| Title of the article: |
The free communication of Love — a fundamental principle of Christian philosophy of Khomyakov |
| Author(s): |
ZAPEKA О. А. |
| Section: |
Theory and history of culture |
| Year: |
2015 |
| Issue: |
№ 3, (37) |
| Pages: |
49-58 |
| Index UDK: |
141.5+130.2 |
| Index BBK: |
87.3+71.0 |
| Abstract: |
The theme of freedom is closely linked with the theme of sobornost (a spiritual community of many jointly living people, a divino-human, anthropic unity) in religiousphilosophical works of Khomyakov. He was one of the first who introduced this concept into the philosophical vocabulary. Framing a philosophical concept, Khomyakov based it on Orthodoxy. He puts a conciliar principle of freedom and Christian love at the foundation of all human relations. The problem of reconciliation of beginning of freedom and unity of many people is one of the central points of Khomyakov’s teaching about the Church. Unity is achieved by a voluntary, deliberate refusal from a person's own self-interest and by the free connection of personal aspirations of many people into a single aspiration. Freedom without unity of many people, based on love, leads to tyranny, and unity without freedom acquires an external, mechanical character. For Khomyakov man becomes truly free only in the Church and freedom in the true sense does not exist outside it. In the opinion of Khomyakov, freedom is realized only in sobornost, but not in individualism. In true communication with other people a person finds himself and overcomes his own limitations. A special place in Khomyakov’s metaphysics is occupied by the relationship between the concepts of freedom and a free will (volya). All of creation is seen as «the will of the mind», a reasonable will and a free thought. Khomyakov considers two manifestations of freedom, the first is arbitrariness, or the «will at its full freedom», and the second is the self- determination as the base for morality and reason. The moral content of a personal freedom is realized only in all-round communication with others and with the God. |
| Keywords: |
Khomyakov, freedom, sobornost, unity, freedom, tyranny, love, the Church, all of creation |
| Bibliography: |
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