Imjaslavie

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Imiaslavie ( Russian Имяславие , according to German transcription Imjaslawije , in English also imiaslavie or imyaslavie transcribed ), often referred to as Onomatodoxie (name orthodoxy), is veneration of the name of God. This describes a movement that is closely linked to Russian monasticism . Its core sentence is: "The name of God is God himself" ( Ioann von Kronstadt , 1829–1908). This sentence was taken up again by the actual founder of Imjaslavie, the Athos monk Shimonach Ilarion in his book Na gorach Kavkaza ("On the mountains of the Caucasus ").

history

Prehistory - the "first Athos dispute" (Hesychasm dispute, around 1350)

The origins of the Imjaslavie movement lie in hesychasm , an individual prayer and meditation technique of Byzantine and Slavic monasticism, through which the prayer can achieve inner calm (Greek hesychia , ἡσυχία) and from there to an ecstatic view of the glory of God in the tabor light , the Light of the transfiguration of Christ. A theological justification of these techniques, which are closely connected to the Jesus prayer , can be found in the 14th century with Gregorios Palamas , who was at times a monk on Mount Athos , later became Archbishop of Thessalonica and was canonized after his death in 1359. The determining influence of hesychasm on Russian orthodox religious practice and theory did not come about without some very violent disputes, the first of which was fought as a hesychasm dispute between hesychasts and Byzantine humanists around 1350. The spokesman for the hesychastic side was Gregorios Palamas. He defended hesychasm against Barlaam of Calabria , who criticized the mystical practice and its justification through the writings of Gregorios Palamas in the sense of a nominalistic humanism. He described the idea of ​​really being able to see God in the light of the Tabor as pure superstition. At several councils in Constantinople from 1341 to 1351, the Byzantine Church decided to first condemn the opponents of hesychasm and then to make the theoretical justification of hesychasm by Gregorios Palamas ("palamism") binding church doctrine.

The (second) "Athos dispute" (1907–1918) and the Imjaslavie

This old debate, which had influenced Orthodox theology, flared up again at the beginning of the 20th century as the "Athos dispute". He began in 1907 with the publication of the book Na gorach Kavkaza ("On the mountains of the Caucasus") by the Athos monk Ilarion. The book was initially received positively and was reprinted in 1910 and 1912. Again it was about the "Jesus prayer" (Iisusova molitva) and the name of God, who was equated with God. But then criticism came from the “official” Russian Orthodox side. The theological dispute was literally militant, with the use of troops from the Russian Holy Synod on Mount Athos, who in 1913 expelled hundreds of Russian monks and followers of the Imjaslavie movement from Athos and distributed them to Russian monasteries. The theological and philosophical justification of Imjaslavie was given in particular by Pawel Florensky (1882–1937), Sergei Bulgakow (1871–1944) and Alexei Lossew (1893–1988). The Moscow Council of 1917/18 actually wanted to give an opinion on this dispute, for which Bulgakov and Florensky did the preparatory work. However, due to the political circumstances of the October Revolution, it did not come to that. Bulgakov, Florensky and Lossew each worked on the topic in their own way.

A book Names was published by Florenski , which contains a symbolic-psychological explanation of some proper names. In his autobiography he presents the core of his world view as follows: “But at that time I came up with the idea that was fundamental to my later world view, namely that what is mentioned in the name, what is symbolized in the symbol, the reality of what is represented is present in the representation and that hence the symbol is the symbolized. "

Theological, literary and philosophical references

The biblical starting point of the movement is the revelation of the name of God on the burning bush in Exodus, chapter 3, and the word of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4:12: “For we humans have not been given any other name under heaven by which we are to be saved ". The opponents of Imjaslavcy, as the representatives of Imjaslavie are also called, see the danger that the name of God will become a magical symbol. The theological representatives of Imjaslavie can refer to the broad tradition of the Jesus prayer, which is a name Jesus prayer and, as shown, has a long tradition in Russian Orthodoxy: The anonymous life story " Sincere stories of a Russian pilgrim " tells of a pilgrim (Russian: Strannik) in Russia in the middle of the 19th century who tries to realize the Bible phrase “Pray without ceasing!” (1st letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 17). The book contributed significantly to the worldwide spread of the tradition of the Jesus prayer. In Reinhold von Walter's translation, it was also received in the German-speaking area.

The reformed hagiographer (saint-biographer) Walter Nigg (1903–1988) emphasized the therapeutic importance of the so-called heart prayer of Strannik in his study " Des Pilgrim's Return ". The aim of the heart's prayer is the transfiguration, life in God and being permeated by his presence.

The literary reception of these Russian traditions also ties in with the “ sincere stories of a Russian pilgrim ”. For example, the protagonist in JD Salinger's (1919–2010) second important novel, Franny and Zooey (1961), deals intensively with this prayer practice.

