The Metaphysics of Personhood and the Mystery of the Resurrection: A Reading of Protopresbyter Georges Florovsky

Abstract

This study offers an interpretation of the theology of personhood in the thought of Protopresbyter Georges Florovsky, proposing it as a key hermeneutical principle for understanding salvation. It argues that the Resurrection is not merely an act of divine power but the restoration of human nature through the divine Person of the Incarnate Word. Drawing on Florovsky’s understanding of sin as a distortion and depersonalization of human existence, the article maintains that the Fall primarily affects the personal center of human nature, undermining its spiritual integrity and capacity for life. Within this framework, the Incarnation is understood as the hypostatic reconstitution of human nature in the Person of Christ, restoring its unity and potential for communion. The Cross and Resurrection are thus inseparable: the victory over death is realized as a personal, voluntary, and loving act. Salvation is grounded in the restoration of personhood as the locus of freedom and love. The study further examines the ecclesiological implications of this personalist anthropology, presenting the Church as the space of transformed personal existence. Human resurrection is understood as both a universal gift and a personal task, requiring the free response of the human person. The article concludes that Florovsky’s theology offers a coherent synthesis of anthropology, soteriology, and ecclesiology centered on the reality of the person as the image of God.