And kissed all the things of the universe.
And only then did he depart into the unspoken verb.

V. Rabinovich.

If I had to express in one word the impression of the personality of Father Sergius Bulgakov, I would, without hesitation, choose the epithet “inconceivable.”

This is how a person works: we feel comfortable and cozy when everything is conveniently classified, laid out on shelves, distributed according to roles, categorized under the closest genus and corresponding species. Spinoza is a pantheist, Montaigne is a skeptic, and Fichte and Hegel are idealists: one transcendental, the other absolute. And everyone is fine. And everyone is calm. The chicks were placed in nests.

But there are always uncomfortable people, uncomfortable ideas, uncomfortable thoughts that refuse to be distributed, do not want to take their places, because these familiar nests do not accommodate them, never fit, their size or narrowness only emphasizing the inappropriateness and inconvenience of a person or a teaching. This is Father Sergius Bulgakov. An incongruous thinker, an inappropriate theologian.

He himself felt homeless and placeless. In his “Autobiographical Notes” he repeatedly complains that all his life he was “a stranger among his own, a friend among strangers, but essentially not a friend anywhere... Alone in the field is not a warrior, but always and everywhere alone.”

They will certainly object: firstly, any philosopher can lay claim to originality and incompatibility, and secondly, what is not clear about Bulgakov? A talented economist and sociologist who made the journey from Marxism to idealism, and then from idealism to Orthodoxy, eventually taking the priesthood and devoting the last decades of his life to writing cumbersome theological opuses. That is why his biography is usually divided into three unequal periods: economic, philosophical and theological. What is the mystery here? He himself does not resist classification.

Of course, any thinker, if he is a real, honest and fearless philosopher, as Plato painted a portrait of a true philosopher in ancient times, is simply obliged to be “incontainable,” and all our classifications are very conditional and are necessary, to a greater extent, for educational purposes. But Father Sergius, indeed, never belonged among either philosophers or theologians.

Attempts to “tame” Father Sergius continue and will continue. One camp or another is trying to classify him as a friend or an enemy. They want to make him a champion of democracy, but Father Sergius was a convinced monarchist or, as he called himself, a “tsar lover,” who mystically reverently experienced the Sofian truth of autocracy. But even in the monarchist camp, he was a loner, because he saw the tragedy of the Russian Tsar and painfully recognized and experienced all the mistakes and vices of the Russian autocracy.

He was a real Russian intellectual with that very “Russian intellectual complex” that remained with him throughout his life: as a high school student, as a student, as a professor, as a priest, he always felt guilty for his well-being, guilty before those who are now starving and suffering who couldn't get good education, responsibility for everyone oppressed and humiliated. But he didn’t belong among the intellectuals either, because he saw and courageously denounced the lies of the intelligentsia.

Was he one of the philosophers? Of course, he was respected and his circle of friends and associates included the best minds Russia at that time. But even among them he was rather a holy fool. Most of them saw in Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov a well-educated person, a hard worker, a loyal friend, but for them he was more like “Salieri from philosophy”, “a pygmy from Zubovsky Boulevard”, not a genius, but a talent who achieved everything through painstaking work and gained fame an eccentric because of his excessive passion for Orthodoxy.

Vera Mordvinova, muse and interlocutor of Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov, in 1915, after meeting with Bulgakov, wrote to her “spiritual mentor” that Bulgakov, of course, good man, but he has no “I”, no future, and his son Fedya is much more talented than his father and in due time will eclipse his learned ancestor.

But most of Father Sergius’s refined friends did not understand his love for church Christianity with all its rituals and rules. And one day Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov became Father Sergius, a real Orthodox priest, a genuine Russian priest. And this is a fact that should be taken seriously.

There is a temptation to see in Father Sergius such a liberal priest, a salon abbot-intellectual, a critic of church inertia, an enlightened clergyman-intellectual. Father Sergius was a real father. He knelt before the Throne in the altar, kissed the icons, and had his hands kissed.

He was not a reformer at all; rather, his fiery devotion to tradition was striking: he strictly kept all his posts, read endless prayer rules, prescribed by the Church, strictly monitored the fulfillment of the rules of worship, and did not allow any omissions in his service.

He prayed. He did not meditate, but rather prayed, as the Orthodox people pray before him and after him. His theological texts are the fruit, among other things, of prayerful efforts.

Sometimes Father Sergius is called either the Russian Aquinas or the Russian Origen. Both options are quite arbitrary. He was neither a system creator, like Aquinas, nor a heretic, like Origen. Due to the prayerful ardor and touching confession of his texts, he could bear the name of the Russian Augustine. But he does not need such honorary names at all. The name “Father Sergius Bulgakov” is glorious in its glory and wonderful in its dignity.

Father Sergius Bulgakov was not just an armchair scientist, or rather not only a scientist. He was a mystical theologian, a prayer theologian, and a truly church thinker.

I think that Father Sergius opened a new genre of theological works, at least the texts of the “Small Trilogy” are a monument to spiritual exercises, thinking about God and prayerful theology. Each book begins and ends with a prayer, sometimes so poignant that it seems as if the author wrote it with his own tears. “The Burning Bush” is, so to speak, the first theological akathist to the Mother of God.

However, this obvious, and sometimes even offensive, churchliness did not make Father Sergius one of the people among the Orthodox clergy. Father Sergius experienced this loneliness among his own people especially hard. He was suspected of being unreliable back in Russia, when he was simply Sergei Nikolaevich, but in emigration this suspicion gradually grew into persecution, which has not ended yet.

He lived by Orthodoxy, but passionately denounced Orthodoxy. He was an obedient cleric, but was an implacable enemy of church lackeyness and bishop-worship. He was faithful to tradition, but fearlessly opposed the stifling of church creativity and freedom of theological thought. And yet this devotion to freedom did not make him the dissident we would like to imagine him to be. This man had too much of a noble knight who devoted himself entirely to serving the Truth.

For his age he was too holy a fool. The scientist's endless erudition and high qualifications placed him on a par with respectable theologians of that time. And yet Father Sergius was by no means a respectable theologian. He frightened his respectable colleagues with his fiery piety.

At the Lausanne Conference of 1927, Father Sergius unexpectedly spoke out in defense of the veneration of the Mother of God. This was so natural for his ardent chivalrous heart, but so inappropriate that even the Orthodox participants in the conference were literally embarrassed by the Parisian professor. Such chivalry looked eccentric and was completely inappropriate in the 20th century.

It would be easier to say that Father Sergius was born at the wrong time. But the priest himself categorically did not accept this romantic phrase. “There is a certain pre-established harmony between who is born and where and how he is born,” he wrote in The Bridegroom’s Friend. And in a later work, The Bride of the Lamb, he developed the idea that man is his own co-creator, a co-worker with God in his own creation, self-creation.

In a sense, God pre-eternally asks man for consent to exist, and if we exist, we ourselves have chosen not only be, but also how, who and where to be. Just like Tarkovsky:

I chose my age according to my height.

Father Sergius chose his age and his homeland, and although he seemed inappropriate to some of his contemporaries, it was still his time, his place and his beautiful and grateful life.

Sofia's smile

Years of life of Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov: 1871 - 1944. Born in Livny, died in Paris. Between Paris and Livny there are three thousand kilometers. Between 1871 and 1944 - seventy-three years of life. But the figure “is not of any use.” Whatever temporal and spatial coordinates we occupy in our lives, its living fabric is made up of simple but unexpectedly significant moments. It is all woven from sounds and smells, sweet or frightening images, from the rejoicing of the heart and the memory of the skin.

The city of Livny, Oryol province. The family of a poor cemetery priest. Seven children, two parents and an old grandfather. Ten people in a five-room house. Father Sergius loved this place and these people very much, he loved his homeland.

His childhood sounded with the soft tenor of his father, the bass of the singing Stepanovich, to whom parishioners came with excitement to listen, ringing bells little Seryozha’s favorite church - the St. Sergius Church - the white St. Sophia church, the image of which is saturated with the smell of mignonette and marigolds, wonderful night services and the playing of lamps, and also a modest river on which the Livny children fished, a small forest, the evening steppe and the nanny’s bedtime stories - scary, Sofia tales.

Father Sergius recalled his childhood with gratitude, despite the fact that the nature of his homeland was poor and meager, the city of his childhood was poor and dusty, his father, a hereditary priest, a strict and responsible person, sometimes drank and made scandals at home, his mother was a natural nervous and anxious, smoked a lot, was suspicious and prone to depression, and for my grandfather Sergei was not his favorite grandson.

But for Father Sergius, this poor Livensky childhood was the time of Sophia’s first revelation, under the sign of which his whole life passed, all his works were written. And there is no need to be afraid of these words - “Sophia”, “sophiology”. For many, this is an unnecessary complication of Orthodox theology, an annoying excess or a theological whim.

The sophiology of Father Sergius Bulgakov originates in his childhood. Sophia, first of all, is not the fourth hypostasis, not ousia, not a philosophical concept or an element of a theological structure. Sofia is an event. And this is precisely where the root of Bulgakov’s theology lies. Sophia had to be experienced first, so that later, by comprehending Sophia’s experience, she could build an elegant ontological model that would justify this experience.

The childhood of Father Sergius was a revelation to Sophia. What Father Sergius experienced in his childhood, and then encountered throughout his life, he called Sophia. The experience of the revelation of the beauty of this world, its humanity, the experience of the revelation of the divinity of man and the humanity of God - this is what Sophia is, and the biography of Father Sergius should be called existential sophiology. The life of Father Sergius was dedicated to understanding this experience and its theological rationalization. And Sofia’s first experience is the experience of her Liven childhood, which was a truly church-based childhood.

But one day this holiday of Sofia was interrupted. At the age of fourteen, Sergei lost his faith. At that time, such biographical turns were not uncommon. We are well aware of the fates of Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov and many other disinterested truth-seekers who lost their faith in adolescence, protesting the forced piety and loyal Christianity of the Bursa.

The son of a Liveni priest followed the same path. But he saw the reason for his godlessness not only in the lies of seminary Orthodoxy, but also in his own depravity. As an elderly priest, he confessed his teenage selfishness and arrogance, which burned his family and friends.

Much later, Sartre would write in his autobiography that the reason for his loss of faith was childhood pride. Here Father Sergius also saw the source of his spiritual fainting. From the age of fourteen to thirty—a whole sixteen years—Fr. Sergius lived without God and the church, but not without Sophia. He admitted that even in the darkest years of Bursat prose, his soul was still touched by the lines of the Gospel or the life of Mary of Egypt. He was looking for faith, and although godlessness and nihilism became his faith, he longed for the authentic, the real, without which he literally suffocated, several times trying to kill himself in despair.

One smart person said: “If the people don’t have God, they should at least have Pushkin.” And Sergei Bulgakov, a capable seminarian, and then a graduate of the Yelets Gymnasium and Moscow University, saved himself in his godlessness by his love of literature and art. Beauty saved him and justified the world. And this experience of beauty was also a Sophia experience. The future theologian experienced several mystical revelations during this period of his life. At the age of 24, on the way to Crimea to visit his wife’s relatives, while contemplating nature, Sophia’s face of the world suddenly opened to him:

“It was evening. We drove along the southern steppe, surrounded by the fragrance of honey herbs and hay, gilded with the crimson of a blissful sunset. In the distance the nearby Caucasus Mountains were already turning blue. It was the first time I saw them. And fixing greedy gazes on the opening mountains, drinking in the light and air, I listened to the revelation of nature. The soul has long been accustomed, with a dull, silent pain in nature, to see only a dead desert under a veil of beauty, as if under a deceptive mask; Apart from her own consciousness, she did not put up with nature without God. And suddenly at that hour my soul became agitated, rejoiced, and trembled: what if there is... if not the desert, not a lie, not a mask, not death, but He, the good and loving Father, His robe, His love... My heart was pounding to the sound of a pounding train, and we rushed towards this dying gold and these gray mountains".

This was the first meeting with Sofia, or better to say, the first event of Sofia, when Sergei Nikolaevich, after ten years of godless life, suddenly revealed the true face of this world, in which the face of God was reflected, the reflection of the eyes of God the Lover of Mankind.

But the return to the Father’s house did not happen. Life was busy with other things. Sergei Bulgakov plunged into academic studies. After graduating from the university, he was left at the department of political economy and statistics to prepare for a professorship; in 1895 he began teaching, and in 1896 he made his debut in print. Having published his first book, “On Markets in Capitalist Production,” in 1897, Bulgakov went on a business trip abroad for two years. Berlin, Paris, London, Geneva, Zurich, Venice.

He worked in libraries and met with German Social Democrats. But there, abroad, a new revelation of Sophia happened to him. On a foggy autumn morning, Marxist scientist Sergei Bulgakov visited the famous Dresden Gallery, not expecting that he would leave the museum as a completely different person. Then he first saw the Sistine Madonna with the Eternal Child in her arms.

“They had immeasurable power of purity and insightful sacrifice - knowledge of suffering and readiness for free suffering, and the same prophetic sacrifice was seen in the non-childish wise eyes of the Infant. They know what awaits Them, what they are doomed to, and they are freely coming to give themselves, to do the will of the Sender: She “accept the instrument in the heart,” He Golgotha...

I didn’t remember myself, my head was spinning, joyful and at the same time bitter tears flowed from my eyes, and with them the ice in my heart melted, and some kind of vital knot was resolved. It was not an aesthetic excitement, no, it was a meeting, new knowledge, a miracle... I (then a Marxist!) involuntarily called this contemplation a prayer and every morning, trying to get to Zwinger, while no one else was there, I ran there, in front of Madonna, “pray” and cry, and there are few moments in life that would be more blissful than these tears.” .

This is how the “will to believe” began to mature in the soul of Sergei Bulgakov. Almost a quarter of a century later, being a priest and theologian, Father Sergius again visited Dresden, visited the gallery with excitement, but the miracle of the meeting did not happen. Why? Because Sofia is an event, and like any significant event, it is unique and inimitable. Sophia is what happens between God and man, a miracle of meeting, a very personal and intimate event that cannot be programmed, deserved, or in any way force one of the parties to revelation.

Be that as it may, in 1900 Sergei Bulgakov returned to his homeland. But he returned a changed man.

World "and"

November 21, 1901. Kyiv. An extraordinary professor at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov, gives a public lecture “Ivan Karamazov as a Philosophical Type.” The audience greets the performance with an ovation. Students carry the professor in their arms. This was the first triumph of Bulgakov as a lecturer.

