The Influence of Greek Spirituality on Russian Culture

Abstract

In this article, we will analyze the influence of Greek spirituality on Russian culture in the second half of the 18th century, when Enlightenment ideas infused Russian society. Russian intellectual circles and the upper social class were inspired by Western categories of thought. The absence of a living theology that would give man the true meaning of life has caused tension and a great spiritual crisis in Russian society. One possible solution was to start a fight against the Enlightenment and reject any Western ideas. The second solution was to pay attention to the forgotten tradition and look for inspiration in it for the renewal of spiritual life. The spiritual renewal, known as the philokalic movement, leaned towards the second solution, building upon the Byzantine hesychastic tradition of the 14th century. This paved the way for a new era of Orthodox spirituality, which significantly influenced thinking and spiritual life in Russia. The movement of spiritual renewal is associated with the translation and publication of manuscripts written by Byzantine niptic authors, which were published in the book Dobrotolublye (gr. Philokalia). This significantly contributed to the spread of the hesychastic tradition in Russia and became an impetus for a return to Byzantine spiritual values. This article examines the spiritual, literary, and cultural activities of the most important centers of Russian Hesychasm, such as Sarov, Valaam, and Optina, and their influence on Russian society, which has not yet been recognized sufficiently.

Eastern Patristics on Human’s Free Will and Divine Predestination: Conceptual Continuity in the Contemporary Russian Culture

“…In this view, it is not the beginning, but the end determined for the human being by God that clarifies the goal of the life of the human being. It is not only a historical perspective, but especially an eschatological one, as Byzantine philosophers claim" (Zozulăk andValčo 2018, p. 1039).…”

“…> Byzantine anthropology implies a relationship of the human being to God and of the human being to the human being. In this perspective, Byzantine philosophical thinking also analyzes the goal of the life of the human being" (Zozulăk andValčo 2018, p. 1039). A significant theological and anthropological problem there was the dependency of the human's freedom, free will, and free choice from the Divine predestination.…”

“…We agree with C. Taylor in his definition of a secular society, which is understood as the secularization of public space, the decline of faith and religious practices, and the prevalence in culture of non-belief as a human life choice (Taylor 2007). 6 One of the recent most significant works of foreign authors on the influence of original Greek spirituality on the 18th century Russian culture, which embraced at that time the ideas of the Western Enlightenment and logic thought, is a publication of Ján Zozulăk (2021) in the journal Religions. Particularly, the author analyzes the philokalic movement in Russia as a renewal tradition drawn from the Byzantine Hesychasm, taking some ideas of Byzantine "niptic authors" into consideration (Zozulăk 2021).…”