Pavel Florensky
Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky was born on the 19th of January 1882 in the town of Yevlakh within the Elisabethpol Governorate. His father Aleksandr worked as a railroad engineer while his mother Olga belonged to the Tbilisi Armenian nobility from Georgia. The maternal grandmother Sofia Paatova came from an Armenian family living in Karabakh. Florensky always searched for the roots of his Armenian family and noted that they originated from Karabakh. He completed high school studies between 1893 and 1899 at the Tbilisi classical lyceum. Several companions later distinguished themselves including David Burliuk who founded Russian Cubo-Futurism. In 1899 Florensky underwent a religious crisis connected to a visit with Leo Tolstoy. This crisis stemmed from an awareness of the limits and relativity of scientific positivism which had been integral to his initial formation. He decided to construct his own solution by developing theories that would reconcile spiritual and scientific visions based on mathematics.
Florensky entered the department of mathematics at Imperial Moscow University where he studied under Nikolai Bugaev. He became friends with Bugaev's son Andrei Bely who was a future poet and theorist of Russian symbolism. Georg Cantor's set theory particularly drew him during this period. He also took courses on ancient philosophy while having no prior religious upbringing. During this time he began taking interest in studies beyond the limitations of physical knowledge. In 1904 he graduated from Imperial Moscow University and declined a teaching position there. Instead he proceeded to study theology at the Ecclesiastical Academy in Sergiyev Posad. While studying theology he came into contact with Elder Isidore during a visit to Gethsemane Hermitage. Isidore became his spiritual guide and father figure. Together with fellow students Ern Svenitsky and Brikhnichev he founded the Christian Struggle Union. This society held the revolutionary aim of rebuilding Russian society according to Vladimir Solovyov's principles. Subsequently he was arrested for membership in this society in 1906 though he later lost interest in Radical Christianity movements.
After graduating from the academy Florensky married Anna Giatsintova in August 1911. She was the sister of a friend which shocked acquaintances familiar with his aversion to marriage. In 1911 he was ordained into the priesthood. By 1914 he wrote his dissertation titled About Spiritual Truth. Between 1911 and 1917 he served as chief editor of Bogoslovskiy Vestnik the most authoritative Orthodox theological publication of that time. He also acted as a spiritual teacher to Vasily Rozanov urging him to reconcile with the Orthodox Church. After the October Revolution he formulated his position stating that his worldview contradicted vulgar interpretations of communism yet did not prevent honest work in state service. The Bolsheviks closed Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra in 1918 and the Sergievo-Posad Church in 1921 where he served as priest. He moved to Moscow to work on the State Plan for Electrification of Russia under Leon Trotsky's recommendation. Contemporaries noted that Florensky working alongside government leaders while wearing his priest's cassock was a remarkable sight. In 1924 he published a large monograph on dielectrics.
During the second half of the 1920s Florensky worked primarily on physics and electrodynamics. He eventually published a paper titled Imaginary numbers in Geometry devoted to the geometrical interpretation of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Among other things he proclaimed that the geometry of imaginary numbers predicted by relativity for bodies moving faster than light is the geometry of the Kingdom of God. For mentioning the Kingdom of God in that work Soviet authorities accused him of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. In 1928 Florensky was exiled to Nizhny Novgorod. After intercession by Ekaterina Peshkova wife of Maxim Gorky he was allowed to return to Moscow. On the 26th of February 1933 he was arrested again on suspicion of engaging in conspiracy with Pavel Gidiulianov. Gidiulianov was a professor of canon law who was a complete stranger to Florensky. They were accused of plotting to overthrow the state and install a fascist monarchy with Nazi assistance. Florensky defended himself vigorously until realizing admission would enable acquaintances to resecure their liberty. He received a ten-year sentence under Article 58 clauses ten and eleven regarding agitation against the Soviet system.
Florensky served at the Baikal Amur Mainline camp until 1934 when transferred to Solovki. There he conducted research into producing iodine and agar from local seaweed. In 1937 he moved to Leningrad where on the 25th of November an extrajudicial NKVD troika sentenced him to death. According to legend he faced sentencing for refusing to disclose the location of St. Sergii Radonezhsky's head which communists wanted destroyed. The saint's head was indeed saved and in 1946 Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra reopened. After sentencing Florensky traveled in a special train with another 500 prisoners to a location near Leningrad. He was shot dead on the night of the 8th of December 1937 in a wood not far from the city. Antonio Maccioni states he was executed at Rzhevsky Artillery Range near Toksovo about twenty kilometers northeast of Leningrad. He was buried in a secret grave in Koirankangas together with 30,000 others executed by the NKVD simultaneously. The site of his burial remains unknown.
Florensky was posthumously rehabilitated in 1958 regarding charges from 1933 and again in 1959 regarding 1937 charges. His name appeared among the list of New Martyrs and Confessors in 1982. In 1997 a mass burial ditch was excavated in Sandarmokh forest which may well contain his remains. During the later twentieth century statements appeared noting recognition by Russian Orthodox Church Abroad as a saint though it was later firmly noted no such decision had been made. Recent research authenticated antisemitic material written under a pseudonym is in Florensky's hand. Biographer Avril Pyman evaluates Florensky's position regarding Jews as contextually for the period a middle way between liberal critics and instigators of pogroms like Black Hundreds. Despite these controversies his legacy grew significantly after death.
Florensky came to be studied in broader perspective during the 1960s associated with Tartu school of semiotics revival. This movement evaluated works in terms of anticipation forming part of theoretical avant-garde interests in general theory of cultural signs. Evidence showed Florensky's thinking actively responded to art of Russian modernists. Of particular importance was publication of his 1919 essay delivered as lecture following year on spatial organization in Russian icon tradition titled Reverse Perspective. Here Florensky contrasted dominant concept of spatiality in Renaissance art analyzing visual conventions employed in iconological tradition. The work remained seminal text down to present day. His interpretation has recently been developed and reformulated critically by Clemena Antonova who argues better description involves simultaneous planes rather than reverse perspective alone. This concept picked up from Oskar Wulff's 1907 essay Die umgekehrte Perspektive und die Niedersicht influenced later scholars including Erwin Panofsky.
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Common questions
When was Pavel Florensky born and where?
Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky was born on the 19th of January 1882 in the town of Yevlakh within the Elisabethpol Governorate. His father Aleksandr worked as a railroad engineer while his mother Olga belonged to the Tbilisi Armenian nobility from Georgia.
What caused Pavel Florensky's religious crisis in 1899?
Florensky underwent a religious crisis connected to a visit with Leo Tolstoy during 1899. This crisis stemmed from an awareness of the limits and relativity of scientific positivism which had been integral to his initial formation.
Why did Soviet authorities arrest Pavel Florensky in 1933?
On the 26th of February 1933 he was arrested again on suspicion of engaging in conspiracy with Pavel Gidiulianov. They were accused of plotting to overthrow the state and install a fascist monarchy with Nazi assistance.
How did Pavel Florensky die and when?
He was shot dead on the night of the 8th of December 1937 in a wood not far from Leningrad. Antonio Maccioni states he was executed at Rzhevsky Artillery Range near Toksovo about twenty kilometers northeast of Leningrad.
When was Pavel Florensky posthumously rehabilitated?
Florensky was posthumously rehabilitated in 1958 regarding charges from 1933 and again in 1959 regarding 1937 charges. His name appeared among the list of New Martyrs and Confessors in 1982.