He had a talent as an orator. He spoke warmly and with feeling. He spoke with his heart. During this Kiev period - from 1901 to 1906 - Sergei Nikolaevich became famous throughout Russia. He teaches, actively publishes, participates in various journals, and meets famous philosophers, scientists and writers.

In 1902, the next public lecture that brought him fame was “What does the philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov give to modern consciousness?” The lecture has been published. The author is invited to give performances in different cities of Russia. Thus began the “idealistic” period in Bulgakov’s life.

This time was marked by many gratifying achievements in the life of the thinker: in 1903 the collection “From Marxism to Idealism” was published; in 1904, together with N.A. Berdyaev Bulgakov works on the magazine “New Path”, but the most gratifying thing happened in 1905 - Sergei Nikolaevich, after a long break, goes to confession and receives communion. So modestly and meekly, on a quiet autumn day, in a small monastery church, a return to God and reconciliation with childhood took place.

In the fall of 1906, Bulgakov moved to Moscow, where he lived until 1918. This is one of the most intense periods of Bulgakov’s creativity - twelve years of active writing, teaching and socio-political work. He moved to Moscow to participate in the Second State Duma, which he entered at the beginning of 1907 as a “Christian Socialist” without joining any of the parties. Deputy Bulgakov rose to the podium nine times, each time plunging his listeners into bewilderment, because the tsarist government, reformers, and revolutionaries got it from him. He did not become a member of either party, and four months of active work in the Duma resulted in deep disappointment in politics.

“I have never known a place in the world with a more unhealthy atmosphere,” recalled Father Sergius , - rather than the common hall and lobbies of the State Duma, where the demonic games of Soviet deputies then reigned with dignity.”.

But the Moscow Twelfth Anniversary is not only a thought. Here Bulgakov meets Father Pavel Florensky, E.N. Trubetskoy, P.I. Novoselov, V.F. Ern and many other bright thinkers and publicists. In 1909, Bulgakov’s famous work “Heroism and Asceticism”, which caused a lot of controversy, was published in the collection “Vekhi”, in 1911 - a collection of articles “Two Cities”, in 1912 - “Philosophy of Economics”. However, the crown of the Moscow period was the book “Non-Evening Light” (1917) and the collection “Quiet Thoughts” (1918).

Bulgakov is no longer an idealist, but a religious philosopher, “a seeker of the religious unity of life, sought but not found.” In “Philosophy of Economics” the theme of Sofia is heard for the first time, which is not easy for Bulgakov. He is strongly influenced by Vladimir Solovyov and Father Pavel Florensky. Their sophiological experiments have a bright Gnostic coloring.

Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov had a healthy church intuition, instilled in childhood, and therefore he resisted this influence, tried to overcome it, and being already a priest, he largely corrected the mistakes of his early teaching, and even repented of some experiences. But the general tone of the “Moscow” texts is truly Sophia.

Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov, reflecting on the pages of The Brothers Karamazov, spoke about two types of attitude to life: “peace-loving” and “peace-spitting.” Bulgakov's texts are joyful and comforting to read. This is a thinker with a “world-loving” look. Whatever he writes about - whether about Marx, Feuerbach, Carlyle or Picasso, the work of Golubkina or Chekhov, he finds his truth everywhere, and before condemning or rejecting, he tries with all his might to justify. Justification of peace - this is the main pathos of his “Moscow” texts. And that is why they are sophia.

Much later, Father Sergius said to his faithful disciple Lev Zander, “that in the word “and” the whole secret of the universe is hidden, that to understand and reveal the meaning of this word means to reach the limit of knowledge. For “and” is the principle of unity and integrity, meaning and reason, beauty and harmony; to understand the world in the light of “and” means to embrace it with a single all-pervading view; and to see this connection that connects the world with God means to understand it as God’s “kingdom and power and glory,” existing “always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.” In Bulgakov’s philosophy and theology, this world “and” is Sophia, the principle of comprehensive unity.

But before entering into philosophical discourse, becoming a problem or concept, Sophia is an event and revelation, a living experience of the unity of the world, man and God, and Bulgakov experienced this experience not only in the phenomenon of beauty, glimpses of truth and truth that he noticed in the works of the characters his articles, but also in personal, often very tragic experiences.

On August 27, 1909, Sergei Nikolaevich’s beloved son Ivashek, the “white boy,” as his father called him, died. The pages of “The Never-Evening Light,” where Bulgakov describes this tragedy, are perhaps the most piercing and touching in his work. The boy was just over three years old, but he was a joy to his parents. “Carry me, dad, up, - we’ll go up with you!” - the last words of the baby, which are impossible to read without excitement. However, Bulgakov experienced this terrible experience of dying together with his “white boy” as a Sophia revelation.

This is where the sophiology of death begins, and for me this is the strongest evidence of the presence in Bulgakov’s philosophy of its existential dimension, without which it is impossible to understand the Sophia ontology of Father Sergius. And this sophiology of death also comes from Bulgakov’s childhood revelations.

Of the seven children of Father Nikolai, only two survived. The death of his younger brother, five-year-old Kolya, “a common favorite, with the mark of a cherub, the predecessor of our Ivashechka,” was especially imprinted in the memory of Father Sergius. But Father Sergius knew how to see Sophia in both death and funerals, and therefore said that in Livny they “bury Sophia.”

Bulgakov also experienced one of the most sophistic experiences of dying in Moscow. In June 1918 he took holy orders. For the philosopher Bulgakov, this was a feat of death and resurrection. Bulgakov was a hereditary “Levite”; the blood of five generations of priests, “Levitical blood” flowed in his veins. This is on my father's side. The mother's ancestors were also priests, and one of them was the famous Saint Theophan the Recluse.

Holy orders and theological ministry were the natural outcome of Bulgakov's ideological evolution. Reading his works of the 1910s, we see how Bulgakov’s thought gradually becomes ecclesiastical, how he persistently begins to be curious about theological issues, and countless quotes from the Fathers of the Church and good excursions into patristic theology appear in the books.

Bulgakov was involved in church issues both as a publicist and as a public figure. He took a keen interest in the course of the name-glorifying dispute, and in 1917 he became a member of the Local Council and a close friend of Patriarch Tikhon, to whom His Holiness entrusted the writing of his messages.

The events associated with the ordination were described in detail by Father Sergius in his notes. In these recordings one is struck by the amazing atmosphere of meek tranquility, “silence unspeakable.” And this is also Sophia, the experience of sacrificially devoting oneself to the service of God and people, of priestly dedication to service, sanctifying and healing this world, creating the Church Body through the sacraments, through the transformation of the world.

Two weeks after his priestly consecration, Father Sergius left Moscow forever. He went to Crimea, worried about his family, hoping to return again. But Crimea was captured for a long time. From 1918 to 1922 - four years of the Crimean prison - a period of trials, temptations and horrors of the civil war.

In Crimea, Bulgakov’s main philosophical works were written and completed – “The Philosophy of the Name” (1918) and “The Tragedy of Philosophy” (1921), as well as the dialogue “At the Walls of Chersonissus” (1922), which reflected the painful struggle of Father Sergius with the temptation of Catholicism. There was such a temptation in Bulgakov's biography.

When he found himself in Crimea, cut off from the world, and from there, from Bolshevik Russia, news came one more terrible than the other, and it seemed that the Orthodox Church had already fallen, physically destroyed, Father Sergius turned his thoughts to the West, there looking for answers and revival of the church. However, Bulgakov was cured of Catholicism as soon as he found himself in a foreign land and encountered living, and not speculative, Catholics.

At the end of 1922, Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov with his wife and two children was expelled from Russia. He was fifty-two years old, and life seemed to have ended and stopped. In Crimea, Father Sergius began keeping a diary. This is the most bitter and saddest thing he wrote in his life. And the most anti-Sophia thing. And indeed, during the Crimean period, the theme of Sophia, as well as the term itself, completely disappeared from Bulgakov’s texts.

But when joy returned, Sophia returned. In the spring of 1923, Father Sergius and his family were warmly received in Prague and took the chair of church law. At fifty-two years old, life not only continued, but opened the most fruitful and interesting period in the work of Father Sergius.

Duty of Freedom and Service

Sophia is the event of revelation of the unity of God and the world. Highest degree This revelation is the Eucharist as the ongoing Incarnation of God, the sacrament of deification and justification of the created world. Therefore, it is not surprising that Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov one day became Father Sergius, an Orthodox priest whose main task was to celebrate the liturgy. He was Sophia's seeker, now he has become her witness and servant.

It is very important to find the correct answer to the question: why did Bulgakov take holy orders? After all, this was not uncommon among the friends of Father Sergius. Florensky was ordained, and Durylin became a priest. But for Father Pavel, what came first was not the ministry of the priest, but science in all its manifestations, and Durylin eventually left the priestly ministry.

The recognition of Father Sergius himself is very important: “ I entered the priesthood solely for the sake of serving, i.e. primarily celebrate the liturgy» .

Pay attention to how the emphasis is placed: he is a priest not for the sake of shepherding, missionary, theology or social activities, - no, - the main thing is the Eucharist, the core of which is not just the sacred magic of transmuting bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord, but the communion of the faithful with these Saints Gifts, realized union with God in the sacrament of communion. Therefore, Father Sergius loved not only to perform the liturgy, but also to simply give communion to the sick at home, and for him this was the most significant moment of his life.

Reflecting on his life path at the end of his days, Father Sergius recognized that taking holy orders was the most important event of his life, and therefore he divided his biography not into economic, philosophical and theological periods, but into two parts: before taking orders and after. And, no matter how strange it may sound, the priorities set in this way - first liturgy, then theology - turned out to be very fruitful for his work.

In the last twenty years of his life, Father Sergius wrote more than in his youth. He perceived his theological creativity as a continuation of the liturgy outside the walls of the church. Actually, this is how it always was in his life - first the event of Sophia, then a philosophical or theological understanding of the experience.

When we reflect on the life of Father Sergius Bulgakov and explore the sources of his biography, one important piece of evidence of his life is usually overlooked - photographs. There are quite a few of them left. But here’s what’s surprising: in his priestly photos, Father Sergius looks younger than on the cards, where he is still a secular philosopher in a frock coat. He was even embarrassed that he had too little, indecently little gray hair for a fifty-year-old “grandfather.”

But the priestly photos amaze not only with their youth, which seems to have been renewed with the adoption of the priesthood, but with a truly prophetic facial expression and the mesmerizing ardor of their gaze. Looking at these photographs, you remember the same phrase from the prophet Isaiah: “Here I am, send me.” The greatest righteous man and prophet of the Old Testament era, Isaiah, seeing the glory of God, exclaimed: “Woe is me!” I'm dead! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people also of unclean lips; and mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5). However, when the Lord cried out: “Whom shall I send?”, the humble prophet, so anxiously aware of his unworthiness, offered himself as a sacrifice: “Here am I, send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

The entire appearance of Father Sergius screams with this ancient sacrificial cry. And this is not only the impact of old photographs. Many evidences of this fiery service of Father Sergius have been preserved. He was a true ascetic, and if his life is ever compiled, the biographer will not lack evidence. He was a man who devoted himself entirely to serving the Church. First, he was a true ascetic of science who subjected himself to the strict discipline of a thinker and writer.

He devoted every morning until noon to writing. He got up at the same time, despite the insomnia that tormented him all his life, served the liturgy, wrote or went to a lecture, and after dinner he always read. He also found time to receive visitors, confess to his spiritual children, and participate in numerous conferences and grueling symposiums. Being among the most refined society, he always remained a priest.

Once he exchanged his frock coat for a cassock, he never took it off; he was faithful not only to his priestly appearance, but also to the rhythm of church life, which all grew out of the liturgy. His theology also grew from the experience of the Eucharist. “My theology,” Father Sergius told his students, “has always been inspired by standing at the altar.”

Father Sergius wrote his main theological works in Paris, where he moved with his family in July 1925. There the “Small Trilogy” was completed, countless theological articles were written, the monumental “Big Trilogy” was created, and an interpretation of the Apocalypse was written.

In Paris, he became a professor of dogmatic theology at the newly opened theological institute of St. Sergius of Radonezh and gathered around him a whole constellation of outstanding Russian thinkers. It was Father Sergius Bulgakov who convinced Georgy Florovsky to engage in patristic research and inspired Father Cyprian Kern to study the work of St. Gregory Palamas, had a strong influence on the ideas of Father Nikolai Afanasyev and the work of Father Kassian Bezobrazov.

He was the first Russian theologian to draw attention to worship, liturgical texts and iconography as an important and reliable source of theological thought. He was the first to actively quote liturgical texts in his works, not for the sake of decoration, but precisely as a source of theology. In his relatively small work, “The Friend of the Bridegroom,” he used more than one hundred and seventy quotations from the church services of the Forerunner. Actually, it was Father Sergius Bulgakov, long before Father Alexander Schmemann, who became at the origins of liturgical theology.

Father Sergius devoted a lot of time and attention to young people. While still in the Czech Republic, he took an active part in the creation of the Russian Student Christian Movement. It was Father Sergius Bulgakov who forced the participants in the movement to build their work around the Eucharist, and this simple church idea became a real revelation for many who experienced, for example, the student congress in Psherow in 1923 as a real Pentecost, because, at the insistence of Father Sergius, all meetings were accompanied experience of communal prayer and communion.

On October 8, 1923, on the last day of the Psherovsky Congress, Father Sergius called on the participants to realize the new Eucharistic era. The Eucharist should inspire us not only in church, we must carry this inspiration into the world, striving for the ecclesiasticalization of all life, turning it into a liturgical hymn, an extra-church liturgy. For Father Sergius himself, this meant the transformation of his theological creativity into a liturgical hymn, a liturgical song. He perceived his theology as a service, as his duty to the Church. How much of a theologian he was can be judged by a small quotation from “The Bride of the Lamb”:

“The truths contained in the revelation of God-manhood, in particular in its eschatological revelation, are so unshakable and universal that even the most stunning events of world history, which we are now witnessing, pale in front of them, as if destroyed in their ontological meaning, because we we comprehend them in the light of the Coming" .

