Vladimir Lossky

Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky[lower-alpha 2] (Russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Ло́сский; 1903–1958) was an Eastern Orthodox theologian in exile from Russia. He emphasized theosis as the main principle of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Vladimir Lossky
Владимир Николаевич Лосский
Born	Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky 8 June 1903 Göttingen, German Empire
Died	7 February 1958 (aged 54) Paris, France
Nationality	Russian[1] French[lower-alpha 1][2]
Spouse(s)	Madeleine Shapiro ​ (m. 1928)​
Parent(s)	Nikolay Lossky
Relatives	Olga Lossky (great-granddaughter)
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Paris
Doctoral advisor	Étienne Gilson[3]
Influences	Dionysius the Areopagite[4] Pavel Florensky[5] Étienne Gilson[6] Lev Karsavin[7]
Academic work
Discipline	Theology
Sub-discipline	Dogmatic theology mystical theology
School or tradition	Eastern Orthodox theology
Institutions	St. Dionysius Institute in Paris
Notable works	The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (1944)
Influenced	Rowan Williams[8] Christos Yannaras[9] John Zizioulas[10]

Biography

Vladimir Nicolaevich Lossky was born on 8 June (OS 26 May) 1903 in Göttingen, Germany.[11] His father, Nikolai Lossky, was professor of philosophy in Saint Petersburg.[12] In 1919, he enrolled as a student in the faculty of Arts at Petrograd University; but in 1922 he and his father were exiled from Soviet Russia. Lossky was profoundly changed when he witnessed the trial which led to the execution of Metropolitan Benjamin of St Petersburg by the Soviets. Metropolitan Benjamin was later canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.[6] From 1922 to 1926 Lossky continued his studies at Prague and in 1927 graduated at the Sorbonne in Paris in medieval philosophy. He married Madeleine Shapiro on 4 June 1928.[13]

Lossky settled in Paris in 1924.[14] From 1942 until 1958 he was a member of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. He served as the first dean of the St. Dionysius Institute in Paris.[15] He taught dogmatic theology and ecclesiastical history in this institute until 1953, and from 1953 to 1958 in the diocese of the patriarchate of Moscow, "rue Pétel" in Paris. He was a member of the Brotherhood Saint Photius and the ecumenical Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius. His best-known work is Essai sur la theologie mystique de l'Eglise d'orient[16] (1944) (English translation, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (1957)).

Lossky died of a heart attack on 7 February 1958 in Paris.[17]

Theology

Lossky's main theological concern was exegesis of mystical theology in Christian traditions. He argued in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (1944) that theologians of the Orthodox tradition maintained the mystical dimension of theology in a more integrated way than those of the Catholic and Reformed traditions after the East–West Schism because the latter misunderstood such Greek terms as ousia, hypostasis, theosis, and theoria. In illustration of his argument he cites the collection known as the Philokalia and John Climacus's Ladder of Divine Ascent, as well as works by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory Nazianzen, and Gregory Palamas. Georges Florovsky termed Lossky's Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church a "neopatristic synthesis".[18]

The genius of Eastern mystical theology lay, he contended, in its apophatic character, which he defined as the understanding that God is radically unknowable in human, thus philosophical, terms. Consequently, God's special revelation in Scripture must be preserved in all of its integrity by means of the distinction between the ineffable divine essence and the inaccessible nature of the Holy Trinity, on the one hand, and the positive revelation of the Trinitarian energies, on the other. "When we speak of the Trinity in itself," said Lossky, "we are confessing, in our poor and always defective human language, the mode of existence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one sole God who cannot but be Trinity, because He is the living God of Revelation, Who, though unknowable, has made Himself known, through the incarnation of the Son, to all who have received the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and is sent into the world in the name of the incarnate Son."[19] The Trinitarian processions in revelation thus produce the energies which human beings experience as grace and by which they are sanctified or "deified". In his Mystical Theology he argued that the theologians of the undivided Church understood that theosis was above knowledge (gnosis).[20]

This was further clarified in his work, Vision of God (or theoria). In both works Lossky also stresses the differences between Christian thinkers such as Pseudo-Dionysius and such thinkers as Plotinus and the Neoplatonists, asserting that Christianity and Neoplatonism, though they share common culture and concepts, have very different understandings of God and ontology.

