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Sophia is the Greek form of Mazda (Wisdom). Sophia has been worshipped by both pagan and christian Greeks and their Russian Orthodox brethren. Soloviev's interpretation of Sophia has had an influence in Russia. Hagia Sophia - Holy Wisdom (According to the Russian Vladimir Soloviev 1853-1900) Sophia is the intelligible collective Soul of humanity which comprises the many selves of individual human beings. She is One and Everything ("hen kai pan") ... As the living centre or Soul of all creatures ... She includes the manifoldness of living souls, She is all of humanity together in one, or the Soul of the World. She is ideal humanity, containing all individual living creatures or souls and uniting them through Herself... Her task is to mediate and unify the manifoldness of living creatures, who constitute the actual content of Her life and the absolute unity of God. (Soloviev) Sophia the "Soul of the World", has three parts which allow Her to unify, connect and direct everything: a higher, divine part, a lower earthly part, and a middle portion which creates space, time, and causality, and directs them. The function which preserves the world and allows it to unfold through trial and error belongs to the middle and lower parts of Sophia's soul. (Thomas Schipflinger after Soloviev) If the Soul of the World were to stop unifying everything through Herself, all created beings would lose their common relationship, the union of the cosmos would fall apart into a multiplicity of individual elements, and the organism of the world would transform itself into a mechanical mass of atoms. (Soloviev) Humanity or nature is neither the sum of individual human beings or things, nor an abstract concept or empirical aggregate, but an actual living being, a transpersonal being, not a personified principle, but an essential person or person-principle, not a personified idea but the idea of a person. (He) ascribes complete reality, power, and wisdom to this principle, and also gives it the identity of a feminine being. (Soloviev after August Compte) Who is it who sits there in royal dignity on the throne, if not Holy Wisdom, the true and pure ideal of humanity itself, the highest and all-inclusive "Morphe" (form) as well as the living soul of nature and the cosmos, eternally bound to God, who unites everything existing in the temporal world with Her. (Soloviev on the icon of Divine Wisdom in the Sophia cathedral in Novgorod) Every conscious effort of the human being that is based on the idea of universal harmony and syzygy (appearances in pairs) and every effort whose goal is the manifestation of the all-unifying ideal (Sophia), creates spiritual and even physical vibrations. These vibrations gradually spiritualize the surrounding material world and manifest one image or another of the all-inclusive unity. (Soloviev) --------- Today I Saw Her - Soloviev on Sophia Today I saw her with my eyes My queen, all batched in radiance, Rejoicing, my heart stopped beating. This happened at the golden light of dawn, A miracle divine. All earthly desire vanished, Seeing her alone, her alone, only her. My Queen's Castle - Soloviev on Sophia My queen's castle shimmers with gold, Seven pillars are in the hall The diadem of my lovely queen Shines with radiant jewels untold. ----------- Extract from "Sophia-Maria - a Holistic vision of Creation" by Thomas Schipflinger Schipflinger catalogues references to Sophia in the Christian tradition and argues for identification of Sophia with the virgin Mary.Hagia Sophia - Soloviev |
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