Father Sergius recorded this phrase on June 24, 1942. The most terrible war in the history of mankind was raging around, people were dying, cities were burning, and Father Sergius was too well aware of all the horrors of war, but his gaze extended further, he saw more than ordinary people see, he had the eyes of a prophet.

However, like all prophets, he was stoned. They didn't trust him. Bishop Feofan (Bystrov) in 1923 was indignant at the decision to allow a former Marxist to teach church law.

And in 1924, an article by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) appeared, accusing Father Sergius of quadrupling the Trinity. One after another, brochures and books were printed, “scientifically” exposing the errors of Archpriest Bulgakov.

The peak of this persecution occurred in 1935. Then Father Sergius was directly accused of heresy. It was cruel and unfair. In 1936, a special theological commission was created, which included the most prominent representatives of Russian theology. For almost two years, theologians inquisitively read the texts of Father Sergius, but they never found heresy.

Bulgakov's texts are very demanding of the reader. If you want to understand the author, you should make the same ascetic effort, allow yourself the same tension of thought in which Father Sergius himself worked. Otherwise, with a superficial acquaintance with these theological works, confusion may arise and incorrect conclusions and suspicions may ripen. Bulgakov was a disciplined and educated thinker and writer. He expects the same discipline from his reader.

Sunset joy

One should, perhaps, begin to get acquainted with the work of his father Sergius Bulgakov not with his voluminous trilogies, but with a small work from 1939 - “The Sophiology of Death”. This is an extremely autobiographical work, a confession of the experience of dying and an attempt to comprehend it in a Sophia way. For Father Sergius, everything is like this: first life, then philosophy, first liturgy, then theology. Therefore, autobiographical works are the real key to Bulgakov’s work. “The Sophiology of Death” was written by Father Sergius about the serious illness that overtook the priest.

In 1939, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Father Sergius had to endure several terrible operations, and when you read his memoirs, it seems that you yourself begin to suffocate and fall into unconsciousness.

For a man who spent his entire life giving lectures and sermons and reverently loved worship, the loss of the ability to speak was a monstrous test. But by some miracle the priest learned to speak without vocal cords. Until the end of his days, he lectured and conducted services, although no one will ever know what it cost him. There are people who see this illness as God's punishment for heretical views. Without examining the ethics of such statements and the very possibility of finding out the will of God about each of us, I will still express my point of view.

Father Sergius considered it his duty as a theologian to say everything that could be said. He wanted to exhaust all the possibilities of theological speech, and he was guided in this daring not by pride, but by the duty of freedom and service; he saw this as his duty. Maximillian Voloshin has these lines:

But the chest is narrow for this breathing,
My larynx is too tight for these words.

Father Sergius in his theological work reached the limit of speech, and it seems to me that this terrible illness, which was not to death, but to the glory of God, served as a sign of this limit, and therefore a sign of the fulfillment of his mission as a theologian. And the sign of this glory is the vision of the Tabor light, witnessed by the spiritual children of Father Sergius.

Of course, Father Sergius Bulgakov was a holy man. He didn't perform miracles. As the priest once said about the Forerunner, whose personality he considered the norm human life: “He was so great that he did not perform “signs.” Father Sergius did not perform signs, did not perform miracles. The Lord Himself glorified His servant.

Father Sergius greatly honored the day of his ordination. It was Spiritual Day. In 1944 it fell on June 5th. Father gathered all his spiritual children. Confessed them. Communion. And then they drank tea and consoled themselves with conversation. On the night of June 6, there was a stroke, and Father Sergius spent almost a month unconscious.

On the fifth day of the agony, the sisters who were caring for the priest witnessed the appearance of the Non-Evening Light, which Father Sergius served all his life. His face lit up with an unearthly radiance and sparkled with the joy of unearthly visions. This phenomenon lasted about two hours, and for a short time the priest regained consciousness, and he consoled his loved ones.

Father Sergius Bulgakov died on July 13, 1944. He was buried in the Russian part of the cemetery in Saint-Genevieve de Bois, putting two handfuls of earth in the grave: from Gethsemane and from the grave of his beloved son Ivashechka. French soil mixed with the land of Palestine and Crimea.

There was a great war going on. On the day of the priest’s death, our troops liberated Vilnius, and the next day Pinsk. The Allies, who landed in Normandy on June 6, successfully liberated France. And Father Sergius stood at the throne of God, where he stands now, performing the heavenly liturgy.

How beautiful and rich life! He survived the murder of Emperor Alexander the Liberator, his nanny was a serf, and little Seryozha enthusiastically listened to her stories about the serf theater and the old days. In October 1905, he walked with a crowd of students to a demonstration wearing a red bow in his buttonhole. He was a member of the Second Duma. An active figure in the Local Council of 1917 and even the author of the patriarch’s speeches. He met both revolutions of 1917 in Moscow. The civil war passed through Kyiv and Crimea for him.

He experienced hunger, poverty, imprisonment, exile, separation from loved ones. He faced the Second World War in Paris, without leaving church and institute, without ceasing to serve, write and teach. His friends and acquaintances were not only protagonists of Russian culture, science and politics of the early 20th century, but also eminent foreigners.

The geography of his trips is impressive: in childhood: Livny, Orel Yelets; in his youth: Moscow, Crimea, Berlin, Paris, London, Geneva, Dresden, Zurich, Venice; in mature years: Kyiv, Poltava, Chisinau and lectures in other cities of Russia; later: Crimea, Istanbul, Prague, Paris, and from there Father Sergius traveled on church affairs to Serbia, Greece, Germany, Sweden, England, and the USA. He managed to publish twenty-eight volumes of his original works during his lifetime.

One day he confessed to a complete stranger: “I have never loved anything in my life more than throwing a Christmas tree for the children.” Of all the statements of Father Sergius, of all his numerous and brilliant works, this is the most dear to me.

I know and believe that the Lord fulfilled the desire of his faithful servant and prophet. And one wonderful morning we will all meet there, in the Kingdom of Sophia, at Christ’s Christmas tree.

1. Bulgakov S., prot. Autobiographical notes. Paris, 1991, p. 33.
2. Ibid., p. 82.
3. Letters from S.N. Bulgakova V.V. Rozanov // “Vestnik RKhD”, No. 130, 1979, pp. 175 – 176.
4. Bulgakov S., prot. Friend of the Groom // Small trilogy. M.: Public Orthodox University, founded by Archpriest Alexander Men, 2008, p. 208.
5. Bulgakov S., prot. Non-Evening Light. M.: “Respublika”, 1994, p. 13.
6. Ibid., S. 14.
7. Autobiographical notes, p. 80.
8. Never-Evening Light, S. 3.
9. Zander L.A. God and the world (the worldview of Father Sergius Bulgakov). Paris, 1948, volume 1, p. 181.
10. Autobiographical notes, p. 21.
11. Ibid., S. 18.
12. Bulgakov S., prot. Autobiographical notes. Paris: YMCA – PRESS, p. 53.
13. Zander, S. 14.
14. Bulgakov S., prot. From the memory of the heart. Prague // Studies in the history of Russian thought. Yearbook for 1998. M., 1998, S. 163.
15. Bulgakov S., prot. Bride of the Lamb. M.: Public Orthodox University, founded by Archpriest Alexander Men, 2005, p. 5.
16. Friend of the Groom, p. 272.
17. The legacy of Ariadna Vladimirovna Tyrkova: Diaries. Letters / Comp. N.I. Kanishcheva. – M.: ROSPEN, 2012, P. 251.

Kidney hypertension - Afanasy Bulgakov died from this incurable disease. The son, as a doctor, understood everything and demanded an oath from his wife that he would die in her arms. He also wished that Tasya would visit him: he wanted to ask forgiveness from the one with whom he lived the most difficult years- war, hospitals, lack of money and homelessness. On February 13, three weeks before his death, blind and tormented by terrible pain, he stopped editing the novel at Margarita’s phrase: “So it’s the writers who follow the coffin?”

Since February 1940, friends and relatives were constantly on duty at M. Bulgakov’s bedside. Five days before the death of M.A. Bulgakov, his wife vowed to live until she published the novel “The Master and Margarita”.

March 10, 1940 M.A. fell asleep, and his breathing was so smooth and deep that his wife believed: a miracle had happened, he had overcome the disease! But then a slight spasm passed over his face, he somehow gritted his teeth, and life quietly left him. On March 11, a civil memorial service took place in the building of the Union of Soviet Writers. Before the funeral service, Moscow sculptor S. D. Merkurov removed the death mask from M. Bulgakov’s face.

M. Bulgakov is buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. At his grave, at the request of his wife E. S. Bulgakova, a stone was installed, nicknamed “Golgotha,” which previously lay on the grave of N. V. Gogol.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” was first published in the “Moscow” magazine in 1966, twenty-six years after the author’s death, and brought Bulgakov world fame. Bulgakov’s widow did not live to see the publication of the novel without any cuts (this happened in 1973). Not a single critic has yet revealed Bulgakov’s true creative intention - each of them has “his own” Bulgakov. Like every reader.

Sergei Bulgakov in search of a place in life

Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov was born in 1873 in the town of Livny, Oryol province, into the family of a priest. He studied at theological school, at the Oryol Theological Seminary and Yeletsk Gymnasium. While still studying at the theological seminary, Bulgakov experienced a religious crisis and became interested in Marxism. After graduating from the Faculty of Law in 1894 and successfully passing his master's exam, Bulgakov became a teacher of political economy at the Imperial Moscow Technical School. In 1901, he defended his dissertation for a master's degree at Moscow University and entered the service as an ordinary professor at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in the department of political economy.

While intensively studying Marxism, Bulgakov realized the inconsistency of this teaching and its detrimental direction for the entire society. Under the influence of reading Russian religious thinkers - L. Tolstoy, F. Dostoevsky, especially the philosophical works of Vl. Solovyov and others, conversations and disputes with Tolstoy, Bulgakov acquired religious faith. He will express his position on these issues in the article "From Marxism to Idealism" published in the collection “Problems of Idealism” (1902), as well as in the book “S. Bulgakov From Marxism to idealism. M., 1903."

A similar evolution, from Marxism to idealism, was characteristic of the majority of the Russian intelligentsia. Soon Bulgakov became one of its recognized spiritual leaders, and became a contributor to the collection “Problems of Idealism” (1902), around which advanced Russian scientists and philosophers of a religious and philosophical direction united. In the collection of his articles “From Marxism to Idealism,” such words become catchphrases, expressing the spiritual meaning of the historical process.

The subsequent period of the philosopher’s social and journalistic activity is characterized by the fact that Bulgakov became an active participant in various creative endeavors, marking a religious and philosophical revival in the magazines “New Way”, “Questions of Life”, the collection “Questions of Religion”, in which he published his famous articles: “Oh Vl. Solovyov”, “On the religion of Leo Tolstoy” and a number of others. Bulgakov is a creative employee of the Vekhi publishing house, an active participant in the “Religious and Philosophical Meetings in Memory of Vl. Solovyov,” an employee of the publishing house “Put”, which published the most important works of Russian religious and philosophical thought from 1911 to 1917, including numerous articles by S.N. Bulgakov.

In his work, there is a spiritual transition from lectures and articles on topics of religion and culture, to the creation of solid books and philosophical developments, the main of which is the two-volume work “Two Cities” (1911), which caused a resonance in the spiritual life of the country. In the monographs “Philosophy of Economics” (1912), and even more so, in the book “Never-Evening Light” (1917), Bulgakov developed his own teaching, following the sophiology of Vladimir Solovyov and Pavel Florensky. The influence of the late Schelling on him was also noticeable, although many of his own ideas appeared, consonant with the ideas of the intuition of Orthodox religiosity. Bulgakov's return to the Church-Orthodox worldview ends in the revolutionary years and the years of the Civil War, when the position of the Christian faith becomes the main one. Bulgakov takes the priesthood (1918).

With the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon, Bishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky) on Trinity Day (June 23, new style) in the Moscow Danilov Monastery ordained Bulgakov as a deacon, and on Spiritual Day - as a priest. Father Sergius was assigned to the Church of Ilya the Ordinary in Obydensky Lane, in Moscow, where he served on certain days.

After the consecration, Father Sergius begins to play a prominent role in church circles. He is an active participant in the All-Russian Local Council of the Orthodox Church (1917-18), an ideological supporter and collaborator of Patriarch Tikhon. Having negatively accepted the October Revolution, Bulgakov responded to it with a new creative work - the dialogues “At the Feast of the Gods,” written in the style and spirit of “Three Conversations” by Vl. Solovyova. The creative work of the young priest was included in the collective collection “From the Depths” (1918; 2nd ed. M., 1991).

During the civil war, fate brought Father Sergius to Crimea, where his family was located. Upon arrival, Father Sergius settled in Simferopol: he became a teacher of theology and political economy at the Taurida University, and at the same time served in the Yalta Church Cathedral.

Bulgakov hoped to return to Moscow, to friends and work, but his rosy plans were not destined to come true. Being cut off from priestly service and social and journalistic activities, Father Sergius devoted all his spiritual strength to philosophical creativity. That year he wrote such wonderful works as “The Philosophy of the Name” (1920), “The Tragedy of Philosophy” and others. Bulgakov reconsiders his views on the relationship between philosophy and dogmatics of Christianity, and comes to the firm conviction that Christian speculation, without distortion, can be expressed exclusively in the form of dogmatic theology. Since then, this form of thinking has become the basis of all of Bulgakov’s theological works.

Death of Ivashechka's beloved son

Over the years, Bulgakov became the father of four children: on November 17, 1898, his daughter Maria was born; March 12, 1901 - son Fyodor, later a talented landscape artist, married to Natalya Mikhailovna Nesterova, the youngest daughter of the famous artist M.V. Nesterova; December 25, 1905 - Ivashechka, who died on August 16, 1909, leaving his parents with a wound in their hearts for the rest of their lives; May 11, 1911 - son Sergei.

In the book “The Never-Evening Light”, Father Bulgakov writes about his grief, the loss of his son Ivashechka:

“You are not easy, sacrifice of Abraham, not from a prosperous, but from a torn soul, my cry was torn out in the face of an innocent victim: You are right, Lord, and Your judgments are right! I said it with all my heart! Oh, I did not rebel and did not murmur, for rebellion would be pitiful and cowardly, but I did not want to reconcile, for reconciliation would be shameful. The father silently answered me: at the head of his body stood the Crucifixion of the Only Begotten Son. And I heard this answer, and bowed before him, but innocent suffering and someone’s sarcasm lay like a thick, impenetrable cloud between the Crucifixion and his body... Only by feat, by the cross of my whole life, can I dispel this cloud... it is my shadow own sin... And Ivashechka told me about this on that Golgotha ​​night: “Carry me, dad, up, - let’s go up with you!” .

