Vladimir Soloviev A Russian Newman

Vladimir Soloviev was a philosopher, poet, theologian and prophet. He was widely recognized as Russia's greatest thinker of the 19th Century. Michel d'Herbigny's biography allows us to experience Soloviev the man, in his struggles against censorship, the Tsarist police, and others who sought to keep the Russian people uninformed of Soloviev's work. Soloviev has been recognized by John Paul II and Benedict XVI for his personal holiness. His fervent drive for the reunion of the Russian Orthodox with the Catholic Church, and life of asceticism led to his early death as he poured out his life for Christ. Hated by Lenin, forbidden in his homeland until the 1990s, and lost in the clutter of modern life in the West, Soloviev is only now beginning to rise again among Russian Orthodox, Catholics and other Christians. Vladimir Soloviev is a thinker that will remain with you, and help you realize God's plan for mankind and yourself.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

ONE of the fortunes of war has been the revelation to Western eyes of a Russian mystic. It is Vladimir Soloviev. He is not only the foremost spiritual philosopher of Russia, but he is also one of the most distinguished types of the modern mind. Towards the end of his life he happened to write a book against Tolstoi, combating that writer's doctrine of the non-resistance of evil. The book has lately received two translations into English, as a statement of the philosophy of war from the Russian point of view. The subject of war, however, holds but a secondary place in the book, and indeed a very secondary place in the life of Soloviev. His great lifework was an exposition and propaganda of the claims of the Universal Church. He was a convert from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, and the one ruling passion of his life was to familiarize Russia with the idea of a Universal Church, monarchical in its constitution. This is the chief reason for calling him the Russian Newman. There were other striking similarities between the two men, although their divergencies were even more striking and more numerous. Soloviev, like Newman, was very lonely in his soul. He worked always from within-the voice of conscience was his all-impelling guide and force. His method was the personal one. He conceived in his own peculiar way a philosophy of the whole man, which was neither intellectualist, voluntarist, nor sentimentalist. With the watchword of "integralism," he stood for the due equipoise of all the faculties of man in the search for truth. He worked out for himself a method remarkably analogous to Newman's doctrine of the Native Sense, but with this important difference, that he always preserved a profound respect for the use and the value of the syllogism. Yet if, on the one hand, he was personal and subjective, it was always with a sane appreciation of the value of 0bjective evidence. Like Newman again, he took a special delight in the study of Holy Scripture and the Fathers, of Church history and the development of religion. Like Newman, too, he had an ardent love for his own country. He thought of Catholicism for Russia, and believed that if only Russia were Catholic it would mean the religious transformation of the whole world. Unlike Newman, Soloviev never became a priest. Both before and after his conversion he preferred to work as a layman. Nevertheless, he deemed that he could best follow his calling by remaining a celibate. Once, at the age of eighteen, he did think of marriage, but, by the time he had arrived at the age of twenty, he had fully resolved to lead a single life.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In 1795 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe produced his tale of tales--The fairytale of "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily," an extraordinary masterwork that is unique among Goethe's works. An initiatory fable of transformation, the tale arose out of the Rosicrucian, alchemical impulses that play an important role in Faust and Goethe's other writings. Among those influenced by it was Rudolf Steiner, whose mystery dramas employ similar themes. The authors begin by placing the fairytale against the background of Goethe's life and cultural setting. They then discuss its importance in the development of Steiner's spiritual science. Finally, they describe its visual language, profound mystical insights, and relevance for us today. The book includes Carlyle's classic translation of the tale and illustrations, plus Steiner's essay on its inner meaning. The authors offer a positive look at the possibilities of the twenty-first century. They view Goethe's fairytale as fully relevant to our time, just as it was when Goethe first wrote it.