A RADICAL ECUMENISM: POPE JOHN PAUL II AND VLADIMIR SOLOVYOV

There is much evidence that John Paul II highly appreciated the thoughts of Vladimir Solovyov. In the year 2000, the Pope famously mentioned him as a "witness of the faith", one of the " renowned Christian thinkers" and a "figure of extraordinary depth". In this paper, I attempt to analyse some similarities between these two thinkers. First, as many commentators have noted, they shared the ecumenical vision of uniting the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Secondly, and which seems to me to be more important, they had the same deep theological understanding of man, the world and history. I think that this common christocentric vision is not only the ultimate basis for ecumenical efforts, but also grounds for the formulation of a truly Christian alternative to secular modernity.