Электронный журнал «Культура культуры» :: Russian Culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries: the Gnostic "Renaissance" in the context of symbolism

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Hypotheses:

THE THEORY OF CULTURE

E.A. Orlova. The anthropological foundations of scientific knowledge

Discussions:

IN SEARCH OF THE MEANING OF HISTORY AND CULTURE (A.Ya. Flier's section)

A.V. Kostin, A.Ya. Flier. Ternary functional model of culture (continued)

N.A. Khrenov. Russian culture at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries: the Gnostic "Renaissance" in the context of symbolism (continued)

V.M. Rozin. Some features of modern art

V.I. Ionesov. Memory of things in images and plots of cultural introspection

Analytics:

CULTURAL REFLECTIONS

A.Ya. Flier. Social and organizational functions of culture

M.I. Kozyakova. The Ancient cosmos and its evolution: ritual, spectacle, entertainment

N.A. Malshina. The post-non-classical paradigm in the study of the Russian cultural industry: A new type of rationality and value system

N.A. Khrenov. A Century later: the tragic experience of Soviet Culture (continued)

Announcement of the next issue

Nikolay Andreevich Khrenov,
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
All-Russian State University
of Cinematography named after S.A. Gerasimov,
e-mail: nihrenov@mail.ru

Russian Culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries:
the Gnostic "Renaissance" in the context of symbolism

Abstract. The article is devoted not so much to such a significant artistic trend in the history of Russian art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as symbolism, but rather to the rebirth within its boundaries of a whole worldview characteristic of the era of the extinction of ancient culture. This worldview at that time manifested itself simultaneously in religious and philosophical forms. The philosophy of antiquity, having already freed itself from religion in the era of the "ancient Enlightenment", i.e. in the era when Plato and Aristotle worked, returned to religion again, but most importantly, it was fragmented into several schools or directions. One of these trends was Gnosticism, which in the second century of the new era reached such a high point of development that it became a competitor to early Christianity. However, history developed in such a way that in the subsequent period Christianity came to the fore and began to spread throughout the world. It was Christianity that did everything to make Gnosticism forgotten. On the one hand, it pushed the Gnostics into unofficial spheres, into sects, protecting itself from their influence, and, on the other, it dissolved the Gnostic teaching in itself. This is how Christian Gnosticism or Gnosticism in its Christian forms arose. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, humanity has entered a transitional period of cultural development, characterized by the rehabilitation of the early layers of culture pushed to the periphery and forgotten (archaic, medieval, Byzantine, Oriental, etc.). This process is evidenced by Russian art, which from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries begins to experience what some designate as the Slavic artistic Renaissance. Calling this period in art the "Renaissance", they meant by the beginning of the rise of Russian art something similar to the Western Renaissance of the XV – XVI centuries. However, these processes cannot be reduced solely to art. Apparently, since both religion and philosophy are becoming more active during this period, this era in the history of Russian art should already be called a "cultural renaissance". The innovations that were taking place in the art of that time and, in particular, the emergence of symbolism in its domestic version, were associated with philosophy. Thus, the symbolists themselves believed that their ideas and images were due to the philosophy of V. Solovyov. Indeed, it was this Russian mystic philosopher who did a lot to rehabilitate Gnostic ideas in Russia. Ideas of V.Solovyov was largely determined by the interest of symbolists in Gnostics. Although, of course, the worldview of the Gnostics, convinced that the world lies in evil, returned in addition to philosophy and art, simply as a mood spreading in different strata of society. It was some kind of premonition of those catastrophes in the form of an incipient chain reaction of revolutions and wars, during which millions of people died. It seemed that evil had reached its peak in the new century. To express this mood, the ideas of the Gnostics were first used, and then this mood was expressed in the philosophy of existentialism. Bearing in mind the revival of Gnosticism since the end of the nineteenth century, including those of its forms that reached the twentieth century in the form of sects, the author designates these manifestations using the concept of "underground", which has been actively breaking into Russian art since the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and also continues to make itself felt, including throughout the last century.

Keywords: symbolism, gnosticism, gnosis, underground, rejected knowledge, the Golden Age, sects, existentialism, Hermeticism, theosophy, anthroposophy, East, Buddhism, Christianity, Slavic cultural Renaissance, Western Renaissance, transcendental, chiliasm, V. Solovyov, F. Schelling, S. Baudelaire, D. Merezhkovsky, A. Bely, V. Bryusov, A. Blok, A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, A. Kozyrev, I. Evlampiev, N. Berdyaev, A. Etkind, P. Gaidenko.

