Ascetic Views of Priest Pavel Florensky

The aim of the research is to study the creative heritage of priest Pavel Florensky, particularly his attitude to ascetic theology and thus to reveal peculiarities of his ideas about asceticism. The demand for ascetic feats can be traced in all the main works of the Russian philosopher. For him, asceticism is an essential characteristic of ecclesiality. The study critically evaluates the statements about the irrelevance of the concept of asceticism for the teachings of Fr. Pavel Florensky, since church life is one of the main themes and the connecting link of his works. Orthodox asceticism is considered by Fr. P. Florensky mainly at the philosophical level; he emphasizes the unconditional importance of asceticism in the salvation of man. According to Fr. Pavel Florensky, the need for efforts turns out to be one of the laws of the universe. The study also points out a number of valuable observations and conclusions of Fr. P. Florensky in the field of church practice, which are directly related to ascetic theology.