THE PROBLEM OF SACRED SPACE IN PROTOPRESBYTER ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN’S THEOLOGY
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УДК 7.04+2-523.4
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Information about authors: Bedina Natalya Nikolaevna, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Department of Culturology and Religious Studies, Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russian Frderation). E-mail: bedina-nat@yandex.ru
Annotation: The Russian emigration scientific and spiritual heritage of the 20th century does not lose its relevance in the national culture of the last three decades. In recent years, in a series of Russian emigration figures theidentity of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann has been attracting more and more interest. His analytical, homiletic and diary works have become the subject of serious discussions in the scientific and ecclesiasticalenvironment. This article purpose is to identify Alexander Schmemann insight of the “Sacred Space” problem in the Christian tradition in his views on the cultural and historical development of the Orthodox Liturgy and the liturgical piety. The matter of the “sacred spaces” creation as a special creativity kind in medieval Europe (in M. Lidov’s terminology it is hierotopy) is one of the most actively developing in the medieval studies and the cultural studies in the 21st century. The space symbolization and sacralization are interpreted as an integral part of the Christian religious worldview, sometimes as its foundation. In this context, Alexander Schmemann’s ideas are of particular importance. The author focuses on two nontrivial theses of P. Alexander as a liturgist and theologian. The first is that the basis of the “sacred space” iconic perception is not so much in the Christian liturgical and ideological tradition but in the Hellenistic mysterial religiosity of the pagan world. Comparing the early Christian Liturgy with contemporaneous with it worship by the Jewish and Hellenic mysteries, P. Alexander presents a strong case that the early Christian tradition was fundamentally indifferent to the organization of sacred space. The second thesis is a logical continuation of the first one: the growth of mysterial tendencies in the church life, the emphasized iconicity in the “sacred spaces” creation leads to the narrowing and simplification of the Christian idea, of the initial experience of Christian eschatology. It testifies to a deep crisis of religious Christian consciousness.
Keywords: Orthodox Theology School in Paris, protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, sacred space, hierotopy
DOI:
Article ID in the RSCI:
Article file: Download
Information about authors: Bedina Natalya Nikolaevna, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Department of Culturology and Religious Studies, Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russian Frderation). E-mail: bedina-nat@yandex.ru
Annotation: The Russian emigration scientific and spiritual heritage of the 20th century does not lose its relevance in the national culture of the last three decades. In recent years, in a series of Russian emigration figures theidentity of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann has been attracting more and more interest. His analytical, homiletic and diary works have become the subject of serious discussions in the scientific and ecclesiasticalenvironment. This article purpose is to identify Alexander Schmemann insight of the “Sacred Space” problem in the Christian tradition in his views on the cultural and historical development of the Orthodox Liturgy and the liturgical piety. The matter of the “sacred spaces” creation as a special creativity kind in medieval Europe (in M. Lidov’s terminology it is hierotopy) is one of the most actively developing in the medieval studies and the cultural studies in the 21st century. The space symbolization and sacralization are interpreted as an integral part of the Christian religious worldview, sometimes as its foundation. In this context, Alexander Schmemann’s ideas are of particular importance. The author focuses on two nontrivial theses of P. Alexander as a liturgist and theologian. The first is that the basis of the “sacred space” iconic perception is not so much in the Christian liturgical and ideological tradition but in the Hellenistic mysterial religiosity of the pagan world. Comparing the early Christian Liturgy with contemporaneous with it worship by the Jewish and Hellenic mysteries, P. Alexander presents a strong case that the early Christian tradition was fundamentally indifferent to the organization of sacred space. The second thesis is a logical continuation of the first one: the growth of mysterial tendencies in the church life, the emphasized iconicity in the “sacred spaces” creation leads to the narrowing and simplification of the Christian idea, of the initial experience of Christian eschatology. It testifies to a deep crisis of religious Christian consciousness.
Keywords: Orthodox Theology School in Paris, protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, sacred space, hierotopy
