Overview
I am a first-year PhD student at the Department of Medieval Studies. With a vast background in philosophy (HSE) and Latin paleography (Warburg Institute), I end up studying medieval history, in particular the history of church and theology. Generally, my research interests boil down to the question of how ideas born in a specific historical context interact and influence that context in return. Methodologically, I am always trying to merge the gap between Latin philology, medieval history, and scholastic philosophy.
Research Focus
For the past few years, I have been preoccupied with bringing into light new scholastic texts on angels. They account for unique creatures who are not well-described in the Bible and consequently leave much space for a creative medieval mind to draw upon. Spiritual substances enkindle medieval intellectuals to grapple with various questions ranging from the iconography of the invisible and omnipotent along with visionary experience facilitated by angels to the highest level of theoretical sophistication, i.e. angelic individuality, transition through physical space, and life bodily functions among other topics.
My BA thesis deals with the first 80 years of the development of medieval angelology spanning from Peter Lombard to Eudes Rigaud. As a result, I disclosed previously unknown concepts, be it angelic individuation through occult qualities and grace (Alexander of Hales), critique of the empyrean heaven as an angelic natural place (Hugh of Saint-Cher), or feminized magic tied with demons (Eudes Rigaud). I have published regarding the same subject 9 papers, including 3 reviews, 3 theoretical articles, and 3 editions supplied with translations. In the near future, I am going to finish partial editions of Alexander of Hales’ Disputed questions and Eudes Rigaud’s Sentences. All these materials foreshadow my dissertation project which as I hope will expose three magisterial lines of the scholastic angelology from the time of Peter Lombard till the age of Gerard Odonis: angelic individuation, location, and miracles, demonic magic above all.
Publications
2024
Hugo de Sancto Caro. Opus. Liber II. Pars II. Distinctio II, ed. and tr. by F. Nekhaenko. Srednie veka. Studies on Medieval and Early Modern History, vol. 85, no 1, pp. 38–54
Angels in Eternity, while Demons in the Empyrean Heaven? Opus II, Dist. 2 by Hugh of Saint-Cher. Srednie veka. Studies on Medieval and Early Modern History, vol. 85, no 1, pp. 26–37
I Believe because I Trust: The Overturn of Faith in the Scholastic Thought 1250–1350? St. Tikhon’s University Review. Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies, vol. 111, pp. 140–145
Between Eternity and Divine Dualism: Hugh of Saint-Cher’s Opus II, Pars I. Schole. Ancient Philosophy and the Classical Tradition, vol. 18, no 1, pp. 347–381
2023
Angels in Eternity, while Demons in the Empyrean Heaven? Opus II, Dist. 2 by Hugh of Saint-Cher (published as a preprint: https://wp.hse.ru/data/2023/12/05/2110255844/213HUM2023.pdf)
Hugo de Sancto Caro. Questions about Angels and Demons, ed. and trans. from Latin, with annots. by F. V. Nekhaenko. Philosophy. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, vol. 7, no 4, pp. 264–286
An Unknown Demonologist at the University of Paris? : The Opus II.7–8 by Hugh of Saint-Cher. Philosophy. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, vol. 7, no 4, pp. 241–263
Angeli et Caelum: the Birth of Polis and Cosmos in Medieval Scholastics. The Sociological Review, vol. 22, no 2, pp. 310–319
2022
Carl Schmitt, Erik Peterson, and Giorgio Agamben: the war for Christian political theology. The Sociological Review, vol. 21, no 4, pp. 9–33
Alain de Libera’s Subjectivity between Man and Christ: Reflections on the Book by A. de Libera. Philosophy. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, vol. 6, no 4, pp. 163–177