[1] The history of art and rejected knowledge: from the hermetic tradition to the 21st century. Moscow: State Institute of Art Studies, 2018. – 416 p.
[2] Khrenov N. Symbolism in the context of the cyclic logic of the revival of symbolic forms of expression in the history of art // The connection of times: the history of art in the context of symbolism: In 3 vols. Vol. 1. Moscow: BuksMART, 2021. pp. 47-92. – 512 p.
[3] Evlampiev I. Gnostic Christianity in the History of European Philosophy // Russia and gnosis. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference "Early Christian Gnostic text in Russian Culture". Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. pp. 97-116. 109. – 407 p.
[4] Stepun F. Mystical worldview: five images of Russian symbolism. St. Petersburg: "Vladimir Dal", 2012. p. 43. – 479 p.
[5] Losev A. Vladimir Solovyov and his time. M.: Molodaya Gvardiya, 2009.
[6] Kozyrev A. Solovyov and Gnostics. M.: Publisher Savin S. A., 2007. pp. 6. – 544 p.
[7] Bely A. Symbolism as a worldview. M.: Republic, 1994. pp. 152. – 528 p.
[8] Literary heritage. Vol. 85. Valery Bryusov. M.: Nauka, 1976. pp. 53. – 856 p.
[9] Nalimov V. On Gnostics and gnosticism // Russia and Gnosis. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference "Early Christian Gnostic text in Russian Culture". Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. pp. 65-74. pp. 68. – 407 p.
[10] Berdyaev N. Muddy Faces. Types of religious thought in Russia. M.: Canon Plus; OI "Rehabilitation", 2004. pp. 242. – 448c.
[11] Etkind A. Khlyst (Sects, literature and revolution). Moscow: New Literary Review, 1998. pp. 141. – 688 p.
[12] Ibid., pp. 156.
[13] Shklovsky V. On poetry and abstruse language // Hamburg account. Articles – memoirs – essays. M.: Soviet writer, 1990.
[14] Etkind A. Decree. Op. C. 166.
[15] Valentinov N. Two years with the Symbolists. Memories. – Moscow: Berlin. Direct Media, 2019. p. 11. – 301 p.
[16] Etkind A. Decree. Op. C. 393.
[17] Fedotov G. Fate and sins of Russia. Selected articles on the philosophy of Russian history and culture. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg: "Sofia", 1992. pp. 173. – 352 p.
[18] Nalimov V. On Gnostics and gnosticism. Decree. op. p. 65.
[19] Khrenov N. Six theses on the aesthetics of Russian symbolism // Spirit of symbolism. Russian and Western European art in the context of the epoch of the late XIX – early XX century. Moscow: Progress-Tradition, 2012. pp. 15-84. – 696 p.
[20] Etkind A. Decree. op. c. 177.
[21] Khrenov N. The cultural meaning of symbolism as an artistic direction of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries // Symbolism as an artistic direction: a view from the XXI century. M., 2013. pp. 13-29.
[22] Valentinov N. Two years with the Symbolists. p. 5.
[23] Hansen-Levet A. Russian symbolism. A system of poetic motifs. Early symbolism. – M. – St. Petersburg: Humanitarian Agency "Academic Project", 1999. p. 373.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Gnostics or about "false knowledge". Kiev: Ucimm-Press, 1997. pp. 421. – 478 p.
[26] Slobodnyuk A. "Devils" of the Silver Age (Ancient Gnosticism and Russian literature. 1890-1930). St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 1998. p. 96.
[27] Turchin V. Ghostly... incomplete existence. On one important formal and semantic component in the structure of the symbolist image // The Spirit of Symbolism. Russian and Western European art in the context of the epoch of the late XIX – early XX century. – M.: Progress-Tradition, 2012. pp. 85-143. – 696 p.
[28] Solovyov V. What is the "doctrine of the theosophical society" // Gnostics or about "false knowledge. Kiev: Ucimm Press, 1997. pp. 363-392. pp. 391. – 478 p.
[29] Bely A. Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of modernity. Memories of Steiner. M., 2000. p. 267.
[30] Karsavin L. Satanic depths (Ophites and Basilides) // Gnostics or about "false knowledge". Kiev: Ucimm-Press, 1997. pp. 230-252. pp. 230. – 478 p.
[31] Zedlmayr H. The loss of the middle. M.: Progress-Tradition; Publishing House "Territory of the Future", 2008. – 640 p.
[32] Bely A. Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of modernity. Decree. Op. S. 270.
[33] Berdyaev N. Muddy faces. Types of religious thought in Russia. p. 243.
[34] Hanegraaff V. Religion and historical imagination: esoteric tradition and poetic creativity // The History of Art and rejected Knowledge: from the Hermetic Tradition to the 21st century – Moscow: State Institute of Art Studies, 2018. pp. 37. – 416 p.
[35] Solovyov V. Gnosticism // The encyclopedic dictionary of F. Brockhaus, I. Efron. Vol. 16. St. Petersburg, 1893. p. 950.
[36] Hermann Hesse's Pilgrimage to the Land of the East // East–West. Researches. Translations. Publications. M., 1982. p. 185.
[37] Berdyaev N. Theosophy and anthroposophy in Russia. p. 249.
[38] Evlampiev I. Decree. Op. C. 105.
[39] Gaidenko P. Vladimir Solovyov and the Philosophy of the Silver Age. M., 2001. p. 45.
[40] Kozyrev A. Decree. Op. C. 243-245; Evlampiev I. Gnostic Christianity in the history of European Philosophy. pp. 97-116. pp. 105.
[41] Freudenberg O. Myth and literature of antiquity. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. – 606 p.
[42] Kozyrev A. Decree. op. c. 20.
[43] Amfiteatrov A. Devil // Amfiteatrov A. Devil. Orlov M. The history of human relations with the devil. M.: IC MP "VNK", 1992. pp. 18. – 840 p.
[44] Slobodnyuk S. "Devils" of the Silver Age. Ancient Gnosticism and Russian literature 1890-1930. St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 1988. p. 96.

