy nal activity and realization, are evident belongs the primordial and inviola- to everyone, but her spiritual life and ble ontologism which first presented treasures have often remained hidden itself as the manifestation of Ortho- and invisible. This is characteristic dox life and only then of Orthodox of the spiritual nature of the East, in thought. The Christian West followed contrast to the spirituality of the West, avenues of critical thought in which which is always active and outward, subject was opposed to object, and the but often exhausts itself spiritually be- organic whole of thinking, the organic cause of this activity. Likewise, in the connection with life, was thereby vio- non-Christian East, India’s spiritual life lated. The West has shown itself more is especially hidden from outside eyes capable of a complex unfolding of its and is not actualized in history. This thinking, its reflection and criticism, analogy could be extended, although its refined intellectualism. But here is the spiritual nature of the Christian a violation of the connection between East is far different from the spiritual the one who knows and thinks and nature of India. Holiness in the Ortho- the primordial and original existence. dox world, in contrast to holiness in Cognition was expelled from life and the Catholic world, did not leave writ- thinking, from existence. Cognition ten monuments after itself; it remained and thinking did not pass through the concealed. But this is not yet the reason spiritual wholeness of the person in why it is difficult to judge Orthodox the organic unity of all his strengths. spiritual life from the outside. The West accomplished great feats on this foundation, but this resulted in Orthodoxy did not have its Scholastic the falling apart of the primordial on- age; it experienced only the age of Pa- tologism of thinking: thought did not tristics. And the Orthodox Church to enter into the depth of substance. This this day relies on the Eastern teachers resulted in Scholastic intellectualism, of the Church. The West sees this fact rationalism, empiricism, and the ex- as a sign of Orthodoxy’s backward- treme idealism of Western thought. ness, of a dying out of creative life. But In the Orthodox sphere, thinking re- it can be given another interpretation: mained ontological, joined to exis- in Orthodoxy, Christianity was never tence. This is evident throughout the rationalized as it was in the West, in whole of Russian religio-philosophic Catholicism, thanks to the influence and theological thought in the 19th of Aristotle. In Orthodoxy doctrine and 20th centuries. Rationalism, legal-

48 ism, and all normativism are alien to Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church is not defined in rational concepts; only those who live within her and who share in her spiritual experience can understand her. The mystical types of Christianity are not subject to any kind of intellectual definition, they do not have any juridical or rational signs. Genuine Orthodox theologiz- ing proceeds on the basis of spiritual experience. Orthodoxy is almost com- pletely lacking in Scholastic manuals. Orthodoxy understands itself as the religion of the Holy Trinity: not an ab- stract monotheism but a concrete Trin- itarianism. The life of the Holy Trinity The nature of the Holy Spirit is re- Nikolai Berdyaev in is reflected in its spiritual life, its spiri- vealed not so much by dogmas and 1947. tual experience, and its spiritual path. doctrines but by its action. The Holy The Orthodox Liturgy begins with the Spirit is closer to us; it is more imma- words: “Blessed is the Kingdom of nent in the world. The Holy Spirit acts the Father, and of the Son, and of the directly upon the created world and Holy Spirit.” Everything comes from transfigures creation. This teaching above, from the divine Triad, from the is revealed in the greatest of Russian heights of him who Is, and not from saints, . Orthodoxy man and his soul. In Orthodox under- is not only Trinitarian in essence, but standing it is the divine Triad which sees as the task of its earthly life the descends and not a man who ascends. transfiguration of the world in the There is much less of this Trinitarian image of the Trinity, that the world expression in Western Christianity, should become pneumatic [that is, which is more Christocentric and an- spiritual] in essence. thropocentric. This difference was al- ready apparent in Eastern and West- I am speaking about the depths of mys- ern Patristics: the latter begins its teries in Orthodoxy and not of superfi- theology from the divine Trinity and cial trends. Pneumatological theology, the former from the human soul. Thus the anticipation of a new outpouring the East first of all proclaims the mys- of the Holy Spirit in the world, arises teries of Trinitarian and Christological more easily on Orthodox soil. This is dogmas. The West primarily teaches the remarkable particularity of Ortho- about grace and and about doxy: on the one hand it is more con- ecclesiastical organization. The West servative and traditional than Cathol- came to have greater wealth and also icism and Protestantism, but on the greater internal variation in its ideas. other hand, within the depth of Ortho- doxy there has always been a greater Orthodoxy is the branch of Chris- expectation of a new religious manifes- tianity with a greater revelation of tation in the world, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Orthodox the Holy Spirit, the coming of the New Church did not adopt the Filioque, Jerusalem. Orthodoxy did not develop which was viewed as a subordina- in history for nearly the whole second tionist teaching about the Holy Spirit. millennium; evolution was a stranger

