The Pillar and Ground of the Truth: A New Course

Thanks to a nudge from my dear friend Shari Suter, I will be offering a Hedge School course on Pavel Florensky’s The Pillar and Ground of the Truth starting January 10, 2026.

Florensky’s book is one of the most singular works of mystical theology/religious philosophy ever written its structure deeply influenced Valentin Tomberg’s Meditations on the Tarot.

Florensky, who is often called “the Russian Davinci,” was a Russian Orthodox priest and close friend of Sergei Bugakov. Florensky, along with Bulgakov and their spiritual godfather Vladimir Solovyov among others (Nikolai Berdyaev, Andrei Bely, Tomberg, etc) was central to the development of Sophiology in the twentieth century. This did not endear him to either the Bolsheviks or the more reactionary quarters of the Russian Orthodox hierarchy. In such a milieu, Bulgakov, thankfully, was exiled to France. Florensky was not so fortunate, as he was too valuable to the Bolsheviks and the implementation of the new electrical grid for the fledgling Communist nation (among many other talents, Florensky was an accomplished electrical engineer). Once his usefulness was no longer needed, Florensky was sent to the gulag and quickly executed. It probably didn’t help that he attended all official government meetings in his priestly cassock. Florensky, despite what some might call his heretical Sophiology, is regarded a neomartyr in the Russian Orthodox Church, though he has not to my knowledged been recognized as a saint. But that’s their opinion!

In my book Meditations in Times of Wonder, I have poem entitled “Martyrology,” the last stanza of which is about Fr. Pavel:

Mostly it is seen in the blue of the stars and in the Virgin’s eyes, for

Everything is this: the appearance of the beautiful, a kind of radiance.

The blue of the winter sky over Toksovo when the prisoners

Defied the guards and prayed…the blue of his eyes like shards of Armenian

Ice…the blue of the bullet that opened his skull and filled his body with light.

The course will be in real time every Saturday starting at 1:00 pm Eastern US time, January 10, and each session will last for about 90 minutes. The course will last for twelve weeks and end on March 12. All sessions will be recorded on Zoom and be stored and made available to participants in case they miss a session or want to revisit. Cost for the course is $175 and payment can be made via check or Venmo. I also have alternative payment options available for participants outside of the US.

Contact me at director@thecenterforsophiologicalstudies.com if interested.

You can catch a brief introduction to The Pillar and Ground of Truth in the video below starting at 28:15.