Ecclesiology of V. N. Lossky in the Perspective of Personalism of Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov

Abstract

In this article the personalistic and ecclesiological concept of V. N. Lossky through the prism of the doctrine of the personality of Fr. Sergei Bulgakov are analyzed. It is revealed that Bulgakov's anthropology is based on the distinction between hypostasis and individuality. The first category, according to Bulgakov, is directly related to communion with God. The second category is connected, according to Bulgakov, with the fallen state of man and the need for his individualization. The ecclesiological perspective of such an anthropology, where the conciliar personality is capable of its own original implementation in the Church, is considered.

In this article also showed that Lossky's personalistic ecclesiology was formed on the grounds on the perception and criticism of the logical scheme of Bulgakov's personalistic ecclesiology. Within the framework of Lossky's teaching, there is also a primary distinction between the personality and the individual, with the assertion of the extra-natural status of the first category and the natural status of the second.

At the same time, from the point of view of the fall, it is not individualization that is important, but the features of nature associated with the limitation of the individual by necessity. This became one of the points of difference between Lossky's personalistic concept and Bulgakov's concept, which was not characterized by a strict opposition of personality and nature.

It is showed that Lossky's personalism acquires ecclesiological content in two perspectives: "vertical" (relationship between the Church and God; Christology and Pneumatology) and "horizontal" (relationships between members of the Church; the doctrine of sobornost in the light of triadology).

The Christological and pneumatological aspects of Lossky's ecclesiology are also considered. It has been established that the first is connected with the unity of the Church, and the second with the unity of many members of the Church.