SVETLOV, PAVEL IAKOVLEVICH

Modern Russian theologian; b. 1861; d. Kiev, 1942. Svetlov studied at the Ecclesiastical Academy of Moscow and received the title of archpriest in 1890 when he was named professor of theology at the Institute of History and Theology of Nezhin and at the University of S. Vladimir in Kiev. In his early studies, he concentrated on Christology and wrote a valuable dissertation on The Meaning of the Cross in the Work of Christ (Kiev 1893; 2d ed. augmented, 1907). He produced a great number of articles for journals on dogmatic and moral theology, on apologetics and exegesis. In conjunction with the theologians V. V. Bolotov and A. A. Kireev, he furthered the efforts begun at Bonn in 1874 for a union between Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox. He adopted a conciliatory position on controversial points between East and West, such as the procession of the Holy Spirit and the Immaculate Conception. He said explicitly that he did not see a substantial difference between the Oriental expression Spiritus a Patre per Filium and the Occidental A Patre Filioque procedit ; and he believed that the addition of the filioque to the Creed was not the cause of the schism but its pretext. In general, however, his theological thinking was influenced by A. S. Khomiakov. His principal works are: Christian Doctrine Presented in Apologetical Form (2 v., 2d ed. Kiev. 1912); The Idea of the Reign of God in Its Significance for a Christian Concept of the World (Serghiev Possad 1905); The Origin of the Current Opinion Concerning the Opposition between Faith and Reason (St. Petersburg 1896); The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Old-Catholic Church [in French: Revue internationale de théologie 29 (1899) 27]; and On the Reform of Religious Teaching in Russia (St. Petersburg 1906). Besides reforms in the orthodox Church he promoted religious liberty for Catholics and Protestants in Russia.

Bibliography: n. ladomersky, Dernières déviations sotériologiques dans la théologie russe (Rome 1945). m. jugie, Theologia dogmatica christianorum orientalium ab ecclesia catholica dissidentium v.1–4.

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