Софиология - [84]
In Chapter VI of the Osnovy, work is presented as an organic element of human life. Work already existed in the Garden of Eden, before the fall, There, work was co-creation and co-operation with God by virtue of the original likeness of humanity to God. After the fall, work became ′labor in the sweat′. Daily work is necessary, according to the Osnovy, but it does not represent an absolute value as it does not contribute to the salvation of humanity. (VI.4). For Bulgakov, as we have seen, the role of work is essential, but not sufficient for the salvation of humanity,
The social involvement of the Russian Orthodox Church is related to its mission of the salvation of Christian humanity and of the world. This certainly is a sophiological theme: salvation is not individual but conciliar and does not only concern humanity, but the world as well. The Church should not only preach, but also do ′good works aimed to improve the spiritual and material condition of the world around her.′ (I.4) The Osnovy here come close to the notions of humanization of nature and churchification of society that Bulgakov′s sophiology defined as the telos of human work as service to God,
Sophiology, Tolstoi and the Russian Orthodox Church present various structural conceptualizations or Weberian Ideal types of the Orthodox attitude to the world and to life in the world. The central aspects of these alternative Orthodox conceptualizations of the world are God′s love for the world and his demand of the love of every Christian for God and neighbor, The various orthodox social teachings differed in their interpretation of the love that should be central in humankind′s relation to God, each other and the world.
Tolstoi chose the side of Christian individualism and combined ascetic individual praxis with a determined abstention and rejection of the world and of everything worldly. Sophiology on the other hand, took a conscious inner-worldly position, with a clear ideal of the salvation of humanity, and the necessary sobornoe deianie to prepare this salvation as Divine-humanity Solov v and Bulgakov developed sobornost′ from a exclusively and narrowly ecclesiological characteristic of life in the Orthodox Church, into the ideal quality of organization of Orthodox Church community and eventually of Orthodox society. Bulgakov determined podvizhnichestvo as the central characteristic of Orthodox active participation in the world.
The Russian Orthodox Church seems to side more with sophiology than with Tolstoi on these points. Despite its basic positive evaluation of the world, however, the further text of the Osnovy seems to limit this considerably: the love for the world does not concern this world in its fallen state and the Church itself is not of this world. This feeling tends to get the upper hand in the other chapters of the Osnovy, where the church seems more concerned to demarcate its specific relation with the Russian State and with Russian secular society. The Russian Orthodox Church in the Osnovy did not venture to engage in an inner search for and outer articulation of its unifying principle of love as the true basis of Christian inner-worldly involvement. In this respect sophiology seems more in line with the recently published Roman-Catholic social doctrine that speaks of a ′civilization of love′ as the implicit telos of the document and of Christian social action.[538]
Н.А. Ваганова
«Храмовая завеса» епископа Клойнского: об одном софийном мотиве в «Улиссе» Джойса и софиологии С.Н. Булгакова
Когда в 1910-х годах С.Н. Булгаков приступил к оформлению первого варианта своей софиологической концепции, она складывалась у него в результате философской рефлексии над огромным массивом жизненных впечатлений самого разного характера, в том числе эстетических. В частности, он посещает художественные выставки, много размышляет и пишет о литературе, поэзии, живописи. К этому и несколько более раннему времени относится ряд статей, в которых Булгаков, говоря о религиозной природе творчества, пытается обосновать софийную мотивацию в отношении оценки произведений литературы и искусства, пишет о том, в каких смысловых инверсиях, в каких пластических формах идея вечно-женственного начала сказалась в романах Достоевского, живописи Пикассо, творчестве Анны Голубкиной, наконец, софийно-эротической лирике Владимира Соловьева.
О последнем Булгаков не раз говорил, что поэт Соловьев неотделим от Соловьева-философа, что его метафизику невозможно понять без его же поэтики, и даже что первая является своего рода комментарием к последней. Искусство для Булгакова в это время вообще есть та сфера человеческой деятельности, в которой «тварь открывается художнику в осиянии божественной Софии»[539], гениальность же художника-творца сопоставима со святостью святых. Ведь в «интимном общении с душой мира» художнику открывается то особое «просветление плоти», которое иначе дается мистику в опыте откровения. Немногим позже, в «Свете невечернем», Булгаков определит и саму философию как свободное религиозно-художественное творчество.
