"To live according to one's conscience is the only way to be saved" – these words of the teacher of the Gižai Theological Seminary, Professor of Theology Ražaitis Maceina always remembered and always followed them. It seems that its relevance is not subject to time at all.

Fleeing from the Soviet terror, A. Maceina left for Germany in 1940, but a little more than a year later he returned (this happened during the German occupation) and continued to work at the university, reading the course "Introduction to Philosophy". At this time, his attention was riveted on the main problems of philosophy and, presumably, it was at this time, having completed a long preparatory period, that A. Maceina firmly entered the path of philosophy. But he was destined to follow this path and complete it no longer in his homeland. In 1944, A. Maceina left his homeland, this time forever. Matseina regarded the forced emigration as a forced exile, calling himself an exile. "How else can we call a person who was forcibly deprived of his homeland, if not an exile... Exiles should be called all those who were pushed out of their country - not necessarily by physical force, as, say, A. Solzhenitsyn, but by moral force, all those who could not stand the new social order..." (Personality and History, 1981). One can interpret this step of A. Matseina as one likes, but one should not forget about the thousands and thousands of exiles whose paths went not only to the West, but also to the East - to Siberia, to the camps of Komi, etc. -- -- to the Russian philosopher L. Karsavin[8].

The path of an emigrant is difficult and difficult. A. Maceina had to go through many trials before he finally established himself in a foreign land. However, his inherent striving for the goal, inexhaustible diligence, and endless work of thought did not allow him to indulge in despondency. He constantly worked, wrote a lot, and again delved into the problems of fundamental and dogmatic theology. And only in 1956 did he return to pedagogical work, starting to teach Russian philosophy and spiritual history of Eastern Europe at the University of Freiburg (Germany). He taught at the University of Freiburg until 1959, and then settled as a visiting professor at the University of Münster, where in 1961 he was appointed scientific adviser and awarded the title of professor for life. At the University of Münster, A. Maceina taught courses in Russian and Soviet philosophy, and in 1962 he began to teach philosophy of religion. In 1970, A. Maceina was forced to retire for health reasons, but even his obviously undermined health (in 1967 he suffered a heart attack) did not prevent him from actively engaging in philosophy in the next seventeen years of his life. A. Matseina died on the same day in January as he was born - January 27, 1987, without waiting for the hour when Lithuania regained its more than once lost independence.

As already noted, and as the philosopher himself confirmed in his philosophical essay, he firmly embarked on the path of philosophy in 1944. A. Matseina even established with extreme accuracy the time and place of this entry - Würzburg, autumn 1944, the library of the local university, in which he spent whole days and which was empty (all students were mobilized); And unread books seemed to cry out for reading: "So I spent whole days with them... So he embarked on the path of philosophy, not being interested in pedagogy at all, and turning literature into an amateur occupation," A. Maceina shared his memories of that distant time on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Firmly embarking on the path of philosophy, Maceina wrote book after book. Already in 1946, his "Grand Inquisitor" was published (in German - in 1952) - a philosophical interpretation of the legend of F. Dostoevsky; in 1950, The Drama of Job, which, in the author's own words, is "an attempt to give the basic tenets of theistic existentialism"; in 1964, "The Mystery of Lawlessness" appeared in the press (in German - in 1955), in which the traditional problem of theodicy - the nature of evil - was investigated. This study was based on the famous work of Vl. Solovyov "A Short Story of the Antichrist". In all these three works, A. Maceina explores the problems of human existence in the light of Christianity. These three books are considered to be the first trilogy by A. Maciejna. The second trilogy consists of purely theological works - "The Song of the Sun" (1954), dedicated to the life and work of Francis of Assisi[9]; "The Great Helper" (1958), which comprehends the life and work of the Virgin Mary, and "The Lamb of God" (1966). The last book, but in the words of the author himself, was written "with a loving heart". In it, the author turns to the Orthodox concept of Christ, turns to the Eastern Church. "That I chose the Christology of the Eastern Church for the 'Lamb of God' was by no means accidental: it was an inner conviction and confession. Latin Christology... I have never been in my heart, like the entire Latin order with its code of laws, with rules and instructions at every step... Therefore, I must frankly admit: although I was brought up by the Latin Church, although I love its language and its music, I am a Christian of the East in my heart and feelings, my theological thoughts and views," said A. Maceina in an interview on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. [10] It seems that the above confession of A. Maceina can clarify a lot not only in his life and work, but also the very philosophical orientation of his thought, his philosophical orientation, his philosophical approach to the problems of being, his theology. It is unlikely that A. Maceina can be attributed to the category of orthodox theologians. His relationship with orthodox theology had been quite complicated since his seminary days. Matseina himself wrote in this regard that if theology is traditionally understood as a teaching about God, essentially connected with the authority of the Church, then in this sense he has never been a theologian, but if theology is understood as "talking about God", then he is a theologian and will remain so until the very end of his life, for God was and remains a constant object of his thinking. and in exile (in emigration) God even became for him the main, primary object of his thinking. However, A. Maceina repeatedly repeated that God stood and still stands in the center of his existence, and therefore in his thinking...

