The storm destroyed more than half of the country’s harvest, leaving about 7.6 million people at risk of acute hunger.
El Niño is a regular and naturally occurring weather event which affects the air temperatures around the sea and coastal landmasses. The climate crisis in recent years has led to more frequent and intense patterns.
Officials from the UN and the World Food Programme (WFP) recently visited Zimbabwe to determine the drought’s impact on the nation and to call for more international support for the humanitarian response.
In April, local Zimbabwean authorities declared that the country was in a nationwide state of disaster.
Figures from the authorities showed that 57 per cent of people in “rural” parts of the country are set to be food insecure between January and March 2025 – a peak hunger period there.
Other UN reports indicate that civilians will need to depend on “alternative sources of income, social support, and humanitarian assistance” to withstand this season.
It was further reported that “humanitarian assistance needs will remain high in many areas of the country until the harvest in 2025 due to poor purchasing capacity resulting from limited income-earning opportunities and high food prices.”
El Niño’s impact
The El Niño-induced droughts have reportedly put a strain on Zimbabwe’s economy, leaving more than a fifth of children out of school and a lack of water supplies in the country.
The UN and some of its partners are working with the Zimbabwean Government to provide aid to civilians.
However, these teams require more funding, as the $429 million flash appeal which was launched in May that aims to aid over 3 million people, is only about 11 per cent funded.
The El Niño droughts have also affected other South African countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Malawi and more. Each of these nations is in high need of humanitarian interventions as food insecurity levels have risen significantly due to the drought.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racism (CERD) voiced concern over persistent hate crimes, hate speech and xenophobic incidents on various platforms, including by politicians and public figures.
It was particularly concerned about recurring racist acts and violence by extremist far-right and white supremacist individuals and groups targeting ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
This includes violent acts committed in late July and early August this year when riots broke out across the UK following a stabbing attack at a dance class in Southport that left three young girls dead and 10 other people injured.
The unrest was fuelled by disinformation shared on social media about the suspect.
In calling for action, the UN Committee urged the UK authorities to implement comprehensive measures to curb racist hate speech and xenophobic rhetoric, including on the part of political and public figures.
Members emphasized the need for thorough investigations and strict penalties for racist hate crimes, and effective remedies for the victims and their families.
According to news reports, British courts have handed down hundreds of sentences to those who took part in the unrest, including to some who fueled the disorder through online posts.
Police target ethnic minorities
The Committee also expressed concern about the disproportionate impact of police stop-and-search practices, including strip searches, on ethnic minorities, especially children.
It also raised alarm over the use of excessive and deadly force by law enforcement, lack of accountability, and inadequate support for victims’ families, all of which disproportionately affect people of African descent and other ethnic minorities.
Concerns surrounding institutional racism within policing and the criminal justice system were also highlighted.
Investigate racial profiling
The Committee urged the UK to set up an independent complaint mechanism to investigate allegations of racial profiling, stop-and-search practices, strip searches, and excessive use of force by the police.
Furthermore, perpetrators should be prosecuted and punished, and victims and their families should have access to effective remedies.
Additionally, decisive action to eliminate racial discrimination within policing and the criminal justice system, must be taken.
About the Committee
The Committee published its findings on the UK after concluding a four-year review of the country, alongside seven other nations including Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Venezuela.
The 18 international experts appointed to the Committee receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council, which is located in Geneva.
They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.
Is it true that beer is good for the kidneys? Beer is associated with entertainment, evening gatherings and relaxation. At the same time, many myths and claims accompany this popular drink, including claims that it is good for kidney health. Let’s look at what is actually known about the effect of beer on the organs of the genitourinary system.
The myth of the benefits of beer for the kidneys The idea that beer can have a positive effect on kidney health is due to the content of antioxidants in the drink, as well as its diuretic effect. However, it should be clarified that beer consumption is not associated with benefits for kidney function.
Reality and negative impact: Dehydration. Beer, like any alcoholic drink, has a dehydrating effect on the body. Alcohol suppresses the production of vasopressin, a hormone that regulates fluid levels in the body. This can lead to more frequent urination and, as a result, dehydration. Dehydration can negatively affect kidney function and overall health. Adverse effects on the urinary tract. Beer can irritate the urinary tract, which can contribute to urinary tract infections. Alcohol can also make existing kidney problems worse. Effect on blood pressure. Excessive consumption of alcohol, including beer, can raise blood pressure. A constant increase in blood pressure can negatively affect kidney function.
Reasonable consumption
It is important to emphasize that moderate and infrequent consumption of beer, like other alcoholic beverages, often avoids serious health problems. However, avoid excessive consumption and remember that beer is not particularly good for the kidneys.
