Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/262

236 an absolute freedom which neither the masses nor democracy can ever guarantee. The prophet is not a vain dreamer of dreams; his picture of the future is not a utopia spun out of personal fancies, but arises in response to the actual needs of society and is rooted in mysterious religious tradition; herein lies the connection between the prophet's mission on the one hand, and high priesthood and kingship on the other.

It is difficult to determine how far Solov'ev was thinking of Nietzsche in this description of a modern prophet. Nietzsche's prophet was creator rather than seer, whereas Solov'ev vacillates between seer and creator. For Solov'ev the creator became transformed into the artist (vide infra ).

HEN, in his Ethics, Solov'ev expounds his free theocracy we feel throughout that his aim is to provide an ethical foundation for the idea of theocracy. Speaking generally, for Solov'ev life, history, and the world have a moral meaning. In his ethical system the Kantian outlook finds expression, and he endeavours to formulate the concept of theocracy as reasonably as possible, to bring the idea into harmony with the views of modern philosophers and sociologists.

The earlier works devoted to the establishment of the doctrine of free theocracy, those of the eighties, produce a very different impression, for in these Solov'ev is guided by the theology and the teachings of the slavophils. In its first draft, his free theocracy has a much closer resemblance with the actual theocracy of Russian caesaropapism.

In practice, Solov'ev wishes to secure a free theocracy by a union of the three main churches. In this matter the state as the second great social organisation, must cooperate with the church; the ecclesiastical and the political organisation must work in harmony. The absolute truth of the church being recognised, Christianity cannot fail to permeate the entire life of society; but for this the state, too must become Christian, and the state must help the church to diffuse Christianity.

In the west, the church conquered the powerful Roman state. After the schism, however, the church became unduly political, taking over the function of the state, and since the Teutonic state was too feeble to resist it, Catholicism grew