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[116] her attributes are certainly evident. In Rossia i vselenskaia Terkov, Sophia appears as the archetype of humanity′s social relations. This yet-to-be manifestation of Sophia will spring off the marriage between the world′s masculine principle, its personified logos in Christ, and the feminine principle, i.e. nature inside and outside of man. This marriage′s terrestrial and yet-to-be portrayal is the "Universal Church," whose design reflects Trinity. The Solov’ëvian notion of All-unity [vseedinstvo] takes Trinity as a cosmic concept. Ideal society, viz. the universal Church – Sophia′s highest incarnation – has a threefold structure. The "Universal Church" is crowned by a "pope" who heads an "assembly of bishops" that has another large "assembly of priests" at the basis.[117] This Church, like every historical Church, performs the ministries of a "priest," a "king," and last but not least the one of a "prophet." The priest′s ministry is based on traditional knowledge of the "mystery," while the kingly function of the Church is displayed by supporting "Christian politics," i.e. supporting reforms directed at the Good′s achievement and alteration of existing abuses by the help of "Christian tsars."[118]

      The anthropology of man as a "Godman [bogochelovek]" broadens, for, man is proud to simultaneously be God′s priest and king of the inferior world. Thirdly and prominently, he is a prophet of the future reunion of both,[119] which is the Universal Church Sophia. The question arises what is the indigenous place of prophets because the "prophetic ministry" performed by the Church is also given to everyone within the clerical body as well as to everybody in general irrespective of denominational confession. In this precise sense everybody, be it a Christian or a non-Christian has "exactly the same rights as the pope or the tsar,"[120] a demand that obviously corresponds to secular freedom of speech.

      The question arises how Solov’ëv conceived history, or to be more exact, by which means history would arrive at Sophia′s prophetic incarnation? His short and disputed writing Smysl′ llubvl [1892–1894, The Meaning of Love] ends by regretting that during the "second era" nature has not yet been sufficiently spiritualised. Apart from singular "poets," people did not afford the necessary type of love to "spiritualise nature."[121] What time span did Solov′ёv have in mind when speaking of this "second era" and what did he mean by spiritualisiung nature? As for the first question, it is impossible to find in Solov’ëv′s work a single definition of history in the same register. He distinguishes a "theology of history" from a "philosophy of history." As for the first register, there are three periods, viz. from Jesus Christ until the schism (33-1054), from then to Solov’ëv′s lifetime (1054–1880), and from this point of time until the end of history (1880′s-?). In the third period"…all efforts would, or at least should, be concentrated on unifying humanity, starting with the Christian community."[122] As for "philosophical history," ".he posed that history is made up of three successive phases, undifferentiated unity, separation, and differentiated unity between and within these fields."[123] Obviously the afore mentioned "second era" that is characterised by a "lack of love to nature" coincides with the second period in the historical and in the theological registers. What type of love did Solov′ev have in mind when he diagnosed a lack of it and how is related to prophecy? Discrediting the Marxian variant of materialism thoroughly[124] the young Solov’ëv introduced the notion of "religious materialism" in Evrejstvo i khristianskij vopros, 1884. Christ′s advent to the Jews accounts, as he explains, for their deep religiosity, but also for the fact that they were people of law and order, and simultaneously a prophetic people. In this context, he distinguishes three forms of "materialism: " "practicalmaterialism" means no more than crude, egoistic, hedonistic, little sensible forms of life. As Solov’ëv sees it, practical materialism is equivalent to Marx′s "scientific materialism: " the "practical materialist" is a shallow type of personality that Marx objectified and prolonged into historical determinism, an eschatology that excludes liberty. A third type of materialism, "religious materialism," describes the Hebrews′ thought and mentality. They did not separate "spirit" from its material appearance: "matter" did not have any independent existence, it was neither God nor devil, but represented rather a yet "undignified dwelling," inhabited by God′s spirit sanctifying the vessel through man′s co-creativity. The faithful Hebrew desired the entire nature, the world he lived in, to have Gods "wholeness" at its disposal, given that He also is a "holy" or "spiritual corporeality."[125] Because the Hebrews deeply believed in this type of "holy corporeality," meaning in fact a permanent interrelation between God and man by means of spiritualised nature, they were the chosen people to whom Christ first appeared. Yet, as Solov’ëv affirms, Christ demanded from them a dual deed, namely the renunciation of national egoism and secondly a temporary, partially limited relinquishment of the world′s welfare[126].