Other myths about beer
Beer can be drunk in large quantities because it contains a lot of water: Despite the high water content of beer, the alcohol in it has a dehydrating effect, which can lead to dehydration, especially if consumed in excess.
Beer is a good way to relax and de-stress: Although many may feel relaxed after drinking alcohol, this is often a temporary effect. Long-term or excessive alcohol consumption can actually worsen stress and mental health effects.
Beer dissolves fat: Many people believe that beer helps dissolve fat and helps flush it out of the body. However, this is not true. Beer, like other alcoholic beverages, contains calories and can promote fat storage.
Beer is a good source of vitamins and minerals: Beer contains some vitamins and minerals, but it is not the best source of nutrients. An overdose of alcohol can negatively affect the absorption of certain nutrients.
If you have kidney problems, blood pressure or other chronic diseases, it is advisable to consult your doctor before making changes to your diet or drinking habits. In general, it is better to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle without alcohol to maintain the health of the genitourinary system and the whole body. The article is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation or a substitute for professional consultation.
Illustrative Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/friends-toasting-their-drinks-6174129/
Fans of cycling tourism will be able to join a new adventure connecting Croatia and seven countries of the Balkans. The route in question includes 80 segments, and the organizers explain in detail every turn, difficulty of the route and other small details. The destination was designed by the Slovenian NGO – GoodPlace and uses the services of various mapping experts responsible for the entire journey. The chosen route has a length of 3,364 kilometers and was developed with the help of the famous Balkan traveler and writer Alex Krevar.
Trans Dinarica will open its doors to all enthusiasts in the warmer months of 2024.
The creators want to show forgotten but beautiful places that have not been visited for a long time, since new technologies often draw other routes. It turns out that European countries began to invest a lot in cycling tourism before the pandemic, and now with new forces, as many as 17 new routes with a total length of 90 thousand kilometers have been described, including a fanatical route for experts – from the Arctic to the Baltic Sea.
Practice shows that more and more Europeans choose a cycling weekend to rest and explore a given region. Many share that this is the better way to travel and they can tap into the local culture, cuisine and even some of the more hidden wineries in the designated regions that rarely disappoint guests.
The Trans Dinarica is not an accredited EuroVelo route, but it includes some beautiful points of the Adriatic Sea, as well as parts of the popular EV8 Mediterranean route.
The idea of this type of tourism is that it can increase the attendance of and offer more scenic spots and access to nature. Thanks to the more serious human flow, some smaller settlements have a steady flow of people and generate revenue from visits. It is the opinion of the organizers that local tour operators should think of proposals along a given route, including accommodation, attractions and even a form of assistance, from which they are sure to profit.
Passing the Trans Dinarica is completely free, but it leaves an opportunity for business owners to advertise themselves and appear on the map with various services.
The creators of Trans Dinarica and the people of GoodPlace are responsible for the creation of Slovenian Green Bike Routes – the project is now an integral part of the country’s national tourism strategy.
According to Slovenia’s calculations, cyclists have brought in nearly 10 million euros over the past 18 months. Alex says that more than 13,000 people have downloaded the Slovenian bike routes app, and according to his modest calculations, the average investment for a bike weekend was about 100 euros per day for food and accommodation at a certain location, as well as additional services such as support, spare parts and others.
Cycle tourism is becoming more and more serious in Europe and there are enough investors who are happy to decide to join this venture. Funding also comes from the US, as well as from EDGE – Economic Development, Governance and Enterprise Growth.
Trans Dinarica will aim to boost the economy and warm relations between all the countries the adventurers will pass through. Apart from Croatia, the cyclists will pass through Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia.
the tart of the route is from western Slovenia and passes through some of the largest national parks. Organizers deliberately skip some of the busiest roads and direct participants to Bosnia. It passes through the Western Balkans, where a unique view of Sarajevo is revealed, and then the road continues to Podgorica, Skopje and Pristina.
Alex admits that there are some steeper roads, but he points out that one can easily ride a hybrid bike – a combination between a road bike and a mountain bike. At every single border, there are more prying eyes than any form of heavy and thorough checks. Some employees find it hard to accept the fact that a person can travel such a distance by bicycle.
Inspections are possible, but practice has shown that the cyclists themselves do not carry much luggage with them and really have nothing to declare.
More than 47,000 tonnes of sugar have been removed from soft drinks alone in the UK since the authorities introduced a two-tier system of additional taxation on them in 2018. Their producers were obliged to pay the treasury 18 pence for every five grams of sugar they put in 100 milliliters, and even 24 pence for larger quantities. To avoid the tax, some of them reduced their use of sugar and developed recipes with healthier sugar substitutes.
The tax was supposed to reduce sugar consumption in the UK by 20%, but unfortunately this target has not yet been reached. However, there is a positive change. If before every second drink in the commercial network had five grams of sugar per hundred milliliters, now it is only 15%.
