Abstract

The article examines the use of texts by Church Fathers in esoteric constructions, specifically Tertium Organum, an early work of P. D. Ouspensky created in 1911 before his acquaintance with George I. Gurdjieff. The author analyzes fragments from The Philokalia, the well-known collection of texts by Orthodox ascetic writers of the Middle Ages. Despite the difference between the esoteric system developed by Ouspensky and the Orthodox tradition, the esotericist considers it possible to use the texts of this tradition to illustrate and confirm his own constructions. To do this, Ouspensky uses a special strategy of interpretation, which consists of the following: (1) selecting fragments of the interpreted text closest to his own constructions; and (2) rethinking the selected fragments within the framework of these constructions. As a result, the identity of various religious and philosophical traditions becomes vivid; these traditions turn out to be, to one degree or another, imperfect expressions of the doctrine being represented perfectly only in the esotericist’s own work. This strategy leads to the formation of doubles of interpreted texts and, more broadly, doubles of religious traditions to which the texts being interpreted belong.