Vladimir Solov'ev's Rossiia i vselenskaia tserkov', Early Slavophilism's Pneumatic Spirit, and the Pauline Prophet

Abstract

The publication of La Russie et l'Eglise Universelle in 1889 marked the culmination of Vladimir Solov'ev's decade-long effort to develop his theocracy.'' In the first two books of this work, which appeared as Rossiia i vselenskaia tserkov' in 1911, Solov'ev thoroughly examines the modern social relationships between two members of his theocracy: the Priest (in the form of the Pope) and the King (in the form of the Tsar and other heads of state). But he discusses the third member of his theocracy, the Prophet, mainly through the use of historical models. Using the social model of the biblical Jewish as an element of the theocratic preparation of Christ, Solov'ev depicts the prophet, a figure with whom Solov'ev identifies,2 as a spiritual guide for the modern Church and state.3 Yet, in light of two to three thousand years of teleological progress by mankind toward the free union with the Divinity, Solov'ev leaves the reader with an unclear conception of the nature and function of the contemporary prophet in modern society.4 This paper will piece together the modern social role of Solov'ev's contemporary prophet and discuss how this actually differs from Solov'ev's professed model, the of