"THE RUSSIAN IDEA" OF NIKOLAI
BERDIAYEV
(The 130th anniversary of philosopher Berdiayev's birth)
- M.Faustova
- Nikolai Berdiayev...He was, probably, one of the brightest representatives
of the Russian cultural renaissance of the early 20th century and the most
important of the emigre philosophers. A prototype of a character of Russian
literature. "The man who longed for the emergence of an inspiringly
materialistic idea that would change something for the better, simply had
to appear among the writing public, University professors and revolutionary
thinkers of that time..." That is how Boris Pasternak presented one
of the characters of his Doctor Zhivago. The man he portrayed was philosopher
Nikolai Berdiayev. The 130th anniversary of Berdiayev's birth was celebrated
a short while ago.
- It was not until the 19th century that "career" philosophers
had appeared in Russia. None other but Berdiayev epitomizes the Russian
contribution to global philosophy. Early 20th century was a period of qualitative
change in philosophy. Solid and systematic attempts to analyze all sides
of life belonged in the past. Mankind faced numerous trials and tribulations:
the escalation of violence and social aggression, the growing disbalance
in relations with nature, the fear of overpopulation, and the massive spread
of neurasthenia, with its epidemic waves of suicidal tendencies. Philosophers
were expected to suggest new ways of cognition.
- A professor of Moscow University Yelena Korzhenevskaya feels that the
dramatic tension of the first half of the 20th century - the period of
two global wars that claimed an unprecedented number of victims and brought
unprecedented suffering - erupted in a new philosophy, existentialism,
which opposed man to the current of life, to the machine of global history.
As tragically and persistently as anyone, Berdiayev ponders the finality
of life, the delicate difference between life and death, the purpose of
existence, the uniqueness and importance of individual identity. "Never
before," he wrote, "has the duality of human nature been so poignantly,
tragically and dangerously manifest as nowadays."
- The life of Nikolai Berdiayev embraces lots of different things: underground
circles and legally-held disputes in imperial Petersburg; the bliss of
a tour of Italian monasteries; concentration on the life of the Russian
provinces; meetings with members of religious sects and anarchist groupings;
the opening, in 1918, of a Free Academy of Spiritual Culture; and teaching
at Moscow University. After a short imprisonment, Berdiayev found himself
aboard the "philosophers' ship" which took the cream of the Russian
intelligenzia away from the land of Soviets. More than a quarter of a century
of his foreign exile - Berdiayev was to die in 1948, in France - resulted
in the creation and publication of Put magazine, the opening of the YMCA-PRESS
publishing house in Paris, and the efforts to streamline the Movement of
Russian Christian Students.
- What comes as the biggest achievement of those years is books - dozens
of brilliant, passionate, polemic treatises whose titles reveal a wealth
of thought: "The Philosophy Of Freedom," "The Meaning Of
Creative Efforts," "The Fate Of Russia," "The Philosophy
Of Inequality," "The Russian Idea," "On Slavery And
Human Freedom"...
- Different as they were, his writings kept featuring a limited number
of topics. As he wrote in a book of reminiscences, he "never stopped
writing about individual identity and freedom."
- Yelena Korzhenevskaya feels that Berdiayev saw man as a microcosm and
a microtheos, that is a replica of God. That is why, he saw man as an unbounded,
free and highly creative being. Every single man is rooted in a lower world
- he is a natural, public, and social being, he reconciles with necessity
and cannot shake off its bounds. The dual nature of man is what makes human
life so tragic. In Berdiayev's view, there is only one, eschatological,
solution to this problem: it is only in the Kingdom of Heaven that man
will come to terms with himself. Berdiayev rejected the empty shell of
old philosophy for the sake of a new system of values and, together with
it, new man who would win genuine freedom through communication with God.
He said that new society would rest on the principle of the absolute importance
of every individual, the communal spirit and the sense of togetherness
that seem to be inborn qualities of the Russian people.
- Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdiayev believed that the fate of the
world, its eventual transfiguration depended exclusively on man's efforts.
Will his dream come true in the third millennium of Christian history?
