Abstract
It has been often said nowadays that since the fall of Constantinople, the Eastern-Orthodox Church has not been concerned with political theology. In this research, we will try to show that aspects of the aforementioned topic can be found even in works like the spiritual autobiographies from that space. Therefore, our analysis will focus on the diaries of an important Russian Orthodox priest, Saint John of Kronstadt, who lived in the second half of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century. An important personality of his time, he was a great priest who developed the Eucharistic life, highlighting the relevance of the Holy Liturgy in the Christian life, the social life, offering accommodation, food, money and a place to work for the poor people from his parish and abroad. At the same time, he had a political and intellectual life, being in a good relationship with the tsar and his family, and wrote in his diaries, published during his lifetime and translated into English, his spiritual experiences, his daily life ones and his teaching and opinions on different topics and so on. By highlighting and investigating here episodes like his attitude towards the failed attempt for revolution that took place in Kronstadt in 1905, his relationship with the poor ones and his critique directed to the unfairly attitude of the rich people of his time towards the less fortunate ones or even his preaches against the famous contemporary writer Lev Tolstoy, we will try to show how political theology was understood by such a great father as John of Kronstadt and to emphasise the actuality of some of his ideas related to this topic.
Highlights
An important personality of the Russian Orthodoxy in the second half of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century, praised both before and after his death (Kizenko 2000; Semenov 1903), Saint John of Kronstadt was a man who left for the future generations his advices or solutions to the social problems of communities of his time but he was a great father who wrote an interesting spiritual autobiography
While some spiritual autobiographies like the ones from the Methodist space speak about the conversion of the author (Wesley 1998:123) and his or her experiences as a faithful, or about his or her mystical experiences (Avila 1995; Myers 1993), the one of Saint John contains sometimes both references to the moral situation of his time, his moral life, his Eucharistic experiences and to the road to God, emphasising sometimes his deep mystical experiences
Before speaking about the aspects of political theology that can be found in his spiritual autobiography, we consider important, for the readers who are not familiar with his personality, to present briefly his life and activity
Summary
An important personality of the Russian Orthodoxy in the second half of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century, praised both before and after his death (Kizenko 2000; Semenov 1903), Saint John of Kronstadt was a man who left for the future generations his advices or solutions to the social problems of communities (according to the example of the community that he spiritually ruled for many years) of his time but he was a great father who wrote an interesting spiritual autobiography. While some spiritual autobiographies like the ones from the Methodist space speak about the conversion of the author (Wesley 1998:123) and his or her experiences as a faithful, or about his or her mystical experiences (Avila 1995; Myers 1993), the one of Saint John contains sometimes both references to the moral situation of his time, his moral life, his Eucharistic experiences and to the road to God, emphasising sometimes his deep mystical experiences.
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