Andrzej Walicki and Fr. George Florovsky (Meetings). A. Valitsky’s Letters to Fr. G. Florovsky

Abstract

The article examines the personal and scholarly relationship between two promi­nent twentieth-century thinkers: Russian theologian and the founder of Neopa­tristic synthesis, George Florovsky and Polish scholar Andrzej Walicki. On the basis of Walicki’s memoirs and the epistolary heritage of both philosophers, it has been established that they first met in 1960 at Harvard. Florovsky had a sig­nificant influence on the young Polish scholar’s interpretation of Slavophilism. At the same time, Walicki interpreted Russian philosophy as a part of European philosophy, while Fr. George, although criticized Western influences in Russian thought, sought to indicate its originality appealing to the Fathers of the Church and the development of a Neopatristic synthesis. Other aspects of both thinkers are noted in the article: their studies in historiosophy and their emphasis on inde­terminism in history, and the fact that both Florovsky and Walicki were apolo­gists for Russian culture in the Western academic world. This article is an intro­duction to the publication of two letters from Walicki to Florovsky stored at the archives of Princeton University: they were sent in 1965 and deal with the exchange of ideas and books between the two scholars.