Anatoly Vaneev's religious thought: continuation through interruption

The article is a foreword to the publication of an unknown work entitled “Mental Observations on Religion and Atheism. Theses” by Anatoly Vaneev, a disciple and follower of Lev Karsavin, and it aims to promote a better understanding of his views. Today A. A. Vaneev is known only as the author of the book “Two Years in Abez”, but he is practically unknown as an independent religious thinker. Therefore all his religious works are out of the sight of theologians, philosophers and other researchers. Vaneev developed such Karsavin's ideas as continuity through interruption and Life-through-Death, and considered the disclosure of the positive Christian meaning of atheism as his cross-cutting theme. In his beliefs, reflections and works, Vaneev firmly stood on the positions of orthodox dogmatics. At the same time, he objected to religious stylization, especially to the type of faith, which is focused on one's feelings and experiences, but denies the significance of reason, this wonderful God's gift to man for comprehending creation and God Himself, for faith. Vaneev called such religiosity a “religious lubok (popular print)”, and considered that it is based on claims for super-knowledge and super-reality at the expense of lowering the meaning. The publication of Anatoly Vaneev's work became possible thanks to his personal archive, recently found by the author of the article and now transferred to the St. Petersburg Central State Archive of Literature and Art.