S.L. Frank on Vladimir Soloviev’s prophetic calling

Abstract

The article is based on the new publications (2017) related to the reception of Vl.S. Soloviev’s the legacy by S.L. Frank, especially on the materials for “Soloviev Anthology” compiled by Frank (1950) and on Frank’s “Three Conversations on Vladimir Soloviev” on the BBC radio (1949). Frank comes to the conclusion that Soloviev was endowed with a vision of a prophet that enabled him to predict the events of a near and distant future (Soloviev’s “Three Conversations”). Soloviev’s eschatological leitmotifs that developed in the last years of his life resonated strongly with Frank in the postwar years and are quite relevant today. The prophet is the messenger of God carrying the news of the world catastrophe, of the end of the history and “The Second Rising”. These were the “religious conclusions” from Solovyov’s foresight that Frank was primarily interested in.