Vladimir Lossky, like his close friend Georges Florovsky, was opposed to the sophiological theories of Sergei Bulgakov and Vladimir Soloviev. In the words of Nicholas Lossky, "One characteristic of his theology that should be underscored, is that he was not, and always refused to be, a direct descendant of the famous Russian 'religious philosophy'."[1] The term Russian religious philosophy had its origin in the works of the slavophile movement and its core concept of sobornost, which was later used and developed by Vladimir Soloviev.

Eastern theological definitions

Lossky also expressed in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church that the Trinity is a doctrine with its technical terms rooted in Hebrew hermeneutics, Greek Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy as well. The triune God being of one essence or being, which is reflective of mankind hypostatically, inside out. God and experience coming into the person from the external world and into the soul by the influence of the Holy Spirit. The freewill of man functioning as a means to choose good or evil and or choose God or reject God (i.e. blaspheme the Holy Spirit). Hypostasis meaning existence of God. Ousia as essence or being, is the aspect of God that is completely incomprehensible to mankind and human perception, since it is beyond created or is uncreated. The essence of God, being in the Father (primordial origin) and then given to the Son (begotten of the Father not made) and the Holy Spirit (which proceeds from the Father) both as the hands of God. Ousia as essence or being, defined as "all that subsists by itself and which has not its being in another."[21]

Triune God in essence is the only uncreated being

The concept of the Triune God being a single God in essence or Ousia (as uncreated). A single God who as Father or infinite origin is an existence, as Son or flesh is an existence and as Spirit is an existence. One God in one Father.

God the Father

The Father of the Trinity is uncreated hyper-being (beyond being) in essence or ousia as such is the truly infinite, primordial or original, uncreated origin, the reality of which all things and beings originate from, as the Father Hypostasis. The Father hypostasis in using the term God is used primarily as the name for God. As the term God is interchangeable with the term Father. As Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Son of the Father and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Father.[22]

God the Son

The Son of God or Jesus Christ expressing the logos or perfection as the highest ideal, in the material world and God in the flesh. Christ as well, representing mankind, which he inherited from the Theotokos. Christ manifest as generated and or begotten (not made) in essence uncreated, by and from God the Father[lower-alpha 3] as another reality, Hypostasis of God.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit himself being light, life, animation and the source of the uncreated light photomos, enlightenment and/or illumination, who proceeds or is manifest by procession from God the Father as another Hypostasis of God. The Holy Spirit and the Christ being the hands of God the Father, reaching in from the infinite into the finite[lower-alpha 4] (see Irenaeus).

Created being

All things that are not God are created beings or are created in their essence. Mankind possesses free will in his finite nature, mankind exists in an indeterminate world.[25] Things as such in their subsistence, are dependent upon something other than themselves. As such divine beings (such as Angels) are created beings the origin of their being is ex nihilo. All things that are not God, are created in essence or being. God as hyper-being, and or in essence uncreated can be, by way of his existences, the infinite while generating himself as a man and also be the spirit, that by procession (from him God, Father), animates life.

Energies of God

All three hypostasis sharing a common essence or ousia or being, which is referred to as God. The ousia of God being completely unknowable or incomprehensible to mankind since it is uncreated where as nothingness as well as mankind are created (see Nikolai Berdyaev). The energies of God the Father having the same hyper-being in that they are without cause and or uncreated (see Gregory Palamas). God's energies as uncreated and indestructible. God the Father (the Father as the monarchos) in his being is not self generated, nor generated from any other, hence the incomprehensibility of God. The Trinity having existences (hypostasis) that are comprehensible, but a being that is not created and beyond all things (including nothingness) therefore God's hyper-being (ousia) is incomprehensible. Lossky points out that God's existences can be spoken of but not his being. If one then speaks of God's essence or being as anything outside of incomprehensible, one speaks in direct contradiction to the theoria of Christianity and as such are not true theologians and are instead speaking of God through speculations, rather than experience.

