The philosophy of freedom and the “new religious consciousness”: the conflict of ideas between Nikolay Berdyayev and Pavel Florensky

In this article, the author compares and contrasts the views on human freedom found in the religious and philosophical works of Nikolay Berdyayev and Priest Pavel Florensky. Berdyayev’s critique of Florensky is reviewed and similarities in the positions of the two authors are identified. Te author identifies also what he believes to be the key reason for the conflict between the two authors: their different views on the “historical” Orthodox Church in Russia. Like Berdyayev, Florensky accepted the need for spiritual creativity, but believed that the “historical” Church, behind its “external wrappings”, contains the fullness of Truth. In his conception, it is the human understanding of this Truth, not the Truth itself and the doctrine preserved in the Church, that demands creative development. From the point of view of Florensky, Berdyayev, who understands in this “historical” Church only its “external wrappings”, is principally concerned with human creativity, a completely immanent religious experience, which is always characteristically subjective