Alexei Khomyakov 1804 – 1860
Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov was a Russian Orthodox theologian, poet, and the principal founder of the Slavophile movement. A landowner who freed his serfs long before the imperial emancipation, he combined a deep commitment to Russian Orthodoxy with a philosophical defense of the freedom of the spirit against rationalist and authoritarian alike. His concept of sobornost, free unity in love, would shape Russian religious philosophy from Solovyov through Bulgakov and Berdyaev. Most of his theological writings appeared only after his death, since they could not be published in Russia during his lifetime.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Russian
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Continental, Christian
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Alexei Khomyakov:
“The Church is the body of Christ in unity and love.”
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Attributed to Alexei Khomyakov:
“Sobornost is the principle of free unity in the truth.”
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Attributed to Alexei Khomyakov:
“Eastern Christianity preserves the freedom that the West has lost.”
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Attributed to Alexei Khomyakov:
“True faith is neither blind submission nor private reason; it is communion in love.”
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Attributed to Alexei Khomyakov:
“A Russian renaissance must be a renaissance of Orthodoxy.”