Vladimir Nikolaievich Lossky (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Ло́сский; 1903–1958) was a Russian
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
exiled in Paris. He emphasized ''
theosis'' as the main principle of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Biography
Vladimir Nikolaievich Lossky was born on 8 June (
OS 26 May) 1903 in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
, Germany. His father,
Nikolai Lossky
Nikolay Onufriyevich Lossky. (; – 24 January 1965), also known as N. O. Lossky, was a Russian philosopher, representative of Russian idealism, intuitionist epistemology, personalism, libertarianism, ethics and axiology (value theory). He gave ...
, was professor of philosophy in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Vladimir Nikolaievich Losski enrolled as a student at the faculty of Arts at
Petrograd University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
in 1919, and in the spring of 1922 was profoundly struck when he witnessed the trial which led to the execution of
Metropolitan Benjamin of St Petersburg by the Soviets. Metropolitan Benjamin was later canonized by the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
.
In November 1922, Lossky was
expelled from
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
with his entire family. From 1922 to 1926 he continued his studies in Prague and subsequently at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in Paris, where in 1927 he graduated in
medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...
. He married Madeleine Shapiro on 4 June 1928.
Lossky settled in Paris in 1924. From 1942 until 1958 he was a member of the
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science
Basic research, also called pure research o ...
. He served as the first dean of the
St. Dionysius Institute in Paris. He taught
dogmatic theology
Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Ch ...
and
ecclesiastical history
__NOTOC__
Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception.
Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual ...
in this institute until 1953, and from 1953 to 1958 in the diocese of the patriarchate of Moscow, "rue Pétel" in Paris. He was a member of the Brotherhood Saint Photius and the ecumenical
Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius
The Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius is a Christian ecumenical society founded in 1928 to foster contact between Christians, especially those of the Anglican and Orthodox traditions. It is named in honour of Saint Alban, the Christian p ...
. His best-known work is ''Essai sur la theologie mystique de l'Eglise d'orient'' (1944) (English translation, ''The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church'' (1957)).
Lossky died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
on 7 February 1958 in Paris.
Theology
Lossky's main theological concern was
exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (logic), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern usage, ...
of
mystical theology
Mystical theology is the branch of theology in the Christian tradition ...
in Christian traditions. He argued in ''The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church'' (1944) that theologians of the Orthodox tradition maintained the mystical dimension of theology in a more integrated way than those of the Catholic and Reformed traditions after the
East–West Schism
The East–West Schism (also known as the Great Schism or Schism of 1054) is the ongoing break of communion between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches since 1054. It is estimated that, immediately after the schism occurred, a ...
because the latter misunderstood such Greek terms as
ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary des ...
,
hypostasis,
theosis, and
theoria
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...
. In illustration of his argument he cites the collection known as the
Philokalia
The ''Philokalia'' ( grc, φιλοκαλία, lit=love of the beautiful, from ''philia'' "love" and ''kallos'' "beauty") is "a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters" of the mystical hesychast trad ...
and
John Climacus
John Climacus ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος; la, Ioannes Climacus), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 6th–7th-century Christianity, Christian monasticism, monk at the monastery ...
's Ladder of Divine Ascent, as well as works by
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' or ...
,
Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( grc-gre, Γρηγόριος Νύσσης; c. 335 – c. 395), was Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 395. He is venerated as a saint in Catholici ...
,
Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Ca ...
,
Gregory Nazianzen
Gregory of Nazianzus ( el, Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, ''Grēgorios ho Nazianzēnos''; ''Liturgy of the Hours'' Volume I, Proper of Saints, 2 January. – 25 January 390,), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory N ...
, and
Gregory Palamas
Gregory Palamas ( el, Γρηγόριος Παλαμᾶς; c. 1296 – 1359) was a Byzantine Greek theologian and Eastern Orthodox cleric of the late Byzantine period. A monk of Mount Athos (modern Greece) and later archbishop of Thessaloniki, h ...
.
Georges Florovsky
Georges Vasilievich Florovsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Васи́льевич Флоро́вский; – August 11, 1979) was a Russian Orthodox priest, theologian, and historian.
Born in the Russian Empire, he spent his working life in Pari ...
termed Lossky's ''Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church'' a "neopatristic synthesis".