A Cambridge University study has shown that the sugar tax has really achieved something serious. It reduced obesity among 10- to 11-year-old girls by eight percent, and also the number of teeth extracted due to decay.
The tax is part of a larger package of measures that includes a ban on supermarkets placing chocolates and other treats at children’s eye level near checkouts. Also, starting next year, they will not be allowed to make tempting offers on unhealthy foods.
For others, the tax does not affect their shopping habits.
Almost one in five teenagers in Europe drink sugary soft drinks every day, which is believed to be one of the factors behind adolescent obesity in the Old Continent. That’s why the World Health Organization has long recommended that sugary foods be taxed, and about 50 countries have already done so.
Illustrative Photo by Suzy Hazelwood: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-sugar-cubes-in-glass-jar-2523650/
The pollen originates from those parts of the plant that are particularly important for the development of the plant species. Therefore, it contains substances of high biological value. Its composition varies greatly depending on the plants from which it is harvested. Fresh pollen contains the following ingredients:
• protein substances (22-40%), including the amino acids valine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, lysine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, trevonine, histidine, arginine, glutamic, aspartic acid, etc.
• Sugars in the form of nectar carbohydrates (30 – 60 %)
• Vitamins. Bee pollen is particularly rich in vitamins that are absorbed by the bees’ body. Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B7, B8, B9, B12, C, provitamin A (converted in the body into vitamin A), vitamin D, etc. have been identified. Rutin (vitamin P) reaches 60 mg per 100 g of pollen. It is of particular importance for the human body, as it increases capillary resistance
• Enzymes. Amylase, invertase, catalase, phosphatase, etc., which catalyze various chemical processes in the body, have been identified.
• Antibiotic substances. They come from both plants and bees. They stop the development of bacteria in the intestines. They are especially active against gram-negative bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella ehteritidis and Proteus vulgaris, which are the causes of gastrointestinal diseases and urinary tract infections.
• Mineral substances. Potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium are in the greatest amount. Manganese, zinc, cobalt, barium, silver, gold, vanadium, tungsten, iridium, mercury, molybdenum, chromium, cadmium, strontium, palladium, platinum and titanium have been found in small quantities. The amount of mineral salts is greater in pollen than in honey.
• Lipids, aromatic and pigment substances.
• Biologically active substances. Bee pollen contains from 0.60 to 4.87% nucleic acids, ribonucleic acids being more than deoxyribonucleic acids.
• Bee pollen is rich in the essential amino acids for life, which many times surpass the amino acids contained in beef, eggs and cheese.
If there were no other food sources containing amino acids, pollen could provide the human body with the minimum need for them through the average dose of 15 g per day. For example, 2 tablespoons of pollen equals the protein content of 140 g of pork steak, but without bad fats, chemicals and animal hormones.
Therapeutic action and application:
On the one hand, pollen has a high nutritional value – no other natural product can compete with it, but at the same time it is also a complete food thanks to its diverse ingredients. Pollen should also be considered as a natural “medicine-concentrate”, based on the large amount of enzymes, vitamins, antibiotic substances, trace elements, flavonoids, etc. contained in it – all of natural origin and in a favorable ratio with each other.
Pollen is used in the treatment of:
• Diseases of the small and large intestine.
• Possibility of using the pollen and perga in the treatment of diabetes, as it stimulates the release of insulin.
• Lowers the level of cholesterol, which is used in the treatment of atherosclerosis.
• Pollen is characterized by a low sodium content, but contains a lot of magnesium and potassium, which makes it suitable for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
• Pollen contains iron, which means that it can be used in the treatment of anemia.
• Thanks to the rich content of iodine, the pollen can be used in the prevention of endemic goitre.
• The pollen has a well-expressed anabolic (building) effect.
• It is used in the treatment of inflammatory and degenerative diseases of the liver.
• It has a normalizing effect on the nervous system.
Very good results are known in the treatment and prevention of pathological processes of the prostate gland such as hypertrophy. Bee pollen is used for gastrointestinal diseases, asthenia and states of mental and physical fatigue, which appeared as a result of various diseases, overloads, exhaustion (age-related and neurotic), etc. It is used for lack of appetite in children, delayed growth and delayed teething; it is included in the complex therapy of cardiovascular diseases, in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, in liver diseases, climacteric disorders, etc.
Contraindications for treatment with bee pollen are allergy to it and severe damage to the renal parenchyma.
Pollen is considered to be completely harmless to the body.
It is suitable for treating liver diseases, atherosclerosis, lipidemia (increase in fat). With long-term treatment, it improves the condition of patients with prostate adenoma and prostatitis, depressive conditions and chronic alcoholism. An effective means of general strengthening of the organism.
Store in a dark and cool place.
