Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; ; – 24 March 1948) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, and Christian existentialist who emphasized the

existential Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...

spiritual significance of human freedom and the human person.

Biography

Nikolai Berdyaev was born near

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

in 1874 to an

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

family. His father, Alexander Mikhailovich Berdyaev, came from a long line of

Russian nobility The Russian nobility or ''dvoryanstvo'' () arose in the Middle Ages. In 1914, it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members, out of a total population of 138,200,000. Up until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian noble estates staffed ...

. Almost all of Alexander Mikhailovich's ancestors served as high-ranking military officers, but In the sixth grade, he left the cadet school and began studying for the matriculation exams for admission to the university. Nikolai's mother, Alina Sergeevna Berdyaeva, was half-French and came from the top levels of both French and Russian nobility. She also had Polish, Georgian and Tatar origins. Nikolay Berdyaev

Berdyaev decided on an intellectual career and entered the

Kiev University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

in 1894. It was a time of revolutionary fervor among the students and the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

. He became a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

for a period and was arrested in a student demonstration and expelled from the university. His involvement in illegal activities led in 1897 to three years of internal

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

in northern Russia.

Social activities

In 1899, his first article "F. A. Lange and Critical Philosophy in their relation to Socialism" was published in the magazine "

Die Neue Zeit ''Die Neue Zeit'' ("The New Times") was a German socialist theoretical journal of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) that was published from 1883 to 1923. Its headquarters was in Stuttgart, Germany. History and profile Founded by lead ...

". In the following years, before his expulsion from the USSR in 1922, Berdyaev wrote numerous articles and several books, of which, according to him, he later truly appreciated only two — "The Meaning of Creativity" and "The Meaning of History." A fiery 1913 article, entitled "Quenchers of the Spirit", criticising the rough purging of

Imiaslavie ''Imiaslavie'' (''imyaslavie'', , or 'name-glorification'), among critics also known as ''imyabozhie'' () or imyabozhnichestvo (), "deification of the name", and also referred to as onomatodoxy () was a mystical-dogmatic movement in Russian Ort ...

Russian monks on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...

by the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox ...

of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

using tsarist troops, caused him to be charged with the crime of

blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

, the punishment for which was exile to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

for life. The

World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

and the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

prevented the matter coming to trial.''Self-Knowledge: An Essay in Autobiography'', by Nicolas Berdyaev (Author), Katharine Lampert (Translator), Boris Jakim (Foreword) . Berdyaev's disaffection culminated, in 1919, with the foundation of his own private academy, the ''"Free Academy of Spiritual Culture"''. It was primarily a forum for him to lecture on the hot topics of the day and to present them from a Christian point of view. He also presented his opinions in public lectures, and every Tuesday, the academy hosted a meeting at his home because official Soviet anti-religious activity was intense at the time and the official policy of the Bolshevik government, with its

Soviet anti-religious legislation The government of the Soviet Union followed an unofficial policy of state atheism, aiming to gradually eliminate religious belief within its borders. While it never officially made religion illegal, the state nevertheless made great efforts to ...

, strongly promoted

state atheism State atheism or atheist state is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into Forms of government, political regimes. It is considered the opposite of theocracy and may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments ...

. In 1920, Berdiaev became professor of philosophy at the

University of Moscow Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

. In the same year, he was accused of participating in a conspiracy against the government; he was arrested and jailed.

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

, the feared head of the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

, personally interrogated him, and he gave his interrogator a solid dressing down on the problems with Bolshevism. Novelist

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

in his book ''

The Gulag Archipelago ''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' () is a three-volume nonfiction series written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident. It was first published in 1973 by the Parisian ...

'' recounts the incident as follows:

erdyaevwas arrested twice; he was taken in 1922 for a midnight interrogation with Dzerjinsky;
Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. ( Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Kamenev was a leading figure in the early Soviet government and served as a Deputy Premier ...
was also there.... But Berdyaev did not humiliate himself, he did not beg, he firmly professed the moral and religious principles by virtue of which he did not adhere to the party in power; and not only did they judge that there was no point in putting him on trial, but he was freed. Now there is a man who had a "point of view"!

After his expulsion from the USSR on September 29, 1922, on the so—called " Philosophers' ships", Berdyaev and other émigrés went to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where he founded an academy of philosophy and religion, but economic and political conditions in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

caused him and his wife to move to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1923. He transferred his academy there, and taught, lectured and wrote, working for an exchange of ideas with the French and European intellectual community, and participated in a number of international conferences. Tombe Berdiaev2

Philosophical work

According to Marko Marković, Berdyaev "was an ardent man, rebellious to all authority, an independent and "negative" spirit. He could assert himself only in negation and could not hear any assertion without immediately negating it, to such an extent that he would even be able to contradict himself and to attack people who shared his own prior opinions".Marko Marković, ''La Philosophie de l'inégalité et les idées politiques de Nicolas Berdiaev'' (Paris: Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1978). According to Marina Makienko, Anna Panamaryova, and Andrey Gurban, Berdyaev's works are "emotional, controversial, bombastic, affective and dogmatic". They summarise that, according to Berdyaev, "man unites two worlds – the world of the divine and the natural world. ... Through the freedom and creativity the two natures must unite... To overcome the dualism of existence is possible only through creativity.