The third trilogy consists of books that explore the issues raised at the Second Vatican Council. These include "The Church and the World" (1970), which examines the life of the Church undergoing changes; "The Great Questions of Modernity" (1971), which deals with the secularization of the world and the evolutionism of Teilhard de Chardin, and, finally, "The Christian in the World" (1973-1974), where A. Maceina sets himself the task of revealing to the reader "the theology of the cultural activity of the Christian, or even the theology of culture itself." The most significant works of A. Maceina also include the first volume of "Philosophy of Religion" (1976). The second volume was never published) and "The Origin and Meaning of Philosophy" (1978), which Kęstutis Girnius called one of the most significant works in the history of Lithuanian philosophy. As already mentioned, in 1962 at the University of Münster, A. Maceina began to teach the philosophy of religion, gradually establishing himself as a religious philosopher, developing his own concept of the philosophy of religion. For a relatively long time, he taught, as he himself wrote in his creative biography, "not his own, but someone else's philosophy of religion - F. Dostoevsky, Vl. Solovyov, N. Berdyaev..." We find the explanation for this in his confession that for a long time he did not know, could not find the "philosophical path to God", he believed in God, but could not reveal Him with his mind, did not know how. This confession explains a lot both in his creative or, more precisely, intellectual biography and in his rather complex, internally extremely saturated life. His path of cognition of God with the mind, or, as he himself said, his "philosophical path to God" was quite complex and, perhaps, to some extent contradictory. Acquaintance with the life and work of A. Maceina allows us to assume that two people were constantly fighting in him - a philosopher who cognizes God with his mind, and just a believer who loves God with all his heart and therefore does not require proof of His existence at all. This peculiar inner splitting, presumably, caused him not a little suffering and to some extent determined the character of his entire philosophy. It seems that it was for these reasons that A. Maceina could not find his own philosophical approach to God for a long time. Quite rightly in his philosophical essay, Maceina asserts that a philosophy that is based on faith and not on knowledge becomes a hidden theology that wears the mask of philosophy. Maceina began teaching his philosophy of religion in 1966, establishing himself more and more as a religious philosopher. The author's idea of The Origin and Meaning of Philosophy, which we have already mentioned as the main work of A. Maceina, was supposed to be the foundation of the philosophy of religion, but in essence it became a consistent exposition of the author's own philosophy.

The mature Maciejna wrote twenty books, countless articles that he published both at home and abroad, two collections of poetry - "Frost" (1965) and "And Never Home" (1981). [13] In A. Maceina, the philosopher and the poet are merged into one. Therefore, it seems that when we talk about the philosopher Maceina, we should not forget about the poet Maceina. This is extremely important for understanding his philosophy. "The thirst to write poetry awoke in me just at the time when I began to philosophize a little on my own... And if now I assert that there is a deep inner connection between philosophy and poetry, then this statement is not an abstract theory, but a living personal experience... I am grateful to poetry for protecting my thinking from dogmatism. Maybe that's why I came to the conclusion that philosophy is an interpretation...", wrote A. Matseina. He never considered philosophy to be a science and therefore did not consider himself to belong to any of the philosophical schools or trends, he always defended the independence of his philosophical thought. "Philosophy is an interpretation, not an investigation or a doctrine, for these methods of knowledge are based on dogma: research on the structure of the nature of an object, and doctrine on the free acceptance of something as truth. In interpretation, however, there are no dogmas and there cannot be: interpretation admits even its opposite, which neither research nor doctrine allows", "... interpretation... is the very essence of philosophy," Maceina summarizes. Where there is no understanding of philosophy as interpretation, there is no philosophy itself, but only research, science. Just as there is no art in the history of art, so there is no philosophy in the study of philosophical work. By the way, Macejna attributed his teaching activity - teaching "foreign" philosophy - to research activities.