ISSN 2311-3723

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Official registration № ЭЛ № ФС 77 – 56414 от 11.12.2013

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Issued quarterly in electronic form only

Issue produced by:

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SCIENTIFIC AND EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CULTURAL STUDIES SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF CULTURE RESEARCHERS Scientific peer-reviewed electronic periodical Since 2014
	NEW ISSUE ABOUT EDITORS TO AUTORS ARCHIVE	РУС ENG

Hypotheses: THE THEORY OF CULTURE E.A. Orlova. The anthropological foundations of scientific knowledge Discussions: IN SEARCH OF THE MEANING OF HISTORY AND CULTURE (A.Ya. Flier's section) A.V. Kostin, A.Ya. Flier. Ternary functional model of culture (continued) N.A. Khrenov. Russian culture at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries: the Gnostic "Renaissance" in the context of symbolism (continued) V.M. Rozin. Some features of modern art V.I. Ionesov. Memory of things in images and plots of cultural introspection Analytics: CULTURAL REFLECTIONS A.Ya. Flier. Social and organizational functions of culture M.I. Kozyakova. The Ancient cosmos and its evolution: ritual, spectacle, entertainment N.A. Malshina. The post-non-classical paradigm in the study of the Russian cultural industry: A new type of rationality and value system N.A. Khrenov. A Century later: the tragic experience of Soviet Culture (continued) Announcement of the next issue	Nikolay Andreevich Khrenov, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, All-Russian State University of Cinematography named after S.A. Gerasimov, e-mail: nihrenov@mail.ru Russian Culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries: the Gnostic "Renaissance" in the context of symbolism Abstract. The article is devoted not so much to such a significant artistic trend in the history of Russian art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as symbolism, but rather to the rebirth within its boundaries of a whole worldview characteristic of the era of the extinction of ancient culture. This worldview at that time manifested itself simultaneously in religious and philosophical forms. The philosophy of antiquity, having already freed itself from religion in the era of the "ancient Enlightenment", i.e. in the era when Plato and Aristotle worked, returned to religion again, but most importantly, it was fragmented into several schools or directions. One of these trends was Gnosticism, which in the second century of the new era reached such a high point of development that it became a competitor to early Christianity. However, history developed in such a way that in the subsequent period Christianity came to the fore and began to spread throughout the world. It was Christianity that did everything to make Gnosticism forgotten. On the one hand, it pushed the Gnostics into unofficial spheres, into sects, protecting itself from their influence, and, on the other, it dissolved the Gnostic teaching in itself. This is how Christian Gnosticism or Gnosticism in its Christian forms arose. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, humanity has entered a transitional period of cultural development, characterized by the rehabilitation of the early layers of culture pushed to the periphery and forgotten (archaic, medieval, Byzantine, Oriental, etc.). This process is evidenced by Russian art, which from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries begins to experience what some designate as the Slavic artistic Renaissance. Calling this period in art the "Renaissance", they meant by the beginning of the rise of Russian art something similar to the Western Renaissance of the XV – XVI centuries. However, these processes cannot be reduced solely to art. Apparently, since both religion and philosophy are becoming more active during this period, this era in the history of Russian art should already be called