Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) on the conciliar nature of knowledge of God

The article examines the concept of the conciliar nature of knowledge of God by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), which has an interdisciplinary, theological and philosophical nature. The legacy of Metropolitan Anthony as a philosopher is considered. The transition from the study of the individual path of knowledge of God in his early works to the analysis of the conciliar experience of knowledge of God and its highest form - pastoral care, was determined, on the one hand, by the logic of the development of Metropolitan Anthony’s thought, and on the other - by the challenges of secularization and the crisis of religious consciousness. Knowledge of God is the ascent of reason to the level of living communication with God; thus, communication (prayer and the action of God’s grace on human soul) is primary here. Rational knowledge is secondary here and is manifested through the gift of reasoning and contemplation of God. Ontologically different souls and different personalities can form “one” not by losing their personality and individuality, but just the opposite - through their higher spiritual development as the image of God. Metropolitan Anthony calls this “unity in essence”, since this unity is not based on individual qualities (people remain different individuals), but a conciliar unity in Christ, which is possible only in the Church. The article also shows the primacy of Metropolitan Anthony in the development of a number of important theological and philosophical ideas, which later received their further development in Russian and world thought of the 20th century.