Description of mystic experience in Russian religious philosophy of the 19th-20th centuries

Abstract

The article presents the factors influencing the description of mystic experience in the works of Russian religious philosophers of the 19th-20th centuries: V.S. Solovyev, P.A. Florenskiy, S.N. Bulgakov, N.O. Losskiy, I.A. Ilyin, S.L. Frank, V.V. Zenkovskiy. The authors cite several western and contemporary domestic scholars, who research different aspects of mystic experience. Analysis and generalization of works of Russian religious thinkers allows the authors to identify the peculiar features of mystic experience in Russian religious philosophy of the 19th-20th centuries and list its objects. The article gives examples of acquiring mystic experience described in the works of Russian religious philosophers of XIX-XX centuries. The authors come to a conclusion that doctrine of deification or theosis is recognized in Russian religious philosophy of the 19th-20th centuries as the main mystic teaching of Eastern Christianity. General ideas of deification peculiar to Russian religious thinkers are also stated and conditions necessary to acquire this mystic experience are named in the article.