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something new each day from ‘nothing’ . This is important as it explains how
Men understands the corruption of chaos in Gen 1:2 to be transferred from one
day to the next in the creation story (process), in keeping with his acceptance
of evolutionary ideas.
The second point concerns the affirmations at the end of each of the
days: ‘God saw that it was good’ and particularly the affirmation in Genesis 1:31
that ‘God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good’. In a
universe that has been so thoroughly permeated by chaos from the very first
day, it seems strange that God should be looking at his creation and affirming
its ‘goodness’. Men tells us that ‘this seeming contradiction is resolved by the
fact that the Creator, as Alpha and Omega, sees his creations as they are meant
to be, outside of time and in the highest state of perfection possible for it, the
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state that the Church Fathers referred to as theosis or deification’. Therefore
process, although mediated, is subject to the sovereignty of God, and has an
eschatological focus.
C. Metaphysics, Freedom and the Nature of Evil
Whereas Bulgakov sees two metaphysical realms, one at each end of history,
Men sees one final realisation of the universe in which everything is good. In
this he has much in common with Teilhard, although he refuses to exclude the
possibility of a ‘descending’ interpretation of the destiny of the universe.
Men sees either two or three kinds of evil that depend on two distinct
Falls. Both of these Falls happen inside the created universe, rather than in a
prior metaphysical reality of the kind suggested by Bulgakov or Berdyaev, albeit
where priority is not understood in chronological terms. This attempt to reject
an ‘Origenist’ interpretation, however, is nonetheless dependent on an
angelology and concomitant demonology. In his Commentary on Revelation, Men
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refers to the angelic realms as ‘metaphysical’ . Although, in Origins of Religion
(chap 4), he refers to ‘transphysical’ realms rather than ‘metaphysical’ ones,
suggesting a closer link with physical realms, an area of ambiguity in Men’s

31 Men: Origins of Religion, Part 2, Chapter 5. В Поисках Пути, Истины и Жизни – Том 1. Истоки
Религии. [Издательство “Слово”. Москва. 1991 г.] (In search of the Way, the Truth and the Life – Book
1: Origins of Religion. [Publishing House ‘Word’. Moscow. 1991]). Can be found at
http://www.alexandermen.ru/pan.html
32 Men: Isagogics, p114. (Appendix.2:38)
33 Men: Commentary on Revelation, Reading the Apocalypse Ch.12. Читая Апокалипсис. [Фонд имени
Александра Меня. Москва. 2000.] (Reading Revelation/Commentary on Revelation, [Alexander Men
Foundation. Moscow. 2000]). Can be found at http://www.alexandermen.ru/pan.html

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