Russia and the Universal Church:

by Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov

Solovyev first published "Russia and the Universal Church" in France in 1889. He traveled to Paris in May of 1888 and shortly thereafter presented his paper "The Russian Idea" in an effort to introduce his ideas to the French public. In that lecture he criticizes the Russian Church quite sharply and begins the development of his ideas on the primacy of Rome that form the basis of "Russia and the Universal Church". The first part of this work attempts to prove that the Orthodox East has no true religious administration. The second part justifies locating that administrative center with the Catholic Pope. The third part of the book, "The Trinitarian Principle", offers a sketch of the ideal human society, the Universal Church. He conceives this society as an embodiment of the divine Sophia and a reflection of the Holy Trinity. The High Priest of the Universal Church, the Pope of Rome, corresponds to God the Father; the Christian monarch corresponds to the Son; and the prophet corresponds to the Holy Spirit. The prophetic role is the principal one, unifying the first two.

Translated by Herbert Rees in 1948, "Russia and the Universal Church" is a "must read" for Catholics and Orthodox alike. Specially formatted for Kindle Readers, with an active table of contents, this book will make a great addition to your Kindle library. Have a "Look Inside".

Genres: Religion, Theology, Christianity, History, Catholic, Russian Literature, Nonfiction

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (Russian: Владимир Сергеевич Соловьёв) was a Russian philosopher, theologian, poet, pamphleteer and literary critic, who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century and in the spiritual renaissance of the early 20th century.

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book - I was diving deep into the disposition of Eastern Christianity, and strongly wanted to see how the Russian Orthodox view would converge with the Papacy.

After a strong start, the book quickly seems to lose meaning and there is little substance of Orthodox theology reflected in the lofty philosophy of Soloviev. He is obvious learned, but his work is a far cry from the Orthodox literature I was familiar with and I did not find his arguments for the Papacy and some of his theological musings convincing even as a Roman Catholic. This ultimately was one of the major factors in my conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church, since its authentic theology is significantly more reasonable and reflective of Patristic thought.

[LittleFlowerEnjoyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two parts critiquing the nature of the schismatic Russian church and illustrating the necessity and primacy of the Pope are excellent. The third part attempting to create some sort of cosmological illustration of the hierarchical structure of creation is rife with errors. The most offensive being that of Soloviev's implicit claim of a Demiurge driving the formation of the cosmos and life after initial creation. Leading to an erroneous idea later developed in the heterodox (and heretical) writings of Teilhard de Chardin of a progressive evolutionary creation, which disregards the Fall of Man and creation from a perfect state to its current imperfect state. And rather, in an attempt to express a sort of Christian unitive principle in the future, of a cosmological "point" of convergence and final perfection in the Divine Wisdom. Yes, this may be the New Heaven and Earth of Scripture, but this only follows the total degeneration of creation and Man before its destruction by God, by fire, at the end of time.
Stick with the first two parts and skip the last. It would've been a 5* book if not for this digression of the third and final part of the book.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is basically my dream for Christianity, it is absolutely brilliant. The author, born into the Russian Orthodox church in the 19th century, became convinced over time of both the absolute necessity of social justice and the primacy of the Pope of Rome. This book is divided into three sections - the first about the history of the churches and the absolute theological foundations of social justice, the second about the primacy of the Pope, and the third is more-or-less an explanation of basic theology (Godhead, Trinity, Christ, Sacraments, etc.), retold in the light of this social justice basis.

Here are a few things I appreciate about the book:
1. The theology is traditional and orthodox. By that I mean that it firmly holds to basic dogmas, such as the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the truth of Christ's Passion and Resurrection, the Virginity of the Virgin Mary, etc.
2. Social Justice theology is thoroughly grounded in theology. It is not presented as an addendum to Christian life, or the cherry on top - rather, it is presented as fundamental to the very mission of Christ. If Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, then His Will should be made manifest by truth and justice governing society. The author even managed to present Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist as representing Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity!
3. The writing is beautiful - this reads better than Chesterton. Credit to the author, and credit to the translator.
4. The book is broken up into several dozen sensible chapters, none more than 8 pages, and some as short as 2. This allows the reader to digest what they have read.

Here is a selection from the Introduction - if you like this, then read the book. You will NOT be disappointed.