The genius of Eastern mystical theology lay, he contended, in its ''
apophatic'' character, which he defined as the understanding that God is radically unknowable in human, thus philosophical, terms. Consequently, God's special revelation in Scripture must be preserved in all of its integrity by means of the distinction between the ineffable divine essence and the inaccessible nature of the Holy Trinity, on the one hand, and the positive revelation of the Trinitarian energies, on the other. "When we speak of the Trinity in itself," said Lossky, "we are confessing, in our poor and always defective human language, the mode of existence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one sole God who cannot but be Trinity, because He is the living God of Revelation, Who, though unknowable, has made Himself known, through the incarnation of the Son, to all who have received the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and is sent into the world in the name of the incarnate Son." The Trinitarian processions in revelation thus produce the energies which human beings experience as grace and by which they are sanctified or "deified".
In his ''Mystical Theology'' he argued that the theologians of the undivided Church understood that theosis was above knowledge (
gnosis
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge ( γνῶσις, ''gnōsis'', f.). The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world. It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism, where it ...
).
This was further clarified in his work, ''Vision of God'' (or
theoria
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...
). In both works Lossky also stresses the differences between Christian thinkers such as Pseudo-Dionysius and such thinkers as
Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
and the
Neoplatonists
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ide ...
, asserting that Christianity and Neoplatonism, though they share common culture and concepts, have very different understandings of God and
ontology
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
.
Vladimir Lossky, like his close friend
Georges Florovsky
Georges Vasilievich Florovsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Васи́льевич Флоро́вский; – August 11, 1979) was a Russian Orthodox priest, theologian, and historian.
Born in the Russian Empire, he spent his working life in Pari ...
, was opposed to the
sophiological theories of
Sergei Bulgakov
Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (; russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Булга́ков; – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, and economist.
Biography
Early life: 1871–18 ...
and
Vladimir Soloviev. In the words of Nicholas Lossky, "One characteristic of his theology that should be underscored, is that he was not, and always refused to be, a direct descendant of the famous Russian 'religious philosophy'." The term ''
Russian religious philosophy'' had its origin in the works of the
slavophile
Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...
movement and its core concept of
sobornost
Sobornost ( rus, собо́рность, p=sɐˈbornəstʲ "spiritual community of many jointly-living people") is a Russian term whose usage is primarily attributed to the 19th-century Slavophile Russian writers Ivan Kireyevsky (1806-1856) ...
, which was later used and developed by
Vladimir Soloviev.
The Economy of the Holy Spirit
Lossky articulates a distincte role of the Holy Spirit post-Pentecost, the Economy of the Holy Spirit (cf. ch. 8, ''The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church).'' He interprets Ephesians 1:22ff (the church is
esus'body; the fullness of him who fills everything in every way) stating that "if Christ is 'head of the church which is his body,' the Holy Spirit is He 'that filleth all in all'" meaning that while particular believers of Jesus are members of the corporate Christ which relating only to portions of the entire Christ, instead touching and relating only to particular 'parts of the body,' they however receive the Holy Spirit in fullness as opposed to part. Simultaneously, humans find themselves "reunited in the hypostasis of Christ, if it is an 'enhypostatized' nature - one existing in an hypostasis
n this case Jesus'- the human persons who form the hypostasis of this unified nature are not suppressed."
[Lossky, Mystical Theology, 135]
Eastern theological definitions
Lossky also expressed in ''The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church'' that the technical terms of the Trinity doctrine are rooted in Hebrew
hermeneutics
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...
, Greek
Platonic
Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called Platonic or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole. It ...
and
Neoplatonic
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ide ...
philosophy as well. The
triune God being of one
essence
Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...
or being, which is reflective of mankind hypostatically, inside out. God and experience coming into the person from the external world and into the soul by the influence of the Holy Spirit. The
freewill
Free will is the capacity of agents to choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgemen ...
of man functioning as a means to choose good or evil and or choose God or reject God (i.e. blaspheme the Holy Spirit).
Hypostasis meaning existence of God. Ousia as essence or being, is the aspect of God that is completely incomprehensible to mankind and human perception, since it is beyond created or is uncreated. The essence of God, being in the Father (primordial origin) and then given to the Son (begotten of the Father not made) and the Holy Spirit (which proceeds from the Father) both as the hands of God.
Ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary des ...
as essence or being, defined as "all that ''subsists'' by itself and which has not its being in another."