Bulgakov also wrote to his friend Pavel Florensky from Koreiz about his pain:

“This summer was extremely difficult for us and turned out to be fatal in a certain sense. The children were almost constantly getting sick, especially our youngest, Ivashechka, a luminous boy who bore the stamp of something unearthly on himself - both because of his birthday - Christmas Eve - and because of his extraordinary affection and clarity and early intellectual development and giftedness ( maybe you remember him). He suffered a number of illnesses and on July 27 died of a weak heart in dysentery after prolonged, terrible, the memory of which turns the heart upside down, suffering, which I cannot sometimes call - without a shadow of any blasphemy - anything other than crucifixion. And they were aggravated by a painful exacerbation of his intellect and consciousness, which was on the border of two worlds and spoke about both. This death was experienced by me - and by both of us - with exceptional religious acuteness (there is nothing to say about human parental feelings), and to this day, of course, it has not been overcome and will not be overcome. You can’t tell about this in writing, and in general you can’t tell about the most important thing, but the living connection - after all, there is one’s own flesh and blood there - with That world and its authenticity, and here the inauthenticity, and all the revaluation of values ​​associated with it, at times with a dazzling entered consciousness with clarity. .

How Ivashechka’s death helped Bulgakov return to the faith of his fathers, he described in his book “The Never-Evening Light:

“Oh, my bright, my white boy! When we carried you up a steep mountain and then along a hot and dusty road, we suddenly turned into a shady park, as if we had entered the Garden of Eden; Around an unexpected turn, the beautiful church, waiting for you like you, immediately looked at us with its colored glass. I didn’t know her before and, like a wonderful vision, she appeared, drowned in the garden, under the shadow of the old castle. Your mother fell screaming: “The sky has opened!” She thought she was dying and seeing the sky... And the sky was open, our apocalypse was taking place in it. I felt, almost saw your ascent... Everything became clear, all the torment and heat dissolved, disappeared in the heavenly blue of this church... The liturgy was going on. I don’t know where it took place, on earth or in heaven... .

On May 11, 1911, the Bulgakovs gave birth to their third son, Sergei. In honor of such a joyful event, Sergei Nikolaevich wrote to his friend Florensky: “Dear Fr. Pavel Alexandrovich! May 11th, the day of remembrance of St. Cyril and Methodius, in the evening, after a long and difficult birth, a boy was born to us, who was named Sergei. The one who has left us sends himself a substitute on earth, and I have a connection with the one who has left, the pain of my heart and love for him somehow inextricably merge with the new love that has been born. I think about God, who is love and is the “Father”: creation is creation new love, opportunities to love and be loved. This is how God our Father creates, and has imprinted His image in fatherhood. Nelya and the child are in the hospital and are so far safe. I ask for your priestly blessing on both." .

After the retreat of the White Guard from Crimea, Father Sergius remained in Russia. However, by order of the new government, he was dismissed from the university. In December 1922, he was included in the lists of scientific and cultural figures compiled by the GPU, who ideologically constituted a threat to Soviet power. On December 30, 1922, on the ship “Jean”, Bulgakov with his wife Elena Ivanovna and children Maria and Sergei departed from Crimea for “indefinite” exile outside Russia. Son Fyodor and mother-in-law Varvara Ivanovna, by order of the authorities, remained in Crimea. On the ship, Bulgakov made the following entry in his diary:

“Of course, I know that all sorts of trials, homesickness, disappointment await, all this is supposed to happen, and our situation without means and the unknown could be embarrassing at another time, but now I have one human feeling - the joy of liberation and reverent a feeling of wonder and gratitude before the mercy of God. Lord bless our path!

Sergius Bulgakov’s karma decreed that he should not return to his homeland, which is why he spent more than 20 years in exile. After a short stay in Constantinople, Bulgakov moved to Czechoslovakia, to Prague, the largest center of Russian emigration. He will stay in this friendly country for two years.

Life and work of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov in Prague (1923-1925)

In the first half of the 1920s, Prague was the academic center of Russia Abroad. It was deservedly called the “Russian Oxford”. In that beautiful city numerous Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian educational institutions, cultural and public organizations functioned, trade unions, publishing houses, scientific institutions and societies. Russian professors expelled abroad and arrived in Prague were given decent scholarships, housing, and unlimited opportunity engage in creative and scientific activities.

Prot. S. Bulgakov, P.B. Struve, ep. Sergiy (Korolev) in

auditorium of the Russian Faculty of Law in Prague.

In 1922, Professor P.I. Novgorodtsev moved from Germany to Prague and began organizing a Russian higher educational institution here. On his initiative, on May 18, 1922, the Russian Faculty of Law was opened in the city, of which Novgorodtsev was elected dean. On his personal initiative, he invited the best Russian professors who found themselves in exile to Prague to work at the faculty. As a result, N. O. Lossky, P. B. Struve, G. V. Florovsky, G. V. Vernadsky, A. A. Kizevetter, V. V. Zenkovsky and many other famous scientists moved to Czechoslovakia. In February 1923, Professor Novgorodtsev invited Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov to the Russian Institute.

On March 6, 1923, Professor Novgorodtsev wrote to Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievsky), administrator of Russian Orthodox churches in Europe: “The Russian Faculty of Law asks for your blessing to assign the teaching of Theology to Father S. N. Bulgakov, who has already received a visa to Prague and a professorial scholarship, so he will be completely secure financially.” Just four days later, Metropolitan Evlogy put the following resolution on the letter: “God will bless Archpriest S.N. Bulgakova to teach theology at the Russian Law Faculty of the University of Prague.”

In addition, Father Sergius Bulgakov was allowed to conduct church services in the church for students in Prague and the town of Przybram, located two hours away from the Czech capital. At the beginning of May, Father Sergius arrived in Prague, and on May 30 he gave his first lecture at the Faculty of Law on the topic: “Church law and the crisis of legal consciousness.”

Father Sergius, like a number of other Russian professors and teachers, lived in a student dormitory called “Svobodarna”. It was built for workers of industrial enterprises, of whom there were plenty in this area of ​​the city. By agreement with the city mayor's office, the building was provided to Russian students, but part of Svobodarna was allocated to the teaching staff of the Russian Institute. It was called the "professor's corridor." In this “corridor” lived the philosopher N. O. Lossky, economist P. A. Ostroukhov, lawyer D. D. Grimm, sociologist N. S. Timashev, economist, historian and political figure P. B. Struve. Father Sergius Bulgakov also settled here. Father Sergius set up a temporary chapel in the dormitory, in which services were held for students.

On the initiative of Father Sergius, the monthly magazine “Spiritual World of Students” began to be published in Prague, with the subtitle “Bulletin of the Russian Christian Student Movement in Europe.” Its first issue was published in May 1923. In the preface to it, editor Sergius Bulgakov wrote: “This short printed newsletter aims to illuminate the real picture of the life of students and serve fraternal unity and the awakening of spiritual interests. Through this “Messenger” we will share our spiritual experience and thereby provide each other with mutual support. .

The "Bulletin" contained information about the activities of Christian student circles in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, France, Yugoslavia and Germany. Progressive students and university teachers noticed him. Already from the second issue, original articles of theological content began to appear in it. The articles of Russian religious philosophers - professors: V.V. Zenkovsky, S.S. Bezobrazov, V.F. Martsinkovsky and others aroused great interest. Excerpts from the Patristic literature were published. In the third and fourth issues, “Protocols of the seminars of Archpriest S. N. Bulgakov - “New Testament teaching about the Kingdom of God” were published.

The magazine “Spiritual World of Students” became popular, internal changes took place in it: more attention was paid to both theological and philosophical sciences. The number of pages has increased and its circulation has doubled. If the first issue consisted of 24 pages, then in the fourth there were 78 of them. Due to changes in the personal life of Father Sergius, the popular magazine began to slowly curtail its activities. It turned out that in 1923 three issues were published, and in 1924 - only one. After Sergius's father moved to Paris, the publication was discontinued.

In Prague, Father Sergius worked on the theological book “Saints Peter and John. Two Chief Apostles,” which was published in Paris in 1926. In it, Bulgakov explores the question of the first authority of the Apostle Peter among his brothers, and the authority of the Apostle John as an apostle of love and a Christian theologian. Peter is shown as a great personality, the chief apostle, representing the spiritual authority of the Church. From the words of Jesus addressed to Peter and the other apostles, we learn that this is not about the real power of Peter, but rather about his authority as the first apostle. The role of the Apostle Paul in the spread of Christianity is shown. John is the divinely inspired author of the Gospel and the Apocalypse, books that present highly spiritual images of the Gospel story. Saint John is called the apostle of love, and Peter the apostle of authority. In this book, Bulgakov appears as a theologian, captivating the reader with his deep knowledge of the Gospel texts and his skill in depicting the holy images of the apostolic age.

On April 28, 1924, a significant event took place in Bulgakov’s life. This is his meeting with Professor V.V. Zenkovsky and Dr. John Moth, at which the project of creating an Orthodox Theological Academy in Paris was discussed, where Father Sergius was to take a leading position. In connection with this project, in December 1924, Professor Bulgakov went to London for a conference to raise funds for the creation of the Orthodox Theological Academy. He will complete his mission successfully.

At the insistence of Father Sergius, the first congress of the “Russian Student Christian Movement” was held in the Moravian town of Přerov from October 1 to October 8, 1923, which was attended by many Russian professors. According to Professor Vasily Zenkovsky, who belongs to the Brotherhood of Hagia Sophia, Bulgakov managed to revive this peace-loving Brotherhood in exile. “This idea,” writes Zenkovsky, “was accepted, it was decided to invite all Russian religious thinkers and writers.”

The recreated Brotherhood included such Russian thinkers as: A.V. Kartashev, Prince. Gr. Trubetskoy, A. Elchaninov, Archpriest S. Bulgakov, P. I. Novgorodtsev, G. V. Vernadsky, P. B. Struve, P. A. Ostroukhov, I. I. Lappo, S. S. Bezobrazov, L. A Zagder, M. V. Shakhmatov, V. V. Zenkovsky, N. A. Berdyaev, S. L. Frank, B. P. Vysheslavtsev. At the congress of the Brotherhood, the guest of honor was Metropolitan Eulogius, who came from Paris, under whose leadership the Charter of the Brotherhood was developed. Its first point stated that the task of the “Brotherhood of Hagia Sophia” is to appeal to all the cultural forces of the laity, to serve the Orthodox Church in two ways: “By gathering into a single fraternal union active workers in church-theological education and church-social work; By uniting and organizing their work in the church-public field.

Due to this “liberal” direction in the work of the Brotherhood, it gathered for its meetings, at which theological, philosophical problems, and pressing issues of church life were discussed, once a month. The Brotherhood existed in Prague until mid-1925, after which its activities were transferred to Paris.

A few words need to be said about the situation that developed in the Prague Russian parish by the summer of 1923. For various reasons, its abbots often changed. In two years, from 1921 to 1922, more than five of them were in this position, so there is no mention of any productive work by the Russian Orthodox parish in Prague there is no need to talk. Only with the arrival of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, the situation regarding the personnel issue with the priests was resolved.

Father Sergius agreed to act as rector of the Prague parish voluntarily, without official approval of his candidacy by the Parish Council, which was unanimously approved. His main activities in Prague were pedagogical and spiritual-educational work. Nevertheless, Father Sergius took an active part in the life of the Prague parish. This is eloquently evidenced by his book “The Spiritual Diary,” published in 1926 in Paris. On his initiative and with his personal participation, a church-chapel was built at the Olshansky cemetery, and a Brotherhood was created for the burial of Russian Orthodox citizens and the maintenance of their graves.

Among the Russian refugees of that period, attempts were made to open a higher theological educational institution in emigration. It was planned to create an Orthodox Theological Academy in Prague, with the involvement of representatives of the Anglican Church, who were materially stronger than the Russians. However, this plan was not implemented. Then, having adjusted the plan, the Russian community turned to the Prague Church, but did not receive support there either. With the help of Metropolitan Eulogius of the Russian Church Abroad, they finally decided to open the Theological Academy in Paris. On July 18, 1924, a former German estate was purchased at auction, which housed the Sergievsky courtyard. In the spring of 1925, practical work began to prepare for the opening here not of the Academy, but of the Russian Orthodox Theological Institute. Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov was also involved in this case. The first results of his work were quite good. On May 2, 1925, by the Decree of the Paris Diocesan Administration, signed by Metropolitan Eulogius, Father Sergius Bulgakov was appointed teacher of the Theological Institute and full-time priest of the Sergius Metochion. For this reason, he was released from his pastoral duties in Prague and moved to Paris. .

O. Sergiy Bulgakov, bud. Metropolitan Vladimir (Tikhonitsky), Metropolitan. Evlogy,

bud. Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), A. V. Kartashev. Second floor. 20s

When writing an article about the Prague period of life and work of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, we used materials from the article by Vladimir Burega - “The Prague period of the activity of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov (1921-1923),” for which we express our heartfelt gratitude to him.

The Parisian period of Bulgakov's life (1925-1944)

In July 1925, Father Sergius finally settled in Paris. At the Russian Theological Institute he occupied the department of dogmatic theology, and until the end of his days he remained a permanent professor and dean of the St. Sergius Institute.

Under the leadership of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov “Sergievskoye Metochion”, this is how the complex of Institute buildings with a temple in the name of St. Sergius Radonezh, has grown into the largest center of Orthodox spiritual culture and theological science in Abroad. Pastoral, professorial and leadership work at the Institute is the culmination of all his activities in the last twenty years of his life.

During his stay in France, Bulgakov wrote the most famous theological works - a “small group”: “The Burning Bush: Experience of dogmatic interpretation of certain features in the Orthodox veneration of the Mother of God” (1927), which included the books “Friend of the Groom: On the Orthodox veneration of the Forerunner” ( 1927), "Jacob's Ladder: About Angels"; and the “large group” - “Lamb of God: On God-manhood. Part I" (1933), "The Comforter: On God-Humanity. Part II" (1936), "The Bride of the Lamb: On God-Humanity. Part III". The theological trilogies were published only after Bulgakov's death in 1945.