a "cultural renaissance". The innovations that were taking place in the art of that time and, in particular, the emergence of symbolism in its domestic version, were associated with philosophy. Thus, the symbolists themselves believed that their ideas and images were due to the philosophy of V. Solovyov. Indeed, it was this Russian mystic philosopher who did a lot to rehabilitate Gnostic ideas in Russia. Ideas of V.Solovyov was largely determined by the interest of symbolists in Gnostics. Although, of course, the worldview of the Gnostics, convinced that the world lies in evil, returned in addition to philosophy and art, simply as a mood spreading in different strata of society. It was some kind of premonition of those catastrophes in the form of an incipient chain reaction of revolutions and wars, during which millions of people died. It seemed that evil had reached its peak in the new century. To express this mood, the ideas of the Gnostics were first used, and then this mood was expressed in the philosophy of existentialism. Bearing in mind the revival of Gnosticism since the end of the nineteenth century, including those of its forms that reached the twentieth century in the form of sects, the author designates these manifestations using the concept of "underground", which has been actively breaking into Russian art since the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and also continues to make itself felt, including throughout the last century. Keywords: symbolism, gnosticism, gnosis, underground, rejected knowledge, the Golden Age, sects, existentialism, Hermeticism, theosophy, anthroposophy, East, Buddhism, Christianity, Slavic cultural Renaissance, Western Renaissance, transcendental, chiliasm, V. Solovyov, F. Schelling, S. Baudelaire, D. Merezhkovsky, A. Bely, V. Bryusov, A. Blok, A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, A. Kozyrev, I. Evlampiev, N. Berdyaev, A. Etkind, P. Gaidenko. [1] The history of art and rejected knowledge: from the hermetic tradition to the 21st century. Moscow: State Institute of Art Studies, 2018. – 416 p. [2] Khrenov N. Symbolism in the context of the cyclic logic of the revival of symbolic forms of expression in the history of art // The connection of times: the history of art in the context of symbolism: In 3 vols. Vol. 1. Moscow: BuksMART, 2021. pp. 47-92. – 512 p. [3] Evlampiev I. Gnostic Christianity in the History of European Philosophy // Russia and gnosis. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference "Early Christian Gnostic text in Russian Culture". Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. pp. 97-116. 109. – 407 p. [4] Stepun F. Mystical worldview: five images of Russian symbolism. St. Petersburg: "Vladimir Dal", 2012. p. 43. – 479 p. [5] Losev A. Vladimir Solovyov and his time. M.: Molodaya Gvardiya, 2009. [6] Kozyrev A. Solovyov and Gnostics. M.: Publisher Savin S. A., 2007. pp. 6. – 544 p. [7] Bely A. Symbolism as a worldview. M.: Republic, 1994. pp. 152. – 528 p. [8] Literary heritage. Vol. 85. Valery Bryusov. M.: Nauka, 1976. pp. 53. – 856 p. [9] Nalimov V. On Gnostics and gnosticism // Russia and Gnosis. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference "Early Christian Gnostic text in Russian Culture". Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. pp. 65-74. pp. 68. – 407 p. [10] Berdyaev N. Muddy Faces. Types of religious thought in Russia. M.: Canon Plus; OI "Rehabilitation", 2004. pp. 242. – 448c. [11] Etkind A. Khlyst (Sects, literature and revolution). Moscow: New Literary Review, 1998. pp. 141. – 688 p. [12] Ibid., pp. 156. [13] Shklovsky V. On poetry and abstruse language // Hamburg account. Articles – memoirs – essays. M.: Soviet writer, 1990. [14] Etkind A. Decree. Op. C. 166. [15] Valentinov N. Two years with the Symbolists. Memories. – Moscow: Berlin. Direct Media, 2019. p. 11. – 301 p. [16] Etkind A. Decree. Op. C. 393. [17] Fedotov G. Fate and sins of Russia. Selected articles on the philosophy of Russian history and culture. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg: "Sofia", 1992. pp. 173. – 352 p. [18] Nalimov V. On Gnostics and gnosticism. Decree. op. p. 65. [19] Khrenov N. Six theses on the aesthetics of Russian symbolism // Spirit of symbolism. Russian and Western European art in the context of the epoch of the late XIX – early XX century. Moscow: Progress-Tradition, 2012. pp. 15-84. – 696 p. [20] Etkind A. Decree. op. c. 177. [21] Khrenov N. The cultural meaning of symbolism as an artistic direction of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries // Symbolism as an artistic direction: a view from the XXI century. M., 2013. pp. 13-29. [22] Valentinov N. Two years with the Symbolists. p. 5. [23] Hansen-Levet A. Russian symbolism. A system of poetic motifs. Early symbolism. – M. – St. Petersburg: Humanitarian Agency "Academic Project", 1999. p. 373. [24] Ibid. [25] Gnostics or about "false knowledge". Kiev: Ucimm-Press, 1997. pp. 421. – 478 p. [26] Slobodnyuk A. "Devils" of the Silver Age (Ancient Gnosticism and Russian literature. 1890-1930). St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 1998. p. 96. [27] Turchin V. Ghostly... incomplete existence. On one important formal and semantic component in the structure of the symbolist image // The Spirit of Symbolism. Russian and Western European art in the context of the epoch of the late XIX – early XX century. – M.: Progress-Tradition, 2012. pp. 85-143. – 696 p. [28] Solovyov V. What is the "doctrine of the theosophical society" // Gnostics or about "false knowledge. Kiev: Ucimm Press, 1997. pp. 363-392. pp. 391. – 478 p. [29] Bely A. Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of modernity. Memories of Steiner. M., 2000. p. 267. [30] Karsavin L. Satanic depths (Ophites and Basilides) // Gnostics or about "false knowledge". Kiev: Ucimm-Press, 1997. pp. 230-252. pp. 230. – 478 p. [31] Zedlmayr H. The loss of the middle. M.: Progress-Tradition; Publishing House "Territory of the Future", 2008. – 640 p. [32] Bely A. Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of modernity. Decree. Op. S. 270. [33] Berdyaev N. Muddy faces. Types of religious thought in Russia. p. 243. [34] Hanegraaff V. Religion and historical imagination: esoteric tradition and poetic creativity // The History of Art and rejected Knowledge: from the Hermetic Tradition to the 21st century – Moscow: State Institute of Art Studies, 2018. pp. 37. – 416 p. [35] Solovyov V. Gnosticism // The encyclopedic dictionary of F. Brockhaus, I. Efron. Vol. 16. St. Petersburg, 1893. p. 950. [36] Hermann Hesse's Pilgrimage to the Land of the East // East–West. Researches. Translations. Publications. M., 1982. p. 185. [37] Berdyaev N. Theosophy and anthroposophy in Russia. p. 249. [38] Evlampiev I. Decree. Op. C. 105. [39] Gaidenko P. Vladimir Solovyov and the Philosophy of the Silver Age. M., 2001. p. 45. [40] Kozyrev A. Decree. Op. C. 243-245; Evlampiev I. Gnostic Christianity in the history of European Philosophy. pp. 97-116. pp. 105. [41] Freudenberg O. Myth and literature of antiquity. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. – 606 p. [42] Kozyrev A. Decree. op. c. 20. [43] Amfiteatrov A. Devil // Amfiteatrov A. Devil. Orlov M. The history of human relations with the devil. M.: IC MP "VNK", 1992. pp. 18. – 840 p. [44] Slobodnyuk S. "Devils" of the Silver Age. Ancient Gnosticism and Russian literature 1890-1930. St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 1988. p. 96.	ISSN 2311-3723 Founder: OOO «Soglasie» publisher Publisher: Scientific Association of Culture Researchers Official registration № ЭЛ № ФС 77 – 56414 от 11.12.2013 The magazine is indexed: Issued quarterly in electronic form only *Issue produced by:* Editorial Director A. Flier Editor in Chief T. Glazkova Head of IT Center A. Lukyanov Our banner: Our e-mail: cultschool@gmail.com OUR PARTNERS:

	NEW ISSUE ABOUT EDITORS TO AUTORS ARCHIVE	РУС ENG
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