ACTOR AND FILM DIRECTOR NIKOLAI BURLIAYEV
- O.Bugrova
- Nikolai Burliayev has starred in almost 70 pictures. He found himself
famous with the release of Andrei Tarkovsky's film Ivan's Childhood in
which he played the tragic role of a teenage scout of World War II. A few
years out of his own and Ivan's childhood, Burliayev again teamed up with
Andrei Tarkovsky, this time for the role of teenage bell-maker Boriska
in Andrei Rublyov.
- Burliayev sees Andrei Tarkovsky as the man of his destiny. "I
fell in love with that man the moment I first saw him," he says, "back
in 1961, when I came to be tested for the role of Ivan. He amazed me and
has been amazing me ever since then. I think this film-maker was one of
the first to use the language of the movies, the language of the film industry
in the effort to bring man closer to God. Filmwise, Tarkovsky means to
me what the Apostle Andrew, the first to follow the Messiah, means to the
Christians."
- Today's Burliayev is known as a film actor and not only a film actor.
He is the time-tested brain behind the International Forum of Slavonic
and Orthodox Church Films which features contributions from 35 Slavonic
and non-Slavonic nations and such celebrated film-makers as Krzystof Zanussi,
Andrzej Wajda, and Jerzy Hoffman.
- Burliayev feels that the film industry of Russia is returning to life.
As the man who selects new pictures for the Slavonic Film Forum, he knows
that a growing number of beautiful pictures are made every year. "Russia
has always been rich in adepts of film-making - take Andrei Tarkovsky,
Sergei Bondarchuk or Alexander Sokurov who has made the phenomenal Russian
Arc. Or take another perfectly good film director, Andrei Zvyagintsev:
his Return got two top awards of a film festival of Venice."- Burliayev
says. - "The Slavonic film forum has opened clubs in Beijing, Crakow,
Brno, Prague, Helsinki, and Kosovska Mitrovica. I hope that one such club
will open either next or this year in Chile."
- What matters most is the Slavonic Film forum which has, in Burliayev's
view, grown up into a powerful positive force of the film industry. Burliayev
harbors far-reaching plans: the opening of a film-making academy that will
bear the name of Sergei Bondarchuk and turn out film directors, script
writers, cameramen, sound directors and other film-making cadre. And, on
another plane, Burliayev is happy, if not amazed, to see his son Ivan making
good progress in the field of music...
TRIUMPH WINNER DMITRY BULGAKOV
- (L.Roshchina)
- Oboe-player Dmitry Bulgakov wins the international Triumph award
- Dmitry Bulgakov sees the oboe as a kindred being. Its performing, sound
qualities allow this instrument to reveal the innermost feelings of man.
Dmitry's father also played the oboe and tried to talk his son out of playing
this instrument. But, Dmitry says, nobody heard him play because he had
given up playing at an early age. Dmitry's mother is an expert in arts.
More family members showed an interest in music: a grandfather played the
French horn; so did Dmitry's brother. No one forced Dmitry into playing
the most difficult oboe. The Guinness Book of Records says that an oboist
spends as much energy as a coal miner does.
- Dmitry Bulgakov launched quite a successful career. Even as a student
of the Gnesin School of Music, he won a grant of the New Names international
charity foundation. At the age of 17, he won a nationwide competition and
was invited to join a leading symphony orchestra of Moscow. But young as
he was, he realized that he still had to study and widen his scope. 18-year-old
Dmitry Bulgakov started off on his own. He left Moscow for the small German
city of Detmold where he joined the oboe class of an excellent teacher,
Schmalfus. And it was in Germany, in the German city of Cologne, that he
won his first international competition.
- Dmitry Bulgakov both plays and arranges concerts. "If you want
to have something done at a fairly high level,"- he says,-"you
have to play a role in the efforts to arrange this." Dmitry Bulgakov
is one of the brains behind the Return festival of chamber music which
was first launched seven years ago and has, since, turned into an international
event. The Moscow-based Return festival brings together young Russians
who live or study abroad.
