Sergius Bulgakov - Unfading Light: Contemplations and Speculations

UNFADING LIGHT

UNFADING LIGHT

Contemplations and Speculations

Sergius Bulgakov

Translated, edited, and with an Introduction by

Thomas Allan Smith

W ILLIAM B. E ERDMANS P UBLISHING C OMPANY
G RAND R APIDS , M ICHIGAN / C AMBRIDGE , U.K.

Originally published in Moscow in 1917 under the title
Svet nevechernii. Sozertsaniia i umozreniia .
This English translation 2012 Thomas Allan Smith
All rights reserved
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bulgakov, Sergei Nikolaevich, 1871-1944.
[Svet nevechernyi. English]
Unfading light: contemplations and speculations / Sergius Bulgakov;
translated, edited, and with an introduction by Thomas Allan Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8028-6711-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4674-3660-1 (epub)
Religion Philosophy. I. Smith, T. Allan. II. Title.

B4238.B83S813 2012

230.19 dc23

2012022174

www.eerdmans.com

This book is dedicated to the memory of my father,

Nikolai Vasilievich Bulgakov, archpriest of Livny,

And my mother Aleksandra Kosminichna ne Azbukina

With the sentiment of spiritual fidelity

Contents

Bulgakov used standard editions of classical Greek and Latin texts and Russian translations of the same. He relied on the current editions of patristic texts gathered by J. P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Latina, 221 vols. (Paris, 1844-1890) (abbreviated as PL) and Patrologiae cursus completus . . . series graeca, 161 vols. (Paris, 1857-1912) (abbreviated as PG), as well as Russian translations of the same. He made use of the most recent editions of texts produced by medieval, early modern, and modern authors, as well as Russian translations and paraphrases. I have endeavored to provide the appropriate references for all of his sources, despite Bulgakovs inconsistent bibliographical apparatus. Where possible I have corrected mistaken references and supplied missing ones. For the benefit of readers, I list Bulgakovs sources below. Works in Russian are provided with the original title and an English translation; works in other languages, notably German, are cited in the original. The translation reflects Bulgakovs own versions of these texts, not English translations that may be more familiar to readers. Bulgakov peppered his text with sentences and phrases in the original Greek (transliterated in the translation), Latin, and German. These are retained, and where he did not translate them himself, I have provided a translation in square brackets after the word or phrase in question. His lengthy quotations of original sources in the notes have been omitted when they merely duplicate the Russian translation also provided in the notes. Bulgakov enjoyed coining new words and using abstract nouns that are not easily transferrable into English. At times, his prose becomes nearly impenetrable, and for these situations I have benefited greatly from the French translation by Constantin Andronikoff, La lumire sans dclin (Lausanne: LAge dHomme, 1990). In transliterating Russian I have used a slightly modified version of the Library of Congress system; proper names that have become standardized in English, such as Dostoevsky, Soloviev, and Florensky, are used instead of Dostoevskii, Solovev, or Florenskii. Orthography has not been modernized except for equating iats with e and dropping the hard sign at the end of words.

Bulgakovs Sources

Aleksii, Bishop. Vizantiiskie tserkovnye mistiki 14-go veka [Mystics of the Byzantine church of the fourteenth century]. Kazan, 1906.

Apuleius. Metamorphoses.

Aristotle. Metaphysics.

Athanasius of Alexandria. Opera omnia. PG 26.

Athanasius of Alexandria. Tvoreniia izhe vo sviatykh ottsa nashego Afanasiia Velikago, Arkhiepiskopa Aleksandriiskago [The Works of Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria]. 4 parts. TrinitySt. Sergius Lavra, 1902-1903.

Augustine of Hippo. Confessions. In Tvoreniia blazhennago Avgustina [The works of blessed Augustine]. Part 1. Kiev: Izd. Kievskoi dukh. Akademii, 1907.

