Vladimir Solovyov was born inMoscow;[3] the second son of the historianSergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov (1820–1879); his elder brotherVsevolod (1849-1903), became a historical novelist, and his younger sister,Polyxena (1867–1924), became a poet.[4] Vladimir Solovyov's mother Polyxena Vladimirovna (née Romanova, d. 1909) belonged to a family ofPolish andUkrainian origin and among her ancestors was the philosopherGregory Skovoroda (1722–1794).[5]
In his 1874 workThe Crisis of Western Philosophy: Against the Positivists (Russian:Кризис западной философии (против позитивистов), Solovyov discredited the positivists' rejection ofAristotle'sessentialism, orphilosophical realism. InAgainst the Positivists he took the position of intuitivenoetic comprehension, orinsight. He saw consciousness as integral (see the Russian termsobornost) and requiring bothphenomenon (validated bydianoia) andnoumenon validatedintuitively.[6][page needed] Positivism, according to Solovyov, validates only the phenomenon of an object, denying the intuitive reality that people experience as part of their consciousness.[6][page needed] As Solovyov's basic philosophy rests on the idea that the essence of an object (seeessentialism) can be validated only by intuition and that consciousness as a single organic whole is done in part by reason or logic but in completeness by (non-dualist) intuition. Solovyov was partially attempting to reconcile the dualism (subject-object) found inGerman idealism.
V. Soloviev, S. Trubetskoy, N. Grot, L. Lopatin, 1893
In 1877, Solovyov moved toSaint Petersburg, where he became a friend and confidant of the writerFyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881). In opposition to his friend, Solovyov was sympathetic to theCatholic Church. He favoured the healing of theschism (ecumenism,sobornost) between theOrthodox and Catholic Churches. It is clear from Solovyov's work that he acceptedpapal primacy over theUniversal Church.[8][9][10] There is evidence that he converted to Catholicism in a ceremony on February 18, 1896.[11][12][13] The testimony is signed by theRussian Greek Catholic priest Nikolay Tolstoy and two Catholic laypeople—Princess Olga Vasilievna Dolgorukova and Dmitry Sergeevich Novskiy.As an active member ofSociety for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, he spokeHebrew and struggled to reconcileJudaism and Christianity. Politically, he became renowned as the leading defender of Jewish civil rights intsarist Russia in the 1880s. Solovyov also advocated for his cause internationally and published a letter inThe London Times pleading for international support for his struggle.[14] TheJewish Encyclopedia describes him as "a friend of the Jews" and states that "Even on his death-bed he is said to have prayed for the Jewish people".[15]
Solovyov's attempts to chart a course of civilization's progress toward an East–West Christianecumenism developed an increasing bias against Asian cultures—which he had initially studied with great interest. He dismissed theBuddhist concept ofNirvana as a pessimistic nihilistic "nothingness", antithetical to salvation and no better thanGnosticdualism.[16] Solovyov spent his final years obsessed with fear of the "Yellow Peril", warning that soon the Asian peoples, especially theChinese, would invade and destroy Russia.[17]
Solovyov further elaborated this theme in his apocalyptic short-story "Tale of the Antichrist" (published in theNedelya newspaper on 27 February 1900), in which China and Japan join forces to conquer Russia.[17] His 1894 poemPan-Mongolism, whose opening lines serve as epigraph to the story, was widely seen as predicting the comingRusso-Japanese War of 1904–1905.[18]
Solovyov never married or had children, but he pursued idealized relationships as immortalized in his spiritual love-poetry, including with two women named Sophia.[19] He rebuffed the advances of theChristian mysticAnna Nikolayevna Schmidt, who claimed to be his divine partner.[20] In his later years, Solovyov became avegetarian, but ate fish occasionally. He often lived alone for months without a servant and would work into the night.[21]
It is widely held that Solovyov was one of the sources for Dostoevsky's charactersAlyosha Karamazov andIvan Karamazov inThe Brothers Karamazov.[22] InJanko Lavrin's opinion, Solovyov has not left a single work which can be considered an epoch-making contribution to philosophy as such, and yet his writings have proved one of the most stimulating influences to the religious-philosophic thought of his country.[23]: 7 Solovyov's influence can also be seen in the writings of theSymbolist andNeo-Idealist writers of the later Russian Soviet era. His bookTheMeaning of Love (book) [ru] can be seen as one of the philosophical sources ofLeo Tolstoy'sThe Kreutzer Sonata (1889). It was also the work in which he introduced the concept of 'syzygy', to denote 'close union'.[24]