"

Men have imagined that the acknowledgement of the divinity of Christ relieves them of the obligation of taking His word seriously. The precept "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar, and to God that things that are God's" is constantly quoted to sanction an order of things which gives Caesar all and God nothing.

The saying "My Kingdom is not of this world" is always being used to justify the paganism of our social and political life, as though Christian society were destined to belong to this world and not to the Kingdom of Christ. On the other hand, the saying "All power is given to Me in Heaven and Earth" is never quoted. Men are ready to accept Christ as Priest and Victim, but they do not want Christ as King.

“Slavery and severe hardship,” said a bishop renowned in Russia thirty years ago, “are not contrary to the spirit of Christianity; for physical suffering is not a hindrance to the salvation of the soul, which is the one and only end of our religion.” As though the infliction of physical suffering by a man on his fellow-men did not imply in him a moral depravity and an act of injustice and cruelty which were certainly imperiling the salvation of his soul! Granted even — though the supposition is absurd — that a Christian society can be insensible to the sufferings of the oppressed, the question remains whether it can be indifferent to the sin of the oppressors.

Economic slavery, even more than slavery properly so called, has found its champions in the Christian world. Society and the State, they maintain, are in no way bound to take general and regular measures against pauperism; voluntary almsgiving is enough; did not Christ say that there would always be the poor on Earth? Yes, there will always be the poor; there will also always be the sick, but does that prove the uselessness of health services? Poverty in itself is no more an evil than sickness; the evil consists in remaining indifferent to the sufferings of one’s neighbor.

And it is not a question only of the poor; the rich also have a claim on our compassion. These poor rich! We do everything to develop their bump of acquisitiveness, and then we expect them to enter the Kingdom of God through the imperceptible opening of individual charity.

That all human relationships should be governed by charity and brotherly love is undoubtedly the express will of God and the end of His creation; but in historic reality, as in the Lord’s Prayer, the fulfillment of the divine will on Earth is only realized after the hallowing of God’s Name and the coming of His Kingdom. The Name of God is Truth; His Kingdom is Justice. It follows that the knowledge of the truth and the practice of justice are necessary conditions for the triumph of evangelical charity in human society."

[Marc Pearce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soloviev was a very high level thinker. He was not only on another level, but several higher levels regarding some things. For me, this book was one that I had to read in small increments, take a break, and go back to it later, to pick up where I left off. That was with the easier sections, where he was making his case through various examples. Other sections, I had to skip over entirely, because he went so deep into another realm (metaphysical), that after reading a few sentences, I had no idea what he was talking about, and therefore had to skip ahead to more understandable sections. Clearly, a brilliant mind, whose philosophic insights are akin to a high level science, like Astro-physics. Definitely, not an easy read to plow through all at once. The most interesting sections were when he was arguing his point of view through the use of historical examples. Equally fascinating, were the added short biography of his life, and an analysis of this particular work of his, at the end of this edition. The parts of the book that went "off the rails" for me, was when he got too deep into the metaphysical. I'm not sure why he did that. If there was a point he was trying to make with all of that, it was lost on me, but it could just be that I wasn't up to the task of understanding this mind that was on clearly on another level. So, due to that, I give it only three stars.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent; I think every eastern Christian (all Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), should read it. It explains genuinely interesting perspectives on the the two sides of the church (East and West), and you can tell the author is a truly intelligent person all the way through the book.

My only critique is that the quote from Putin at the end really didn't end well given what's going on today. The quote was added by the editor and not the author himself (who lived in the 1800s and had no idea Putin even existed... if only we all had that luxury)

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books on Papacy I have ever read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a book where a lot of ideas comes from, although it seems like they are not quite fully developed here. Solovyov was a prime mover in the idea of Sophiology, and here he gives the idea with the aim of reconciling the Orthodox and the Catholic churches. It gets a bit technical, and the second part which is very much history, is less of interest for me, even if it kind of is the central idea of the whole book. I'm here for the sophiology, and it is touched upon in the first part and then really driven home in the third part - but still a bit too fast. The book is surprisingly well grounded, and I love that, and this is why I want to study his writings even more.

[Arbré Écorce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an into text. Requires medium amount of Christian theology to understand. Was to advanced for me. Who's only read the Catechism as theology texts go.

[Jay D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good brief case by an Eastern for papal supremacy.