The Vision of Salvation
Solovyov
Russia largely shaped its culture from its historical homelessness. The question of the nation's legitimacy spurred the 19th-century intelligentsia to seek out what the Russian horizon was—or whether such a horizon existed at all. The hope, but even more so the necessity of such a horizon, brought a prophetic quality to Russian thought, especially within religious ideas rooted in the concept of a final goal: salvation. This vision sought to transcend the hostile world of facts, to elevate life above the contingency of purely material interests, and to orient it toward the Kingdom of God.
The future envisioned the person of the soul, the righteous individual, as a pilgrim walking the "narrow path." The present, represented by the person of pure reason and civilization, was seen as wandering on the "broad path" that leads to destruction.
From this alone, one can discern the difference between the Russian principle and the Western one. In the Western principle, the essence lies not in the path or the idea of a plan but almost always in some kind of assertion: whether of God, nature, reason and experience, or existence as a privileged state. Even Augustine, who laid the foundations of Western historical thought, sought constancy.
In contrast, Russian thought centers on the concept of "God-manhood": humanity's task is to strive for perfection and deification. It was for this purpose that Jesus Christ, the God-Man, appeared among us as a creative act of God. In this pursuit of perfection, humanity is not merely a creature but also a creator, a partner of God in whom God seeks to recognize Himself, and whose purpose is to allow God to see Himself through humanity.
This striving for perfection is a slow and painful historical process in which humanity, according to God's word, gradually sheds what is incompatible with its divine destiny. It is a constant labor until the end of time: the work of the soul. Through this labor, humanity continually surpasses itself, striving toward a new universal unity. This upward spiritual momentum is often brought low by the temptations of evil but never ceases entirely.
"If old humanity sought God and therefore could not live divinely, the new humanity, for whom the true God has already been revealed in Christ, has the duty to live divinely—that is, to actively embrace and reclaim the seed of divine life that has emerged in Him. It no longer needs to seek the truth, for the truth has been given; it must now actualize it. And since the truth given is absolute and infinite, it must be realized in every situation, in the entirety of human and natural existence. No aspect of this existence should obstruct the path of truth, so that God may be all in all."
—Solovyov, The Spiritual Foundations of Life
Török Endre: "Utószó", in Vlagyimir Szolovjov "Az Antikrisztus története", Századvég Kiadó, Budapest, 1993