Other works were also written, including the texts of sermons, which were included in various collections and were published only after the death of the priest. For the most part, they are associated with the motives and themes of the “big” and “small” trilogies, or are prolegomena. These are “Hypostasis and Hypostasis” (1924), “Chapters on the Trinity” (1925, published in 1928 and 1930), “St. Peter and John: Two Chief Apostles" (1926) with comments to them. Great importance have works containing a statement of Bulgakov’s views of this period - “Sophia, the Wisdom of God” (1937), and “Orthodoxy: Essays on the Doctrine of the Orthodox Church” (published in 1964).

Bulgakov’s defense of the sophiological understanding of the dogmas of Christianity caused Fr. Sergius Bulgakov a great controversy. He was even accused of heresy; Metropolitan Sergius (Moscow), who was familiar only with small excerpts from the professor’s books, took special care in this matter. These extracts made the Moscow Metropolitan the opponents of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov and his entire theological heritage. Metropolitan Evlogii, in order to defuse the situation, as rector of the Theological Institute, created a special commission to clarify the issue of “hereticy” of Fr. Bulgakov. The commission's conclusions were as follows: Professor Fr. Sergius Bulgakov can hold his previous positions at the Theological Institute and his Orthodox theological concept does not contradict the Orthodox faith.

Teachers and students of the Paris Theological Institute. 1931

Sitting (from left to right): B.P. Vysheslavtsev, V.V. Zenkovsky, Fr. Sergiy Bulgakov,

Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky), Fr. Ioann (Shakhovskoy), A.V. Kartashev, E.M. Kiselevsky.

Standing (left): L.A. Zander, V.N. Ilyin, B.I. Sauvé, S.S. Bezobrazov.

Standing (from right to left): G.P. Fedotov, M.M. Osorgin, G.V. Florovsky.

In addition to matters related to the Institute, Father Sergius paid great attention to personal creativity, spiritual leadership with Russian youth and participation in the ecumenical movement. The main channel of religious life and activity of Russian youth in France became the “Russian Student Christian Movement”. Bulgakov was one of its main founding fathers. In ecumenical work with youth, Fr. Sergius became involved in 1927 at the World Christian Conference “Faith and Church Order” in Lausanne. At the end of 1927 and beginning of 1928, an Anglo-Russian religious congress was held, which resulted in the establishment of a bilateral Commonwealth of St. Albanius and St. Sergius of Radonezh. It is noteworthy that this Commonwealth continues its activities in our time. Until the end of the 1930s, Bulgakov took an active part in many ecumenical endeavors, becoming one of the influential figures and ideologists of this peace-loving movement. In 1934 he made a big trip to America. The most promising direction in the ecumenical sphere was his cooperation with the Anglican Church. Influenced by the works of A.S. Khomyakov, the works of his compatriots, Father Georgy Florovsky, N. M. Zernov, G. P. Fedotov and others, he had opportunities for rapprochement between the Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church, which had a huge impact on the development of theological thought and the enlightenment of believers.

Sergius Bulgakov as a philosopher

After graduating from Moscow University, S. Bulgakov was sent to Germany to improve his knowledge in philosophical sciences and write his doctoral dissertation. In philosophy, Bulgakov sided with Kant's critical rationalism. “I must admit,” he wrote in the preface to the book “From Marxism to Idealism,” “that Kant has always been more significant to me than Marx, and I considered it necessary to believe Marx in Kant, and not vice versa.” This already demonstrated Bulgakov’s philosophical flair, in contrast to Plekhanov, who was carried away by the French materialists. In the process of philosophical quests, Bulgakov acutely raised the question of the “theory of progress.” Despite his love for the German philosophical genius, Bulgakov had a need to go beyond pure Kantianism. The question arose before him: “Is it possible, by means of experimental science alone, to construct a worldview that would provide a theoretical justification for active social behavior and the ideals of social progress, in short: is a scientific theory of progress possible?

In his book, Bulgakov writes: “For a long time I held the opinion... that Kant forever closed the door to metaphysics and finally established the dominance of critical positivism,” but, having come to the realization of the inevitability of a “religious-metaphysical justification” of the social ideal, the Russian philosopher, with his inherent him with spiritual courage, turned to what he had rejected for so long. Having found in Solovyov a broad synthesis of Christian principles with the data of philosophy and science, Bulgakov took a new path of religious metaphysics. His question: “What does the philosophy of Vl. give to modern consciousness? Solovyov”, testified to Bulgakov’s turn towards the sophiology of Vl. Solovyova.

From Solovyov, doctoral student Bulgakov took the basic idea of ​​“all-unity.” Later he admitted that Soloviev, as a mystic with a special, rich and peculiar mystical experience, more significant, more original, more interesting than Solovyov the philosopher. These words were spoken at a time when Bulgakov completely switched to the sophiological topic. He even said more that Solovyov's teaching about Sophia - the most original feature of his philosophy - remained unfinished and unspoken. This was a period of enormous influence of Florensky on Bulgakov, and more of a personal influence than an ideological one. Having taken from Solovyov the basic concept of unity, Bulgakov completely moves towards sophiological reflections. With the publication of the book “The Never-Evening Light,” Bulgakov, who accepted the priesthood, completely changes his ideological orientation, and all his work takes on the character of theology. Although we must give him his due, in his purely theological works he remains a true philosopher. Knowledge of transcendentalism, the metaphysics of unity, even the general principles of philosophical thought, taken by Bulgakov from Vl. Solovyov, retained their strength even during the years of his pure theology.

“The influence of Solovyov,” writes V. Zenkovsky, “was decisive in the philosophical development of Bulgakov, most of all due to Solovyov’s synthetic plan - his desire to create a system in which science, philosophy and religion are internally and organically connected with each other, and for Bulgakov, in In particular, it is extremely characteristic that he remained a scientist all his life, worked scientifically all his life - in all the rigor of the methods of scientific thought (lege artis, in his favorite expression).

We can say that the need for scientific work with its approach to reality visible world, was an important element in his work. On the other hand, Bulgakov showed philosophical talent very early. Bulgakov did not break with philosophy until the end of his days, even when he was completely captured by the priesthood and theology. Studying Bulgakov's philosophical heritage, we see that it cannot be separated from the theological: these disciplines go side by side. Let us not bend our hearts when we say that Berdyaev is more a philosopher than a theologian, and theology did not at all suppress the philosopher in him.

The “free search for truth,” which Bulgakov calls “the most sacred property of philosophy,” was fundamental for Bulgakov. In the spirit of Solovyov, Bulgakov wrote: “Philosophy inevitably strives for the absolute, for unity or the Divine, as far as it is revealed in thinking; in the end, and it has its only and universal problem - God, and only God." These words were written in 1916, when Bulgakov’s worldview took on a decidedly religious character. But to his credit, he remained a philosopher even when his philosophy became theology. In any case, the bold and majestic synthetic concept of Vl. Solovyov won over Bulgakov because such thoughts corresponded to his own quests. When studying Bulgakov's metaphysics, one can see how deeply and forever Solovyov's ideas were ingrained in her mind.

It is worth saying that Florensky’s influence on Bulgakov was significant. In Florensky, the idea of ​​stylizing Christianity was more strongly expressed than in Bulgakov, but P. Florensky’s manner of taking “old wineskins” for new wine largely determined the work of Bulgakov himself. And when the revolution separated them, Bulgakov became bolder and freed himself from the hypnotic influence of Florensky, which lasted until the end of his life.

According to the internal logic of his thinking and creativity, Bulgakov was more of a “loner.” Because of this, he was not at all interested in other people’s opinions about himself, and paved the way for himself. And only Vl. Solovyov and Pavel Florensky entered his inner world powerfully and forever. By nature, Bulgakov was a gentle person, and despite this, it is difficult for us to agree with the words of Vasily Zenkovsky, who said that he had a “feminine need to be captured by someone.”

Bulgakov truly had outstanding philosophical abilities, independent thinking and strict scientific thought. But he was striving for the knowledge of the Living Absolute Truth, for the creation of an integral religious and philosophical concept, to which his whole soul strove. And only Vl. Solovyov and Pavel Florensky were comparable to him in the depth and power of their thoughts. That is why he joyfully accepted their ideas into his heart, that is why the sophiological concept developed by Florensky captured Bulgakov’s mind while still in the editorial office of the magazine “Put”, published by his friend. Only under the influence of Vl. Solovyov and P. Florensky, Bulgakov’s ideas received a new direction. Although we know that Bulgakov was always demanding of himself, was uncompromising in science, and was in “voluntary captivity” only to the Living Truth. Only after the transition to purely theological creativity did he become a “captive” and servant of God.

Let us add that in the book “Non-Evening Light” Bulgakov, with his characteristic depth and systematics, covers the main problems of philosophy and outlines ways to resolve them within the framework of a unified philosophical system. “Here,” writes L.A. Zander, “for the first time, a consistent development of the idea of ​​Sophia is given, which from now on becomes the central concept of Bulgakov’s entire philosophical and theological work.” .

It is quite difficult to analyze the books of Sergius Bulgakov because of their rich content. Most scientists talk about this, including such researchers of his work as Lev Zander and nun Elena. . One list of Bulgakov’s works testifies to how diverse, deep and relevant the themes of his work were. Vasily Zenkovsky, many modern authors - for example, Sergei Averintsev, I.I. Evlampiev believe that the philosophical creativity of Fr. Sergius ends with the book “The Never-Evening Light”, and all his further works, without losing intercom with problems of philosophy, they go into theology. We believe that such opinions of philosophers are somewhat not entirely correct and controversial because Sergius Bulgakov is philosophical in all his works, no matter what book or article we open. They breathe philosophy, theology and human wisdom.

Theology of Sergius Bulgakov

Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov considered his theological creativity as the main task of his life and as the fulfillment of his spiritual calling. In his theological work, he always maintained freedom, purity of conscience and responsibility before God until his death. In conversations and lectures, he emphasized that “theology must be drunk from the bottom of the Eucharistic Chalice.”

Bulgakov considered the altar and the cell to be inextricably linked with theological creativity, only they gave him food for spiritual reflection. And also because theology in its deepest fundamentals comes from the altar. Recognizing the freedom and boldness of the spirit in theological thought, Father Sergius believed that the absolute criteria of the truth of theology are the word of God, church dogmatic canons and standing before the altar. This conviction gave him new strength for theological creativity.

Bulgakov believed that the goal of theology is to reveal and deepen the foundations of a genuine Christian worldview, based not on abstract, but on life values. That is why he sought to present to us not only his teaching: books, articles and sermons, but to show their great value and benefit to humanity. And at the same time, to draw a historical outline for the study and glorification of the Orthodox Church.

The life of the Church, for Priest Bulgakov, is, first of all, prayer, awareness of one’s place in life, therefore his theology takes on the character of liturgical and iconographic thought on God. Archpriest Alexander Schmeman notes that “the theology of Father Sergius, at its last depth, is, first of all, liturgical; in it is the revelation of the experience given in worship, the transmission of that mysterious “glory” that permeates it, that “sacrament” in which it is rooted and the “epiphany” of which it is.”

Bulgakov builds his theological system on the solid foundation of church reality. “Church truths, liturgical texts, iconographic contemplations, mystical revelations are experienced by him as religious realities, as personal spiritual experience, as pristine Divine beauty, which he strives to make others understand and feel. This is where the power of his writings comes from, that “deeply penetrating intimacy of his words, which makes the hearts of his readers, listeners, and students beat in unison with the church life.” .

The secret of the theological creativity of Father Sergius and its impact on readers lies in the fact that the church’s spiritual wealth that fills the human soul is always perceived by him as a personal insight, as an individual spiritual experience, which transforms from holiness and ascends to the “higher world”, about which with such love he says:

“Lord, send us Your peace from above. There is nothing higher and more necessary for us than the heavenly peace, but how difficult it is to find it. Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved, said the reverend. Seraphim, but he achieves it only by the feat of his whole life. Our soul is forever restless, surrounded by anxieties, questions, and worries. The soul is eternally blinded by some experience, captivated by it, not free, and the soul must be free, like a bird, it must belong only to God, and to no one on earth: everything must belong to it, it must love everything, but it itself is turned only to God . And from Him and from Him is peace from above. This is not insensitivity to the world and people, this is not coldness, this is some kind of balance, a measure of the spirit in everything, even in love itself, this is freedom from all kinds of sins that we are always obsessed with. And when this freedom occurs, when the soul is not burdened with anything and turns to God, there is silence, peace, and light in it. But when it is possessed by any private force - a thought, a feeling, even love for a person, the soul is captivated and restless, loses itself, and at the same time loses the one it loves. For it is given without sin to love man only in God and with God, so that nothing created obscures the Divinity from us. And if there is no peace in your soul, it means that not everything is in place: check yourself, check your relationships with people, and you will find that it is either passion or a petty feeling that controls you, but it controls your soul, which must be controlled by the Lord, which It just has to belong to him. And when a person is not peaceful, everything in him is wrong, everything is abnormal, everything is passionate. Then neither people nor he himself can believe any of his testimony or advice. And if your spirit is not peaceful, gather all the strength of your soul and put yourself, as it were, on trial before the omnipotent and omniscient God. Look at yourself with the eye of eternity, try to see yourself not from yourself, to know yourself not in partiality. And the Lord will help you and send you His peace from above, which your soul thirsts for. Lord, send Your peace!” .

“From these beautiful words of Father Sergius, we conclude that his theology is not an ordinary sermon, but an insight into the Divine essence of man and his connection with God.”

John Chrysostom calls the Church “youthful,” that is, creative, freely developing. And at the same time, the Church is responsible for every word it says; its responsibility before God, people and history is of the highest order. Therefore, theological creativity requires from the priest a combination of freedom and ascetic discipline, humility and boldness, prayerful feat and mystical inspiration. “The entire liturgical, prayerful and life feat of Father Sergius is aimed at satisfying these conditions,” writes nun Elena. And as a result, the internal dynamism inherent in the spirit and thought of Father Sergius Bulgakov makes his theology exciting, exciting, regenerating.” .

