Vladimir Lossky

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Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky (Russian: Владимир Николаевич Лосский; June 8 [O.S. May 26] 1903 – February 7, 1958) was an influential Eastern Orthodox theologian and Russian exile. He emphasized the mysticism of Saint Paul and theosis, or the deification/divinization of the human person through Jesus as the main principle of Orthodox Christianity.

Professor Lossky, born in Gottingen, Germany, was an influential theologian and Russian exile. He was the son of Nikolai Lossky, professor of philosophy in Saint Petersburg. Vladimir was born in 1903 and lived in Petrograd from 1920 until he was exiled from Russia in 1922. After a stay in Prague, he moved to Paris two years later and remained there until his death in 1958. He served as the first dean of the St. Dionysus Institute in Paris, where he also taught dogmatic theology. Lossky is best remembered for his book, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church.

From his father's own words Vladimir was profoundly changed as a child when he witnessed the trial and execution of Metropolitan Benjamin of St Petersburg by the Soviets. Benjamin was later canonized. [1]

Contents 1 Theology 2 See also 3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] Theology

V. Lossky stated in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church that the Orthodox maintained its mystical tenets. While the East-West Schism caused within the Western churches a loss of these tenets due to a misunderstanding of Greek terms such as ousia, hypostasis, theosis, and theoria. Much of the mysticism of the eastern church being the church's dogmas expressed in such works as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the Philokalia, Ladder of Divine Ascentby St John Climacus, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Basil the Great, St Gregory Nazianzus, and St Gregory Palamas. Lossky, as was his close friend Father Georges Florovsky, opposed to the sophiological theories of Father Sergei Bulgakov and Vladimir Soloviev. V. Lossky in the words of his own father had "One characteristic of his theology that should be underscored, is that he was not, and always refused to be, a direct descendant of the famous Russian "religious philosophy" 1.

V. Lossky also expressed in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church that the Trinity is a doctrine with roots in Hebrew hermeneutics, Greek Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy as well. The triune God being of one essence being reflective of mankind inside out. Being that the Father of the Trinity is an infinite, primordial or original, unknowable origin, hypostasis. The Son of God or Jesus Christ expressing the logos or perfection in the material world and God in the flesh. Christ as well, representing mankind, which he inherited from the Theotokos as another hypostasis. The Holy Spirit himself being light, life, animation and the source of uncreated light, enlightenment, illumination, hypostasis. The Holy Spirit and the Christ being the hands of God the father, reaching in from the infinite into the finite (see St Irenaeus). All three hypostasis sharing a common essence or ousia which is referred to as God. The ousia of God being completely unknowable or incomprehensible to mankind.

For Lossky, Christian mysticism and dogmatic theology where one and same. The Christian life of prayer and worship is the foundation for dogmatic theology, and the dogma of the church help the Christian in his struggle for sanctification and deification. Without dogma future generations loose the specific orthodoxy (right mind) and orthopraxis (right practice) of the Eastern Orthodox path to salvation (see soteriology).

[edit] See also

• Hesychasm
• Essence-Energies distinction
• Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
• Neoplatonism
• Apotheosis
• Theophany
• theosis
• theoria
• Philokalia
• Phronema
• Uniatism
• Praxis
• Archimandrite Sophrony
• Father John Meyendorff
• Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

[edit] Bibliography

• The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. (ISBN 0-227-67919-9)
• Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, SVS Press, 2001. (ISBN 0-913836-43-5)
• In the Image and Likeness of God, SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-13-3)
• The Vision of God, SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-19-2)
• The Meaning of Icons, with Léonid Ouspensky, SVS Press, 1999. (ISBN 0-913836-99-0)
• Sept jours sur les routes de France: Juin 1940 Cerf, 1998. (ISBN 2-204-06041-0)
• Theologie Negative et Connaissance de Dieu Chez Maitre Eckhart 1960. Vrin, 2002. (ISBN 2-7116-0507-8)

[edit] External links

• "Theology and Mysticism in the Tradition of the Eastern Church" from The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, pp. 7-22.
• "Obituary by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann" from St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, Vol. 2 - New Series, No, 2, Spring 1958, pp 47-48
• Free PDFs of some of Lossky's writings
• Sobernost