David Bonner Richardson David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the Kings of Israel and Judah, third king of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stel ...

described Berdyaev's philosophy as Christian existentialism and

personalism Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleie ...

. Other authors, such as political theologian Tsoncho Tsonchev, interpret Berdyaev as "

communitarian Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based on the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relation ...

personalist" and Slavophile. According to Tsonchev, Berdyaev's philosophical thought rests on four "pillars": freedom, creativity, person, and communion. One of the central themes of Berdyaev's work was

philosophy of love Philosophy of love is the field of social philosophy and ethics that attempts to describe the nature of love. Current theories There are many different theories that attempt to explain what love is, and what function it serves. Among the p ...

. At first he systematically developed his theory of love in a special article published in the journal ''Pereval'' () in 1907. Then he gave

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

issues a notable place in his book ''The Meaning of the Creative Act'' (1916). According to him, 1) erotic energy is an eternal source of creativity, 2)

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

is linked to beauty, and

eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...

means search for the beautiful. He also published works about Russian history and the Russian national character. In particular, he wrote about

Russian nationalism Russian nationalism () is a form of nationalism that promotes Russian cultural identity and unity. Russian nationalism first rose to prominence as a Pan-Slavism, Pan-Slavic enterprise during the 19th century Russian Empire, and was repressed duri ...

: Though sometimes quoted as a Christian anarchist for his emphasis on theology and critique of statist and Marxist socialism, Berdyaev did not self-identify as such and differentiated himself from

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

. Nikolai Berdyaev's work is also featured in the dedication of Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World".

Theology and relations with Russian Orthodox Church

Berdyaev was a member of the

, and believed Orthodoxy was the religious tradition closest to

early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

. Nicholas Berdyaev was an Orthodox Christian, however, it must be said that he was an independent and somewhat a "liberal" kind. Berdyaev also criticized the

and described his views as

anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

. Yet he considered himself closer to Orthodoxy than either

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. According to him, "I can not call myself a typical Orthodox of any kind; but Orthodoxy was near to me (and I hope I am nearer to Orthodoxy) than either Catholicism or Protestantism. I never severed my link with the Orthodox Church, although confessional self-satisfaction and exclusiveness are alien to me." Berdyaev is frequently presented as one of the important Russian Orthodox thinkers of the 20th century. However, neopatristic scholars such as Florovsky have questioned whether his philosophy is essentially Orthodox in character, and emphasize his western influences. But Florovsky was savaged in a 1937 Journal Put' article by Berdyaev. Paul Valliere has pointed out the sociological factors and global trends which have shaped the Neopatristic movement, and questions their claim that Berdyaev and Vladimir Solovyov are somehow less authentically Orthodox. Berdyaev affirmed

universal salvation Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be Salvation in Christianity, saved and restored to a right God#Relationship with ...

, as did several other important Orthodox theologians of the 20th century. Along with

Sergei Bulgakov Sergei Nikolayevich Bulgakov (, ; – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, and economist. Orthodox writer and scholar David Bentley Hart has said that Bulgakov was "the greatest systematic theologian of the tw ...

, he was instrumental in bringing renewed attention to the Orthodox doctrine of apokatastasis, which had largely been neglected since it was expounded by

Maximus the Confessor Maximus the Confessor (), also spelled Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christianity, Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, Maximus was a civil se ...

in the seventh century, although he rejected

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

's articulation of this doctrine. The aftermath of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, along with Soviet efforts towards the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

, caused the Russian Orthodox émigré diaspora to splinter into three Russian Church jurisdictions: the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...

(separated from Moscow Patriarchate until 2007), the parishes under Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgiyevsky) that went under the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

, and parishes that remained under the

Moscow Patriarchate The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the Primate (bishop), primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the Ordinar ...

. Berdyaev was among those that chose to remain under the omophorion of the

. He is mentioned by name on the Korsun/Chersonese Diocesan history as among those noted figures who supported the Moscow Patriarchate West-European Eparchy (in France now Korsun eparchy). Currently, the house in Clamart in which Berdyaev lived, now comprises a small "Berdiaev-museum" and attached Chapel in name of the Holy Spirit, under the omophorion of the Moscow Patriarchate. On 24 March 2018, the 70th anniversary of Berdyaev's death, the priest of the Chapel served panikhida-memorial prayer at the Diocesan cathedral for eternal memory of Berdyaev, and later that day the Diocesan bishop Nestor (Sirotenko) presided over prayer at the grave of Berdyaev. In recent years, efforts to archive and document Berdyaev's work have expanded. A group of scholars has digitized original, unpublished manuscripts from the Berdiaev-museum in Clamart, France, offering researchers and the public deeper insight into his unpublished writings and correspondence.

