Alexander Kyrlezhev Mystical Politics as contradictio in adjecto. Thoughts on the Margins of Aristotle Papanikolaou's Recent Book Alexander Kyrlezhev-Research Fellow of the Sst. Cyril and Methodius Post-Graduate Institute of the Russian Orthodox Church; Member of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow, Russia), kyrlezhev@gmail.com This article is an expanded critical review of the book "The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy" (2012) written by Aristotle Papanikolaou, a contemporary Orthodox theologian. The article contains analysis of key assumptions and arguments of the author of the book who looks at the political regime of liberal democracy from the perspective of Eastern Christian ascetical theology. Position of the author of the book is considered through a possible distinction of several models of the Christian political theology: theology of "using" (the political) versus a theology of "participating" (in the political) versus a-theology of anachoresis (withdrawal from the political). Papanikolaou's interpretation of traditional asceticism as compatible with liberal democracy is criticized, as well as his overall apology of a certain political regime, which seems arbitrary as the author avoids any formulation of specifically Christian political ideal as opposed to secular philosophical foundations of contemporary polity. Keywords: political theology, liberal democracy, asceticism, theosis, divine-human communion, virtue of love, individual ethics, social ethics, Orthodox culture. СОВРЕМЕННОЕ православное богословие не сильно по части "политической теологии". У него нет в активе таких имен, как Рейнхольд Нибур, Иоганн Баптист Мец, Юрген Мольтманн или Стенли Хауэрвас, - христианских теологов, более или менее си- стр. 247схематически размышляющих на темы "политического" и определяющих соответствующую теологическую повестку. В рамках православного богословия политика, как правило, не тематизи ... Читать далее