Divine Sophia in the philosophical and theological work by V. S. Solovyov “La Russie et l’Église Universelle”

Abstract

Sophiology of V. S. Solovyov expressed in his main philosophical and theological work “Russia and the universal church” is under consideration. The author of the article argues that the symbolic image of Sofia enabled Solovyov to contribute both to the theological teaching of creation and salvation and, indirectly, to anthropology. It is shown that the Russian philosopher wanted to make the Christian faith more convincing by means of introducing the notion of Sophia. To prove this, the author deals with the main theses of Solovyov’s Sophiology, such as the omnipotence of love, the creation of the world and the original sin, the true essence of man regarded as the unity of a husband, a wife and a society, the deification of the created world as the goal of God’s Wisdom. The concepts “world soul” and “Eternal Wisdom” are also thoroughly analyzed. It is proved that the basic sophiological ideas elaborated by Solovyov are closely connected with each other. It is stressed that in his later works Solovyov was more concerned with the power of evil in God’s desired creation, as indicated by Solovyov’s detailed study of the concept “tohuvabohu” (chaos). It is concluded that at the end of his life the Russian thinker had to admit that most of people oppose God’s will and are against of the Divine Wisdom to be realized.