The practice of the Jesus prayer as well as Florenski's theological considerations on the worship of names show clearly esoteric features. Bulgakov's efforts to develop a philosophy of language, which has been available in French in “Philosophy du Verbe et du Nom” since 1991, are more aimed at a fundamental philosophical-theological discussion of the relationship between names and what is named. Metropolitan Hilarion Alfejew (* 1966) has presented an extensive two-volume study in Russian on this question, some of which has been translated into French and has been published as his Friborg habilitation thesis at the Institutum Studiorum Oecumenicorum of the University of Friborg, Switzerland.

Michael Hagemeister sees in the Imjaslavie controversy a continuation of the universal dispute of scholasticism, whereby the positions of the Imjaslavcy in their rejection of modern nominalism can be seen on the side of the universal realists.

Religious Practice or “Semiotic” Theory?

The formula on which Imjaslavie, the worship of the name of God, is based, must not be misunderstood in the sense of a semiotic theory statement. Holger Kuße points out that this sentence does not express the factual identity of God and God's name “beyond personal experience”. Only the practice of repeated prayer, i.e. religious activity, gives truth and meaning to the sentence. Even Ilarion had so kiss, "the truth of his claim and Ioanns claim their, spiritual understanding 'referred [s]. The agreement is a spiritual experience and only true as such. "

Cultural and historical significance

In the discussion about Imjaslavie, religious considerations, which are linked to an old religious practice in Orthodox monasticism, interpenetrate with theoretical, in particular linguistic-philosophical and semiotic , ie "sign-philosophical" arguments. The “modernity of outwardly premodern mysticism” is only apparently a Russian peculiarity. The so-called long 19th century (from 1789 to 1914) was by no means an age beyond religion in Russia, just as it was in the West . Rather, as Jürgen Osterhammel explains, there are "good reasons to put religiosity, religion and religions at the center of a world history of the 19th century."

Imjaslavie is an example of how in Russia theological discourses of an apparently esoteric kind directly, and that means here even by the same scholars as Florensky, Bulgakow, Lossew and others, influence philosophy in a linguistic and motivating manner. In contrast to the theological orthodox discussion on which it is based, this philosophy shows “astonishing parallels” with Western philosophy, “with structuralism and the analytical theory of the personal name in the second half of the 20th century”. The opponents of the Imjaslavcy argue strictly "nominalist" and insist on the Saussurian distinction and strict separation of the signified , the significant and the thing itself. The opposite position in the sentence of Goethe's Faust was literally "Name is sound and smoke". The Russian language philosophers in the Imjaslavie tradition, on the other hand, take up and in part anticipate considerations that are associated in the West with names such as Ludwig Wittgenstein , John Searle and Saul Kripke .