Admission-
In the evening before going to bed, take a glass of water with one teaspoon of bee pollen and one teaspoon of honey, after it has dissolved and obtained a yellowish homogeneous mixture. Therefore, it is good to add the ingredients – pollen and honey – to a glass of warm water at least 15-20 minutes earlier. The spoon should not be metal.
Why evening?
Because of the whole range of vitamin B. It has a calming effect on the nervous system. It helps to sleep well.
Vitamins. Bee pollen is particularly rich in vitamins that are absorbed by the bees’ body. Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B7, B8, B9.
Illustrative photo: St. Great martyr Procopius († 303) – patron saint of beekeepers celebrated on July 8 by the Orthodox Church. Fresco from 1315-1320 in the Hora church in Constantinople (Constantinople).
Sicily’s regional government today asked the area’s airports to stop selling souvenirs with mafia-related images.
“Let the sale of mafia-themed souvenirs and trinkets end in the shops and commercial establishments of Sicilian airports,” urged Alessandro Aricho, the regional mobility adviser.
The official wrote to the managements of the operators of the airports in Palermo, Catania, Comiso, Trapani, Lampedusa and Pantelleria.
“Maintaining a dignified image, devoid of the usual negative stereotypes, is without a doubt a firm line to be followed in the place of first arrival for tourists and visitors to Sicily,” he added.
Illustrative Photo by Mauro Reem-Itchy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-of-city-1628153/
The Turkish Independent Orthodox Church called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople as “ecumenical” a crime against Turkey’s territorial integrity and an “attempted riot” against its constitutional order. She called on Fener, as the Patriarchate of Constantinople is called, and the external forces that support it, to be held accountable, the church said in a statement quoted by TASS. It was previously reported that in a telephone conversation with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on August 21, Zelensky called him “ecumenical patriarch.”
The President of Ukraine wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter) that he discussed with Patriarch Bartholomew the law on the banning of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, thanked for the support for Kyiv and positively assessed the cooperation with Fener.
“On August 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again called Bartholomew, archpriest of the Greek Church of Constantinople, “ecumenical patriarch” and announced to the world community that the cooperation between them continues. This step is a riot against the constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey, a crime committed in the international arena against its territorial integrity. Fener, who is trying to proclaim his independence on our territory, and his internal and external supporters must be brought to justice immediately,” Turkish Orthodox Church spokesman Selcuk Erenerol said.
The Turkish Orthodox Church, established in 1921, is officially registered as a religious body in Turkey, although it is not recognized as canonical by other local Orthodox churches.
Bartholomew has repeatedly been criticized in Turkey for his participation in international events with the status of ecumenical patriarch, which is not recognized by Ankara. In June, he participated in a conference on Ukraine in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, spoke at it and signed the closing declaration as Ecumenical Patriarch. The Turkish Foreign Ministry subsequently denied reports that the Patriarch of Constantinople had participated as a state person, and Ankara demanded an explanation from the organizers for having his signature on the closing declaration.
Turkish authorities say their position on the status of the Patriarch of Constantinople remains unchanged based on the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923, which recognized him as the head of the Greek Orthodox community in Turkey.
Illustration: Grave Epitaph – “Papa Eftim served this country as much as an army” Mustafa Kemal Atatürk…
Despite the fact that there is a 450-kilometer-long road strip, which is a wild occasion, Albania is protected by the destination of the flights and the Albanians this.
Often compared to the Maldives, thanks to its crystal-clear waters and peaceful beaches, Albania is not as dirty as the rest of the world, or at least not to the public including Spain, Greece and Italy.
The group from Southeast Europe is working to increase the level of typism. Albania hopes to increase its total annual number of visitors to five times from the current target of 2.8 million, writes Ehrres.so.
The target of 14 million readers would be a four million increase, compared to the 10 million readers reported for 2023. To increase its appeal, Albania is betting big. The city is building an entirely new airport for 103.3 million euros in order to make it more convenient for the typists to visit it.
The international airport in the Albanian city of Bljepa should be put into operation by the end of 2025 a year, although it has been planned for a long time. The famous Bljepa international airport must be one more reason for typists to visit this place. This will significantly reduce the travel time from the airport to the airport.
The Albanian government for the first time announced plans for the new airport in 2017, and by 2021, the engineering company Mabetech International l, announced its intention to invest more than 103 million euro in the initial phase, which includes the loss of on the computer, as well as on the terminal.
It is said that the future airport will provide services for flights from more than 3 km. terminal of 31 square meters.
Albania is considered an ideal destination for those with a typical budget. A search on the booking site shows that nights cost from 17 euros to 140 euros for the cheapest hotels.
