St. Serafim of Sarov: His Clerical and Intellectual Reception in Late Imperial and Early Revolutionary Russia

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

My research will consider the reception of the Russian mystic St. Serafim of Sarov (1754-1833) by members of the religious-philosophical societies, formed in Russia between 1901 and 1929. Serafim was an ascetic monk, hesychast and spiritual elder. He was canonised in controversial circumstances in 1903 and was the subject of a cult that attracted leading members of the Russian intelligentsia. I will explore the role played by Serafim in the debates of the era and in the attempts to reconcile the intellectual and clerical classes. My thesis will be the first detailed work on Serafim's reception. Russia in the early twentieth-century was undergoing political, religious and social upheaval, riven by the revolutionary events of 1905 and 1917. It was in this climate that religious-philosophical societies hosting lay intellectual and church figures were established, including those in St. Petersburg (1901-1903; 1907-1917), Moscow (1905-1918), Kiev (1908-1919), and the Circle of Seekers of Christian Knowledge (1907-1917) and the Brotherhood of St. Serafim (1921-1929).The intelligentsia and clerical class had been estranged for decades. The societies provided a point of contact for figures from both groups to discuss urgent religious/spiritual matters, such as the developments and innovations in Orthodoxy concerning asceticism, eldership and sainthood. Journals published by these societies allowed these debates to reach a wider audience. The philosopher Berdiaev stated that the 'quest for true Orthodoxy began' at the meetings and that the intellectuals 'endeavoured to find [true Orthodoxy] in St. Seraphim Sarovsky'.The starting point for my research will be two hagiographical texts on Serafim, the Chronicles of the Serafim-Diveevskii Monastery (1896) and the Conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov with N.A. Motovilov (1903). These texts were crucial in establishing Serafim's popularity and I will explore their impact alongside the events of his canonisation.I will critically evaluate representations of Serafim in the work of members of the religious-philosophical societies from 1901, the date of the first meetings, to 1929 when Soviet repression intensified. I will review various religious/theological and literary/cultural texts published by Belyi, Rozanov, Merezhkovskii, Kartashev, Bulgakov, Florenskii, Sventitskii, Volzhskii, Bakhtin and others. I will refer to diaries and correspondence for deeper understanding of their interest in Serafim and examine the theological journals and archives of the ecclesiastical academies and Holy Synod for academic and clerical responses. Research Questions:(i) To what extent were the intelligentsia and clergy responding to the Chronicles and Motovilov Conversation? What role did these texts play in constructing Serafim as a modern prototype of an ascetic hesychast and elder? (ii) How did members of the clergy and lay intellectuals represent Serafim in their works and personal writing? To what extent did these images overlap, clash, influence or contradict each other?(iii) What role did the figure of Serafim play in the attempts to bring about a synthesis of lay and ecclesiastical culture? What can be said of the interaction between religion, creative and intellectual culture, through the case-study of Serafim?(iv) How did the nature and composition of the religious and philosophical societies develop between 1901 and 1929 and did the developments coincide with changes in representations of Serafim?(v) How did the representations of Serafim respond to and/or influence the debates and developments in Orthodoxy? Was there an evolution in the responses by members of the religious-philosophical societies to these debates their use of Serafim? My research will build on research by Freeze (1996) and Nichols (2000), and Kenworthy (2010). It will complement Paert's monograph on spiritual eldership (2010) and Michelson's on Russian asceticism (2017).