Aleksey Khomyakov

A self-portrait from 1842

Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov (Russian: Алексе́й Степа́нович Хомяко́в) (May 13 (O.S. May 1) 1804, Moscow – October 5 (O.S. September 23), 1860, Moscow) was a Russian theologian, philosopher and poet. He co-founded the Slavophile movement along with Ivan Kireyevsky, and became one of its most distinguished theoreticians. His son Nikolay Khomyakov was a speaker of the State Duma.

Biography

Khomyakov's whole life was centred on Moscow. He viewed this "thousand-domed city" as the epitome of the Russian way of life. Equally successful as a landlord and conversationalist, he published very little during his lifetime. His writings, printed posthumously by his friends and disciples, exerted a profound influence on the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian lay philosophers, such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, and Vladimir Solovyov. Alexander Herzen's My Past and Thoughts contains a delightful characterisation of Khomyakov.

For Khomyakov, socialism and capitalism were equally repugnant offspring of Western decadence. The West failed to solve human spiritual problems, as it stressed competition at the expense of cooperation. In his own words, "Rome kept unity at the expense of freedom, while Protestants had freedom but lost unity."

Khomyakov's own ideals revolved around the term sobornost, being the Slavonic equivalent of catholicity found in the Nicene Creed and loosely translated as "togetherness" or "symphony". Khomyakov viewed the Russian obshchina as a perfect example of sobornost and extolled the Russian peasants for their humility.

Khomyakov died from cholera, infected by a peasant he had attempted to treat. He was buried next to his brother-in-law Nikolai Yazykov and another disciple, Nikolai Gogol, in the Danilov Monastery. The Soviets arranged for their disinterment and had them reburied at the new Novodevichy Cemetery.

Works

• Полное собранiе сочиненiй. Томъ I-VIII. Москва, 1900-1914.

Bibliography

• Lea B.Virághalmy: A homjakovi ekkléziológia szókincsének szemantikai elemzése. Budapest, 2002.
• Antonella Cavazza: A. S. Chomjakov. Opinione di un russo sugli stranieri. Bologna, 1997.
• Albert Gratieux: A.S. Khomiakov et le Mouvement Slavophile (In: Unam Sanctam 5-6) Paris, 1939.
• Georgio Paša: Homjakovi doctrina de Ecclesia. Excerpta ex dissertatione ad lauream in facultate Theologica Pontificiae Universitatis Gregorianae. Zagrebiae, 1943. 38 p.
• Peter Plank: Parapolimena zur Ekklesiologie A. S. Chomjakovs (In: Ostkirchliche Studien, Würzburg, 1980. pp. 3–29)
• John S. Romanides: Orthodox Ecclesiology According to Alexis Khomiakov (In: The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 1956/II.1 pp. 57–73.)
• Bernhard Schultze S.J.: Chomjakows Lehre über die Eucharistie (In: Orientalia Christiana Periodica. Vol.XIV. N0 I-II) Roma, 1948. pp. 138–161.
• Ernst Christoph Suttner: Offenbarung, Gnade und Kirche bei A.S. Chomjakov. (In: Das östliche Christentum. Neue Folge 20) Würzburg, 1967. 200 p.
• Jurij Samarin: Préface aux oeuvres théologiques de A.S. Khomiakov. (In: Unam Sanctam 7) Paris, 1939. 95 p.
• Marcin Ks. Wojciechowski: Nieomylosc Kosciola Chrystusowego wedlug A. Chomiakowa i jego zwolenników. Lublin, 1938. 187 p.
• ed. Vladimir Tsurikov, A.S. Khomiakov: Poet, Philosopher, Theologian, Jordanville, 2004. 206 p.

See also

• List of 19th-century Russian Slavophiles
• List of Russian philosophers

External links

• English translations of three poems
• Nikolay Berdyaev's examination of his views