Bulgakov's student Lev Zander writes that in the worldview of Fr. Sergius, there is no area alien to religious reality: threads stretch from everything to revealed truths about God, everything proclaims His wisdom, goodness and glory. “All the scientific and philosophical creativity of Fr. Sergius is nothing more than the revelation of this truth in dialectical forms, as the discernment of the Creator’s seal in all the diversity of His creation.” .

Prayer, which is the highest expression of his inner feelings, plays a great role in Bulgakov’s theological work. He turns to her in the most difficult and joyful moments of his life, in her he feels his strength and his weakness, his relaxation. In prayer he sees firm protection from all troubles, including from satanic troubles. “Lord, teach us to pray as Jesus taught His disciples! And Divine Wisdom uttered the Lord's Prayer. Now I am faced with this unbearable burden: they ask me to compose a prayer for our suffering homeland! And I can’t help but heed this call. But what about the river? Lord, You see my weakness and You see my sins. You know that I am not worthy to look up to heaven and be called Your son. But if You need, take me, take my hand, and let it draw not what my pathetic mind says, but what You put into it. These days are the holy days of the Mother of God, Mother of God she herself saved the Russian land. May She save now, and may She help me in the cause of salvation through the prayer of the sons of the Russian land. Mother of God, I entrust my sinful hand to you. Bless and direct me to draw whatever pleases You!” .

In prayer to the Mother of God, Bulgakov feels how his troubled soul receives relief, calm, how new bright feelings and thoughts appear in it, how easy it is for him to endure pain and find peace. Only through prayer does he establish a direct connection with the Mother of God and can directly convey his disturbing thoughts:

“Most Holy Mother of God, save us! Pray, man, to the most pure Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of the human race, pray with love, with faith, with hope, pray relentlessly and believe that She will hear your prayer. There is no closer, dearer human being to man than the Mother of God who exists in heaven. She covers the world, stands for it, She is with all creation, over all nature, She is over waters and land, arable land and forest, people and creatures. She embraces everything within herself, connects everything, She is a merciful heart to all. After the Lord and together with the Lord, pray to His Mother, the Bearer of the Holy Spirit. And believe that the Mother of God will pray and give you the gift of the Holy Spirit, and you will see the Son of God living in you. Oh, whoever will explain the mysteries of the Mother of God, who will understand them. Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” .

Bulgakov very clearly manifested his gift of thinking, which allowed him to think broadly and freely in philosophical and theological categories, bringing into his thinking direct data from the books of holy ascetics and the Bible. He is a master of vivid paintings, images, deep thoughts that laid the foundation for philosophical and theological synthesis.

Seminar about. Sergius Bulgakov about asceticism and culture in the Zanders’ apartment

21 Dec 1933 Standing from left to right: V.V. Veidle, G.P. Fedotov, B.I. Owl;

sitting: O.S. Bulgakov, mother Maria (Skobtsova), Yu.N. Reitlingsr,

V.V. Zenkovsky, V.N. Ilyin, B.P. Vysheslavtsev, N.N. Afanasyev, L.A. Zander;

sitting in the front row: V.A. Zander, mother Evdokia (Meshcheryakova), A.V. Obolenskaya.

L. Zander correctly formulates his main theological point of view, that for Bulgakov the Church is “the fullness of the One who fills everything in everything” (Eph. 1:23), which means that it really should be understood as the highest synthesis, including all goodness, all wisdom , all the beauty, in a word, everything that makes nature beautiful and human history rich. In this sense, life in the Church does not mean the denial of human quests, but their enlightenment and transformation. Not condemnation of errors, but understanding and correcting them. This ability for higher synthesis, writes Zander, made it possible for Fr. Sergius consider theology as the highest crown of all human knowledge, as the crown of all sciences and arts.

Bulgakov dedicated to the Church a large number of works The church is not only a shrine, it is also his favorite theme for creativity, it is his life and salvation from the difficulties of life. I don’t even know which of the Russian religious philosophers could speak so heartfeltly, all-encompassingly, with such sincere, selfless love about the church, as Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov spoke about it. He loves her as his bride, as a living spiritual being, as a storehouse of knowledge, as a wise essence, as God’s temple, as his home. For him, God and the Church are inseparable, just as the apostles are inseparable from Jesus Christ. Reading his articles about the Church is a very simple matter. They will not only bore or tire him with praises; on the contrary, they will arouse in us understanding, respect and admiration for the Temple of God and the love of God. This is his hymn to his beloved, his native spiritual holiness, his treasure, even the meaning of his life. He calls the church various holy words and classifies it as the Temple of God.

In the article “The Church as Tradition,” Bulgakov calls the church the Body of Christ, a spiritual organism, the life of which does not fit within the confines of earthly, temporary existence. And as having its existence on earth, the earthly Church has and should have its earthly boundaries and outlines. It is a human society, which has its own not only internal, but also external properties. And if the Church, as a life or organism, as an object of faith is invisible and indefinable, then the Church, as an earthly society, is visible and definable. Bulgakov explains that not the entire human race belongs to the Church, but only a select few, and not even all Christians belong to the true Church, but only Orthodox Christians.

And no matter how we extend the saving work of the Church in the fullness of time to all humanity, Father Sergius knows that the direct will of the Lord, to which we must lovingly submit, is such that the chosen ones who have accepted this calling are called into the Church. And, although the sermon about Christ is addressed to all creation (Mark 16:15) and all nations (Matthew 28:19), not everyone hears and follows these covenants, and not everyone is in the Church.

Bulgakov teaches that the salvation of the human race through entry into the Church of Christ is not accomplished mechanically, apart from human freedom, but presupposes the voluntary acceptance or rejection of Christ. Joining or not joining the Church is associated with faith or unbelief, and this is an internal act close to the heart, arising from the depths of a person’s free self-determination.

Priest Sergius reminds us again and again that only through faith do we enter the Church, and through unbelief do we leave it. The Church, as an earthly society, is, first of all, the unity of faith, moreover, the right faith, proclaimed to the world by the apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and by command of the Lord himself. Through faith they come to the Church and maintain the right faith; keeping and professing it is a condition of belonging to the Church, which, therefore, first of all, is defined as a society bound by the unity of the right faith. Just as the Lord Himself, being the Way and the Truth and the Life, preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, revealing the scriptures, proclaiming dogmas about Himself and about the Father and the Holy Spirit, so does His Church. But Archpriest Sergius always puts God first. He is beyond competition, he is God, whom the world worships and whom the Church glorifies.

A very interesting article by Bulgakov is “The Sophiology of Death,” which was included in the first part of his trilogy “The Lamb of God.” There is a lot of love, a lot of pain, hope, warmth and faith. When Bulgakov fell ill with a serious illness, he realized that for him there were only two saviors in the world - God and His mercy. Only they can free him from this terrible illness. This is how Father Sergius describes his feelings at a difficult time for him:

“Forever I learned that there is only. God and His mercy, that one must live only for God, love only God, seek only the Kingdom of God, and everything that obscures Him is self-deception. I called and felt the closeness of the Most Pure Mother of God, but I did not have enough strength to ascend. Then I moved like... according to some inner command, forward, from this world - to God. I rushed with speed and freedom, devoid of any heaviness. I knew with some reliable inner feeling that I had already passed our time and the present generation, I had passed the next generation, and the end was already beginning to shine behind it. The indescribable lights of the approach and presence of God lit up, the light became brighter, the joy more inexplicable: “it is impossible for man to speak.” And at that time, some inner voice of a companion - it was the Guardian Angel - told me that we had gone too far ahead and needed to return. And I understood and heard with my inner hearing that the Lord was bringing me back to life, that I was recovering. I cannot now comprehend how it was, but the same call and command that freed me from the life of this world, at the same time and with the same word determined my return to life. Internally, I already knew that I would recover.” .

And Father Sergius really began to recover, he was completely calm, because he knew that this was God’s command to save him. At the same time, he felt freed from the burden of sins and left them behind the threshold of his consciousness. Bulgakov felt like a newborn, because joyful changes had occurred in his life, the “liberating hand of death” had passed.

But, exactly ten years later, in 1939, Father Sergius was visited by a new, more serious and dangerous disease: laryngeal cancer, requiring an urgent double operation, possibly resulting in death or loss of voice forever. With the help of prayer addressed to God, Fr. Sergius underwent the operation courageously and without fear. Such was the power of prayer and God's intercession.

Before the operation, Father Sergius confessed, took communion of the Holy Life-giving Mysteries, and, just in case, said goodbye to his family and friends, although he and his family believed in a positive outcome of the operation. The prayers of his family and friends, his personal prayer to God the Father, his Son - Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit served successful outcome operation. This is how his life was saved.

“Spiritual Diary” of Father Sergius Bulgakov

In 2003, I acquired a book that was dear to me, published by the “Public Orthodox University, founded by Archpriest Alexander Men.” The book, one might say, is unique, it contains the entire inner life of a great personality, a faithful son of his Motherland, the Russian priest Sergius Bulgakov. The “Spiritual Diary” was written in 1923-1925 in a large bound notebook given to Bulgakov by his students, with the dedication: “To my dear Father Sergius. St. Day Sergius. September 29. Belgrade. Přerov. Prague. 1923." Obolenskaya’s note says that the notebook also had an insert from 1928, but it was lost.

From the very first pages of the “Diary” we plunge into the mysterious world of the great spiritual personality, patriot thinker and poet, wise hierarch Father Sergius Bulgakov. He is an emigrant, forcibly expelled from home country for religious beliefs; he decided to tell the whole world about his troubles and wanderings in a foreign land. Already his first entry on a foreign land suggests that we are dealing with a person who is not just a believer, but who deeply loves Jesus Christ with all his being.

“Prague 8/21. III.1924. Last night, after heavy impressions from the vanity of this century, failures and personal bitterness, I came poisoned and all night - in my sleep and without sleep - I was sad and grieved. I felt immersed in deep darkness and, as often happens, my whole life seemed like a mistake and a failure. And I felt the breath of death in and on me: it came in and out and took possession of me. I prayed, called God, but was unable to break through from the depths. I had a dream: we were going somewhere, they were deporting us, and with us was a newborn, frail, unhappy child, and my heart was exhausted from pain and pity for this child. So he stood up, dead, sad, and began to pray. At first the prayer was difficult, but then my heart miraculously ignited. The Lord had mercy on me, my heart thawed, tears of joyful love for the Lord watered me, and I felt in my heart one joy, one love and one torment: to give everything, everything for the Lord, to receive from the Lord, to bear from the Lord. My Christ, give me one thing: to love You, to melt in this love. My light, Sweetest Jesus! My joy, delight! Do not leave this cold, dead heart, You who raise the dead!” .

Bulgakov came to Prague at the invitation of his emigrant friends, and first of all, the Metropolitan of the Russian Church Abroad, Evlogius (Georgievsky), who offered him a position as an ordinary professor at the Russian Orthodox Institute of Prague. We can imagine what was going on in the soul of this easily wounded man, and what his heart was screaming about. Let's read his next entry:

“9/22.III.1924. All day long darkness enveloped me, and in vain I cried out from the depths to the Lord. And the evening brought a whole sheaf of light. The wife of Ave. K-ra died. She was, or rather considered herself, an unbeliever. The Lord deigned her, through the hands of me, a sinner, to partake of the Holy Spirit. secrets Even in confession, she babbled about her unbelief, but her beautiful, pure, faithful heart already loved and knew the Lord. And before her death, she asked to put with her in the coffin the cloth with which she wiped her lips during communion. My joy, my dear, it is the Lord Himself who has come to dine with you. And I will put in your coffin not only the cloth, but also the glass vessel and spoon with which I gave you communion. Protect yourself with them from the growth of the demonic and come to the final judgment, valiant one! And she lies, my dear, clear, calm, as if sleeping, her soul fluttered like a bird, and somewhere here, among us. And I felt that the Lord was touching my accursed heart with the hands and prayers of the newly deceased Catherine, and my heart trembled with a joyful call. You are right, O Lord, and your ways are right.” .

And then the continuation of this topic and glory to the Lord for light and peace, for joy and love, for the fact that he remained alive and began to work: “10/23.III.1924. After the turmoil and confusion of the heart, the Lord gives His light and peace and joy. The clouds are breaking, the clouds are melting, and what yesterday seemed gloomy and joyless now burns with heavenly joy. Nothing changed, only the Lord touched the heart, and it rejoiced. You don’t need anything that people value, you don’t need talents, successes, achievements, all this is imaginary enrichment in oneself. There is one wealth and joy that God has given to exactly all people: their life, created in God, and their heart, the ability to love and rejoice in love. Oh, the human heart, the seat of the image of God in man! What is more beautiful and sweeter than you, what is more joyful than love! God is Love, and the lover abides in God. Oh joy! Oh, joy of joy! The song of joy rings in a loving heart, and it faints in bliss. “I sleep, but my heart is awake,” the Bridegroom is knocking on it.” .

Father Sergius thanks God for sending him the joy of seeing the pure creativity of a woman’s soul. Although he does not reveal the name of this woman, he immediately switches to praising God, God’s Love, simply human love, and ends his prayer with these words: “My Lord, Joy, Sweetest Jesus!”

The confession of Hierarch Bulgakov before God and his readers reminds us of the confession of St. Augustine, who also selflessly conveyed his love to Jesus Christ. And yet, in addition to praises and ineffable love for God, the diary contains pages of harsh human life, his suffering and death. Here is his new entry: 19.III/1.IV.1924. What is more beautiful than a pure human soul turned to God! These days I was at the bedside of a dying man and saw his prayerful delights, and I felt unworthy to stand at this holy place, for the Lord was here. It’s as if the gates of eternity are swinging open, and through them comes light and ringing and joy, joy forever.” .

And again about the funeral: “21.III/3.IV. 1924. Lord, hear my voice and help all orphans and grieving souls. How high is the service of the priesthood - to stand with the mournful and dying, to witness their struggles and the light of their souls, to pray with them and for them. I was at the bedside of a young consumptive girl, and my soul was burning, and I was trembling with pity and tenderness before this cut-off flower of life. The Lord is near to all who call on Him. .