- Sometimes, the Return festival, let alone the return as such, seem
more important than oboe-playing to Dmitry. He gets angry with himself
and tells himself that is a musician and that the first thing he has to
think of is his musical instrument. But there is, he says, the great happiness
of arranging a concert and bringing some people who share your feelings,
some friends, some fantastically gifted musicians to the beautiful stage
of the Rakhmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory of Music. It produces
a greater impression on you than the swankiest of your solo presentations.
Strange as it seems, inexplicable as it is, the Return concerts are the
most precious, the dearest to his heart. The Return festival brings together
a new generation of people who seem to be more than good friends. Participants
in this festival form a new link in the chain of generations and share
views of life.
- Dmitry Bulgakov is a highly emotional and romantically-minded man.
He loves Moscow and has developed a special feeling for the older neighborhoods
of the Russian capital, the area where his beloved Gnesin School of Music
is situated and where he met his future wife. He enjoys teaching at his
alma mater and he is proud of his students. And all that gives him a feeling
of homeland.
- The Triumph award came as a sudden, yet pleasant, surprise to Dmitry.
- What makes this award so very special is its family spirit. It is both
the panel and the winners of the previous years who come together under
the name of Triumph people. Just thumb through a Triumph booklet, Dmitry
says, and you'll see that are surrounded by celebrities. Enough to make
you feel a tiny part of Russian culture. This is what makes this non-government
award so very special.
A MUSEUM OF CHOCOLATE
- (N.Yakhontova)
- St Petersburg houses Russia's one and only museum of chocolate. That
museum is situated in the very heart of that city - at its Nevsky Prospekt.
- An absolutely chocolate-like 18th century-liveried native of Africa
meets you at the entrance to the Museum.
- A few steps down - and you find yourself in the realm of chocolate.
Ducklings, puppies, kittens, bells, sea shells, chess pieces, baskets,
jewelry boxes, footballs, automobiles, planes, chickens, roosters, Easter
eggs and lambs, bonny rabbits, teddy bears, Romeos and Juliette, more character
figurines - anything you can imagine, anything that can be made of chocolate.
All that is taken care of by museum director Irina Zaitseva. Irina and
her charming salesgirls help you choose your piece of candy.
- There are museums of chocolate all over the globe. "In any case,"
- Zaitseva says, - "there are such museums in Holland, Switzerland,
Belgium, and France. But museums of chocolate and chocolate shops are,
as a rule, two different things in foreign countries whereas we have put
the two things together. We are working under the supervision of a French
confectioner, a French chef as you might say, who has brought his own recipes
to St Petersburg and enjoys teaching our staff workers. His name is Olivier.
But our artists and designers are all native-born specialists of the highest
professional level. They meet very interesting orders. Young men are apt
to order chocolate hearts with romantic inscriptions on them, chocolate
limousines that may contain real mobile phones or real jewelry. Many visitors
to this museum ask us to hold, if not too often, chocolate tasting days."
- Irina Zaitseva sees rum, liqueur, vodka, martini, and vermouth truffles
as the Museum's specialty goods. Fruit juice, fruit as such, nuts and even
olives are added to many sorts of chocolate.
- Because all chocolates are made by hand, prices are high at the Museum
of chocolate. But the Museum is visited by lots of people. And almost no
one leaves it empty-handed. The Museum intends to open another shop on
Nevsky Prospekt.
- The Museum may be visited out of curiosity. It introduces people to
the history of chocolate production.
- Although chocolate has been known as long as cocoa beans, it was not
until 1502 that it made its way to Europe. France held a special festival
to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to
Europe. Russia has known chocolate since the early 19th century. Irina
Zaitseva and her staff workers studied all they could find about chocolate
and chocolate production in the city Archives. "Unfortunately,"-
Zaitseva says, - "next to nothing has been written about chocolate.
A fairly full book, Chocolate, came off print in 2002 in Moscow. We see
it as our desk book. We quote excerpts from that book and offer our sweet
tooth yet inquisitive customers drawings, pictures, and slides that feature
the history and various sorts of chocolate."
- 03/18/2004
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