The Wheel 8 | Winter 2017 49 Nikolai Berdyaev secularization of the world. Ortho- with Mother Maria doxy is in principle pneumatic, and Skobtsova. in this is its uniqueness. Pneumatism is consistent Trinitarianism brought to perfection. Grace is not the media- tion between the supernatural and the natural; grace is the action of divine energy on the created world, the pres- ence of the Holy Spirit in the world. It is precisely the pneumatic nature of Orthodoxy that makes it the most open form of Christianity, showing its roots to lie predominantly in the New Testa- ment rather than the Old. At its apex, Orthodoxy understands the purpose of life as the acquisition or attainment of the grace of the Holy Spirit, as the spir- itual transfiguration of creation. This understanding is essentially opposed to a legalistic understanding in which the divine, supernatural world would be regarded as the law or norm for the to it, but concealed within it was the created natural world. possibility of religious , held in reserve for a new, not-yet-arrived Orthodoxy is primarily liturgical. It in- historical epoch. This became evident structs and enlightens not so much by in Russian religious trends of the 19th sermons or the teaching of norms and and 20th centuries. Orthodoxy makes a laws, but by liturgical services which more radical division between the di- give a foreshadowing of transfigured vine and natural worlds, the kingdom life. It teaches likewise through the of God and the kingdom of Caesar, and examples of saints and instills a cult does not accept the kinds of analogy of holiness. But the images of saints between the two that are frequently are not normative; they demonstrate employed by Catholic theology. The the graceful enlightenment and trans- divine energies act covertly in man and figuration of creation by the action of in the world. One cannot say about the the Holy Spirit. Orthodoxy’s refusal created world that it is a god or is di- of normativity orients it more at odds vine, nor can one say that it is outside with the ways of human life, with his- the divine. God and divine life do not tory; it makes Orthodoxy less useful resemble the natural world or the nat- for any kind of organization or for ural life; one cannot make analogies cultural creativity. The hidden mys- here. God is eternal, while natural life tery of the Holy Spirit’s activity upon is limited and finite. But divine energy creation has not been transferred onto is poured out upon the natural world, the ways of historical life. acts upon it, and enlightens it. This is the Orthodox understanding of the Characteristic for Orthodoxy is free- Holy Spirit. Thomas Aquinas’s teach- dom. This internal freedom may not be ing about the natural world, positing noticed from the outside but it is ev- it in opposition to the supernatural erywhere present. The idea of freedom world is, for the Orthodox, a form of as the foundation of Orthodoxy was

