Teologiczna wizja dziejów w pismach metropolity Iłariona

Abstract

Hilarion was in 1051-54 the firs t Russian metropolitan of Kiev. He is the author of some w ritings known as the Sermon on Law and Grace (Slovo o zakone i blagodati). These w ritings seem to be originally separate works: a paschal sermon on Law and Grace, The Praise (Pochvala) of prince Vladimir, The Prayer (Molitva) and his personal Confession of faith. In his writings Hilarion developed an original and optimistic theology of history, centered around the person and the work of Christ. It is a historiosophical reflection on the fate of judaism, on the historical role of Christianity and on the history of the "Russian land". Hilarion shows the long process of liberation of mankind from the "darkness of idolatry" and the captivity of the Law to the life enlightened by the "word of the Gospel". The fate of Judaism , however, does not interest him in itself, but rather in connection with the Truth and the Grace, incarnated in Jesus Christ. The author of the paper gives first several hermeneutic observations, criticizing some recent non-Christian interpretations of Hilarion's historiosophy in purely secular terms. He presents the Hilarion's understanding of the historical importance of Christianity, the central role of Christ, the providential meaning of people and events in the history of Russian nation. Finally the paper deals with Hilarion's view of divine Grace and the unfaithfulness of the nation (special attention is devoted to The Prayer). Some sixty years after the christianisation of the Kievan Rus', the old-Russian theological thought gave witness to its deep understanding of human history, full of confidence and optimism.