Sobornost: Orthodox Christianity without Apostolic Succession or Christ’s Personal Institution of the Sacraments

This is a short post behind my paywall for those of you with the resources and the desire to reflect with me there. It is a brief contemplation of Sergius Bulgakov’s vision of the church in his book The Bride of the Lamb. Rather boldly, for an Orthodox Christian priest and theologian, Bulgakov argues that the sacraments of the church were not personally instituted by Jesus Christ and that apostolic succession is a historical fiction. His case is not a negative one, however, and his positive hopes for the church are inspiring coming from a man who was exiled from a home engulfed by revolution and who lived through the death of many friends at the hands of fascists in Nazi-occupied France. I also strongly suspect that Christ, the Holy Apostles, and most fathers of the church would agree with Bulgakov’s ecclesiology.

Before sharing thoughts about Bulgakov’s understanding of the church, I’ll note that Bulgakov had a remarkable life and a saintly death. I’ve read a few attacks on Bulgakov from both those who consider him a champion of a grossly patriarchal and outdated church as well as those who considered him a dangerous threat to the church with his seemingly endless creative theological works. Both of these sides will often assert that Bulgakov was just a typical intellectual whose endless theories are no help to anyone, but this was most obviously not the case if you learn anything at all about his life. Many basic details about Bulgakov are easy to find and to read about online, and multiple organizations are dedicated to the study of his works which continue to appear in new English translations year after year. One particularly helpful historical account was about Bulgakov’s relationship with a leading critic during his lifetime. This story is told well in “Georges Florovsky and Sergius Bulgakov: ‘In Peace Let Us Love One Another’” by Paul Ladouceur (from The Living Christ: The Theological Legacy of Georges Florovsky edited by John Chryssavgis and Brandon Gallaher, London: T&T Clark, 2021, pp. 91-111 or here). Notably, Bulgakov’s life as a priest included being a spiritual father for two saints: Mother Maria of Paris (feasted July 20 and March 31) and Saint Dimitri Klepinin (feasted July 20 and February 9). However, in all of my reading about Bulgakov, I had not come across the accounts of his own saintly death and transfiguration until just very recently when I listened to (and transcribed a bit of) some Q&A with David Bentley Hart from a lecture by Hart during a recent visit of his to Australia. When asked directly by his host (Tony Golsby-Smith) to share this story about Bulgakov, Hart said:

On his deathbed, there were a dozen different people who saw him transfigured. Even two of his atheist friends ceased being atheists when they saw how he died, literally radiating light from his face and seeming to be 30 years younger and to be more beautiful. I didn't see it, but a dozen people were there, and all of them reported the same thing including those who—though his friends (they were part of the Russian Parisian community)—had never been believers until that moment.

I’m looking for more information on this, but have so far only found this account from another one of his spiritual children, Sister Joanna Reitlinger. She writes that, shortly after a visit from Father Sergius’s daughter Muna, three observers were alone in with Bulgakov in the final hours and witnessed how his facial expressions were “completely replaced by a childlike expression” and then “an amazing illuminatedness” which she described in more detail:

Father Sergius’ face had become completely illuminated. It was a single mass of real light. One would not have been able to say what the features of his face were like at this time: his face was a mass of light. But, at the same time, this light did not obliterate the features of his face. This phenomenon was so extraordinary and joyous that we nearly cried from inner happiness. This lasted for about two hours, as Mother Theodosia, who looked at her watch later noted. That surprised us, for if someone had told us that the experience had lasted but a single instant, we would have agreed with that too. The light on Father Sergius’ face apparently remained. For us, compared with what had been, this was not so noticeable. But there were [other people] close to him who, when they came to see him, said: “Father Sergius is giving forth light.”

With such stories involving multiple witnesses and an ongoing impact on several lives, I’m glad to have finally heard of them, and I hope to find more specific accounts from the various eyewitnesses. I’ll turn now, however, to my thoughts on his vision for a church founded on incarnation and pentecost instead of apostolic succession or Christ’s personal institution of the sacraments.