      His early anti-Marxian concept of "religious materialism" flows into his complex concept of spiritualising existence. Spiritualisation represents the "central element" in Solov’ëv′s religious philosophy.[127] In the Justification of the Good he indeed maintains the position that between spiritual and material being there is no dichotomy, but both are intrinsically bound to each other, which is why every transformative process is a development of "God′s material (protsess bogomaterialnyj)."[128] "(M)atter has a right to spiritualisation," spiritualisation originates in love and leads to the moral organisation of material life.[129]

      Humanity dawns by redeeming material nature, viz. by spiritualising the physis. In Christian terminology, spiritualisation signifies a sort of transfiguration that brings redemption. Redemption became a Biblical metaphor for describing the saving work of Jesus delivering humanity from sin and evil by His transfiguration, by the sacrifice of his natural body out of love to man. Christ′s transfiguration anticipated the transfiguration of all material being. Self-sacrificing love is central in Solov’ëv′s theosophy, too. Self-sacrificing love transfigures and herewith redeems. His early La Sophia (1876, Sophia) brings to mind a threefold typology of love. There is "all forgiving love" (cf. Kor. 13) conform to "amor dei intellectuals." Forgiveness obviously needs overcoming of egotism, of self-administered justice, of personal insistence on righteous, legitimate punishment. As it were, "all forgiving love" is human acting that aspires to the Divine and seeks to correspond to Divine grace. Secondly, there is, as Solov’ëv continues, corporeal love, love′s strongest form. Yet, erotic love is as exclusive as it ends in exclusivity,

117

Cf. Solov’ëv, Rossiiai vselenskaia tserkov, in: op. cit., t. 11, 163, and cf. Evrejstvo, in: op. cit., t.4, 163, and cf. footnote 57.

118

Cf. idem, Velikijsporikhristianskaiapolitika, 1883, in: op. cit., t. 4 vt. izd., 4.

119

Cf. idem, Rossiia, op. cit., 327, and many other places.

120

Cf. ibid, 343f.

121

Cf. idem, Smysl′ liubvi, 1892–1894, in: op. cit., t. 7 vt. izd., 59f.

122

Cf. Courten, M. de, History and the Russian Nation. A Reassessment of Vladimir Solov′ev′s Views on History and Social Commitment, (PhD Nijmegen), Bern 2004, 85–92.

123

Cf. ibid, 139.

124

Cf. Gleixner, H., Vladimir Solov′ev′s Konzeption vom Verhältnis zwischen Politik und Sittlichkeit. System einer sozialen und politischen Ethik, Frankfurt a. M., Bern, Las Vegas, 1979, 250, see also, Breckner, K., Vladimir Solov′oyv (Solov’ëv) as the Mentor of Anti-Marxian Socialism. Concepts of Socialism by S.N. Trubetskoj, S.N. Bulgakov and N.A. Berdiaev, 461, in: Vladimir Solov′oyv (Solov’ëv). Reconciler and Polemicist, E. v. d. Zweerde et al. (eds.), Louvain: Peters 2000, 461–473.

125

Cf. Solov’ëv, Evrejstvo ikhristianskij vopros, 1884, in: op. cit., t. 4, 147–150.

126

Cf. ibid, 160ff. Cf. Stremooukhoff, D., Vladimir Soloviev (Solov’ëv) et son oeuvre mes-sianique, Reprint, Lausanne 1975, 298. He reports that Solov’ëv devoted his last prayer, before dying on July 31st 1900 (old Russian calendar) to the Jews, for his hope on their self-communion was related to believing on a drawing near of theocracy only in this particular case.

127

Cf. Sutton, J., The Religious Philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov (Solov’ëv). Towards a Reassessment, Hampshire 1988, 72.

128

Cf. Solov’ëv, Opravdaniia dobra. Nravstvennaia filosofiia, 1894–1897, in: op. cit., t. 8 vt. izd, 211.

129

Cf. ibid, 369–385.