Illustrative Photo by Mihai Vlasceanu: https://www.pexels.com/photo/beach-on-sea-coast-26743508/
By asserting the unlimited autonomy of subjective religious experience, Berdyaev attacks Fr. Florensky precisely for his aspiration to subordinate this experience to some objective beginning; in other words, for the fact that he invests in the belief a mental content independent of the inner experience of the person. And reproaches Fr. Florensky because he affirms external revelation and “demands a transcription of religious experience in terms of transcendent ontology.” From Berdyaev’s point of view, all this is rational scholasticism, which should be rejected. The sophisticated religious psychology of Fr. Florensky “passes with him into scholastic theology; the dogma of the Trinity, as external and transcendent to mystical experience, inevitably turns out to be theological’. Theology always rests on the idea of external revelation, and is opposed to mysticism as resting on the idea of inner revelation. Theology is transcendentalism, mysticism is immanentism.” In Berdyaev’s opinion, “scholasticism in disguise” is a candle. P. A. Florensky is “inevitable punishment for any admission of dogma to and in spiritual life, to and in mystical experience”.[14]
The principle that N. A. Berdyaev opposes to Fr. Florensky, is absolute freedom – the “cognitive eros” that is not restrained by dogma, nor by logic, nor by any objective principles at all; more precisely: a boundless arbitrariness of subjective mysticism. As Berdyaev himself admits, the characteristic feature of his “new” religious consciousness is his conviction that “at present the world is entering an era of anthropological revelation, the end of which must be taken upon by man himself, at his own risk and fear; that divine revelation passes into and through man and continues. This is entering the age of religious adulthood”.[15]
For the reader who is at least somewhat familiar with the history of Christian and Protestant religious sectarianism in particular, there is hardly anything very new and significant in this “new” religious consciousness. As a warning to Fr. Florensky, however, N.A. Berdyaev’s point of view retains some importance, which is why we need to dwell on it here for a bit.
It is obvious that this unlimited freedom of the human individual – “at his own risk and fear” to determine the true revelation, means in practice a final cancellation of the latter, a complete loss of any common religious principles that bind people in one. Where the criterion for the truth of revelation is simply the subjective “religious experience” of the individual, there are obviously as many conflicting revelations as there are people. Clearly, such a view is self-defeating. In the eyes of Berdyaev, does his subjective revelation deserve any greater respect compared to this objective revelation of the Church against which he is rebelling? In the name of what, on what grounds? After all, Berdyaev’s references to his “intuitions” cannot have an external authoritative meaning for other people, and even for the person who experienced the “intuition”, there is always a possible doubt: was it an authentic revelation, a subjective hallucination or an apparition of Satan in the image of the Angel of Light. Those who deny, like Berdyaev, any objective criterion in religion, for him these doubts are unconditionally insoluble.
Thus, the weakness of Berdyaev’s religious point of view is more than obvious for Fr. For Florensky, it would not be a serious danger if he stood completely consistently and firmly on the point of view of the dogmatically determinable and definite objective revelation. Unfortunately, however, in the church views of Fr. Florensky observed an inconsistency, thanks to which he was defenseless against Berdyaev’s objections, and the religious subjectivism of the latter grew into a serious danger for him.
The source of this danger lies precisely in the aforementioned tendency of Fr. Florensky to alogism—in his fascination with that current fashionable trend in religious philosophy which proclaims the subjective experience of individual “religious experience,” unverified by thought, as the supreme criterion in religion. In this direction, he makes an extremely significant concession precisely at this point, where religious subjectivism should meet the strongest resistance from his side – in the teaching about the Church – and precisely with this he gives Berdyaev the opportunity to hold an easy victory over him. As we have already seen, when it comes to Christological questions or the mutual relationship of the persons of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Florensky insisted on the need for such “mathematically precise” dogmatic definitions that would exclude the possibility of different religious interpretations from the point of view of “individual religious experience.” Whatever the “experiences” of this experience may be, it does not depend on the discretion or “inspiration of the individual” whether he will regard the Son of God as “one-person” or “sub-divine”, whether he will recognize in Him one or two natures, whether he will he believes or he will not believe in the inseparability and non-fusion of these two natures.
Such should also be the point of view on the Church. Here, too, a firm dogmatic definition is needed, which would teach people to distinguish the true church from the false one and, in this sense, set some limit before subjective “dare.” However, due to some strange inconsistency, whenever it comes to the Church, Fr. Florensky is attacked by some fear of thought and he becomes an apologist for logical, and in the given case also dogmatic formlessness.
He finds that the Church, as the fullness of divine life, “cannot be laid in the narrow grave of logical definition.” “Let,” he says, “neither I nor anyone else be able, and certainly not succeed, to define what ecclesiasticism is!” Let those who try to do this challenge each other and mutually deny the formula of ecclesiasticism! This very indeterminacy of ecclesiasticity, its elusiveness for logical terms, its ineffability, does not all this prove that ecclesiasticity is a special life, a new life given to man, but, like all life, inaccessible to reason” (p. 5).
