The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article is dedicated to the research approach of аcademician S. S. Averintsev, which is widely discussed in modern humanitarian science. Averintsev’s “method” is one of the problems in modern theory and history of culture. In this article it is considered basing on the principles of his approach outlined by famous modern scientists. Averintsev’s “method” is one of the problems in modern theory and history of culture. In this article it is considered basing on the principles of Averintsev’s approach outlined by famous modern scientists. The purpose of the article is to consider a symbol, the central concept of Averintsev, the interpretation of which, according to the scientist, is the main aim of a humanitarian researcher. The research methods used in the article are: comparative — so that to identify the peculiarities of understanding the symbol relative to other concepts (for example, Paul Tillich); contextual — to define disciplinary boundaries (or their absence) of the concept symbol; theological — to identify the doctrinal foundations of Averintsev’s definitions; structural-practical — to show the effectiveness of Averintsev’s approach and the correspondence of the methodological vector given by him to the specific study of one of the basic symbols of Russian spiritual culture — Sophia the Wisdom. The concept of a symbol in Averintsev’s representations turns out to be not just a universal unit of aesthetics, but also a method of Christian thinking that expresses its dogmatic basis. The essence of the phenomenon of the “symbol” turns out to be the “conjugation” of the material and the otherworldly in the image of God’s descent into the world, that is, it corresponds to the Chalcedonian dogma. The composition and structure of the symbol, thus, sets a methodological and ethical norm for the humanitarian, philologist, culturologist, philosopher or theologian. As an illustration, the article provides an analysis of the article by S. S. Averintsev “To clarify the meaning of the inscription over the konha of the central apse of Sofia of Kyiv”, which shows the relevance and fruitfulness of Averintsev’s symbolology.