Via, veritas, vita w perspektywie życia i twórczości o. Pawła Aleksandrowicza Fłorenskiego

Abstract

Via, Veritas, Vita In the Perspective of the Life and Works of Fr. Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky In the dialogue of the Apostle Thomas with Jesus we hear: Jesus said: 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life' [Jn 14,6]. In this context, when we look at the course of life of Fr. Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky we can without any exaggeration say that as a man and theologian he fully devoted himself to the conception of the word/logos [λόγος], which is capable of expressing a living relationship between God and man through the mediation of the Logos Incarnate [Λόγος], the Second Divine Person, who is present in his Church. In the book we address such questions as: Who and what shaped the thought of Fr. Pavel? How did he seek the truth as a scientist? What means did he employ to show others the way of knowledge in his studies? According to experts on the life and works of Fr. Pavel Florensky he was exceptionally determined in his quest for the truth as such and the means that lead to it. He argued that his aim was to find ways of transition from an emotional, sensual religious experience to its verbal expression in theology as a science. He explored ways of expressing the human pursuit of the ultimate goal, i.e. salvation, and probed how to give the human being a foothold to support one's inner religious beliefs. For him, both the content of the message and the method of investigation, the content and its organically inherent form were equally important. In his investigations he overstepped rational arguments and searched for superlogical justifications of the Christian faith. For this reason the present study adopts the Gnostic-wisdom key which does not exclude the scientific research aspect but broadens its scope. The study approaches the subject matter from the perspective of a Western theologian who ponders upon the apostolic letter of John Paul II Orientale lumen. The message of the Letter conveys the greatness of the continuity of the tradition of the Eastern Churches and refers it to the person and works of Fr. Pavel Florensky as a representative of the Orthodox theology, deeply rooted in the culture of Ruthenia and Russia. Therefore, the present study is supplemented with an Appendix titled Ways of discerning the faith in Russia, which deals with the theme of the shaping of a unique ecclesial expression of the faith, an expression that is a pillar and ground of the truth and in some respects exceeds the same sense of faith in the West. The present study is also to an extent a continuation or exemplification of the method proposed by the author in her book Toward an Integral Method in Fundamental Theology863, which was written under the influence of Fr. Pavel's research method. The method outlined in the above mentioned book is still in the process of development, but essentially it allows us to seek more adequate approaches so as to enrich and complement the Western in tegral account of truth with Eastern thought. Ultimately, the book was written in an interpretative key that reads in certain contexts the words of Jesus Christ that He is the way, which in the quest for truth leads to life also in the eschatological dimension [cf. J 14,6]. We try to show that the life and work of Fr. Pavel provides evidence that the Church is the environment, the space which gives people the courage to act and implement the Revelation in their specific lives. In its mission, the Church must not only gather its members but also give them a strong conviction and probable intellectual justification of the truth of its mission.