When Fr. Florensky speaks of dogmatic definitions concerning other mysteries, he is not misled by the ambiguity of the word “definition.” He knows well that to “determine” dogmatically, this does not mean to exhaust the religious mystery by means of a reasoning formula, to lay it down without a residue in concepts. He is not disturbed by the application to these mysteries of concepts such as “Being”, “essence”, “Person”, “nature”, etc. sub., because he well understands that in the given case the concepts in no way claim to be an exhaustive expression of what they denote, but only play a necessary role of barriers to thought, guarding a certain content of faith against its possible mixing with something untrue or impure. Why, then, when it comes to the Church, does he deny the need for these epithets, and think it possible to leave in this case the religious feeling of the individual without any highly sanctified dogmatic, mental support?
In relation to the Church, he replaces this dogmatic criterion with an aesthetic one – in his thought, the only criterion for ecclesiasticity is beauty. “Yes, there is, he says, a special spiritual beauty, and it, elusive to dogmatic formulas, is at the same time the only true way to determine what is Orthodox and what is not.” Those who know this beauty are the spiritual elders, the masters of the “art of art”, as the holy fathers call asceticism. Spiritual elders have, so to speak, “acquired a skill” in recognizing the goodness of the spiritual life. Orthodox taste, Orthodox appearance are felt, but not subject to arithmetical calculation; Orthodoxy is shown, not proven. That is why for everyone who wants to understand Orthodoxy, there is only one way: the direct experience of Orthodoxy”.
And right here the question arises: where is it, this immediate experience, and how do each of us, imperfect and sinful humans, distinguish it from non-immediate experience? Since only Christ is without sin, even the experience of the greatest of saints cannot be recognized as infallible. And, finally, where are these holy elders of the “orthodox taste” whom I should trust – in our church, in the Roman church, or with the schismatics, and in which sect? If they are precisely here, in Orthodoxy, isn’t there a vicious circle here: do we only know from the “experts” and the “old men” where the true Orthodoxy is! If we start to check the experience of these “experts” from our own imperfect experience, we will probably never know with certainty where this true “Orthodox taste” is: whether among the Old Believers, whether among the Imyaslavtsev, or among the Roman Catholics, or in the Holy Synod? The aesthetic criterion is unable to give us anything but an infinite number of conflicting answers. On the other hand, he gives N. A. Berdyaev the opportunity to place Fr. A Florentine question to which the latter cannot give the least satisfactory answer.
“If ecclesiastical life is life in the Spirit, and if the criterion for a correct church life is Beauty, then why then Jacob Böhme, for example, is not in ecclesiastical life, why did he not live in the Spirit? According to the external, formal criteria for ecclesiasticism, Böhme was a Lutheran and a heretic-gnostic – in the judgment of the official Roman Catholic and Orthodox consciousness; according to the criteria of Spirit and Beauty, however, he was an authentically ecclesiastical Christian. Why, according to the internal criteria of the Spirit and Beauty, from the church should be excommunicated and recognized as heretics the many mystics, people of the righteous life, of the authentic life in the Spirit and Beauty, who do not fit into the external, formal, official criteria?”. [16] ] And so, N. A. Berdyaev accuses Fr. Florensky in internal contradiction.
“The church does not have any external, formal signs and criteria, it is a life in the Spirit and in Beauty. This is the one thesis of a candle. Florensky. His other thesis, which he uses throughout his book, sounds like this: only that life in Spirit and Beauty is religiously permissible, correct, justified, which is ecclesiastic according to the formal, external criteria of ecclesiasticity. Everything non-Orthodox in the literal, religious and external formal sense of the word is suspicious, unhealthy, all this is a charm and even fornication”.[17]
Here the thought of Fr. Florensky is subjected to a certain stylization, but really in his book there are fluctuations between two diametrically opposed criteria for churchness: subjective, aesthetic, passed to him from the “new” religious consciousness, and objective, which was given by the Church itself. I fully agree with the proposal to make a choice between one and the other, and I think that the aesthetic criterion, as decidedly incompatible with the “orthodox theodicy” of Fr. Florensky, should be provided entirely and exclusively as the property of N. A. Berdyaev. Among the duties of the Orthodox theologian is to clearly realize and accurately formulate this objective criterion for ecclesiality, which would enable us to navigate the uncertain, contradictory indications of individual “religious experience” and taste. Otherwise, we risk losing the very awareness of the unity of the Church. The inevitable logical end to which the criterion of “orthodox taste” leads is a loss of universal consciousness and an anarchy of individual experiences, in the place of ecclesiastical concord. The signs of this incipient anarchy are present in Berdyaev’s “dares”; unfortunately for him Fr. Florensky does not fight back strongly enough; in some of its positions, a collision between individual taste and the objective principles and norms in which the Church itself expresses its understanding of ecclesiality can also be traced.
