Kantian anthropology in Russian Christology: the case of Ioann Petropavlovsky

The article is devoted to the discussion of the late 19th century between the priest Ioann Petropavlovsky and the famous archbishop Savva (Tikhomirov) on the problem of the moral perfections of Christ according to His human nature. The published academic lecture by Petropavlovsky "Jesus Christ is the God-Man", its criticism in the "Diary" of Savva (Tikhomirov), Petropavlovsky's response to criticism and response to the discussion by protopresbyter Ioann Yanyshev are analyzed. According to Petropavlovsky, who acted for reasons of proving the divinity of Christ, the Savior, during His earthly life, struggled with the instincts of His humanity, what was an important moment on the path of His free acquisition of His moral perfections. Thus, Christ can be an effective example for us to follow. Savva (Tikhomirov) considered this position to be contrary to the teaching of the Church, while Yanyshev supported ideas of Petropavlovsky. I examine the genesis of this problem about the nature of the moral perfections of Christ in Russian theology, which is rooted in the theology of st. Innokenty of Kherson. The latter, accepting the Kantian setting of practical philosophy – freedom of choice between good and evil is the possibility of moral development – was the first in the history of Russian theological thought to put forward the hypothesis that Christ could have sinned during His earthly life, but did not sin. The hypothesis made sense as a response to Kant's subtle criticism of traditional Christology, put forward by him in his work "Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone". Along with the consideration of these problems, the article attempts to clarify the genesis of the moral-apologetic logic used by Petropavlovsky to prove the divinity of Christ. At the end of the article, Petropavlovsky's theses are considered on the subject of their self-contradictions and examined in the context of patristic theology.