Vladimir Soloviev and His Visions of Sophia by John Noyce

 Vladimir Soloviev and His Visions of Sophia - John Noyce

In the late nineteenth century the philosopher Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900) developed the notion of Sophia based on his own personal visions and on the earlier theological writings of Boehme and his successors. Later writers in the Russian Sophiological tradition were to be greatly influenced by Soloviev.

Soloviev had three visions of Sophia, which he described in his poem Trisvidaniya (Three meetings), written towards the end of his life in 1898.  

His first vision of Sophia was in 1862 when he was nine years old. During an Orthodox church service he was overwhelmed by the apparition of a beautiful woman:

The altar was open … But where were the 

priest and the deacon?

And where was the throng of people 

offering prayers?

The flood of torments suddenly ran dry, 

not leaving a trace.

There was azure all around, and azure in my soul.

Suffused with the golden azure,

Holding a flower from distant worlds 

in your hand,

You stood with a radiant smile.

Nodded to me, and vanished into the mist.

His second vision was in London in 1875 during a sabbatical leave from his lecturership in religion at Moscow University. In the British Museum Reading Room he actively sought Sophia  whilst ‘mysterious forces’ guided him in his wide-ranging reading in Hindu philosophy, Gnosticism,17 Hermetic writings, and Kabbala.

And eventually, in answer to a fervent prayer, he had his second vision of Sophia:

And then one day – it was toward autumn –

I said to her: O, blossom of a deity!

You’re here, I sense it – why haven’t you revealed

Yourself to my eyes since childhood years?

And no sooner had I thought this prayer

Than everything was filled with a golden azure,

And before me she shine once more –

But only her face – it alone. 

But Soloviev wanted more than just a face, at which point a voice inside him commanded ‘Be in Egypt!’ 

Immediately abandoning his studies he departed via Paris, through France and Italy, travelling by steamship to Cairo. Arriving penniless, he was mysteriously directed to Thebes. Captured and then released by Bedouins, he spent the night in the desert, awakening to the fragrant scent of roses and his third - and final - vision of Sophia:

And in the purple of the heaven’s splendor,

With eyes filled with an azure fire,

You looked like the first radiance

Of a universal and creative day.

What is, what was, and what will always be –

A single motionless look encompassed 

everything here…

The sea and rivers showed dark blue beneath me

As did the distant forest, and the heights of 

snowy mountains.

I saw everything, and everything was 

one thing only –

A single image of female beauty…

The infinite fit within its dimensions:

Before me, in me – were you alone.

O, radiant woman! In you I am not deceived:

In the desert I saw all of you …

Those roses will not wither in my soul,

Wherever life’s wave may speed.

This third vision was to provide the source for his philosophical and poetic inspiration during the remaining twenty-four years of his life, beginning with his lecture series ‘Lectures on Godmanhood’ in 1877-78 on his return to Russia. 

Not only did Soloviev see himself as a devotee of Sophia, he also saw himself as a prophet. The

tradition of the writer as a divinely inspired prophet, responsible for shaping the spiritual and moral destiny of the nation, was of central importance in Russian literature throughout the nineteenth century. 

As Soloviev himself wrote: 

I have been elevated to the prophets by enemies, To make fun of me they gave me this name, 

But a true prophet am I before you, 

And my prediction will soon come true."   

Thus Soloviev can proclaim in one poem:

Let it be known: today the Eternal Feminine

In an incorruptible body is descending to Earth.

In the unfading light of the new Goddess

Heaven has become one with the depths.

Soloviev was to greatly influence later writers in the Russian Sophiological tradition particularly the Symbolist poets Andrei Belyj (1880-1934) and Aleksandr Blok (1880-1921). 

In addition he also influenced other religious mystics such as the exiles, Zinaida Gippius (1869-1945) and Dmitrii Merezhkovskii (1865-1941), and the soviet-era dissident, Daniil Andreev (1906-1959).

Extract from John Noyce, Sophia and the Russian mystical tradition (lulu books, 2019)
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sahajhist/