Rational Faith and Believing Reason. Orthodoxy and the Works by Ivan Ilyin

This article considers Ivan Ilyin’s approach  to the philosophy of religion, Orthodoxy and the Church from the viewpoint of his creative biography. The addition of new materials from the notionalist’s archive, such as memoirs and letters concerning religious issues and the use of the patristic tradition  in the philosophical concept of the thinker, give this review an element  of novelty.  The novelty of the study is also strenghtened by the author’s focus on the question of how the philosopher understood the role and significance of Orthodoxy. The main milestones of the philosopher’s biography are considered from the viewpoint of his works revealing the evolution of his thought. This article highlights the reasons  for Ilyin’s separation from the representatives of the new religious consciousness. Special attention is paid to the philosopher’s connection with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia as well as his participation in Christian circles and meetings.  The emphasis is also laid on the connection between the social and political views of the  notionalist  regarding  the  future  of Russia and Orthodoxy and its importance for the building a healthy statehood. The philosopher’s method and the role of the reason in the process of the knowledge of God are revealed on the example of the philosophy of religion. The Orthodox doctrine had asserted a significant influence on the philosopher’s thinking. Although it is widely accepted that Ivan Ilyin had not yet been a believer during the Moscow period of his creative activity, and instead  approached the worldview issues exclusively from the standpoint of the pure reason, facts can be demonstrated that  suggest the opposite. Inspired by German philosophy, Ivan Ilyin still refused to base his philosophical method on the  Hegelian approach to a man and God, and, in his search, turned instead to the legacy of the Apostolic Fathers through reflections on Socrates.  According to the notionalist, the way to renew the spiritual culture from the state of deep  crisis was to construct a correct religious experience based on humility and integrity of the knowledge.

1. Chertkov, S. V. (2010). V. P. Sventsitskii, ego posledovateli i epigony (I. A. Ilyin, D. S. Merezhkovsky, N. Berdyaev) [V. P. Sventsitsky, His Followers and Epigones (I. A. Ilyin, D. S. Merezhkovsky, N. Berdyaev)]. Filosofiia i kul’tura, 29(5), 102–114. [In Russian].

2. Feofan Zatvornik, st. (2009). Mysli na kazhdyi den’ goda po tserkovnym chteniiam iz slova Bozhiia: kratkie poucheniia [Thoughts for Each Day of the Year According to the Church Readings from the Word of God: Brief Teachings]. Moscow: Pravilo very. [In Russian].

3. Gertsyk, E. K. (1996). Vospominaniia [Memories]. Moscow: Mosk. rabochii. [In Russian].

4. Ilyin, I. A. (1996). Collected Works in 10 volumes (Vol. 6, book 2). Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

5. Ilyin, I. A. (1999). Sobranie sochinenii: Dnevnik. Pis’ma. Dokumenty (1903–1938) [Collected Works: Diary. Letters. Documents (1903–1938)]. Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

6. Ilyin, I. A. (1999). Sobranie sochinenii: Pis’ma. Memuary (1939–1954) [Collected Works: Letters. Memoirs (1939–1954)]. Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

7. Ilyin, I. A. (2000). Perepiska dvukh Ivanov (1927–1934) [Correspondence of Two Ivans (1927–1934)]. Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

8. Ilyin, I. A. (2000). Perepiska dvukh Ivanov (1935–1946) [Correspondence of two Ivans (1935–1946)]. Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

9. Ilyin, I. A. (2000). Perepiska dvukh Ivanov (1947–1950) [Correspondence of two Ivanovs (1947–1950)]. Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

10. Ilyin, I. A. (2001). Sobranie sochinenii: Stat’i. Lektsii. Vystupleniia. Retsenzii (1906–1954) [Collected Works: Articles. Lectures. Performances. Reviews (1906–1954)]. Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

11. Ilyin, I. A. (2002). Aksiomy religioznogo opyta: issledovanie [Axioms of Religious Experience: A Study] (Vol 1). Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

12. Ilyin, I. A. (2002). Filosofiia Gegelia kak uchenie o konkretnosti Boga i cheloveka [Hegel’s Philosophy as a Doctrine of the Particularity of God and Man] (Vol. 1). Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

13. Ilyin, I. A. (2003). Religioznyi smysl filosofii [Religious Meaning of Philosophy]. Moscow: AST. [In Russian].

14. Ilyin, I. A. (2006). Spravedlivost’ ili ravenstvo?: publitsistika 1918–1947 gg. [Justice or Equality?: Journalism of 1918–1947]. Moscow: Pravoslavnyi Sviato-Tikhonovskii gumanitarnyi un-t. [In Russian].