Basil of Caesarea. Against Eunomius. Letter 190 to Amphilochius. In Tvoreniia izhe vo sviatykh ottsa nashego sv. Vasiliia Velikago [The works of our father among the saints Basil the Great]. Translated by Moskovskaia Dukhovnaia Akademiia. St. Petersburg, 1911.

Berdiaev, N. A. Smysl tvorchestva. Opyt opravdaniia cheloveka [The meaning of creativity. An attempt to justify humankind]. Moscow, 1916.

Bischoff, Erich. Die Elemente der Kabbalah. bersetzungen, Erluterungen und Abhandlungen. Berlin, 1913.

Bischoff, Erich. Die Kabbalah. Einfhrung in die jdische Mystik und Geheimwissenschaft. Leipzig, 1903.

Bhme, Jacob. Aurora ili utrenniaia zaria [Aurora or the morning dawn]. Trans. A. S. Petrovskii. Moscow: Musaget, 1914.

Bhmes smmtliche Werke. Edited by K. W. Schiebler. Leipzig, 1832.

Brilliantov, A. Vliianie vostochnago bogosloviia na zapadnoe v proizvedeniiakh Ioanna Skota rigeny [The influence of eastern theology on western theology in the works of Johannes Scotus Eriugena]. St. Petersburg, 1891.

Bruno, Giordano. Von der Ursache, dem Prinzip and dem Eine. Translated by Adolf Lasson. Philosophische Bibliothek, vol. Leipzig, 1902.

Bulgakov, S. N. Filosofiia khoziaistva. Chast I: Mir kak khoziaistvo [Philosophy of economy. Part I. The world as household]. Moscow, 1911.

Bulgakov, S. N. Khristianstvo i sotsialnyi vopros [Christianity and the social question], Khoziaistvo i religioznaia lichnost [Economy and the religious person], Osnovnye motivy filosofii khoziaistva v platonizme i rannem khristianstve [Basic motifs of a philosophy of economy in Platonism and early Christianity], Religiia chelovekobozhiia u L. Feierbakha [The religion of deified humanity in L. Feuerbach]. In Dva grada [Two cities]. Moscow, 1911.

Bulgakov, S. N. Ot marksizma k idealizmu [From marxism to idealism]. St. Petersburg, 1903.

Bulgakov, S. N. Smysl ucheniia sv. Grigoriia Nisskago ob imenakh Bozhiikh [The meaning of St. Gregory of Nyssas doctrine on the names of God]. Zaprosy Zhizni (Easter 1914). Moscow.

Carlyle, Thomas. Sartor Resartus. 1831.

Claassen, Johannes. Einfhrung in Jacob Bhme. Stuttgart, 1885.

Claassen, Johannes. Franz von Baaders theosophische Weltanschauung als System oder Physiosophie des Christenthums. Stuttgart, 1887.

Claassen, Johannes. Jacob Bhme, sein Leben und seine theosophischen Werke im geordneten Auszuge mit Einleitungen und Erluterungen. 3 vols. Stuttgart, 1885.

Clement of Alexandria. Stromateis. In Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte. Vols. 2 and 3. Leipzig: Prussian Academy of Sciences, 1906.

Clement of Alexandria. Stromateis. Iaroslav Eparchial Gazette, 1891, No.

Cohen, Hermann. Logik der reinen Erkenntnis. Berlin, 1902.

Das Bchlein vom vollkommenen Leben (Eine Deutsche Theologie) in der ursprnglichen Gestalt herausgegeben und bertragen von Herrman Bttner. Jena: Diederichs, 1907.

Denzinger, Heinrich Joseph Dominicus. Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum. 1st ed., Wrzburg, 1854. Bulgakov may have used the sixth edition, the last edited by Denzinger, or the tenth, which appeared in 1908 in Freiburg.

Des Angelus Silesius Cherubinischer Wandersmann, nach der Ausgabe letzter Hand von 1675 vollstndig herausgegeben. Jena: Diederichs, 1905.

Dieterich, Albrecht.