Mystique négative et athéisme moderne dans la philosophie de Lev Karsavine

Before becoming a philosopher of history, Lev Karsavin was a historian of Western spirituality, and he was well acquainted with the works of great Mystics such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Richard of Saint Victor and Angela of Foligno. Through them, he experienced a spirituality characterized by a tragic sense of the withdrawal of God, but also centered on the contemplation of the Holy Trinity and reflection on the divine sacrifice. Then historical circumstances brought an experience of deepest mourning: separation from his beloved, and the destruction of the spiritual values of Orthodox Russia. In his works, especially in the Poem of Death and letters to Father Wetter, the feeling of a withdrawal and even of the irremediable absence of God leads to a confrontation with nothingness and an existential anguish that seems very similar to that of an atheist modern consciousness.