15. Ilyin, I. A. (2013). Filosofiia kak dukhovnoe delanie: (kurs lektsii) [Philosophy as a Spiritual Work: (Course of Lectures)]. Moscow: Izd-vo PSTGU: Pravoslavnyi Sviato-Tikhonovskii gumanitarnyi un-t. [In Russian].

16. Ilyin, I. A. (2017). Put’ k ochevidnosti [Way to Evidence]. Moscow: DAR. [In Russian].

17. Larchet, J.-C. (2021). Dukhovnoe bessoznatel’noe: Pravoslavnaia kontseptsiia bessoznatel’nogo i ee primenenie v lechenii psikhicheskikh i dukhovnykh nedugov [The Spiritual Unconscious: The Orthodox Concept of the Unconscious and Its Application in the Treatment of Mental and Spiritual Ailments]. Moscow: Izd-vo Sretenskogo monastyria. [In Russian].

18. Leman, G. A. (2010). Vospominaniia G. A. Lemana [Memoirs of G. A. Leman]. In Rossiiskii arkhiv. Istoriia Otechestva v svidetel’stvakh i dokumentakh XVIII–XX vv.: Al’manakh [Russian Archive. History of the Fatherland in Evidence and Documents of the 18th–20th Centuries: Almanac] (Vol. 19, pp. 601–660). Moscow: Studiia “TRITE” N. Mikhalkova; Rossiiskii fond kul’tury: Rossiiskii arkhiv. [In Russian].

19. Lisitsa, Iu. T. (1993). Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin (istoriko-biograficheskii ocherk) [Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin (Historical and Biographical Essay)]. In I. A. Ilyin Collected Works in 10 volumes (Vol. 1, pp. 5–36). Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

20. Maslin, M. A., Vakulinskaya, A. I. (2019). Molodoi I. A. Ilyin o Freide i ne tol’ko (perepiska s Iu. L. Veisberg) [Young I. A. Ilyin About Freud and Not Only (Correspondence with Yu. L. Veisberg)]. Vestnik Russkoi khristianskoi gumanitarnoi akademii, 20(2), 135–145. [In Russian].

21. Metner N. K. (2007). In Moskovskaia konservatoriia ot istokov do nashikh dnei, 1866–2006: biograficheskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Moscow Conservatory from Its Origins to the Present Day, 1866–2006: A Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary] (pp. 342–343). Moscow: Moskovskaia gos. konservatoriia. [In Russian].

22. Offermanns, W. (1979). Mench, werke wesentlich! Das Lebenswerk des russischen religiosen Denkers Ivan Iljin fur Erneuerung der geistigen Grundlagen der Menschheit. Erlangen.

23. Offermans, V. (1993). Chelovek, obreti znachitel’nost’! Delo zhizni russkogo religioznogo filosofa Ivana Ilyina — obnovlenie dukhovnykh osnov chelovechestva [Man, Acquire a Significance! The Life Work of the Russian Religious Philosopher Ivan Ilyin is the Renewal of the Spiritual Foundations of a Mankind]. Moskovskoi zhurnal, (7), 16–21. [In Russian].

24. Poltoratsky, N. P. (2001). I. A. Ilyin i Pravoslavie [I. A. Ilyin and Orthodoxy]. In I. A. Ilyin Kto my? O revoliutsii. O religioznom krizise nashikh dnei [Who are we? About the Revolution. About the Religious Crisis of Our Days] (pp. 258–311). Moscow: Russkaia kniga. [In Russian].

25. Prishvina, V. D. (2003). Nevidimyi grad [Invisible City]. Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia. [In Russian].

26. Tomsinov, V. A. (2012). Myslitel’ s poiushchim serdtsem: Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin: russkii ideolog epokhi revoliutsii [Thinker with a Singing Heart: Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin: Russian Ideologist of the Era of Revolutions]. Moscow: Zertsalo-M. [In Russian].

27. Vakulinskaya, A. I. (2020). “Gegel’ianstvo” Ivana Ilyina. Analiz filosofskogo metoda na primere moskovskogo perioda tvorchestva [Ivan Ilyin’s “Hegelianism”. Analysis of the Philosophical Method on the Example of the Moscow Period of Oeuvre]. Voprosy filosofii, (9), 139–149. [In Russian].