Pure Love

The topic of disinterested love became fashionable in 1697 due to the famous amour pur dispute between Fénelon (1651-1715) and Bossuet (1627-1704). It soon attracted the attention of Electress Sophie of Hanover (1630-1714) and she asked for an opinion about the dispute from her trusted friend and correspondent, the Hanoverian councilor Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). This gave Leibniz an opportunity to present his views on the matter, which he had developed earlier in his career (for example, in Elementa juris naturalis of 1671 and Codex iuris gentium of 1693). In his 1697 letter to Sophie he did not explicitly take sides in the dispute, but formulated his own views on the topic in a theological manner, aiming to provide an account of disinterested love which would surpass the doctrines of both French theologians. In addition to presenting Leibniz’ early views on disinterested love and examining this alternative formulation of Leibniz’s his views on love, I will show that after the letter Leibniz gave this alternative perspective up and returned to refer to his earlier, more philosophical views on the topic, which suggests that he regarded them to be superior to the theological version, where the virtue of charity was related to the virtue of hope.

Филаретовский альманах. Вып. 12. – М.: Изд-во ПСТГУ, 2016. с. 110-123.
Between many others who wrote about count Michael Speransky St. Theophan the Recluse was the only author who defended the position that Speransky was purely orthodox thinker. St. Theophan expressed his views on this subject in the «letters about the spiritual life» where he comments the correspondence between Speransky and F. Seyer. Along with Speransky and St. Theopan author deals with F. Fenelon, who was the representative of the classic quietist tradition. As a result author presents a number of ideas: we can agree with St Theophan when he
insists that this is impossible to fully understand the mystical terminology from the heterodox tradition which was used by Speransky. St. Theophan tries to find the proper orthodox synonyms for the mystical terms that use Speransky in the correspondence. Also we can see that St. Theophan’s understanding of these terms is close to that of Fenelon. But this proximity not only the result of direct descending but means the interconnection through the Fathers of the Ancient Church (including eastern monastic tradition). This fact means that Fenelon’s Quietism may be regarded as a step toward eastern Spirituality.
Keywords: M. Speransky, St .Theophan the Recluse, F. Fenelon, Quietism,
Hesychasm, Tabor Light, Pure Love, Inner Word.

At the first sight a novel of Rainer Maria Rilke “The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge” is an exclusive property of the history of secular literature and related to Christian tradition only by means of historical-cultural reminiscences. But this is not the true case. It can be stated, that reconstruction of philosophical and theological background of the novel has noticeable gaps. Particularly only few scholars were seriously interested in the fact, that Rilke, creating in the novel an original concept of intransitive sensual love (intransitive Liebe), turns out as a successor and interpreter of an ancient Christian doctrine of the Christian West. This doctrine consists in the apophatic interpretation of love to God. “Deprivation of oneself ” or free-will refuse of all, that can appear as a fruit of the love is characteristic of the doctrine. This doctrine was definitely formed in writings of “the Rhineland mystics” of 14th century, continued by French quietists in the 17th century and originally translated in philosophical conceptions of Kant and Schopenhauer in the 18th – 19th centuries. In this article is observed, how Rilke realizes this doctrine of love fi rstly on the example of “the great lovers”, who come through suff erings of sensual love to the idea of love as not needing in reciprocity of condition of a soul a self-valuable. And secondly Rilke establishes on this basis the substance of an inner work, which must be performed by a modern man to return to God. Indicated train of thought represents in its part the logic of Plato’s “The Symposium” (from the earth love to heaven love). So, Rilke bounds antic and medieval Christian tradition in artistic, expressed in Modern Age language synthesis.

Keywords: Rilke. “The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge”, Meister Eckhart, pure love.

The doctrine of st. Augustine about caritas, namely about graceful love drawing a man to God, is difficult to overestimate. The doctrine has playd an important role both in dogmatic and in mystic tradition of the  West. It gave among other things an characteristic directivity to interpretation of the famous passage from the Song of Songs - Fortis est ut mors dilectio (8:6). According to the views of st. Augustine on this verse love is strong as death, because a man, who is carried with its divine bliss, dies for the sin. This interpretation, with which were consistent not only authors of the first millenium, but also scholastics right up to Thomas of Aquin, substantially changes in 14th century in the circle of so-called Rhinelandmystics (Ekchart, Tauler, Suso) imbibing with the apophatic ideas of the corpus Areopagiticum. Author offers and examines in the article a hypothesis, that having passed a number of successive stages of the development the new doctrine is stated in ascribed to Meister Ekchart sermon on the passage "Fortis est ut mors dilectio". The sermon presents "pure love" as a condition of mystical death not only for the sin and earthy pleasures, but also for the spiritual gladnesses und even for the Hope of the eternal life.
Keywords: st. Augustine,  Meister Ekchart, Tauler, pure love, apophatica,  Rhineland mystics, the Song of Songs.

Due to some historical reasons, the second half of the 16th century gave special attention to the moral criteria of a particular act understood as a matter of its true inner motivation. As a result, two opposite concepts gradually formed. The first one recognizes as truly moral an act motivated by the subject's reasonable interest in it (Spinoza). The second one recognizes as truly moral an act of pure non-reflected upon (uninterested) love showing the subject's complete selflessness (Fénelon). Both concepts paradoxically converge in the anthropological model by Kant, where the selfless submission to the categorical imperative of mind is already associated with the concept of personality, as opposed to the psycho-physical nature of man, which is always mediated by one's own needs and interests.
Во второй половине XVI в. в силу ряда исторических причин пользуется особым вниманием вопрос о критериях нравственности того или иного поступка, осознанный как вопрос его подлинной внутренней мотивации. Вследствие этого постепенно формируются две противоположные концепции. Первая из них признает подлинно нравственным поступок, мотивированный разумной заинтересованностью в нем субъекта (Спиноза). Вторая – нерефлектируемый акт чистой (незаинтересованной) любви, свидетельствующий о полном отказе субъекта от самого себя (Фенелон). Обе эти концепции парадоксальным образом сходятся в антропологической модели Канта, где бескорыстное подчинение категорическому императиву разума уже связывается с представлением о личности, противопоставляемой душевно-телесной природе человека, всегда опосредованной собственными потребностями и интересами.