A new direction in the study of the theology of Byzantine iconoclasts in the 20tft - 21st centuries. Dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the death of archpriest George Florovsky

The 20th century for Christian theology became a time of active search for answers to many questions that have arisen as a result of major shifts in the fields of science, economics, geopolitics, and philosophy. One of the major theologians who sought to give coherent answers to the challenges of modernity from the standpoint of Orthodoxy was Archpriest George Florovsky. In the history of theological thought, he is known as the founder of neo-patristic synthesis, however, as shown in our article, his contribution to theological science is not limited to this. This paper discusses the impact of Archpriest Florovsky on the study of the phenomenon of Byzantine iconoclasm, namely the reasons for its occurrence. Based on an analysis of patristic references of opponents of the veneration of icons in Byzantium in the 8th - 9th centuries, he notes the connection of their ideas with the heritage of Origen and Plotinus. As a result of a review of the work of a number of authors involved in this subject after Florovsky, the author concludes that his hypothesis about the origenistic roots of iconoclasm provided a powerful impetus to the study of this phenomenon in the 21st century.