THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE CYCLE "PHILOSOPHY OF CULT (THE EXPERIENCE OF ORTHODOX ANTHROPODICY)"

Priest Pavel Florensky repeatedly gave descriptions and definitions of anthropodicy (from the Greek άνθρωπος – man and δίκη – justice) ("justification of man").

1906: "Anthropodicy and Theodicy! These are the two moments that make up religion, because religion is based on the idea of salvation, the idea of the deification of the entire human being. The first of these moments is primarily a mystery, a mystery, i.e., the real descent of God to humanity, the self-humiliation of God or kenosis<... > self-abasement that justifies man in the face of God..."[1]

1912: "The supposed and partly sketched 2nd part of the Pillar, under a different name, the 2nd half of the μάφησις, i.e. anthropodicy, on mysteries and sacraments, on grace and the Incarnation of God in all forms and images"[2].

1914: Anthropodicy must answer the questions "how does this system of experiences and actions become salvific for me, since I am convinced of its salvific nature in general?"; In what real environment must I move, and in what connection with it must I enter into in order to assimilate salvation to myself? This is in terms of phenomenology"; "In what ways does man receive God's salvation into himself and is saved by his Saviour?" (This is in terms of ontology.) Anthropodicy describes how "when we examine ourselves, we find ourselves to be a 'lie' and impurity, we see our inconsistency with God's truth and, consequently, the need for purification." Anthropodicy is possible "only by the power of God," for "we live in God, but not ourselves," it is "the descent of grace into our bosom."

But "how is this possible? How can a "feeble human face" come into contact with "God's truth"? How does the divine energy not incinerate the insignificance of the creature? These and other similar questions require an ontological dissection. Translating into the coarse and poor language of earthly comparisons, let us say: how is it possible that the Holy Chalice does not melt like wax, and that our eyes do not become blind from the unbearable radiance of Him Who is in it? What would happen if a particle of the sun were lowered into the chalice? But there is That before Which the sun is darkness, and... The cup is unharmed.

Does it not seem at times that the priest is holding a thundercloud in his hand: one careless movement and a lightning strike will strike him? These are images. But no imagery can convey the power of the contrast between God and creation—a contrast that must necessarily be realized in order for the creature to be justified. Anthropodicy must clarify the ontology of this realized contrast between everything and nothing." "To a possible question about the content of anthropodicy, it may be necessary to answer: "The various types and degrees of the descent of God should constitute its main theme. In other words, it must speak of the categories of spiritual consciousness and of the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures; about sacred rites and holy sacraments; about the Church and its nature; on ecclesiastical art and ecclesiastical science, etc., etc. And all this should be the frame of the central question of anthropodicy, the Christological one."

Anthropodicy is the path of the valley, the path of one who has advanced in spiritual achievement, the path is primarily practical. Defending his master's thesis in 1914, Father Pavel considered it necessary to point out that the development of anthropodicy is more complex than theodicy, and therefore he leaves it "more mature and more experienced to the age" [3].

In the broad sense of the word, the issues of anthropodicy were revealed by the priest Pavel Florensky in two large cycles: "The Philosophy of Cult" and "At the Watersheds of Thought" and in a number of independent works ("Iconostasis", "Analysis of Spatiality<and Time) in Artistic and Visual Works"), written mainly in the 1920s. with the God-given rule, archetype 2. the sanctification of a person in the sacraments of the Church, when he becomes sanctified and holy from a sinner 3. human activity, when sacred (cultic), liturgical activity is primary and sanctifies the worldview (science and philosophy), economy and art); its characteristic features (philosophy of consubstantiality, ontologicality, theology, symbolism, antinomianism) and intuitions are traced in a special work (Andronik (Trubachev), hieromonk, Theodicy and anthropodicy in the work of the priest Pavel Florensky, Tomsk, 1998).

In the narrow sense of the word, Father Pavel understood anthropodicy as the cycle "Philosophy of the Cult" proper. Thus, compiling on September 18, 1919, the approximate prospectus of his Collected Works, Fr. Paul, Vol. IV, entitled "An Essay on Orthodox Anthropodicy," having in mind "The Philosophy of the Cult." (The cycle "At the Watersheds of Thought" was to occupy the next V-VIII volumes.)

The first systematic notes, which were later included in the cycle "Philosophy of the Cult", appeared in the work of P. A. Florensky in 1908: observations under the title "Riddles on the Riddles", the topics "Religion and Culture", "Religion, Culture and Worldview", "Cult, Worldview, Economy", "Culture and Cult", "Myth and Sacredness", "Three Types of Theories", "SIN". These notes were related to the course "The First Steps of Ancient Philosophy". From the seventh lecture of this course, "The Religious Origin of Culture," the second lecture "Cult, Religion and Culture" of the course "Essays on the Philosophy of the Cult" was further developed. Most of the preliminary recordings of the cycle "The Philosophy of Cult" date back to 1914-1915, and some of the topics of these recordings were included in Florensky's lecture courses at the Moscow Theological Academy of those years. But plans for a special course of lectures on the philosophy of cult probably came to Florensky only in the spring of 1918, after an offer to give lectures in Moscow.

Letter from S. N. Durylin to Priest Pavel Florensky

"April 19 (May 2), 1918, Moscow.

Dear Father Paul!