A.V. Kartashev and the Doctrine of the «Flesh» in Neo-Christianity in 1902-1903

Between 1901 and 1913, a religious movement for church reform took place in Russia. The doctrinal foundation of the movement was the doctrine of the «flesh», which asserted that in Christianity, earthly existence in its natural-material forms has its own religious significance, but this significance was rejected by the Church. The question of the "flesh of the world" in Christianity was perceived by Orthodox theologians and the public as a rehabilitation of paganism. For V.V. Rozanov, D.S. Merezhkovsky, who initiated the discussion of this issue between 1889 and 1903, it was a metaphysical question. Associate Professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy A.V. Kartashev met them at the St. Petersburg Religious and Philosophical Meetings (1901–1903), where their religious question was raised. As a doctrine, it had not yet been systematized or formalized, existing in the form of large and small maxims scattered throughout the philosophical and religious works of Rozanov, the literary criticism of D.S. Merezhkovsky, and the letters to them of priest A.P. Ustyinsky. In 1903, A.V. Kartashev applied the teleological principle and presented a systemic view of the issue. The purpose of this article is to address this unexplored topic in the early work of A.V. Kartashev and, using hermeneutic, problem-analogical, and chronological methods, to reconstruct the teleology of the "flesh" of 1903 according to Kartashev. The study is conducted within theological discourse, using materials from articles by A.V. Kartashev, D.S. Merezhkovsky, and theologian P.P. Kudryavtsev, who polemicized with the writers. To verify Kartashev's teleology, the doctoral dissertation of Bishop Kirill (Zinkovsky) was used, as well as sections on the attitude of the Church's holy fathers towards the flesh. The analysis of the texts revealed that in 1903, A.V. Kartashev essentially commented on the teachings of Merezhkovsky, but by applying the principles of teleology, he developed a systematic approach to "flesh" as a "phenomenon of cosmic existence." In his teleology of the flesh, A.V. Kartashev relied on his academic knowledge of patristics and declared his agreement with D.S. Merezhkovsky on the "equal holiness" of the flesh and the spirit, but he did not go beyond the boundaries of the church tradition.