Creativity and Holiness: Étienne Gilson and Nikolai Berdyaev on the Artist and the Saint

Writing in Paris in 1931, Russian Orthodox religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev noted that “the greatness of creative genius is not correlative to moral perfection.” In the Orthodox religious culture of Berdyaev’s day, the summit of personal moral and religious perfection was found solely in holiness crafted through asceticism and prayer.