Take, for example, the attitude of Fr. Florensky to Roman Catholicism: following the Slavophiles in this respect, he denied the very existence of spiritual life, and therefore of ecclesiasticism, among Roman Catholics. “Where there is no spiritual life, something external is needed, such as the provision of ecclesiasticism. A given position, the pope or a given totality, a system of positions, the hierarchy – here is the criterion for ecclesiasticity of the Roman Catholic” (p. 6). Such is the assessment of Roman Catholicism from the point of view of the old Slavophiles, to whose teachings Fr. Florensky (p. 608). Meanwhile, it is not difficult to convince ourselves that this Slavophile “taste” is in complete contradiction with the universal tradition of our church. The Orthodox Church recognizes the reality of all Roman Catholic sacraments – from Baptism to Ordination. Which in turn means that, taking into account the clear inadmissibility of the blasphemous thought that ecclesiastical sacraments can be performed outside the Church, our church thereby recognizes the Roman Church as a church. Here is a graphic illustration of the gap that can exist in individual cases between the objective ecclesiastical understanding of the Church and the individual taste of individuals, even if they were the most pious Orthodox.
For Fr. It would not have been particularly difficult for Florensky to avoid this collision with ecclesiastical tradition, if in his teaching about the Church he followed the same method which he applied with success in other areas of religious teaching. The chapter “About Sophia”, for example, in his book is a very good attempt to realize and consolidate in concepts this understanding of “Sophia – the Wisdom of God”, which was actually expressed in the life of the Church, especially in its worship and in her icon painting. Here he is not afraid to rationalize church experience, but for some reason, when it comes to the Church, his point of view radically changes – here for him “concept” means the end of spiritual life!
Meanwhile, the understanding of ecclesiality, which has been expressed in the whole life of our church, in its sacraments, in its worship and in its relation to other churches and religious societies, can be logicized, that is, it can be realized and expressed in concepts, within the same limits and to the same extent as her understanding of “Sophia” and other religious mysteries. Of course, these concepts cannot exhaust the fullness of the spiritual life of the Church, but in them we find firm principles for distinguishing and separating the ecclesiastical from the non-ecclesiastical. The main, objective criterion by which the Church recognizes one from the other has already found its expression when St. Ap. Peter confessed Christ: “Son of the Living God.” Which, according to the Savior, becomes the foundation stone of the Church (Matt. 16:15-18). As in the words of St. Ap. John, who teaches us to distinguish the Spirit of God from the spirit of deception (1 John 4:2-3). This criterion is the actual, real incarnation of God: the manifestation of Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh. This criterion, of course, is expressed not in the letter, but in the meaning of the sacred texts. It is the incarnation of God taken in its universal meaning of content and meaning of all the life of mankind and creation. Not something else, but a social incarnation of the God-man Christ, His universal body wants to be the Church itself: where this continuous active God-incarnation is present, there she is, and outside of it she is nothing. Here we are given, as in a grain, the whole teaching of the Church about herself; here is also the reason for the inclusion in it of all those human communities in which the mystery of the incarnation is constantly at work; and here again is the reason for excluding from it all those societies which do not recognize this secret or for some other reasons do not possess it!
Closely related to this is the formal sign by which the Church distinguishes itself from all other purely human organizations. Through the sacraments, the Incarnation of God takes place continuously in the Church, and the authority to perform the sacraments belongs only to the apostles and their successors, who are ordained by them, and therefore only this Church can be the environment of the actual Incarnation of God, to be the body of Christ, which has apostolic succession. In this way, the statement of Fr. Florensky, that the concept of the Church is almost indefinable. This concept is defined dogmatically by the Church itself, which in the Creed itself calls itself “conciliar and apostolic”; The church, therefore, defines itself through clear logical terms, enabling in a number of cases to accurately distinguish the ecclesiastical from the non-ecclesiastical. And these definitions, these external formal signs, although they do not exhaust and do not pretend to exhaust the vital content of the Church, they necessarily logically derive from this content, form together with it an inseparable whole. The incarnation of God, the humanity of God, the deification of men, the sacraments, the hierarchs-mystagogues, these human mediators in the divine-human mystery that takes place in the Church – all these are different expressions of the same meaning, units of an inseparable vital and, at the same time, logical system. Because the logical and the vital in the Church are one and the same. From here it is also clear how groundless the fear of Fr. Florenski to define the Church in concepts: both congregationalism, apostleship, and succession are all concepts not only definable, but also strictly defined. Anyone who knows the teachings of the Church can accurately convey their meaning, and the Church, which knows nothing about the “aesthetic” criterion of Fr. Florensky, is not afraid to express his vital essence in them. If we are told that the dogmatic definitions which the Church gives to herself are incomplete and imperfect, that many questions concerning the Church remain unanswered in them, for example, the question of the grounds and limits of the dogmatic authority of council decrees, then this will not be an objection against what has been said here, but an indication of the need for new dogmatic definitions and, therefore, for new tasks before ecclesiastical thought. To point out the incompleteness of the existing definition does not mean to deny its existence, but to seek its completion. In any case, the demand for a definition of ecclesiality in terms of word and thought means ecclesiality to be affirmed, not erred to. After the Logos, having become flesh, Himself expressed Himself in human language, after He united with human speech and thought, by this very fact He already sanctified both the one and the other. And vain fear of thought must be abandoned. This alogism, which denies the embodiment of the Word of God in human speech and human thought, thereby commits a sin against the mystery of the Incarnation. That is why it, like many other delusions, must be cut off in the name of the criterion of the Incarnation.
