Notes of priest Pavel Florensky to the article of аrchbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) «The Great Temptation near the most holy Name of God»

Abstract

The religious movement in the Russian Church at the beginning of the XX century, called imyaslaviye, revealed the unresolved nodal question of faith and reason about the relationship of the name and the named. Archbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) and priest Pavel Florensky are particularly prominent among the church leaders whose views on the imyaslaviye have gone down in history as opposing. This study isa review of Florensky’s notes to the article by vladyka Nikon. The form of the source — draft notes-does not allow us to consider them as expressing a stable and responsible judgment of the author, as evidenced by the tone of the notes written for themselves, and not for an outsider’s view. However, the notes were supposed to serve as material for subsequent works, on the basis of which, we are already entitled to look at a number of notes as adequately conveying the opinion of Florensky. The use of the method of antinomy in this source is noteworthy, as well as the abundance of philosophical and theological conclusions contained in it. The article concludes that archbishop Nikon and priest Pavel Florensky are deeply concerned about the solution of the question of the name of God, and their sincere desire to restore church peace without compromising the truth.