Works

In 1901 Berdyaev opened his literary career so to speak by work on ''Subjectivism and Individualism in Social Philosophy''. In it, he analyzed a movement then beginning in

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

that "at the beginning of the twentieth-century Russian Marxism split up; the more cultured Russian Marxists went through a spiritual crisis and became founders of an idealist and religious movement, while the majority began to prepare the advent of Communism". He wrote "over twenty books and dozens of articles." The first date is of the Russian edition, the second date is of the first English edition. * ''Subjectivism and Individualism in Societal Philosophy'' (1901) * ''The New Religious Consciousness and Society'' (1907) (, includes chapter VI
The Metaphysics of Sex and Love
)The book is not available in English. For secondary literature in English, see: * * *''Sub specie aeternitatis: Articles Philosophic, Social and Literary (1900–1906)'' (1907; 2019) *''Vekhi – Landmarks'' (1909; 1994) *''The Spiritual Crisis of the Intelligentsia'' (1910; 2014) *''The Philosophy of Freedom'' (1911; 2020) *''Aleksei Stepanovich Khomyakov'' (1912; 2017)

(1913; 1999) *''The Meaning of the Creative Act'' (1916; 1955) *''The Crisis of Art'' (1918; 2018) *''The Fate of Russia'' (1918; 2016) *''Dostoevsky: An Interpretation'' (1921; 1934) *''Oswald Spengler and the Decline of Europe'' (1922) *''The Meaning of History'' (1923; 1936) *''The Philosophy of Inequality'' (1923; 2015) *''The End of Our Time'' .k.a. ''The New Middle Ages''(1924; 1933) *''Leontiev'' (1926; 1940) *''Freedom and the Spirit'' (1927–8; 1935) *''The Russian Revolution'' (1931; anthology) *''The Destiny of Man'' (1931; translated by Natalie Duddington 1937)
''Lev Shestov and Kierkegaard''
N. A. Beryaev 1936 *''Christianity and Class War'' (1931; 1933) *''The Fate of Man in the Modern World'' (1934; 1935) *''Solitude and Society'' (1934; 1938) *''The Bourgeois Mind'' (1934; anthology) *''The Origin of Russian Communism'' (1937; 1955)
''Christianity and Anti-semitism''
(1938; 1952) *''Slavery and Freedom'' (1939)
''The Russian Idea''
(1946; 1947) *''Spirit and Reality'' (1946; 1957) *''The Beginning and the End'' (1947; 1952) *''Towards a New Epoch" (1949; anthology) *''Dream and Reality: An Essay in Autobiography'' (1949; 1950) alternate title: ''Self-Knowledge: An Essay in Autobiography'' *''The Realm of Spirit and the Realm of Caesar'' (1949; 1952)
''Divine and the Human''
(1949; 1952) * *''Truth and Revelation'' (n.p.; 1953) *''Astride the Abyss of War and Revolutions: Articles 1914–1922'' (n.p.; 2017) ; Sources * '"Bibliographie des Oeuvres de Nicolas Berdiaev" établie par Tamara Klépinine' published by the Institut d'études Slaves, Paris 1978

Notes

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

* *
Berdyaev's Clamart House Archive
- A digital archive of unpublished manuscripts, letters, and translations from the Berdyaev Museum in Clamart, France.
Berdyaev Online Library and Index

Dirk H. Kelder's collection of Berdyaev essays and quotes

Nikolai Berdiaev and Spiritual Freedom

Odinblago.ru: Бердяев Николай Александрович
(Russian)
Korsun/Chersonese Eparchy
(Russian and French language) {{DEFAULTSORT:Berdyaev, Nikolai 1874 births 1948 deaths 19th-century Christian mystics 19th-century Christian universalists 20th-century Christian mystics 20th-century Christian universalists 20th-century Russian philosophers Christian existentialists Christian universalist theologians Eastern Orthodox mystics Eastern Orthodox philosophers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Existentialist theologians Liberals from the Russian Empire Academic staff of Moscow State University People from Kievsky Uyezd People from Obukhiv Russian Christian mystics 20th-century Russian memoirists Nobility from the Russian Empire Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia Russian people of French descent Russian people of Polish descent Russian people of Tatar descent Russian people of Ukrainian descent Russian political writers Soviet dissidents Soviet expellees Vekhovtsy Russian philosophers of religion