It is very difficult for Father Sergius to be at the bedside of a dying man. He knows how high and blessed the priestly service is. The Lord gives him the strength to stand at the gates of eternity when they open to receive the departing soul. The priest himself looks through these open gates, and his contemplation as a reproof, and as a soul-refreshing call, enters his soul. There is no fear of death, he says, there is no tearing horror of it, but there is joy, bliss and readiness to obey the commands of the Lord to move to another world. The dying person is equally humble and close, like this world. And then the cry of the priest himself: “We are cut off from Russia, this is our spiritual homeland, and, however, what does this mean when our common spiritual homeland is before us. And not once did the departing friend remember or feel this, for before him the homeland in the flesh is his family, and the homeland in spirit is the priest, in whom this Russian land lives and with this homeland and from this homeland he is coming to his spiritual homeland. Everything is different from here, different dimensions, different vision. Blessed is God, who makes me, unworthy, worthy to see and experience all these miracles.”

The joy of creativity for Archpriest Bulgakov

The joy of creativity gives inspiration to the soul and heart of Father Sergius. Today he saw a young woman painting a holy icon. The miracle of human creativity about the Lord and for the Lord took place before his eyes. The icons of the Savior and the Ever-Virgin were drawn by pure virgin hands, as the fruit of deep reverence and quiet prayer, and at the same time persistent selfless labor. How sublime and holy this work is, he says joyfully. The Lord gives strength to the creator, He sends him inspiration and beauty is imprinted by the Holy Spirit. God is satisfied with human art, and blessed is he who can and wants to give it to Him. “And if in a small, in a corner, inconspicuous for the world, this creativity about the Lord is so blessed, what bliss will come if people begin to do everything they do in the Lord, if all life becomes a doxology, a liturgy. Yes, come, come, Lord Jesus!” - such praise bursts out from the soul of the enchanted priest. .

It is characteristic that through all the small “poems” of his “Diary” the themes of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, saints run like a golden thread, and at the same time his personal life, full of tragic events, runs through. And then the tired and “torn” Father Sergius turns to prayer. She is both holiness and High power, and a dear essence, warm-hearted and miraculous, ready to come to the rescue at the first call:

“19.V/1.VI.1924. What a miracle prayer is. A sinful and unworthy person in insane boldness sends his prayers, throws his words into the sky, and the prayer is heard, the heart of the one who prays knows this when he sincerely prays. This does not mean that every desire of ours is immediately fulfilled the way we want it, this may be - and then the prayer is directly miraculous - it may not be, but sincere, heartfelt prayer always has an effect and is always fulfilled, it is always miraculous , for she is moved by the omnipotent and terrible Name of God" .

Prayer to Fr. Sergius calls it the mercy of God. He calls on everyone to get used to the breath of prayer, to entrust oneself to prayer, to learn not to do anything without prayer, and everyone will benefit for this. Pray in sorrow and in joy, in need and thanksgiving, and you will feel the Lord holding you by the hand, and you will never be alone, writes Father Sergius.

“Today I walked to the liturgy early in the morning along the city streets refreshed after the night. I thought: The Lord gives this morning in His peace. Everything lives in him in immense breadth and depth. Countless creations: people and birds, fish in the depths and leeches on Everest, everything pure and evil - and everything sings the praises of God this morning, and everything is filled with Him, and He is close everywhere. And He is close to you too, and you were created into this world as a part of it, no worse than others, you are worthy of existence, you are a citizen of this earth, and these stars, and all the infinities great and small. And you can, and therefore must, listen to the song of the world rushing to you from everywhere, the glory of God, which fills heaven and earth. And there is no other here then or there, but only the motionless here and now. All life, until the Lord extinguishes this light of your life, is an unceasing now.” .

Father Sergius also talks a lot about love, calling it a miracle of the goodness and wisdom of God, existing and strong as death. There is no bliss more powerful, more inexplicable than love, Bulgakov writes, it does not fit into earthly life, it overwhelms the soul and pours out onto the whole world, it frees the soul from the shackles of this life. All miracles pale before the miracle of love, before the miracle of the human heart.

“30.V/12.VI.1924. ...You, Existing Love, put Your image in man, put into him the ability of love, and the power of love, and the thirst for love, and the bliss of love. Love is strong as death. Death in this world is stronger than life, because it breaks it off, but love is stronger than death, it breaks life, but it also ignites life in eternity. Love always carries eternity within itself, it is a living revelation of eternity, for the God of Love himself is. Eternity is love, and the voice of eternity, the revelation of eternity in human heart is love. How wonderful are Your works, O Lord. You created the world, but You also created that which is higher than the world—love. Blind and deaf people, understand the mystery of love for Christ and the Church, understand the bliss of love. The Lord is the Bridegroom, the Beloved of my soul, the Church is my beloved bride. Love is insatiable bliss, unquenchable thirst, jealousy is like hell. And this love is never satisfied, it keeps flaring up and overwhelms the soul. Such is the love for my Lord, and such is the love of the Lord for me, for each of his creatures. Divine love is a boundless ocean, an innumerable abyss, an unquenchable and eternally burning flame. Love is the joy of joy, the bliss of bliss.” .

But Bulgakov has thoughts about what is difficult for humans, about our sins. He speaks about them, although decisively, but with pain and understanding, knowing what a terrible “beast” this is that sits inside each of us:

“17/30.IV.1925. There is nothing more terrible than sin; it is the death of the soul. Death enters and tears the soul, kills. Just yesterday, on the eve of sin, you were bright and whole and joyful, but sin tore your soul apart, there is emptiness and loneliness in it. There is no loneliness except in sin. He is one sinner, he is abandoned and he himself has abandoned the Lord, whom he insulted, His Most Pure Mother, the holy angels and holy saints, his loved ones and loved ones, he committed his sin before everyone, before everyone - a damned criminal. He bears the mystery of his sin and its death. Sin is despair and death of the soul, the second death. Everyone rejoices, but the sinner is surrounded by the ring of his sin, this joy torments him; everyone shines, and in him this light is darkness. It will be like this after Last Judgment God: that same bliss and joy and light, which will be the rejoicing of the righteous, will precisely shackle and execute damned sinners. And the experience of this hellish torment is given here, in this life, immediately after sin, in the captivity of sin. The damned sinner is condemned not by an external court, not by the command of God, but by sin itself, by himself. Hellish torment is the power of sin in yourself, it is shame, the unbearable shame of sin, the shame of deception, the shame of desecrating something holy, close, dear. Lord, save the sinner from despair, give him repentance, give him crying. I am unworthy to look up to You, to turn to You, unworthy of this sun, this earth, this Thy creation, which the sinner darkens, unworthy of loved ones, loved ones, all people, a deceiver and a thief. But You are love, You came to save sinners, save the sinner from despair, save as You can and want, do not let Your creation perish.” .

On the day he turned 54, Fr. Sergius wrote:

Paris. 16/29. V II.1925 (on the day of my 54th birthday) “Lord, I thank you for everything: for life, for destiny, for parents, for family, for friends, for meetings, acquaintances, happiness and unhappiness, joys and trials. How to embrace all Your wonders and Your mercies? They are innumerable. But most of all, I thank You for giving me to love and know reciprocal love. There is no greater joy and no greater bliss. And I thank the Lord that He, in all my laziness and sinfulness, allowed me to achieve service at the altar, for there is no more blessed fate than this on earth. The Lord determines the duration of his life for each person at his birth, calls some in infancy, others in youth, and gives others long life, according to His inscrutable advice.

You can’t look at the rest of your life as “other time in the belly” that you have to live out somehow, but you have to live out with dignity, in peace and repentance. And the approaching or already approaching old age is fraught with its own precious possibilities; it is or can be the crown of life.

He who has reached old age is freed by it from the passions of the flesh; while remaining in the body, he is alien to its passions; Through the experience of a long life, he comprehended what he needed in his youth, and the closeness to God, which is given by standing at the earthly threshold, gives special freshness to his spirit.

Old age in God is the most precious asset of humanity, its spiritual sediment, pure moisture. But old age is the crown of all life: as life is, so is old age, you need to earn old age. People are afraid of old age, they don’t want it, but you need to love old age, want it as freedom in God. My youth will be renewed like an eagle, and old age is this eternal youth of the spirit renewed in God.”

There is no point in retelling this enchanting and very difficult book, which carries within itself bright joy and deep pain. We just need to read it carefully, and then our eyes will open to a new personality, which we have not yet fully revealed, the personality of Sergius Bulgakov: a talented poet - lyricist and epic, thinker and writer, philosopher and theologian, delighting the world with his wonderful works.

I would advise everyone who wants to get acquainted with the work of the Russian philosopher and theologian Sergius Bulgakov to begin their acquaintance with his “Spiritual Diary”. This book contains the essence of the wisdom of the great creator. And only after that proceed to his other books. I have never seen such richness of the human soul, such sincerity before God and people, such spiritual self-expression in any other author. Neither Jean Jacques Rousseau with his Confession, nor Leo Tolstoy with his Confession, nor St. Augustine with the “Confession”, none of them will give us that charge of creative spirit, that power of all-consuming love, the truth and tragedy of life, and at the same time - wisdom, like this wonderful man, martyr and sufferer, a resident of the small town of Livny, in Orlovskaya provinces. This is probably why the best book by Konstantin Paustovsky was written in Livny - “The Tale of Life”, which touched the hearts of more than one reader to the depths of the soul, which in its focus is consonant with the “Spiritual Diary”. This, it turns out, is where the divine essence of the great son of Russia, Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov, came from.

The last years of the life of Sergius Bulgakov

The health of the priest and theologian Bulgakov, after the operation, began to recover. He learned to speak without vocal cords, although not particularly clearly. And yet, Father Sergius served early liturgies and continued to lecture on dogmatic theology, perform pastoral duties and write his works. After the operation, he developed a special softness, tenderness and caringness in his relationships with people. He became a different Bulgakov. But the professor's peaceful days were not long. The Second struck World War, which quickly came to Paris. Arrests and persecution of people began. The Nazis took many Russian comrades to concentration camps. Some teachers of the Theological Institute, Russian emigrants, saving their lives, left the capital and went to the south of France. Bulgakov’s close friend Nikolai Berdyaev also left. Father Sergius and his family decided to stay put: come what may. And although the institute was empty, although it was cold and there were few students, Sergius Bulgakov gave his lectures to them in such conditions. It was cold in the unheated classrooms, the professor himself and the students were hungry.

One of his students recalled what the atmosphere was like at his last lectures. Bulgakov read his interpretation of the Apocalypse, and more than his words, the student remembered his appearance, that extraordinary light and burning that emanated from the professor. And against the backdrop of wartime, the violence of the fascists, Bulgakov retained his loyalty to Russia and its people: he gave lectures with special enthusiasm, with biblical examples about the death of Evil and the triumph of Good, and spiritual unity. His faith in victory over the enemy did not leave until last days. Bulgakov looked for answers to his difficult questions in the Bible, in the sufferings of Christ and other martyrs, even wrote an article about his mental anguish in: “Christ in the world,” in which he wrote:

“... the main dogmatic theme of Revelation, its guiding thought - in terms of Christology - can be expressed in such a way that Revelation contains the doctrine of the reign of Christ in the world, while its dogmatic premise is the doctrine of the redemption of the human race by the blood of the Lamb, i.e. His high priestly ministry. In this sense, Revelation truly includes the entire general content of the New Testament, and to that extent the Old. …But the royal ministry of Christ, which has its foundation in His high priestly ministry, is testified in Revelation through His prophetic ministry, since the entire Apocalypse is “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him,” to show His servants “what must soon take place.” .

The place, Bulgakov wrote, is his [the Lamb] “in the middle of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders.” Thus, he heads the heavenly, angelic, as well as human world. Sitting at the right hand of the Father signifies His heavenly removal from the world in resurrection, His place in the middle of the throne testifies to His continuing connection with the world. “The Ascension, and according to Revelation, must be understood in connection with the ongoing reign of Christ in the world and in His connection with it. “The Son reigns in him until He gives up His Kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. XV, 24-25), while this reign of the Son in the world continues, all the providence about his destinies belongs to Him.” .

Father Sergius has long nurtured the idea of ​​“monasticism in the world,” a type of monasticism that carries out its feat of prayer simultaneously with serving God, the Fatherland, and people, not hiding in a prayer monastery, but remaining in the “thickness of the world.” This idea was relevant with the arrival of the Nazis in France, and during the years of the Great Patriotic War. Priest Bulgakov inspires and blesses his spiritual children for Christian deeds. In this regard, mention should be made of his spiritual daughter, mother Maria (Elizaveta Yuryevna Kuzmina-Karavaeva), her young son Yuri, friend and associate, spiritual son of Father Sergius, priest Dmitry Klepinin, who glorified their names by being, together with other participants in the French Resistance , died heroically in fascist death camps.

As a patriot of his Motherland, Professor Fr. Sergius, together with his emigrant brothers, waited with hope for fascism to be defeated. He closely followed the progress of military operations and always rejoiced at every military victory our soldiers achieved. We regret that he did not live to see the triumph of victory over fascism and see the parade on Red Square in May 1945.

We would like to quote his prayer addressed to God, in which he asked Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross, to defeat fascism, support his slave, give him the strength to bear his cross with dignity and to the end:

"God! Sometimes my shoulders weaken, and it seems that they are exhausted. Support me with Your strength. You fell and fainted in carrying Your cross, You fell and fainted under the weight of my sins, for You carried my cross on Yourself, and already carried it and carried it to the place of Golgotha. And I am exhausted... What a sin of weakness and cowardice! But You allowed the exhaustion, You blessed the exhaustion, for You fell under the burden of the cross and carried it. So, Lord, enlighten Thy servant and teach him to love his cross and not to faint from it on the way with his soul, even when his strength fails. You Yourself, Lord, help, You are with me, my hand rests on You. You lead everyone, Lord, through sorrowful and painful repentance, seeing your sins, testing your conscience. They worship your cross, Master, teach me to love my cross. .

Finally, writes Nun Elena, the anniversary of the ordination of Father Sergius, memorable for all his spiritual children, has arrived, June 5, 1944, the day of the Holy Spirit. Father Sergius served the Divine Liturgy with great enthusiasm, and in Greek. All his spiritual children received communion, and after the service, as always in such cases, they went to Father Sergius to drink tea and talk. Many of them recalled that they felt as if this was his last confession, as if it were a farewell; as if in it Father Sergius gave his will and expressed the main thing that he wanted to tell everyone.

The disciples' premonition came true that same night. On the night of June 5-6, 1944, he suffered a stroke, after which he remained unconscious for forty days. Four of his spiritual daughters were on duty at his bedside, witnessing the transfiguration of their shepherd.

