Georges Florovsky

Georges Vasilievich Florovsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Васи́льевич Флоро́вский) (September 9 [O.S. August 28], 1893 – August 11, 1979) was an Eastern Orthodox priest, theologian, historian and ecumenist. He was born in the Russian Empire, but spent his working life in Paris (1920–1949) and New York (1949–1979). With Sergei Bulgakov, Vladimir Lossky, Justin Popović and Dumitru Stăniloae he was one of the more influential Orthodox Christian theologians of the mid-20th century. Among his pupils is the theologian and bishop, John Zizioulas.

Life

Florovsky was born in 1893 at Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), as the fourth child of an Orthodox Christian priest. Inspired by the erudite environment in which he grew up, he learned English, German, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew while still a schoolboy. At eighteen, he started to study philosophy and history.

After his first graduation, he taught for three years at high schools in Odessa, and then made his full graduation including the licentia docendi at all universities in the Russian empire. In 1919, he began to teach at the University of Odessa.

But in 1920 his family was forced to leave Russia. The young Florovsky realized at that time that there would be no return for him, because Marxism did not accept the history and philosophy he taught. Florovsky thus became part of the emigration of Russian intelligentsia, which also included Nikolai Berdyaev, Sergei Bulgakov, Nicholas Lossky and his son Vladimir Lossky, Alexander Schmemann, and John Meyendorff - the latter two of whom would later follow Florovsky as Dean of Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.

In the 1920s Florovsky had a close personal and vocational friendship with Nikolai Berdyaev. The two became more distanced in later years, largely through Berdyaev's not understanding Florovsky's entering Holy Orders, and also because of the critical attitude to Berdyaev's philosophy of religion expressed in Florovsky's "Ways of Russian Theology".

In 1925 Florovsky was appointed professor of patristics at the St. Serge Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris. In this subject he found his vocation. The lively debates of the thinkers of the early Church became for him a benchmark for Orthodox Christian theology and exegesis, as well as a source for many of his contributions and critiques of the ecumenical movement. Despite not having earned an academic degree in theology (apart from several honorary degrees he was awarded later), Florovsky would spend the rest of his life teaching at theological institutions.

In 1932 Florovsky was ordained priest of the Orthodox Church. During the 1930s, he undertook extensive researches in European libraries and wrote his most important works in the area of patristics as well as his magnum opus, Ways of Russian Theology. In this work he questioned the Western Christian influences of scholasticism, pietism, and idealism on Orthodox, and especially Russian, Christian theology, and called for a re-evaluation and reformulation of that theology in the light of patristic writings. The work was received with either enthusiasm or condemnation - there was no neutral attitude to it among Russian émigrés. One of his most prominent critics was Nikolai Berdyaev, the religious philosopher and social critic.

In 1949 Florovsky moved to New York City to take a position as Dean of Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. Florovsky's oversight of the development of the theological curriculum led to the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York granting the Seminary an Absolute Charter in 1953. He was fired as Dean in 1955.

Among prominent students and successors of Florovsky is Metropolitan John Zizioulas.

See also

• Philosophers' ship

Works

• Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century. Paris, 1931.
• The Ways of Russian Theology (online)
• The Catholicity of the Church online
• The Lost Scriptural Mind online
• On Church and Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View online
• St. John Chrysostom. The Prophet of Charity online
• The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament. Reflections on the Critique of the Theology of the Reformation online
• The Limits of the Church, Church Quarterly Review, 1933 (online)
• Following the Holy Fathers (Excerpt of The Collected Works of Georges Florovsky Vol. IV, "Patristic Theology and the Ethos of the Orthodox Church," Part II, p. 15-22) online
• St Gregory Palamas and the Tradition of the Fathers, 1961 online
• Revelation and Interpretation online
• Scripture and Tradition: an Orthodox View online
• The Work of the Holy Spirit in Revelation online
• Holy Icons online
• Collected works published 1972-1979 (vol. 1-5) in Belmont, Mass. by Nordland Pub., and 1987-1989 (vol. 6-14) in Vaduz, Europa by Büchervertriebsanstalt.
  • Collected Works. Volume 1: Bible, Church, Tradition
  • Collected Works. Volume 2: Christianity and Culture excerpts online
  • Collected Works. Volume 3: Creation and Redemption [excerpts online]
  • Collected Works. Volume 4: Aspects of Church History excerpts online
  • Collected Works. Volume 5: Ways of Russian Theology, Part I
  • Collected Works. Volume 6: Ways of Russian Theology, Part II
  • Collected Works. Volume 7: Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century
  • Collected Works. Volume 8: Byzantine Fathers of the Fifth Century
  • Collected Works. Volume 9: Byzantine Fathers of the Sixth to Eight Centuries
  • Collected Works. Volume 10: Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers
  • Collected Works. Volume 11: Theology and Literature
  • Collected Works. Volume 12: Philosophy
  • Collected Works. Volume 13: Ecumenism I: A Doctrinal Approach
  • Collected Works. Volume 14: Ecumenism II: An Historical Approach

Further reading

• A. Blane: Georges Florovsky. Russian Intellectual and Orthodox Churchman (1993) ISBN 0-88141-137-X
• Peter A. Chamberas, Georges Vasilievich Florovsky : Russian intellectual historian and orthodox theologian - 1893-1979 - Religious Historians, East and West, Modern Age, Winter 2003 (FindArticles online Version)
• Steven Aguzzi (2010). Florosky’s “The Boundaries of the Church” in Dialogue with the Reformed Tradition: Toward a Catholic and Charismatic Ecumenical Ecclesiology. Ecumenical Trends 39: 3 (2010), 8-14 [2]

References

• ^ Andrew Blane, ed., George Florovsky—Russian Intellectual and Orthodox Churchman (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1993), pp. 109ff.

External links

• Collected Works of Fr Georges Florovsky, in part online
• Lewis Shaw, Georges Florovsky's Model of Orthodox Ecclesiology
• Bishop Chrysostomos of Etna, Protopresybter Georges Florovsky
• John S. Romanides, F. Georges Florovsky, the theologian in service of the church in ecumenical dialogue Lecture at St. Vladimir's Seminary 23 May 1980
• Harvard Divinity School Faculty Writings File: Georges Florovsky
• Princeton University Library: George Florovsky Papers
• Nikolai Berdyaev, Ortodoksia and Humanness, 1937, Critique of Florovsky's "The Way of the Russian Church"
• Matthew Baker, "The Eternal ‘Spirit of the Son’: Barth, Florovsky and Torrance on the Filioque," International Journal of Systematic Theology, Volume 12, Issue 4, pages 382–403, October 2010. [3]
• Matthew Baker and Nikolaos Asproulis, "Secondary Bibliography of Scholarly Literature and Conferences on Florovsky," ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ: The Journal of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, 81/40, Vol. 4 (2010), pp. 557–396. [4]
• Fr. Georges Florovsky Orthodox Christian Theological Society: A graduate student organization of Princeton University dedicated to promoting the study of the life and work of Fr. Georges Florovsky and of Orthodox theology. [5]