Talk:Sergei Bulgakov

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[edit] Heresy

The following is from the Website orthodoxinfo.org, concerning the heretical teachings of Sergius N. Bulgakov:

"...Father Sergius Bulgakov was condemned by both the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad for his heretical "Sophiology." He was also condemned in print by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco and the Blessed Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk, the spiritual Father of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria. An avid ecumenist, who advocated "intercommunion" with the Anglican members of the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, Father Bulgakov went so far as to compose an "ecumenical" communion prayer for the Fellowships annual conferences. Here is an extract from it:

O Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, thou didst promise to abide with us always. Thou dost call all Christians to draw near and partake of thy Body and Blood. But our sin has divided us and we have no power to partake of thy holy eucharist together. We confess this our sin and we pray thee, forgive us and help us to serve the ways of reconciliation according to thy will. (See Militza Zernov, "Unity and Disunity Today," Sobornost, Vol. VIII, No. 1 [1986], pp. 2327.)

"At the annual conference of the Fellowship in 1987, which I myself attended, this curious prayer—which rightly places the responsibility for divisions in Christianity on human sin, but which likewise implies that dogmatic differences are of little moment—was read aloud during the Divine Liturgy, following the Slavic practice, in place of the customary [Pre-Communion Prayer]'I believe, O Lord, and I confess...'!

"With regard to Father Sergius' speculations on Sophia (Wisdom), Archimandrite Luke of Jordanville recently pointed out that there are some significant similarities between Sophiology and New Age philosophy. The heretical notion that Sophia, the Wisdom of God, is a fourth Hypostasis of the Trinity and a female entity in effect "divides the simple essence of God into two principles—the male and the female" ("New Age Philosophy, Orthodox Thought, and Marriage," Orthodox Life, Vol. XLVII, No. 3 [1997], p. 34). In its 1935 Ukaz condemning Bulgakovs errors, the Moscow Patriarchate notes that it is not a long step from this dualistic conception of God to a "deification of sex" as it was understood by "some of our secular writers such as V.V. Rozanov" (ibid. [emphasis ours]). Father Luke clarifies this intimation when he explains that, "If in God there is male and female and if in His image in man there is also male and female, one may conclude that if male and female unite in carnal relations they are reflecting the Divine" (ibid., p. 35). Rozanov, incidentally, was not only a precursor of Sophiology and the "sexualization" of Orthodox theology, but was also a virulent anti-Semite who hated the Old Testament and who, throughout his life, had a lovehate relationship with the Orthodox Church."

Source: http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/review_tow.aspx, accessed 2007-06-02.

[edit] Blanking of Sophiology section

I think we cannot blank the sophiology section from the article. It is referenced and notable. If something wrong with the section please improve it rather tham simple blank Alex Bakharev (talk) 01:39, 9 December 2007 (UTC)