Who did Maceina consider himself, who did not consider philosophy to be a science and did not consider it a profession? A. Maceina did not consider himself to be any type of thinker and did not consider himself a philosopher-scientist. Without denying the existence of a science that investigates philosophy, nor denying the sciences that investigate the arts, he saw the essential difference between a scientist engaged in philosophy and a philosopher in the true sense of the word. This is how he himself explains it: "The philosopher of philosophy... while the scientist examines it, which has already been created. To create, if we are talking about philosophy, means to think in a new way or, in my opinion, to interpret existence in a new way. To investigate means to analyze a philosophical phenomenon as it is or was. My philosophy is always my views, and not someone else's theory or system... The personal character of philosophy always makes the philosopher subjective, and this is fundamentally contrary to research, since research rests on the fact that it is as explanatory as possible, and consequently says what the object under study itself says." Thus, the super-task of A. Maceina, his true vocation was to create his own philosophy - "whether good or bad, deep or shallow, but - his own". Not considering philosophy to be a science, Maceina did not see the possibility of talking about the method of philosophy: "Interpretation, like philosophy itself, is never the only one. Only philosophy as a science can and does have a method, where research is the main method of cognition, as in any other science. To talk about the method of philosophy is -- - the same as to talk about the method of poetry, painting, music... That would be teaching to be a philosopher, for every method can be learned. And to teach philosophy would mean the same as to teach to be a poet, an artist, a composer..." Considering philosophy to be the interpretation of man's thought as a single and unrepeatable being, A. Maceina, as we can see, believed that the interpretation of the being of every philosophizing person is unique and original, although it may be somewhat similar to the interpretations of other interpreters of existence. Tracing the philosophical path of A. Maceina, we can find not only his obvious interest in the philosophy of existentialism, but also his ideological closeness to some of its brightest representatives, in particular to K. Jaspers, N. Berdyaev and even in some aspects to M. Heidegger. However, while agreeing with one of the basic propositions of existentialism, namely, that man's being is not fundamental, that man always exists in the face of non-being, A. Maceina cannot agree that existence is only on this side, as atheistic existentialism asserts. At one time, A. Maceina was considered the founder of Christian existentialism in Lithuania. Today, however, apparently taking into account his own justifications for his philosophical path, which he repeatedly emphasizes, he is called a more modest thinker who "combined Christian philosophy with existentialism"[14]. But as already noted, he did not consider himself to belong to any philosophical trend or school, defending the independence of his own thought and setting himself the main task of "discovering transcendence in existence," for the whole of man's being "to its very depths is so constituted that it expresses God, seeks Him, asks Him..." This task was formulated by him as early as 1950. Without a doubt, A. Maceina was first of all a religious philosopher, a theologian in the sense that he designated for himself, that is, he spent his whole life "talking about God" as the Founder of human existence. Matsejna put an equal sign between existence and God. He considered the question of being to be the main question of philosophy, and since he put an equal sign between being and God, it follows that God, according to Maceina, is the main question of human philosophy. However, we do not encounter being as such anywhere, that is, we do not encounter God, so we cannot comprehend Him as an object. Directly, openly, we encounter only various "existing" objects, creatures, the basis of which is God, Whom we are not able to comprehend, but Whom we strive to comprehend. Therefore, philosophy is always a question waiting to be answered. In the answers that man tries to give himself, his interpretation of existence is contained, but these answers never satisfy man and he, not being satisfied with his own answers, suffers. In man's attempts to answer the question of existence for himself, more and more new questions are born, and this process is endless. Only God can answer man, so the determination of man in relation to God is essential for everyone, for his whole life depends on this determination. Man's desire to receive an answer already in this reality, and the impossibility of this, constitutes man's great suffering. It is as if a person is constantly in a borderline situation, in suffering, and goes to another borderline situation, to death. And only union with God saves him from suffering and death and leads him to eternal joy and to complete perfection...