literature

  • Ilarion Alfejev (= Hilarion Alfejew): Le Nom grand et glorieux. La vénération du Nom de Dieu et la prière de Jésus dans la tradition orthodox . Traduction du russe by Claire Jounievy, Hiéromoine Alexandre (Siniakov) and Dom André Louf. Les éditions du Cerf, Paris 2007.
  • Nel Grillaert: What's in God's name: literary forerunners and philosophical allies of the imjaslavie debate . In: Stud. East Eur Thought 64, 2012, pp. 163-181; doi : 10.1007 / s11212-012-9167-1 (chargeable).
  • Michael Hagemeister: Imjaslavie - Imjadejstvie. Name mysticism and name magic in Russia (1900–1930). In: Tatjana Petzer (Ed.): Names - Designation - Adoration - Effect. Positions of European Modernism. Kadmos, Berlin 2009, pp. 77-98.
  • Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, pp. 409-428.
  • Tatjana Petzer (Ed.): Names - Designation - Adoration - Effect. Positions of European Modernism. Kadmos, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86599077-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The gender should be like the Russian neuter: Imjaslavie.
  2. ↑ In his best-known book: My Life in Christ ( Moja zˇizn 'vo khriste , 1893), there is this sentence, which sums up the worship of the name of God: “The name of God is God himself”. (Ilarion Alfejev. Le Nom grand et glorieux. La vénération du Nom de Dieu et la prière de Jésus dans la tradition orthodoxe . Traduction du russe par Claire Jounievy, Hiéromoine Alexandre (Siniakov) et Dom André Louf. Paris. Les éditions du Cerf. 2007, p. 231); this reference was made in Nel Grillaert: What's in God's name: literary forerunners and philosophical allies of the imjaslavie debate . Stud. East Eur Thought (2012) 64: pp. 163-181; doi : 10.1007 / s11212-012-9167-1 (chargeable) found.
  3. ↑ The book can be read online in Russian at http://www.omolenko.com/biblio/kavkaz.htm . Bibliographic explanations can also be found on the website of the “Christian Orthodox Information Center”. http://orthpedia.de/index.php/Auf_den_Bergen_des_Kaucasus
  4. ↑ A similar representation of the nature and history of the Imjaslavie movement can be found in Wolfgang Eismann, Graz, who depicts Imjaslavie in its relation to the "elements and constants of a Russian cultural model" . Eismann also shows that a demarcation of Imjaslavcy from Jewish theology, which is perceived as rational, is associated with anti-Semitic tendencies. P. 73 (PDF file)
  5. ↑ Mark 9: 2-8; Matthew 17: 1-8; Luke 9.28-36.
  6. ↑ Michael Hagemeister: Imjaslavie - Imjadejstvie. Name mysticism and name magic in Russia (1900–1930). In: Tatjana Petzer (Ed.): Names - Designation - Adoration - Effect. Positions of European Modernism. Kadmos, Berlin 2009, pp. 78–79. For the presentation of the hesychasm dispute see also Loris Sturlese: Philosophy in the Middle Ages. From Boethius to Cusanus. CH Beck, Munich 2013, here especially pp. 103-105.
  7. ↑ Loris Sturlese: Philosophy in the Middle Ages. From Boethius to Cusanus. CH Beck, Munich 2013, p. 104.
  8. ↑ Compare Nel Grillaert: What's in God's name: literary forerunners and philosophical allies of the imjaslavie debate . Stud. East Eur Thought (2012) 64, p. 163 (see bibliography).
  9. ↑ See Holger Kuße, 2012 (see bibliography); P. 421.
  10. ^ Sieglinde Mierau, Fritz Mierau (eds.) And Pawel Florenski (j) (author): names (works in ten deliveries, fourth delivery), Context Verlag, 2000.
  11. ^ Pavel Florensky: My children. Memories of a youth in the Caucasus. Translated by Fritz and Sieglinde Mierau. Urachhaus Verlag. Stuttgart 1993.
  12. ↑ Emmanuel Jungclausen (ed.): Sincere stories of a Russian pilgrim. The full edition. Freiburg 1993.
  13. ↑ Walter Nigg: The pilgrim's return. Three variations on a theme . Artemis publishing house. Zurich 1954.
  14. ↑ Uwe Wolff : The secret is mine. Walter Nigg - A biography. Theological publishing house. Zurich 2009. p. 393ff.
  15. ↑ La philosophie du verbe et du nom : Serge Boulgakov: Philosophy du verbe et du nom. L'AGE D'HOMME, 1991, ISBN 978-2-825-10185-8 , Russian Filosofia Imeni, YMCA-Press, Paris 1953; French published by L'Age d'Homme, Lausanne 1991, translated by Constantin Andronikof ( limited preview in Google book search).
  16. ↑ Le mystère sacré de l'église. Introduction à l'histoire et à la problematique des débats athonites sur la vénération du nom de Dieu (= Studia Oecumenica Friburgensia 47), Friborg 2007, 446 pages, ISBN 978-2-8271-0975-3 .
  17. ↑ Michael Hagemeister. florensky reception. In: kontextverlag.de. Retrieved February 17, 2015 . ; Michael Hagemeister: Imjaslavie - Imjadejstvie. Name mysticism and name magic in Russia (1900–1930). In: Tatjana Petzer (Ed.): Names - Designation - Adoration - Effect. Positions of European Modernism. Kadmos, Berlin 2009, here p. 87.
  18. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century . In: Irina Podtergera (Hrsg.): Intersection Slavic Studies : East and West in Scientific Dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday . Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, pp. 409-428.
  19. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, especially pp. 419–421.
  20. ↑ See also Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, here mainly pp. 419–422.
  21. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, p. 420.
  22. ↑ Jürgen Osterhammel: The transformation of the world. A story of the 19th century . CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 1239 and Chapter XVIII.
  23. ↑ However, Osterhammel mentions Russia in this context practically only with a single sentence, which refers to the downfall of the Orthodox Church and Tsarism, which formed a "symbiosis", in the October Revolution. See Jürgen Osterhammel: The transformation of the world. A story of the 19th century . CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 1254.
  24. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, p. 421.
  25. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, p. 420.
  26. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, p. 420.
  27. ↑ So says Kuße and names Dimitrij Leskin here
  28. ^ Scene in Marthens garden
  29. ↑ Holger Kuße: Metadiscursive Formation of the Religious Discourse in Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Century. In: Irina Podtergera (Ed.): Intersection Slavic Studies. East and West in scientific dialogue. Celebration for Helmut Keipert on his 70th birthday. Part 1: Slavic Studies in Dialogue - then and now . Bonn University Press, Bonn 2012, p. 421.