Mysticism and theology

For Lossky, Christian mysticism and dogmatic theology were one and the same. According to Lossky mysticism is Orthodox dogma par excellence. The Christian life of prayer and worship is the foundation for dogmatic theology, and the dogma of the church help Christians in their struggle for sanctification and deification. Without dogma future generations lose the specific orthodoxy (right mind) and orthopraxis (right practice) of the Eastern Orthodox path to salvation (see soteriology).

Bibliography

• 'The Dispute about Sophia' [in Russian] (1936)
• Sept jours sur les routes de France: Juin 1940 Cerf (1998) ISBN 2-204-06041-0
• Essai sur la theologie mystique de l'Eglise d'Orient (1944) (English translation, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church; 1957, repr. several times) ISBN 0-913836-31-1; ISBN 0-227-67919-9
  • Lossky, Vladimir (1957). The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (1. ed.). London: J. Clarke. ISBN 9780227675366.
  • Lossky, Vladimir (1976) [1957]. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 9780913836316.
  • Lossky, Vladimir (2005) [1957]. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. ISBN 9780227905098.
• Theologie Negative et Connaissance de Dieu Chez Maitre Eckhart (1960; Vrin, 2002) ISBN 2-7116-0507-8
• La Vision de Dieu (1961) (English translation, The Vision of God; 1964, repr. several times) ISBN 0-913836-19-2
  • Lossky, Vladimir (1964). The Vision of God. London: Faith Press.
• Lossky, Vladimir (1974). In the Image and Likeness of God. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 9780913836132.
• Lossky, Vladimir (1978). Orthodox Theology: An Introduction. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 9780913836439.
• (with Leonid Ouspensky) The Meaning of Icons (1947; 2nd. ed. 1999 SVS Press) ISBN 0-913836-99-0
• Being With God by Aristotle Papanikolaou (University of Notre Dame Press February 24, 2006) ISBN 0-268-03830-9

See also

• Hesychasm
• Apotheosis
• John Behr
• John of Saint-Denis
• Theophany
• Michael Pomazansky
• John S. Romanides
• Phronema
• Uniatism
• Archimandrite Sophrony
• John Meyendorff
• Dumitru Stăniloae
• Olivier Clément
• Henri Bergson
• Rowan Williams
• Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius

Notes

1. Lossky became a French citizen c. 1939.[2]
2. Pronounced /ˌnɪkəˈlaɪ.əvɪtʃ ˈlɒski/.
3. John of Damascus wrote:

   Whatsoever the Son has from the Father, the Spirit also has, including His very being. And if the Father does not exist, then neither does the Son and the Spirit; and if the Father does not have something, then neither has the Son or the Spirit. Furthermore, because of the Father, that is, because the Father is, the Son and the Spirit are; and because of the Father, the Son and the Spirit have everything that they have.[23]

4. Irenaeus wrote: "Now man is a mixed organization of soul and flesh, who was formed after the likeness of God, and moulded by His hands, that is, by the Son and Holy Spirit, to whom also He said, 'Let Us make man.'"[24]

References

Citations

1. N. Lossky 1999, p. 289.
2. Louth 2015, p. 98; Sauvé 2010, p. 55; Seiling 2005, p. 79.
3. Coakley 2013, p. 126.
4. Gavrilyuk 2008, p. 713.
5. Sauvé 2010, pp. 139–140.
6. N. Lossky 1999, p. 288.
7. Sauvé 2010, pp. 44–45.
8. Chaplin 2012, p. 5.
9. Papanikolaou 2008, p. 233.
10. Louth 2015, p. xiv; Papanikolaou 2008, p. 233.
11. N. Lossky 1999, p. 288; Williams 1975, p. 1.
12. N. O. Lossky 1952, pp. 4, 395.
13. Sauvé 2010, p. 49.
14. Prokurat, Golitzin & Peterson 2010, p. 207.
15. Williams 1975, p. 28.
16. Williams 1975, p. i.
17. Louth 2015, p. 98; Morrel 1959, p. 35.
18. N. O. Lossky 1952, p. 395.
19. V. Lossky 1974, p. 89.
20. N. O. Lossky 1952, pp. 395–401.
21. V. Lossky 1991, pp. 50–51.
22. Hopko 1984, ch. "The Holy Trinity", s.v. One God, One Father.
23. John of Damascus. An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Cited in Meyendorff 1983, p. 183.
24. Irenaeus 1994, p. 463.
25. Witte & Alexander 2006.