The task set by Maciejna to discover transcendence in existence was solved by him all his life. It opened up before him, then closed -- this was both his joy and his suffering, which gave rise to more and more questions. And he philosophized further, for philosophy, as he himself noted, is the state of the inquiring person, while the inquirer always suffers, because he does not know. Only the Creator possesses true knowledge, not the creature, and therefore it alone is amenable to interpretation. In his, perhaps the most important work, "The Origin and Meaning of Philosophy", A. Maceina names three sources of the origin of philosophy: surprise, doubt and suffering. He believed that modern philosophy is directly based on suffering and that this is historically justified. In his opinion, a new kind of philosophy, a philosophy born of suffering, was destined to be started by Russian thinkers, "whose philosophical thought no longer arose from surprise or doubt, but from suffering as a state of man." Developing this thesis, Maceina draws attention to the fact that Western thinkers did not think from suffering, they did not have a question about the meaning of suffering in human existence, at best they were looking for a way to overcome suffering. "The Russian thinker... He does not comprehend suffering as a theoretical problem -- this has been done by Western philosophy at all times, but thinking itself leads out of suffering..." He goes on to conclude: "If philosophy is wisdom born of suffering, then the philosopher as the bearer of wisdom is not one who has learned much, but one who has suffered much. Freely accepted and borne suffering allows a person not only to penetrate deeper into existence, but also to share his insights with others: only the sufferer is the teacher of others. Only the sufferer, in Ilyin's opinion[15], can and should "tell us something important." And this is because suffering fulfills our freedom in its entirety... Suffering realizes our freedom, and freedom realizes our humanity, from which are born values that have never existed before, and therefore true values." A. Maceina is undoubtedly a philosopher who thought out of suffering. In one of his letters to the author of this introductory article, he wrote: "I am already an old man, who has seen a lot, experienced a lot and suffered a lot. Maybe that's why I became a philosopher because philosophy, as it was beautifully defined by one Russian philosopher (I. A. Ilyin - T.M.), is wisdom born of suffering..."

Did Antanas Maceina create his own original philosophical system? I think so, if we proceed from his own position about man as a unique and one-time being. Does this mean that each person is able to create his own philosophical system? Far from it, for every system presupposes the main foundation on which it is created and the foundations that form it. Building a system is a complex and difficult process that everyone cannot do. The main basis on which Macejna created his system is God as the only Founder of man's being and his (man's) Creator, God as Being itself.

We can talk as much as we want and even convincingly about the influence of various philosophical schools, trends and even individual philosophers on A. Maceina, and this will be fair. It is possible and, probably, necessary to talk about the influence of scholastic philosophy on him, especially during the years of apprenticeship, about the influence on him of his university teacher and scientific supervisor St. Šalkauskis, Vl. Solovyov, N. Berdyaev, later M. Heidegger, J. Ortega y Gasset, and others. So what? Various influences on a person are quite natural and inevitable from the day of a person's birth, and, possibly, even earlier. These influences always have a certain influence on a person and to some extent form him. But still, a person always follows his own path -- life, philosophic -- he sees everything that exists in his own way. And, Maceina has "his own point of view" and this "his own point of view" makes him unique both in his philosophical work and in his life, even if this work may seem similar to the work of others, and his life will remind the lives of many...

The more a person asks and listens, the more philosopher he is. Philosophy, as A. Maceina said, is always associated with both personal efforts and personal risk. After all, these are not church doctrines that we accept (or do not accept) without asking and therefore without risking anything. "For me, faith is a terrible risk," wrote A. Maceina. Perhaps that is why he gave his first trilogy the general name "Сor inquietum", which means "troubled heart". After all, it can be assumed that the philosophical comprehension of Faith and Being is the manifestation of a troubled heart.

Tatyana Korneeva - Matseinienė

LITERATURE

1. R. Plechkaitis. Philosophy of the Feudal Era in Lithuania. (in Lit. Language), Mintis (Thought) Publishing House, Vilnius, 1975