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Vladimir Solovyov’s idea of ecclesiastic unity and the Holy See
Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853–1900) was the central figure of Rus-
sian religious thought, which had its heyday at the end of the 19th century and early
20th century, rich in wonderful and deep thinkers such as Pavel Florensky, Sergey
Bulgakov, Nikolay Berdyaev, and Simon Frank among many others. Solovyov was
the first classical Russian philosopher, in the sense that he had his own philosophi-
cal system at a time when systemic philosophy was being abandoned in the West. It
was Solovyov who deepened Russian philosophy and firmly entrenched Christian
metaphysics in Russian philosophical discourse. He introduced Russian philosophi-
cal thought to Europe. His project of a free universal theocracy intended to funda-
mentally change the course of social history. In fact, the project of a universal free
theocracy and the reunification of Christian churches associated with it became the
most prominent idea of the philosopher in the Western intellectual environment.
Moreover, the question about Solovyov’s pro-Catholic leanings, including his con-
tacts with catholic clergy and theologians, as well as the issue whether Solovyov
converted to Catholicism came into prominence after the book of Michel D’Her-
bigny Vladimir Soloviev: Un Newman russe was published in 1911. This article fo-
cuses on the narrow but important issue of reconstructing the historical context of
the philosopher’s ideas. The focus is on the history of Solovyov’s contacts with the
Holy See. The author analyzes the existing historiography, which testifies to the
indirect contacts of the philosopher with the Holy See, the philosopher’s published
correspondence, contemporary research articles, as well as materials from the Va-
tican and Russian archives. As a result, the article presents a new look at the history
of the relationship between the Holy See and Russian philosopher, who is currently
recognized by most researchers as the ancestor of the ecumenical movement of the
20th century.