Palamite Theology in Sophiological System of Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov

Abstract

Father Sergius Bulgakov’s worldview was formed under the influence of the sophiology of Vladimir Solovyov and Father Pavel Florensky. Through imiaslavie and the philosophy of the name, he became acquainted with the Palamite heritage and used it in his system. He began with the gradual inclusion of individual elements of St. Gregory’s theology until he approved and, finally, recognized the limitations of Palamism for sophiology. Father Sergius Bulgakov knew about the importance of the teaching of the Thessalonian saint; however, he understood it in his own way due to the limited accessibility of texts to him. The goal of this work is to attempt to clarify the role of the Palamite teaching on the difference between essence and energy within the framework of Father Sergius’s sophiology, as well as to establish to what extent Bulgakov’s teaching on Sophia is consistent with the ideas of Byzantine Palamism. Following the imiaslavtsi, he presented a rethinking of the thoughts of St. Gregory in the categories of Russian philosophy and German idealism. The conclusion of the article is that sophiology does not agree with Byzantine Palamism, and their synthesis turns out to be impossible.