#sobornost

Khomyakov believed the West was progressively losing its unity because it was embracing Aristotle and his defining individualism. Kireyevsky believed that Hegel and Aristotle represented the same ideal of unity. Khomyakov and Kireyevsky originally used the term sobor to designate co-operation within the Russian obshchina [communes], united by a set of common convictions and Eastern Orthodox values, as opposed to the cult of individualism in the West.

Sobornost is a word that means spiritual harmony based on freedom and unity in love. It is a necessary component in our membership within the Body of Christ, for if we are not bound together in love, our freedom becomes our enemy, separating us from others, and, ultimately from Christ Himself. This concept was so important to the early Christians as to have been the basis for the agape meal, when Christians would share their food with one another, following the celebration of the Eucharistic banquet. That the pre-communion fast would be broken, following the Divine Liturgy, with a communal meal (the love feast), clearly demonstrates the importance of community within the life of the Church. The sobornost is the divine-human oneness we experience as members of the One Body, the Church, and is the moment when we who are many, become one. It is the image of the unity of the Holy Trinity, finding it's expression among the believers.   Sobornost is not the same as fraternity, a submission to a brotherhood for mutual benefit to the individual. Rather, Sobornost is akin to kenosis (the relinquishment of divine attributes by Jesus Christ in becoming human). Sobornost is when the individual gives up self-benefit for the community or ecclesia.    We can not truly be one in Christ if we do not seek out oneness with our fellow Christians. Nor can we be one with Christ if we routinely reject sobornost for those "heights of spirituality" that make us so conscious of self, while separating ourselves from our neighbor. With love in Christ, Abbot Tryphon