Triune God in essence is the only uncreated being
The concept of the
Triune God being a single God in
essence
Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...
or
Ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary des ...
(as
uncreated). A single God who as Father or infinite origin is an existence, as Son or flesh is an existence and as Spirit is an existence. One God in one Father.
God the Father
The Father of the Trinity is uncreated hyper-being (beyond being) in essence or
ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary des ...
as such is the ''truly''
infinite
Infinite may refer to:
Mathematics
*Infinite set, a set that is not a finite set
*Infinity, an abstract concept describing something without any limit
Music
* Infinite (group), a South Korean boy band
*''Infinite'' (EP), debut EP of American m ...
,
primordial or
original
Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...
, uncreated origin, the reality of which all things and beings originate from, as the Father
Hypostasis. The Father hypostasis in using the term God is used primarily as the name for God. As the term ''God'' is interchangeable with the term ''Father''. As Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Son of the Father and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Father.
God the Son
The Son of God or
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
expressing the
logos
''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...
or perfection as the highest ideal, in the material world and God in the flesh. Christ as well, representing mankind, which he inherited from the
Theotokos
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...
. Christ manifest as ''generated'' and or begotten (not made) in essence uncreated, by and from God the Father as another
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
,
Hypostasis of God.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit himself being light, life, animation and the source of the
uncreated light
In Eastern Orthodox Christian theology, the Tabor Light ( grc, Φῶς τοῦ Θαβώρ "Light of Tabor", or "Uncreated Light", "Divine Light"; russian: Фаворский свет "Taboric Light"; Georgian: თაბორის ნათე ...
photomos,
enlightenment and/or illumination, who proceeds or is manifest by ''procession'' from God the Father as another
Hypostasis of God. The Holy Spirit and the Christ being the hands of God the Father, reaching in from the infinite into the finite (see
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
).
Created being
All things that are not God are created beings or are created in their essence. Mankind possesses
free will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...
in his finite nature, mankind exists in an
indeterminate world. Things as such in their subsistence, are dependent upon something other than themselves. As such divine beings (such as
Angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
) are created beings the origin of their being is ''
ex nihilo
(Latin for "creation out of nothing") is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act. It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe comes to exist. It is in contrast to ''Ex nihilo ni ...
''. All things that are not God, are created in essence or being. God as hyper-being, and or in essence uncreated can be, by way of his existences, the infinite while generating himself as a man and also be the spirit, that by procession (from him God, Father), animates life.
Energies of God
All three hypostasis sharing a common essence or
ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary des ...
or being, which is referred to as God. The ousia of God being completely unknowable or incomprehensible to mankind since it is uncreated where as
nothingness
Nothing, the complete absence of anything, has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BC. Early Greek philosophers argued that it was impossible for ''nothing'' to exist. The atomists allowed ''nothing'' but only i ...
as well as mankind are created (see
Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Бердя́ев; – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who e ...
). The energies of God the Father having the same hyper-being in that they are without cause and or uncreated (see
Gregory Palamas
Gregory Palamas ( el, Γρηγόριος Παλαμᾶς; c. 1296 – 1359) was a Byzantine Greek theologian and Eastern Orthodox cleric of the late Byzantine period. A monk of Mount Athos (modern Greece) and later archbishop of Thessaloniki, h ...
). God's energies as uncreated and indestructible. God the Father (the Father as the monarchos) in his being is not self generated, nor generated from any other, hence the incomprehensibility of God. The Trinity having existences (
hypostasis) that are comprehensible, but a being that is not created and beyond all things (including nothingness) therefore God's hyper-being (
ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary des ...
) is incomprehensible. Lossky points out that God's existences can be spoken of but not his being. If one then speaks of God's essence or being as anything outside of incomprehensible, one speaks in direct contradiction to the
theoria
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...
of Christianity and as such are not true theologians and are instead speaking of God through speculations, rather than experience.
Mysticism and theology
For Lossky, Christian mysticism and dogmatic theology were one and the same. According to Lossky mysticism ''is'' Orthodox dogma ''par excellence''. The Christian life of prayer and worship is the foundation for dogmatic theology, and the dogma of the church help Christians in their struggle for sanctification and deification. Without dogma future generations lose the specific
orthodoxy
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...
