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PRIEST PAVEL FLORENSKY

January 22, 1882 – December 8, 1937

Father Pavel Florensky, widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s foremost Orthodox theologians, was also an iconologist, philosopher, philologist, polyglot, mathematician, physicist, electrical engineer, inventor, and polymath. He was born to a Russian father and an Armenian mother in Azerbaijan and raised in Georgia. His parents had him baptized as a gesture of social convention but did not bring him up as an Orthodox believer. At the age of 18 in 1900 he established himself in Moscow to begin his studies in mathematics at Moscow University. At age 21 he committed himself to the Orthodox Church as the culmination of the spiritual awakening that had begun when he was 16, and so became part of the movement known as the returning intelligentsia. At 22 he abandoned a promising secular career and enrolled at the Moscow Theological Academy. There he met and fell in love with Sergei Troitsky, a priest’s son a year his senior. They became roommates at the Academy.

For reasons examined elsewhere, their plans to spend the rest of their life together did not materialize. Sergei entered into an unconsummated marriage with Pavel’s sister, Olga. Pavel subsequently married Anna Giatsintova, with whom he went on to have five children. He was ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood in April 1911.

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Grant rest eternal in blessed repose, O Lord,

to the soul of Thy servant who has fallen asleep,

HIS EMINENCE, ARCHBISHOP DAVID

and may his memory be eternal.

Memory eternal. Memory eternal. Memory eternal.

Archbishop David was a friend and supporter of Orthodoxy in Dialogue behind the scenes. See the Open Letter to President Trump which he wrote for us. He also planned to write an article for Orthodoxy in Dialogue on his experiences shepherding a mainly Aleut flock in response to the growing spectre of white supremacism and neo-Nazism in the North American Orthodox Church.

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December 1 is Giving Tuesday in the US and Canada.

Click here to help us feed the homeless on the cold streets of Toronto on Christmas Eve.

Click here to support Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s work with a monthly, occasional, or one-time offering.

Any gift from the heart, large or small, ascends to the Holy Trinity in heaven as a sweet-smelling incense.

Pray for us and for those in need, as we do for you.

A small delegation of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America

Late this afternoon, Orthodoxy in Dialogue received a form letter from one Michael Sisco via change.org, asking us to sign his petition entitled We demand the right to attend Divine Liturgy & Vigil without restriction. The text begins, “We Orthodox Christian lay people desire the right to attend all Orthodox services regardless of the local & State restrictions imposed upon the Church” (italics ours).

For a preview of where this comes from, note that a recent episode of Mr. Sisco’s eponymous YouTube show has a title referring to the deadliest global pandemic in a century as “the hysteria-inducing virus.” Conspiracy theories much?

With a risible goal of one hundred plucky signatories [addendum: the goal seems to go up in tandem with the number of signatures], Mr. Sisco threatens to organize a financial boycott of parishes in compliance with the directives of their bishops, synods, and civil authorities on Covid-preventive protocols. He suggests that he might compile a list of parishes that comply with his “demands” (his word)—in other words, parishes that disobey their bishops—to benefit from a targeted fundraising initiative.

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