50 developed in Russian religious think- in a superpersonal spiritual unity, in ing of the 19th and 20th centuries. The a unity within a spiritual organism, admission of freedom of conscience within the body of Christ, that is, the radically distinguishes the Orthodox Church. My personal conscience is Church from the Catholic Church. But not placed outside, in opposition to the understanding of freedom in Or- the superpersonal conscience of the thodoxy is different from the under- Church, but is revealed only within standing of freedom in Protestantism. the Church’s conscience. But with- In Protestantism, as in all Western out an active spiritual deepening of thought, freedom is understood indi- my personal conscience, of my per- vidualistically, as the right of a person sonal spiritual freedom, the life of the who preserves himself from encroach- Church is not realized, since this life ment on the part of any other person, cannot be external to nor be imposed and who defines himself in isolation upon the person. Being within the from others. Individualism is foreign Church demands spiritual freedom, to Orthodoxy; to it belongs a partic- not only from the first entry into the ular kind of collectivism. A religious Church, which Catholicism also rec- person and a religious collective are ognizes, but throughout one’s whole not in opposition to each other. The life. The Church’s freedom with re- religious person is found within the spect to the state was always precar- religious collective and the religious ious, but Orthodoxy always enjoyed collective is found within the religious freedom within the Church. person. Thus the religious collective does not become an external author- In Orthodoxy freedom is organically ity for the religious person, burdening linked with ’, that is, with the the person externally with teaching activity of the Holy Spirit upon the re- and the law of life. The Church does ligious collective, the activity that has not exist outside of religious persons. been with the Church at all times, not The Church is within them and they just during the times of the Ecumeni- are within her. Thus the Church is not cal Councils. Orthodox sobornost’, the an external authority. The Church is life of the Church’s people, has never a grace-filled unity of love and free- been distinguished by external jurid- dom. “Authoritativeness” is foreign to ical signs but only internal, spiritual Orthodoxy because this form engen- characteristics. Not even the Ecumen- ders a fracture between the religious ical Councils enjoyed indisputable collective and the religious person, be- external authority. Only the whole tween the Church and her members. Church collectively, throughout her whole history, has enjoyed the infal- There is no spiritual life without free- libility of authority. The bearers and dom of conscience, without freedom custodians of this authority are the of the spirit. Without this freedom, whole people of the Church. The Ec- there is not even a concept of the umenical Councils enjoyed their au- Church, since the Church does not thority not because they conformed to tolerate slaves within her. Only the external juridical legal requirements free are needed by God. But authentic but because the people of the Church, freedom of religious conscience, free- the whole Church, recognized them dom of the spirit, is made evident not as Ecumenical and genuine. Only in an isolated autonomous personal- that Ecumenical Council is genuine ity, self-asserted in individualism, but in which there was an outpouring of in a personality conscious of being the Holy Spirit; the outpouring of the

The Wheel 8 | Winter 2017 51 Holy Spirit has no external juridical meate the Orthodox world. The feast criteria but is discerned by the people of the resurrection has immeasurably of the Church in accordance with in- greater significance in the Orthodox ternal spiritual evidence. All this indi- liturgy than in Catholicism, which cates the Orthodox Church’s non-nor- reaches its apex in the feast of the na- mative and non-juridical character. tivity of Christ. In Catholicism we meet By the same token, the Orthodox con- the crucified Christ and in Orthodoxy sciousness understands the Church the resurrected Christ. The way of the more ontologically: it does not view Cross is man’s path, but it leads man, the Church primarily as an organiza- along with the rest of the world, to- tion, as a society of faithful, but as a wards the resurrection. The mystery of spiritual, religious organism, the mys- the crucifixion may obscure the mys- tical body of Christ. tery of the resurrection. But the mys- tery of the resurrection is the utmost Orthodoxy is more cosmic than West- mystery of Orthodoxy. The resurrec- ern Christianity. Neither Catholi- tion mystery is not only for man; it is cism nor Protestantism sufficiently cosmic. The East has always been more expresses the cosmic nature of the cosmic than the West. The West is more Church as the Body of Christ. Western humanistic; in this are its strength and Christianity is primarily anthropolog- but also its limitation. The ical. But the Church is also the cosmos spiritual basis of Orthodoxy engenders rededicated to Christ; within her, the a desire for universal salvation. Salva- whole created world is subject to the tion is understood not only as individ- effect of the grace of the Holy Spirit. ual but collective, embracing the whole Christ’s appearance has a cosmic, world. Thomas Aquinas’s idea that the cosmogonic significance. It signifies a righteous person in paradise will de- new creation, a new day of the world’s light himself with the suffering of sin- creation. The legalistic understanding ners in hell could not have emanated of redemption as a judicial process be- from Orthodoxy’s bosom. Nor could tween God and man is entirely foreign Orthodoxy proclaim the teaching of to Orthodoxy. It holds rather to an on- predestination, neither in its extreme tological and a cosmic understanding Calvinist form nor in that imagined by of the appearance of a new creation the Blessed Augustine. The greater part and a renewed mankind. The Eastern of Eastern teachers of the Church, from Fathers maintained as central the idea Clement of Alexandria to Maximus the of theosis, of the deification of man Confessor, were believers in apokatasta- and of the whole created world. Sal- sis, the doctrine of universal salvation vation consists in this deification. The and resurrection. This is characteristic whole created world, the whole cos- of [contemporary] Russian religious mos is subject to deification. Salvation thought. Orthodox thought has never is the enlightenment and transfigura- been constrained by the principle of di- tion of creation, not a legal acquittal. vine justice and has never forgotten the principle of divine love. It has chiefly Orthodoxy treats the mystery of the defined man not from the point of resurrection as the summit and the ul- view of divine justice but from the idea timate goal of Christianity. Therefore, of the transfiguration and deification of the central feast in the life of the Or- man and cosmos. thodox Church is the feast of Pascha, Christ’s glorious resurrection. The Finally, the definitive and most impor- shining rays of the resurrection per- tant feature of Orthodoxy is its escha-