“On Saturday morning, June 10, 1944, when Sister Joanna was sitting alone at the bedside of Fr. Sergius, she was amazed: the tense expression of his face began to change so constantly, as if he was conducting some mysterious otherworldly conversation. Suddenly his face began to become brighter and more joyful. The expression of painful tension began to be completely transformed into an expression of peaceful childish naivety. Sister Joanna immediately called the others, and the four of them witnessed the extraordinary enlightenment of Fr. Sergius. However, this enlightenment did not erase his facial features and expressions of his joy. This amazing insight lasted two hours, as Mother Theodosius said, looking at her watch. She said: “Father Sergius is approaching the Throne of God and is illuminated by the Light of His Glory.” .

Father Sergius died on July 13, 1944, on the feast of the Council of the 12 Apostles. He was buried on July 15, 1944 in the Russian Orthodox cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, not far from the temple consecrated in 1939 on the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievsky) said the following words over the grave: “...You were misunderstood, accused. Perhaps this was written into your destiny, since your theology was the fruit not only of your thinking, but also of the sorrowful trials of your heart. The Holy Spirit transformed Saul into Paul in your soul. You were a true Christian sage, a teacher of life, who taught not only in words, but also in your entire life, in which - I dare say - you were an apostle."

A note by Father Sergius Bulgakov entitled “About my funeral” has been preserved; we present it in full:

“About my funeral. I ask you to arrange my funeral as cheaply and simply as possible, without any extra expenses. I have no funds, and everything that is spent in excess on the funeral will thereby be taken away, first of all, from those closest to me, or in general from anyone in need, to whom it can be given as a funeral wreath, at least for some time. compensation for my own insensibility. I would have asked you not to lay flowers, I didn’t deserve them.

“The earth is the Lord’s fulfillment, the world and all who live on it.” I have no wishes regarding the burial place, after being expelled from my homeland, where I prematurely chose a place for myself near the grave of my son at the Koreiz cemetery. If possible, I would like to be buried in the same grave with my wife, however, if this does not cause great difficulties and is generally doable.

However, I ask that a handful of native soil, sewn into an amulet and taken from the grave of my son, be placed in my coffin, combining it with a handful of St. land from Gethsemane, enclosed in a bag under my icons, (this holy land, remaining, can be distributed to those who wish). That's all my wishes. Sinful priest of God Sergius. 1. 1. 1941 Serg. sub in Paris". .

07/13/1944. – The philosopher Archpriest Sergius Nikolaevich Bulgakov died

(07/16/1871–07/13/1944) - economist, philosopher, theologian; political and church leader, priest; adherent of the religious-idealistic metaphysics of unity and sophiology. In his youth, he was a “legal Marxist” and went from an atheist to a clergyman and theologian.

Born in the city of Livny, Oryol province, into the family of a priest. After graduating from the Livensky Theological School in 1884, he entered the Oryol Theological Seminary, which he left in 1888 due to “the loss of religious faith for many, many years” (as he wrote). Bulgakov entered the 7th grade of the Yelets Gymnasium, after which he became a student at the Faculty of Law, where he studied political economy and became interested in Marxism.

After graduating from the Faculty of Law in 1896 in the Department of Political Economy, he became a teacher of political economy at the Moscow Imperial Technical School, actively collaborated in journals of the liberal-populist and Marxist directions ("Russian Thought", "New Word", "Scientific Review", "Nachalo" ). Fortunately, in 1898 Bulgakov was sent on a two-year scientific trip to Germany to prepare for a professorship. In Berlin, he communicated with the leaders of German Marxist Social Democracy Bebel and Kautsky. He also traveled to Paris, London, Geneva (where he met Plekhanov), Zurich, and Venice. Personal acquaintance with the West, the birthplace of Marxism, was beneficial. Having carefully studied the development data Agriculture in Germany and other countries of Western Europe, Bulgakov came to the conclusion that Marx’s theory in relation to the agricultural sector of the economy was erroneous. The economic refutation of Marxism was the result of his two-volume dissertation "Capitalism and Agriculture" (1900). Then he is a professor of political economy at Kiev University (1901–1906) and Moscow University (1906–1918).

Bulgakov recalled that he returned from abroad “already with decayed Marxism.” He soon met the followers of the man who died in 1900 and remembered his ancestors: he was, after all, the son of a priest in five generations and he himself studied at a theological seminary. A similar ideological evolution was characteristic of a considerable part of the then “Order of the Russian intelligentsia,” and soon Bulgakov became one of the recognized leaders of this return to Christianity; he was one of the initiators of the collection “Problems of Idealism” (1902). Bulgakov outlined his revision of his Marxist worldview in ten articles from 1896–1903, included in the collection "From Marxism to Idealism"(1903). In them, Bulgakov inextricably connects the socio-economic ideal with Christianity, which will continue to become for him the basis of economic views and the developing philosophy of economics.

Western capitalism was also an unprofitable and unChristian system for Bulgakov. In the report “National Economy and Religious Personality” (1909), Bulgakov gave an exhaustive critique of Western liberal political economy and capitalism as the fruit of Protestant Judaization (Calvinism, Puritanism) of Western Christianity. Referring to the relevant studies of W. Sombart and M. Weber, Bulgakov writes: “it is not for nothing that Puritanism was often called English Hebraism, meaning its assimilation of the Old Testament spirit... In Puritanism, the belief characteristic of Jewish messianism that the Anglo-Saxons are the chosen people of God, called to rule over other peoples for the sake of salvation and enlightenment, also awakened with tremendous force their own... Puritan asceticism stands at the cradle of modern “economic man” operating on the stock exchange and market. XVII century era bequeathed to her utilitarian heiress, first of all, an unusually calm, - we can safely say - a pharisaically calm conscience when making money, if only it is done in a legal form.”.

Marxism, in its criticism of capitalism, is not only economically erroneous, but also no less immoral from a Christian point of view, wrote Bulgakov. The Marxist doctrine of the class struggle for the same earthly goods is a petty hedonistic ideal of “progress”, for the sake of which Marx proclaims the selfish class struggle, violence and merciless destruction of the “old world”, that is, he allows the “temporary” use of evil ( civil war) to modern generations, which serve only as fertilizer for the “future bliss” of their descendants. Bulgakov gave a precise spiritual refutation of Marxism as a heretical utopia: “The basis of socialism as a worldview is the old chiliastic belief in the advent of an earthly paradise... The chosen (Jewish) people, the bearer of the messianic idea, was replaced by the proletariat”.

In 1919, Bulgakov went to Crimea to visit his family. In Simferopol, he accepted a position as professor of political economy and theology at the university. Here he wrote the following works: “At the Walls of Chersonesos”, “The Tragedy of Philosophy”, “The Philosophy of the Name”. In 1920, when the Reds took Crimea, Bulgakov did not want to emigrate, but as a priest he was expelled from the list of professors, and in 1922 he was arrested. Father Sergius was included in the lists of scientific and cultural figures subject to deportation abroad. On December 30, 1922, he left Crimea for exile.

After a short stay in Russia, he left for Czechoslovakia, where in May 1923 he took up the position of professor of church law and theology at the Faculty of Law of the Russian Scientific Institute in Prague.

In 1925 he moved to Paris, where he participated in the creation of the Orthodox Theological Institute. Until his death, Father Sergius was its permanent leader, as well as a professor at the department of dogmatic theology. In 1927, the first part of the trilogy “The Burning Bush” was published, in the same year the second part – “The Groom’s Friend”, in 1929 the third – “Jacob’s Ladder”.

In addition, Fr. Sergius paid great attention to spiritual mentoring in the “Russian Student Christian Movement” and participation in the ecumenical movement, which was typical for the so-called liberal. "Parisian jurisdiction" of Metropolitan Eulogius, who broke away from . Until the end of the 1930s. Bulgakov took part in many ecumenical endeavors, becoming one of the influential figures and ideologists of this movement; in 1934 he made a long trip to the USA.

In 1939, Fr. Sergius was diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent surgery and lost the ability to speak, serve, or lecture. The outbreak further limited the scope of his work in occupied Paris. However, until the last days of his life he did not stop working on new books. In 1933–1945 Bulgakov’s second trilogy was published: “Lamb of God” (1933), “Comforter” (1936), “Bride of the Lamb” (1945). He finished his last book, The Apocalypse of John, shortly before his death. He was buried in the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois near Paris.

Having received from V.S. Solovyov’s philosophy of all-unity, Bulgakov developed the doctrine of “Sophia of the Wisdom of God” as a world soul eternally existing in the Divine plan, feminine in its essence, containing Divine love and radiating it into the world. These theological works of Bulgakov (which also contain elements of chiliasm) caused sharp criticism and accusations of heresy from both the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church Abroad (the most detailed criticism was given: “Defense of the Sophian heresy by Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov in the face of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad ", 1937), and even among colleagues Fr. Sergius at the Institute. In particular, he gave his dean the following assessment:

“... having taken from Solovyov the basic concept of all-unity (with the inclusion of a sophiological theme), Bulgakov, under the influence of Florensky, completely goes towards sophiological reflections... However, in his purely theological works, Bulgakov remains a philosopher - the leaven of transcendentalism, the metaphysics of all-unity, even some general principles of philosophical thought, assimilated by Bulgakov at the dawn of scientific life, retained their force even in the years of pure theology... Bulgakov was often quite careless in his formulas - at every step we will find contradictions and difficult to agree expressions - and it is precisely about Sofia...

“Creation is total unity,” Bulgakov asserts in “The Non-Evening Light”: it is “one - many, everything,” “positive total unity belongs to it.” “The ontological basis of the world lies in the continuous, metaphysically continuous sophia of its basis”... Sophia, as the ideal basis of the world, stands between the Absolute and the cosmos, as a kind of “third being” that combines both divine and created nature... For Bulgakov the cosmos is a living, animated whole, and therefore he seriously and persistently puts forward the concept of the “soul of the world” - in “Philosophy of Economics”... “The secret of the world,” writes Bulgakov, “is in femininity... the origin of the world is the action of the entire Holy Trinity, in each of Her Hypostases extending to the receiving Being, the eternal feminine, which through this becomes the beginning of the world." And she is the “fourth hypostasis.” Bulgakov refers to Sophia as the Eternal Femininity and the maternal womb of existence as the “fourth hypostasis.” ... Sophia is actually “the world of ideas, that is, the ideal basis of the world.” “Sophia, in relation to the plurality of the world, is an organism of ideas, which contains the ideological seeds of all things” - it contains “the root of their being”...

Even in “Non-Evening Light,” Bulgakov associates evil with the fact that “nothing” “bursts into the already realized universe as a chaotic force” (God “did not stop before reconciling himself, giving room to a rebellious chaotic nothingness”). Thus, “the possibility of evil and sin, as the actualization of nothing, was given in advance by the universe.” It must be said that this is a very strange theory of evil, which is elevated to “nothing” - as if this nothingness (i.e., pure zero) can become a “chaotizing force”! ...

Bulgakov is of extreme importance in the development of Russian philosophy, primarily because he deepened the themes of cosmology, so essential for the understanding of existence. The concept of “creative Sophia” (if you don’t stand for the term itself, which for various reasons is not always successful) was most deeply and thoroughly worked out in Russian thought by Bulgakov - his analyzes in “Philosophy of Economics” are especially inspiring... [However] The synthesis of science, philosophy and religion was just as unsuccessful for Bulgakov as it was for Solovyov, just as it cannot succeed at all within the lines of the metaphysics of unity. But the metaphysics of all-unity stands in the closest proximity to that desired synthesis, which, being free from the basic error of all-unity, will give an appropriate and fruitful combination of science, philosophy and theology - the task of this synthesis is clearly irremovable for Russian thought, which has not lost its internal connection with Orthodoxy.”
(Prot. V.V. Zenkovsky. History of Russian philosophy. T. II, pp. 430-457)

And another institute colleague, Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, prof. archm. Cyprian (Kern), wrote in a collection dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Theological Institute about the views of his leader: “We must directly and decisively declare publicly: the Theological Institute has never considered the speculations of Fr. Sergius with his official theology. No school of his own. Sergius was never able to create it with us. Moreover, he did not leave a single student among his former listeners, and now teachers... His ideas will probably remain, in the apt word, “the product of the printing press and the dead inhabitants of library shelves...”. .

Father Sergius Bulgakov on the Jewish Question

During the war years, reflecting on the fate of Jews who were experiencing persecution in Nazi Germany, Fr. Sergiy wrote:

“In Bolshevism, most of all, the willpower and energy of Jewry manifested itself, all those features that are already so well known from the Old Testament, where they were the subject of God’s wrath... In future events, the central place belongs to Russia and Jewry... Russia is under the yoke Bolshevism, ... Jewry is undergoing persecution once again in its history. But it itself still remains in a state of worshiping the golden calf and falling away from faith, even in the God of Israel. All these new disasters... punishment for that terrible crime and grave sin, which he committed over the body and soul of the Russian people in Bolshevism... Jewry in its lowest degeneration, predation, lust for power, conceit and all kinds of self-assertion, through Bolshevism, committed if - in comparison with the Tatar yoke - and short-lived chronologically (at least a quarter of a century there is not even a short period for such torment), then the most significant in its consequences is violence against Russia and especially over Holy Russia, which was an attempt at its spiritual and physical strangulation. In its objective sense, this was an attempt to spiritually murder Russia, which, by the grace of God, ended up with unsuitable means. The Lord had mercy and saved our homeland from spiritual death.” So Bolshevism is not yet the victory of Satan over Russia. This is "the terrible victory of Satan over Jewry, accomplished through the medium of Jewry" ( "Racism and Christianity", 1941–1942).

“The power of money, mammon is the worldwide power of Jewry. This indisputable fact does not contradict the fact that significant, even most of Jews to this day remain in deep poverty, need, in the struggle for existence, which does not find a natural outcome for itself due to the absence of its own country, due to ahaspheric dispersion, the state of the “eternal Jew.” Another manifestation of the power of the prince of this world is expressed in false messianic pathos, in anticipation of the future, earthly messiah in the place of the Rejected and Crucified. By the strength of this messianism and all its ardor, the sons of Israel are among the inspirers of the godless materialist socialism of our days. ... in a state of anti-Christianity and anti-Christianity, Israel is a laboratory of all kinds of spiritual poisons that poison the world and especially Christian humanity" ( "Persecution of Israel", 1942).