St. Pachomius Library

Fr. Paul Florensky

XIX/XX Centuries
A universal genius of the type more commonly associated with early modern times than with the XX Century, Florensky was a philosopher and art-critic of the Æsthetic Movement who studied mathematical physics (and was the first Russian mathematician to understand Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers) before becoming a married priest. He was close to most of the leading figures of the "Russian Religious Renaissance", especially the priest-intellectuals Sergius Bulgakov and Alexander Yelchaninov. After the Revolution, he returned to scientific work (primarily in engineering and applied science) while continuing to function as a priest. His undisputed technical brilliance and refusal to disguise his religious belief made him a problem in the eyes of the authorities, who could not decide whether to use him or eliminate him. Eventually they decided on the latter; he was sent to various labour camps (including Solovki) and died a prisoner under obscure circumstances.
Under construction --- far from complete! Read with caution.

ABOUT:
- V. V. Bychkov: Esteticheskij lik bytija, (1909). New York: X Press, 1909.
  - The aesthetic face of being -- theology of Pavel Florensky. Crestwood: SVS, 1993.
- K. G. Isupov and D. K. Burlaka: P. A. Florenskij -- pro et contra. (1996). St. Petersburg: Russian Christian Humanities, 1996.
- Fr. Herman Podmoshensky and Fr. Damascene Christiansen: St. Paul Florensky and "Salt of the Earth", (1987). Introduction to their translation of Florensky's Salt of the Earth. (Platina: St. Herman, 1987).
- Michael Silberer: Die Trinitätsidee im Werk von Paavel A. Florenskij, (1984). Würzburg: Augustinus, 1984.
- Robert Slesinski: Pavel Florensky -- a metaphysics of love, (1984). Crestwood: SVS, 1984.
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Arkhipelag GULag, II, 670.
WORKS:
- Sobranie sochinenij (Complete Works). Paris: YMCA, 1985.
- Essays on the theology of art:
  - Beyond Vision -- essays on the perception of art. London: Reaktion, 2002.
  - Analiz prostranstvennosti i vremeni v khudozhestvenno-izobrazitelnykh proizvedeniiakh. Moscow: Progress, 1993.
  - Izbrannye trudy po iskusstvo. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1996.
  - Ikonostas. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1995.
    - Iconostasis. Crestwood: SVS, 2000.
- Oro, (1934-37). Lyric poems. Moscow: Paideia, 1998.
- Sol zemli. Platina: St. Herman, 1984. Biography of the Elder Isidore of Gethsemane Skete.
  - Salt of the Earth. Platina: St. Herman, 1987.
- Stolp i utvernzhdenie istiny, (1914). Farnborough: Gregg, 1970. This is Florensky's best-known work, a series of epistles on philosophical and theological subjects. It is regarded by many as one of the most important Orthodox books of the XX Century, but others view it with suspicion, as a work contaminated with the "sophiological" heresy of Bulgakov. Both camps tend to exaggerate the eccentricity and obscurity of the text, presumably because few Orthodox since the Russian Revolution have had the technical background in philosophy and symbolic logic which Florensky takes for granted.
  - The Pillar and Ground of the Truth. Princeton, 1997.
SOME ASSOCIATED PEOPLE:

Fr. Alexis Mechiev
Elder Anatole of Optina
Elder Nectarius of Optina
St. Theodore Pozdeyev

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