52 tological consciousness. Early Chris- of Catholicism and Protestantism. tian eschatology, the anticipation of Perhaps this is because Orthodoxy is Christ’s second appearance and the turned toward the kingdom of God, coming of the resurrection, was pre- which will come not as a consequence served to a greater extent in Ortho- of historical evolution but as a result doxy. Orthodox eschatology entails of the mystical transfiguration of the a lesser attachment to the world and world. It is not evolution but trans- earthly life and a greater propensity figuration which is characteristic for towards heaven and eternity, to the Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy cannot be kingdom of God. In Western Christi- known through surviving theolog- anity, actualization of Christianity in ical tracts and is expressed least of the paths of history and a propensity all in concepts; it can be known only toward earthly order and earthly or- through the life of the Church and the ganization have tended to obscure the Church’s people. Yet Orthodoxy must eschatological mystery of Christ’s sec- come out from its condition of being ond coming. In Orthodoxy, primarily shut up and isolated, it must actual- as a result of its lesser historical activ- ize its hidden spiritual treasures. Only ity, a greater sense of eschatological then will it attain worldwide signifi- anticipation has been preserved. The cance. The recognition of Orthodoxy’s apocalyptic dimension of Christianity exclusive spiritual significance as the has been less expressed in the West. most pure form of Christianity must In the East, in Orthodoxy, and espe- not engender internal self-satisfaction, cially in Russian Orthodoxy, there leading to a rejection of the meaning have arisen particular apocalyptic of Western Christianity. On the con- tendencies, an anticipation of a new trary, we must acquaint ourselves outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Ortho- with Western Christianity and learn doxy has preserved the ancient truths many things from it. We must strive in its more traditional or conservative toward Christian unity. Orthodoxy is form of Christianity, but has also al- a good basis for Christian unity. Or- lowed for the possibility of greater thodox Christianity has experienced religious innovation—not innovations very little of secularization, and can of human thought, so prominent in therefore contribute an immeasurable the West, but the innovation of the re- amount toward the Christianization of ligious transfiguration of life. the world. The Christianization of the world must not mean a secularization The primacy of the fullness of life of Christianity. Christianity cannot be over the differentiation of culture has isolated from the world. It continues always been especially characteristic to move within it, without separation, of Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy has never and while remaining in the world, it © 2017 The Wheel. given rise to the kind of monumen- must be the conqueror of the world— May be distributed for noncommercial use. tal culture that arose on the grounds not be conquered by it. www.wheeljournal.com

Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (1874–1948) was a exis- tential philosopher and Orthodox intellectual. His writing reflected an abiding concern with social and cultural issues, even as his early engagement with gave way to an interest in Christian spirituality. He spent the latter part of his life in .

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