The monograph of the famous philosopher, culturologist, art critic V.V. Bychkov is a unique study of the formation, development and existence of Christian culture over the almost two-thousand-year period of its existence from the point of view of artistic and aesthetic consciousness based on the material of the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) area: patristics, Byzantium, southern Slavs, Ancient Rus', Modern Russia. The book analyzes a combination of such phenomena as Christian symbolism (understanding of image, symbol, allegory, sign), antinomianism, concepts of spiritual eros, creation and creativity, beauty and art; actualization of the space-time continuum in art; Much attention is paid to such phenomena as the icon (its theology, philosophy, artistic language), the aesthetics of asceticism, the liturgical synthesis of the arts, etc. The first volume is devoted to early Christianity and Byzantium. The second covers Christian culture from the baptism of the southern and eastern Slavs to the 20th century. The transformation of the main paradigms of Christian culture among Russian religious writers and thinkers of the 19th-20th centuries is traced. and in such cultural movements of the “Silver Age” as symbolism, avant-garde, neo-Orthodoxy. Along with traditional problems for Christianity, attention is also paid to such debatable ones as sophia, conciliarity, theurgy, the newest ideas about symbols, etc.

CONTENTS: From Philo to FlorenskyEarly ChristianityChapter one. Late Antique Origins and Parallels Philo of Alexandria Plotinus Chapter Two. At the turning point of cultural traditionsApologistsOrigenLatin paradigmChapter one. Two hailChapter two. The phenomenon of beautyChapter three. ArtChapter Four. Semiotic mode of beingChapter five. Psychology of Aesthetic Byzantium Chapter One. Spiritual prerequisites of the new cultureChapter two. The many faces of created beautyChapter three. Comprehensive symbolismChapter four. Paradigms of symbolic thinkingChapter five. Art in spiritual lightGeneral principles and provisionsChristianity and the artsThe art of wordsChapter six. Theology of the iconChapter seven. The language of Byzantine artChapter eight. Asceticism as “the art of art”Chapter nine. Liturgical aestheticsTemple actionLiturgical symbolism