Works cited

• Chaplin, Jonathan (2012). "Person, Society and State in the Thought of Rowan Williams" (PDF). Cambridge, England: Von Hügel Institute. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
• Coakley, Sarah (2013). "Eastern 'Mystical Theology' or Western 'Nouvelle Théologie'? On the Comparative Reception of Dionysius the Areopagite in Lossky and de Lubac". In Demacopoulos, George E.; Papanikolaou, Aristotle (eds.). Orthodox Constructions of the West. New York: Fordham University Press. pp. 125–141. doi:10.5422/fordham/9780823251926.003.0008. ISBN 978-0-8232-5192-6.
• Gavrilyuk, Paul L. (2008). "The Reception of Dionysius in Twentieth-Century Eastern Orthodoxy". Modern Theology. 24 (4): 707–723. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0025.2008.00495.x. ISSN 1468-0025.
•  ———  (2011). "Lossky, Vladimir (1903–1958)". In McGuckin, John Anthony (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell. doi:10.1002/9781444392555.ch12. ISBN 978-1-4051-8539-4.
• Hopko, Thomas (1984). The Orthodox Faith. Volume 1: Doctrine and Scripture (2nd ed.). Yonkers, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press (published 2016). ISBN 978-0-86642-079-2. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
• Irenaeus (1994) [1885]. "Against Heresies: Book I". In Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; Coxe, A. Cleveland (eds.). Ante-Nicene Fathers. 1. Translated by Roberts, Alexander; Rambaut, William. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers (published 1995). pp. 462–525. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
• Lossky, N. O. (1952). History of Russian Philosophy (PDF). London: George Allen and Unwin. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
• Lossky, Nicholas (1999). "Theology and Spirituality in the Work of Vladimir Lossky". The Ecumenical Review. 51 (3): 288–293. doi:10.1111/j.1758-6623.1999.tb00393.x. ISSN 1758-6623. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
• Lossky, Vladimir (1974). "The Procession of the Holy Spirit in Orthodox Trinitarian Doctrine". In Erickson, John H.; Bird, Thomas E. (eds.). In the Image and Likeness of God. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
•  ———  (1991) [1957]. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co. (published 2005). ISBN 978-0-227-67919-7.
• Louth, Andrew (2015). Modern Orthodox Thinkers: From the Philokalia to the Present. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-5121-8.
• Meyendorff, John (1983). Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes (rev. 2nd ed.). New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-0967-5.
• Morrel, George (1959). "The Theology of Vladimir Lossky". Anglican Theological Review. 41 (1): 35–40. ISSN 0003-3286.
• Papanikolaou, Aristotle (2008). "Personhood and Its Exponents in Twentieth-Century Orthodox Theology". In Cunningham, Mary B.; Theokritoff, Elizabeth (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press (published 2010). pp. 232–245. doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521864848.016. ISBN 978-0-521-86484-8.
• Prokurat, Michael; Golitzin, Alexander; Peterson, Michael D. (2010) [1996]. The A to Z of the Orthodox Church. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7602-6.
• Sauvé, Ross J. (2010). Georges V. Florovsky and Vladimir N. Lossky: An Exploration, Comparison and Demonstration of Their Unique Approaches to the Neopatristic Synthesis (PhD thesis). Durham, England: Durham University. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
• Seiling, Jonathan (2005). "Exiled Russian Orthodox Leaders in Paris and the Struggle to Establish a Home Away from Home (1925–1944)". Historical Papers. Canadian Society of Church History: 69–82. ISSN 0848-1563. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
• Williams, Rowan (1975). The Theology of Vladimir Nikolaievich Lossky: An Exposition and Critique (DPhil thesis). Oxford: University of Oxford. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
• Witte, John, Jr.; Alexander, Frank S., eds. (2006). The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13358-6.

Further reading

• Schmemann, Alexander (1958). "In Memoriam: Vladimir Lossky". St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly. 2. 2 (2): 47–58. ISSN 0360-6481. Retrieved 7 October 2018.

External links

• Free PDFs of some of Lossky's writings