A Parable by Vladimir Soloviev

A Parable by Vladimir Soloviev

  Here is a parable which will perhaps bring out more clearly my general point of view and the purpose of the present work.

  A great architect, setting out on a voyage to distant parts, called his pupils and said to them: “You know that I came here to rebuild the principal sanctuary of the country which had been destroyed by an earthquake. The work is begun; I have sketched the general plan, the site has been cleared and the foundations laid. You will take my place during my absence. I will certainly return, but I cannot tell you when. Work, therefore, as though you had to complete the task without me. Now is the time for you to apply the teaching that I have given you. I trust you, and I am not going to lay down all the details of the work. Only observe the rules of our art. I am leaving you the solid foundations of the Temple which I have laid and the general plan that I have traced; that will be sufficient if you are faithful to your duty. And I am not leaving you alone; in spirit and in thought, I will be always with you.” With these words he led them to the site of the new church, showed them the foundations and handed them the plan.

  After his departure, his pupils worked in complete harmony and almost a third of the building was soon raised. As the work was vast and extremely complicated, the first companions were not enough and new ones had to be admitted. It was not long before a serious dispute arose between those who were in charge of the work.

  Some of them maintained that of the two things left them by their absent Master — the foundations of the building and its general plan — only the latter was important and indispensable; there was nothing, they said, to prevent them from abandoning the foundations already laid and building on another site. When their companions violently opposed this idea, they went further and in the heat of the argument actually declared (contrary to what they themselves had often maintained before) that the Master had never laid nor even indicated the foundations of the Temple; that was merely an invention of their opponents. Many of the latter, on the other hand, in their anxiety to maintain the importance of the foundations, went to the opposite extreme and declared that the only thing that really mattered in the whole work was the foundation of the building which the Master had laid, and that their proper task consisted simply in preserving, repairing and strengthening the already existing part of the building, without any idea of finishing it entirely, for (they said) the completion of the work was reserved exclusively for the Master himself at the time of his return. Extremes meet, and the two opposing parties soon found themselves agreed on one point, that the building was not to be completed. But the party which insisted on preserving the foundations and the unfinished nave in good condition plunged into various secondary activities for that purpose and displayed indefatigable energy, whereas the party which thought it possible to abandon the original foundation of the Temple declared, after vainly attempting to build on another site, that there was no need to do anything at all; the essential thing in the art of architecture, they maintained, was theory, the contemplation of its classic examples and meditation on its rules, not the carrying out of a definite design; if the Master had left them his plan of the Temple, it was certainly not with the object of getting them to work together on its actua1 construction, but simply in order that each one of them by studying this perfect plan might himself become an accomplished architect. Thereupon the most zealous of them devoted their lives to meditating on the design of the ideal Temple and learning and reciting by heart every day the explanations of that design which some of the early companions had worked out in accordance with the Master’s instructions. But the majority were content to think of the Temple once a week, and the rest of the time was spent by each of them in attending to his own business.

  There were, however, some of these dissentients who, from a study of the Master’s plan and of his own original explanation of it, perceived clear indications that the foundations of the Temple had actually been laid and could never be changed; among other remarks of the great architect they came across the following: “Here are the impregnable foundations that I have laid myself; it is upon them that my Temple must be built if it is to be proof for ever against earthquake or any other destructive force.” Impressed by these words, the good workers resolved to give up their quarrel and to lose no time in joining the guardians of the foundations, in order to assist them in their work of preservation. There was, however, one worker who said: “Let us admit our mistake; let us be just and give due honor to our old associates; let us rejoin them around the great building which we began, but to our shame abandoned and which to their incalculable credit they have guarded and kept in good condition. But above all we must be faithful to the Master’s conception. He did not mean these foundations which he laid to remain untouched; he meant his Temple to be built upon them. Therefore we must all unite to complete the building upon the existing foundations. Shall we have time to finish it before the Master’s return, or not? That is a question which he did not see fit to answer. But he did tell us explicitly to do everything to continue his work; and, moreover, he added that we should do more than he had done.” This worker’s appeal seemed strange to most of his companions. Some called him an idealist, others accused him of pride and presumption. But the voice of conscience told him clearly that his absent Master was with him in spirit and in truth.

  As a member of the true and venerable Eastern or Greco-Russian Orthodox Church which does not speak through an anti-canonical synod nor through the employees of the secular power, but through the utterance of her great Fathers and Doctors, I recognize as supreme judge in matters of religion him who has been recognized as such by St. Ireneus, St. Dionysius the Great, St. Athanasius the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril, St. Flavian, the Blessed Theodoret, St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Theodore of the Studium, St. Ignatius, etc. etc. — namely, the Apostle Peter, who lives in his successors and who has not heard in vain our Lord’s words: “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church;” “Strengthen thy brethren;” “Feed My sheep, feed My lambs.”

  O deathless spirit of the blessed Apostle, invisible minister of the Lord in the government of His visible Church, thou knowest that she has need of an earthly body for her manifestation. Twice already hast thou embodied her in human society: in the Greco-Roman world, and again in the Romano-German world; thou hast made both the Empire of Constantine and the Empire of Charlemagne to serve her. After these two provisional incarnations, she awaits her third and last incarnation. A whole world full of energies and of yearnings, but with no clear consciousness of its destiny knocks at the door of universal history. What is your word, ye peoples of the word?

(From Russia and the Universal Church)