Solovyov described his encounters with the entity Sophia in his works, such asThree Encounters andLectures on Godmanhood. His fusion was driven by the desire to reconcile and/or unite with Orthodox Christianity the various traditions by the RussianSlavophiles' concept ofsobornost. His Russianreligious philosophy had a very strong impact on theRussian Symbolist art and poetry movements of theSilver Age[25] and his written arguments in favor of the reunion of the Russian Orthodox Church with theHoly See played an instrumental role in the formation of theRussian Greek Catholic Church.[26] His teachings on Sophia, conceived as the merciful unifying feminine wisdom of God comparable to the HebrewShekinah or various goddess traditions,[27] have been deemed aheresy byRussian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and as unsound and unorthodox by thePatriarchate of Moscow.[28] This condemnation, however, was not agreed upon by other jurisdictions of the Orthodox church and was directed specifically againstSergius Bulgakov who continued to be defended by his own hierarchMetropolitan Evlogy until his death.[29]
In his 2005 foreword to Solovyov’sJustification of the Good, the Orthodox Christian theologianDavid Bentley Hart wrote a defense of Sophiology including a specific defense of Solovyov's later thought:
It is important to note that, in Solovyov’s developed reflections upon this figure (and in those of his successor Sophiologists,’ Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov), she was most definitely not an occult, or pagan, or Gnostic goddess, nor was she a fugitive from some Chaldean mystery cult, nor was she a speculative perversion of the Christian doctrine of God. She was not a fourth hypostasis in the Godhead, nor a fallen fragment of God, nor a literal world-soul, nor an eternal hypostasis who became incarnate as the Mother of God, nor most certainly the ‘feminine aspect of deity.’ Solovyov possessed too refined a mind to fall prey to the lure of cultic mythologies or childish anthropomorphisms, despite his interest in Gnosticism (or at least in its special pathos); and all such characterizations of the figure of Sophia are the result of misreadings (though, one must grant, misreadings partly occasioned by the young Solovyov’s penchant for poetic hyperbole). In truth, the divine Sophia is first and foremost a biblical figure, and ‘Sophiology’ was born of an honest attempt to interpret intelligibly the role ascribed to her in the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, in such a way as to complement the Logos Christology of the Fourth Gospel, while still not neglecting the ‘autonomy’ of creation within its very dependency upon the Logos.[30]
Solovyov sought to create a philosophy that could through his system of logic or reason reconcile all bodies of knowledge or disciplines of thought, and fuse all conflicting concepts into a single system. The central component of this complete philosophic reconciliation was theRussianSlavophile concept ofsobornost (organic orspontaneous order through integration, which is related to the Russian word for 'catholic'). Solovyov sought to find and validate common ground, or where conflicts found common ground, and, by focusing on this common ground, to establish absolute unity and/or integral[31] fusion of opposing ideas and/or peoples.[32]
By 1900, Solovyov was apparently ahomeless pauper. He left his brother, Mikhail Sergeevich, and several colleagues to defend and promote his intellectual legacy. He is buried atNovodevichy Convent.[citation needed]
But if the faith communicated by the Church to Christian humanity is a living faith, and if the grace of the sacraments is an effectual grace, the resultant union of the divine and the human cannot be limited to the special domain of religion, but must extend to all Man's common relationships and must regenerate and transform his social and political life.[35]
Магомет, его жизнь и религиозное учение. — tip. of the "Public Benefit" company, 1896. – 80 с. – (Life of Remarkable People. Biographical Library of Florentiy Pavlenkov)
Vladimir Solovyev; translated from the Russian byRichard Gill with an introduction byJanko Lavrin and a concluding chapter byJudith Kornblatt (2004).Transformations of Eros: An Odyssey from Platonic to Christian Eros (Жизненная драма Платона).Grailstone Press.ISBN1-59650-001-8.{{cite book}}:|author1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) 103 pages
^The philosopher's family name has been spelt in various ways: Soloviev, Solov'ev Solovëv, Solowjew, Solov'jov, Solovieff, Solovioff and Solovyev. The most widely accepted transliterated form of his last name is Solovyov.
^Бондарюк (Bondaryuk), Елена (Elena) (16 March 2018)."Дочь своего века, или Изменчивая Allegro" [The Daughter of Her Age, or the Volatile Allegro].Крымский ТелеграфЪ (in Russian). No. 471. Simferopol, Crimea. Archived fromthe original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved4 June 2020.
^Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov,Russia and the Universal Church, trans. William G. von Peters (Chattanooga, TN: Catholic Resources, 2013).
^Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov,The Russian Church and the Papacy: An Abridgment of Russia and the Universal Church, ed. Ray Ryland (San Diego: Catholic Answers, 2001).
^Fr. Paul Mailleux, S.J. (2017),Blessed Leonid Feodorov: First Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church; Bridgebuilder between Rome and Moscow,Loreto Publications. Pages 11–13.
^Ladouceur, Paul (23 September 2021). "Georges Florovsky and Sergius Bulgakov: 'In Peace Let Us Love One Another'". In Chryssavgis, John; Gallaher, Brandon (eds.).The Living Christ: The Theological Legacy of Georges Florovsky. London, UK: T&T Clark. pp. 91–111.ISBN9780567700469.
^Solovyov, Vladimir; Hart, David Bentley (31 August 2005). "Forward".The Justification of the Good: An Essay on Moral Philosophy. Translated by Jakim, Boris; Duddington, Nathalie A. Cambridge, UK: Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. xxxvii–li.ISBN9780802828637.
^abZouboff, Peter P. (1944).Vladimir Solovyev's Lectures on Godmanhood. International University Press. p. 14. "The passionate intensity of his mental work shattered his health. On the thirty-first of July, in "Uzkoye", the country residence of Prince P. N. Troubetskoy, near Moscow, he passed away in the arms of his close friend, Prince S. N. Troubetskoy."
^Oberländer, Erwin; Katkov, George. (1971).Russia Enters the Twentieth Century, 1894–1917. Schocken Books. p. 248;ISBN978-0805234046 "Vladimir Solovyev died in the arms of his friend Sergey Nikolayevich Trubetskoy (1862–1905), on the estate of Uzkoye."
^Solovyov, Vladimir (1948).Russia and the Universal Church. Translated by Herbert Rees. Geoffrey Bles Ltd. p. 10.
Carlson, Maria (1996). "Gnostic Elements in the Cosmogony of Vladimir Soloviev". In Kornblatt, Judith Deutsch; Gustafson, Richard F. (eds.).Russian Religious Thought. Madison, Wisconsin:University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 49–67.ISBN978-0-299-15134-8.
Cioran, Samuel (1977).Vladimir Solov'ev and the Knighthood of the Divine Sophia. Waterloo, Ontario:Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Dahm, Helmut[in German] (1975).Vladimir Solovyev and Max Scheler: Attempt at a Comparative Interpretation. Sovietica. Vol. 34. Translated by Wright, Kathleen. Dordrecht, Netherlands:Springer.ISBN978-90-277-0507-5.
Milosz, Czeslaw (1990). Introduction.War, Progress and the End of History: Three Conversations, Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ. By Solovyov, Vladimir. Hudson, New York:Lindisfarne Press.ISBN978-1-58420-212-7.
Powell, Robert (2007) [2001].The Sophia Teachings: The Emergence of the Divine Feminine in Our Time. Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Lindisfarne Books.ISBN978-1-58420-048-2.
Solovyov, Vladimir (2008). Jakim, Boris (ed.).The Religious Poetry of Vladimir Solovyov. Translated by Jakim, Boris; Magnus, Laury. San Rafael, California:Semantron Press.ISBN978-1-59731-279-0.
du Quenoy, Paul. "Vladimir Solov’ev in Egypt: The Origins of the ‘Divine Sophia’ in Russian Religious Philosophy,"Revolutionary Russia, 23: 2, December 2010.
Finlan, Stephen. "The Comedy of Divinization in Soloviev,"Theosis: Deification in Christian Theology (Eugene, Or.: Wipf & Stock, 2006), pp. 168–183.
Glouberman, Emanuel (1974).Feodor Dostoevsky, Vladimir Soloviev, Vasilii Rozanov and Lev Shestov on Jewish and Old Testament themes (PhD thesis). University of Michigan.
Helmut, Dahm (1975).Vladimir Solovyev and Max Scheler : attempt at a comparative interpretation : a contribution to the history of phenomenology. Boston: Reidel.ISBN9027705070.
Kornblatt, Judith Deutsch."Vladimir Sergeevich Solov’ev," Dictionary of Literary Bibliography, v295 (2004), pp. 377–386.
Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Artur.Between the Icon and the idol. The Human Person and the Modern State in Russian Literature and Thought – Chaadayev, Soloviev, Grossman (Cascade Books, /Theopolitical Visions/, Eugene, Or., 2013).
