The historical in the unhistorical: the limits of the Church

This work is a continuation of the article “The Historical in the Unhistorical: The Church as an Ontological Structure in Patristic Thought of the 2nd‑5th Centuries,”* which demonstrated the formation of the Church’s structure in the historical process, including the substantiation that this structure itself — one, part, whole (person, community, the Catholic Church)—represents “the historical in the unhistorical,” that is, the existence of previously historical scales in a shared and interpenetrating being. This article examines in more detail the destruction of this structure as “the historical in the unhistorical” in schisms. From this perspective, 20th-century concepts of the Church’s boundaries are analyzed: the oikonomic concept of the holy martyr Hilarion (Troitsky), the relational concept of Metropolitan and later Patriarch Sergius (Stragorodsky) and Protopresbyter Nikolai Afanasyev, and the energetic concept of Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov. Both the positive components and the weaknesses of these concepts are highlighted, stemming from an underestimation of the problematic of “the historical in the non-historical,” as well as an unexpressed or erroneous connection to the question of the Church’s internal structure. The author of the article examines in detail his previously proposed hypostatic concept of the Church’s boundaries, taking into account the connection between the question of boundaries and the Church’s internal structure. The historical component plays an important role in his argumentation, allowing him to answer a number of questions and objections raised by contemporary critics.