It is especially important for us to establish here that this criterion by which the Christian is recognized from the non-Christian, the ecclesiastical from the non-ecclesiastical, is not transcendental, but immanent in thought, i.e., in it we have not only a living but also a logical criterion. After all human nature is deified in the Church, this deification is also experienced by thought itself: without ceasing to be human, thought becomes deified. And therefore, even in this act of deification, no violation of her laws, i.e., of logical laws, is required of her: the superhuman, the divine, which she is called to express, is a crowning, not an abrogation, of the logical.
Logic is precisely one of the characteristic distinguishing features of the church’s understanding of religion as a new religious consciousness. Meanwhile, while Berdyaev teaches us to perceive the “intuition” of religious experience without any mental examination and consideration, the criterion of St. Ap. John, by whom the Church is guided, subordinates all the “revelations” of subjective experience to the judgment of discursive thought: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world” (1 John 4:1).
The meaning of these words is clearest of all: every spirit, both foreign and our own, is to be subjected to a mental test in the way of comparing its testimony with the appearance of Christ come in the flesh. To do this is not to be satisfied with the evidence of “orthodox taste”, but to subject this evidence to the most severe criticism: all that, after examination, turns out to be in clear and irreconcilable contradiction with the mystery of the Incarnation, must be with the very this and rejected. The criterion of St. Ap. John contains in himself the categorical demand that the divine humanity should be the beginning of a logical connection of all our thoughts about faith. And in the fulfillment of this requirement is concluded this mental foretaste of the Tabor light, which is also the highest task before the human mind.
I could end with this, but in conclusion I would like to repeat once again that my criticism comes from a positive and deeply sympathetic attitude towards the book of Fr. Florensky: the meaning of this criticism of mine is reduced to the wish that he would think through the deep thought that lies at the basis of his book. Truly, the Light of Tabor is not a fleeting phenomenon, but an eternal reality in which all our earthly sins, sufferings and contradictions find healing; and it shines not only in the other side of the universe, but also “enlightens every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). And that is why even here, in this life, this universal transformation begins, which will end and become evident in the future resurrection of every creature. Even here, at the prayer of the apostles, Christ came down from the mountain and manifested the healing of the raging life. This Tabor light coming down from above brings with it not only physical healing, but also spiritual healing: the whole composition of man must restore its lost wholeness in it: the spirit, the body, the heart, and the mind. With all his nature, man must participate in this ascent of the mountain, and therefore also with his thought – does not our thought share the common lot of this sinful life, which periodically rages “and suffers badly, because it often falls into fire and often into water” (Matt. 17:15). It was only because of their unbelief that the apostles could not heal these contradictions in life. In the same way, it is only because of our unbelief that these contradictions of thought remain unhealed, which are expressed in its manifold leaps and wanderings.
Complete faith, rising above doubt, must herald that universal healing, which is expressed not only in the transformation of the heart and in the spiritualization of the flesh, but also in the enlightenment of the mind. This revelation of the holy ascetics of our church concludes the fulfillment of the expectations of Russian religious thought. In it and Fr. Florensky has found his Pillar and Support of Truth. Let us wish him to continue to build on this foundation, which is so well and firmly laid.
Source in Russian: Trubetskoy, E. N. “Svet Favorsky and the transformation of the mind” – In: Russkaya mysl, 5, 1914, pp. 25-54; the basis of the text is a report read by the author before a meeting of the Russian Religious and Philosophical Society on February 26, 1914.
Notes:
[14] Berdyaev, N. A. “Stylized Orthodoxy” – In: Russkaya mysl, January/ Бердяев, Н. А. „Стилизованное православие“ – В: Русская мысль, Январь, 1914, p. 114.