(
right mind) and
orthopraxis
In the study of religion, orthopraxy is correct conduct, both ethical and liturgical, as opposed to faith or Divine grace, grace. Orthopraxy is in contrast with orthodoxy, which emphasizes correct belief. The word is a neoclassical compound— ...
(right practice) of the
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
path to salvation (see
soteriology
Soteriology (; el, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religio ...
).
Bibliography
* "The Dispute about Sophia"
поръ о Софіи : "Докладная записка" прот. С. Булгакова и смыслъ Указа Московской патриархіи(1936)
* ''Sept jours sur les routes de France: Juin 1940 Cerf'' (1998)
* ''Essai sur la théologie mystique de l'Église d'Orient'' (1944) (English translation, ''The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church''; 1957, reprinted many times) ;
**
**
**
* ''Theologie Negative et Connaissance de Dieu Chez Maitre Eckhart'' (1960; Vrin, 2002)
* ''La Vision de Dieu'' (1961) (English translation, ''The Vision of God''; 1964, repr. several times)
**
*
*
* (with
Leonid Ouspensky) ''The Meaning of Icons'' (1947; 2nd. ed. 1999 SVS Press)
* ''Being With God'' by Aristotle Papanikolaou (University of Notre Dame Press 24 February 2006)
*''Seven Days on the Roads of France, June 1940'' (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2012)
See also
*
Hesychasm
Hesychasm (; Greek: Ησυχασμός) is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took it ...
*
Apotheosis
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
*
John Behr
John Behr (born 16 October 1966) is a British Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian. Since 2020, he has served as the Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He is the former dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminar ...
*
John of Saint-Denis
Bishop John-Nectarius (french: évêque Jean-Nectaire, secular name Evgraf Evgrafovich Kovalevsky, russian: Евграф Евграфович Ковалевский; April 8, 1905 January 30, 1970), was the First Hierarch of the Orthodox Church ...
*
Theophany
Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifest ...
*
Michael Pomazansky Protopresbyter Michael Ivanovich Pomazansky (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Помаза́нский; November 7, 1888 – November 4, 1988) was a Russian theologian. Biography
He was born in the village of Koryst, in the govern ...
*
John S. Romanides
John Savvas Romanides ( el, Ιωάννης Σάββας Ρωμανίδης; 2 March 19271 November 2001) was a Greek-American theologian, Eastern Orthodox priest, and scholar who had a distinctive influence on post-war Greek Orthodox theology.
Bio ...
*
Phronema
''Phronema'' is a transliteration of the Greek word φρόνημα, which has the meanings of "mind", "spirit", "thought", "purpose", "will", and can have either a positive meaning ("high spirit", "resolution", "pride") or a bad sense ("presumption ...
*
Uniatism
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...
*
Archimandrite Sophrony
Saint Sophrony (23 September 1896, in Moscow – 11 July 1993, in Tolleshunt Knights), known also as Elder Sophrony or Father Sophrony was an archimandrite and one of the noted ascetic Christian monks of the twentieth century. He is best known a ...
*
John Meyendorff
John Meyendorff (french: Jean Meyendorff; russian: Ива́н Феофи́лович Мейендо́рф, tr. ; February 17, 1926 – July 22, 1992) was a leading theologian of the Orthodox Church of America as well as a writer and teacher. He s ...
*
Dumitru Stăniloae
Dumitru Stăniloae (; – 4 October 1993) was a Romanian Orthodox Christian priest, theologian and professor. He worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian translation of the Greek Philokalia, a collection of writings on prayer by the ...
*
Olivier Clément
Olivier-Maurice Clément (17 November 1921 – 15 January 2009) was a French Eastern Orthodox theologian who taught at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, France. He actively promoted the reunification of Christians (he was fr ...
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Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson
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Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...
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Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius
The Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius is a Christian ecumenical society founded in 1928 to foster contact between Christians, especially those of the Anglican and Orthodox traditions. It is named in honour of Saint Alban, the Christian p ...
Notes
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Further reading
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External links
Free PDFs of some of Lossky's writings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lossky, Vladimir
1903 births
1958 deaths
20th-century Russian philosophers
20th-century Christian mystics
20th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Germany
Eastern Orthodox mystics
Eastern Orthodox theologians
Hesychasts
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
Members of the Russian Orthodox Church
Writers from Göttingen
People in Christian ecumenism
Russian theologians
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
University of Paris alumni