Apophaticism in Modern Russia

Abstract

This chapter presents the theme of apophaticism in Russian philosophy of the twentieth century. For this reason, the author analyzes the philosophical premises of Eastern Christian apophaticism, based on the Church Fathers’ distinction between divine unknowable essence and divine knowable energies or activities, which reflect the transcendent and immanent aspects of God, respectively. One can distinguish two different forms of the reception of apophaticism in modern Russian thought. The first, developed by Georges Florovsky, referred to the Eastern patristic tradition. This line was also explored by Vladimir Lossky, however, he also analyzed the threads of apophaticism in the thought of Western thinker Meister Eckhart, who distinguished between divine being as essence and divine being as activity. The second way of apophaticism, represented by Semyon Frank, was inspired by the negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa. In turn, Lev Karsavin combined both ways of apophaticism, going back to the Eastern Christian and Western thought.