Flag of Novorossiya

Flag of Novorossiya

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHER: IVAN ILYIN (28 MARCH 1883 TO 21 DECEMBER 1954)


 
Ivan Ilyin, circa 1920

Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin (Russian: Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Ильи́н, IPA: [ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪt͡ɕ ɪˈlʲin]; March 28, 1883 – December 21, 1954) was a Russian religious and political philosopher, White emigre publicist and an ideologue of the Russian All-Military Union.

 
Ilyin in 1921, by Mikhail Nesterov


“The fact of the matter is that fascism is a redemptive excess of patriotic arbitrariness.”
—Ivan Ilyin, 1927

“My prayer is like a sword. And my sword is like a prayer.”
—Ivan Ilyin, 1927

“Politics is the art of identifying and neutralizing the enemy.”
—Ivan Ilyin, 1948

Ivan Ilyin: The White Army

Donetsk, Russian priest blessing radical Orthodox, "Orthodox or Death" says on the flag (2014)

"In calling to love our enemies, Christ had in mind personal enemies of man, not God's enemies, and not blaspheming molesters, for them drowning with a millstone around their neck was recommended. Urging to forgive injuries, Christ was referring to personal insults to a person, not all possible crimes; no one has the right to forgive the offenses suffered by others or provide for the villains to offend the weak, corrupt children, desecrate churches and destroy the Fatherland. So therefore a Christian is called not only to forgive offenses, but to fight the enemies of God's work on earth. The evangelical commandment of "non-resistance to evil" teaches humility and generosity in personal matters, and not limpness of will, not cowardice, not treachery and not obedience to evildoers." - Ivan Ilyin, 17 June 1925


State Power has its own limits – Ivan Ilyin

“In order to prevent the irremediable consequences of a blunder or of an evil passion a man who strives after the good must in the first instance seek mental and spiritual means to overcome evil by good. But if he has no such means at his disposal, he is bound to use mental or physical compulsion and prevention. ‘It is right to push away from the brink of a precipice an absent-minded wayfarer; to snatch the bottle of poison from an embittered suicide; to strike at the right moment the hand of a political assassin aiming at his victim; to knock down an incendiary in the nick of time; to drive out of a church shameless desecrators; to make an armed attack against a crowd of soldiers raping a child’ (54). ‘Resistance to evil by force and by the sword is permissible not when it is possible, but when it is necessary because there are no other means available’; in that case it is not only a man’s right but his duty to enter that path (195 f.) even though it may lead to the malefactor’s death.” - Ivan Ilyin