Eucharistic anthropology
Understanding the human being through the experience of the Eucharist — not as ethics or cult, but as a mode of being in which personhood unfolds in encounter, communion and the gift of gratitude.
philosopher · theologian · teacher
Alexandr
Alexandr
Filonenko
"Even now, in this terrible time, we must not just survive — we must live."
Ukrainian philosopher and Orthodox theologian, Doctor of Philosophy. Co-founder of the "Dante" Centre for European Culture and the public organisation "Emmaus" (Kharkiv). Author of foundational works on eucharistic anthropology, theoaesthetics and a pedagogy of wonder. Today he teaches authored courses and lecture cycles at Ukrainian educational platforms.
§ 01 · Biography
A physicist who became a theologian
From nuclear physics through the European Renaissance to fundamental theology — a path where science, philosophy and Christian tradition weave together into a single whole.
Alexandr Filonenko (Олександр Семенович Філоненко) was born on 18 October 1968 in Kislovodsk. In 1993 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Technology of Kharkiv State University with a degree in experimental nuclear physics, then moved to a philosophy doctoral programme and turned to the theory of the European Renaissance.
He earned a Candidate of Sciences in Philosophy in 1996, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 2018, in the field of theology. Nearly his entire academic life — close to thirty years — is bound up with V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, where he taught courses on medieval philosophy, the cultures of Byzantium and the European Renaissance, holistic philosophy of science, and the anthropology of literature. The "Koinonia" seminar he ran there became one of the most vibrant discussion spaces in Ukrainian philosophy.
From 2000 to 2003 he was a visiting lecturer at St Andrew's Biblical-Theological Institute in Moscow, where in 2000 he received the Templeton Foundation Award for his course "Science and Theology". In 2004 he was a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Since 2014 he has been an academician of the Ambrosian Academy in Milan.
In Kharkiv, Filonenko co-founded two important projects: the public organisation "Emmaus" and the "Dante" Centre for European Culture. He is the editor-in-chief of the academic journal "Koinonia" and a regular participant of Meeting Rimini in Italy. Since 2023 he has been an ambassador of the "Hromadianyn" charitable foundation.
Today his main live venues are Cowo.guru in Kyiv, Hradus Svidomosti ("Degree of Consciousness") in Zaporizhzhia, and the Ihor Kozlovsky Philosophy and Psychology School (coordinated by Yana Rozhniatovska). At the Kyiv School of Public Administration (KSPA) he leads multi-year slow readings of Dante's "Divine Comedy". Online courses run on Nestor Center and Liudyna Dyvo Svit.
Filonenko does not maintain his own website, channel, or regularly updated blog: his texts are published by portals such as Pravmir, Huxley.media, RISU, Bogoslov.ru and Otrok; his lectures appear across dozens of educational platforms and fan-run channels. This site is an attempt to bring it all into one place.
§ 02 · Key ideas
What he thinks about
Filonenko names three things whose intersection is where the central questions of modern life are worked out: beauty, communion and gratitude.
Theology of communion
A reversal in the relationship between personhood and communion: not "first the individual, then relationships", but "within the very structure of the human being there is something that is born only in the encounter with the Other".
Theoaesthetics
The theology of beauty. Beauty is not decoration or a matter of taste, but a path on which a person recognises the presence of God and finds the language of gratitude.
Pedagogy of wonder
A teacher is one who knows how to wonder and to pass on passion. Without this capacity everything else is meaningless: education becomes boring, and boredom breeds terrible things.
Culture as a garden
The modern metaphor of culture is neither a "second nature" nor a fortress against chaos, but the integrative art of laying out gardens amid forests, deserts and ruins.
The three loves of a teacher
To be a true teacher one must love the student, love one's subject, and love one's own life-path and growth — all at once. Drop any one of the three, and the whole thing falls apart.
"The intersection of the three most important aspects of human experience — beauty, communion and gratitude — is where the most urgent problems of the modern person are resolved, and where a living theological inquiry is heard."
"Theoaesthetics. Seven Lectures on Beauty", 2022
"Culture is not so much a second nature that protects us from war, as a garden which, by cultivating, we keep in our search for happiness."
Public lecture
"Skovoroda demonstrates the strength of Ukraine through the creation of educational environments — even when all institutions collapse around us."
Aspen Institute Kyiv, 2023
"Christmas, which seems like a feast of childlike joy, is in fact a feast of adulthood: the ability to respond, to care, to protect others."
"Christmas Stories for Adults" (Різдвяні історії для дорослих), 2024
§ 03 · Books
Теоэстетика. 7 лекций о красоте
Seven books on beauty, gratitude and encounter
Filonenko's books appear with three publishers at once — Dukh i Litera (Kyiv), Nikea (Moscow) and Koleso Zhyttia. Below are all known editions to date, with links to bookshops.
2025
Краса і вдячність (Beauty and Gratitude)
A philosophical-theological inquiry at the intersection of Ukrainian experience, spiritual search and vulnerability before beauty. On the language of gratitude as resistance to the unmaking of the world.
2024
Різдвяні історії для дорослих (Christmas Stories for Adults)
Reflections on the deep meaning of Christmas: receiving the Incarnation as a call to responsibility and care. The book engages with themes of war, vulnerability and hope.
2022
Теоэстетика. 7 лекций о красоте
Theoaesthetics. Seven Lectures on Beauty
Seven public lectures on the theology of beauty. The central idea: beauty, communion and gratitude as three aspects of human experience whose intersection is where a living theological inquiry is heard.
2019
Океан тайны (Ocean of Mystery)
Pedagogy of wonder in action: a cycle of public lectures given by a Ukrainian professor to Italian audiences, on how philosophy, science and theology answer the human need to experience the greatness of life.
2018
Присутствие Другого и благодарность: контуры евхаристической антропологии (The Presence of the Other and Gratitude: Contours of a Eucharistic Anthropology)
A foundational theological-philosophical work in which Filonenko unfolds his programme of eucharistic anthropology — understanding the human being through the experience of communion, gift and gratitude.
2015
Жизнь для меня — Христос. Митрополит Антоний Сурожский (Christ Is Life for Me. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh)
A book prepared for the exhibition at the XXXVI Meeting Rimini (2015). Memoirs, teachings and rare photographs of Metropolitan Anthony — one of Filonenko's key interlocutors.
2024
SKOVORODANCE. Коло щасливих людей (co-authored)
A collective book on Hryhorii Skovoroda. Filonenko contributed the philosophical commentary; co-authors include Serhiy Zhadan, Taras Liutyi, Nazar Fedorak and Vadym Nazarenko. Illustrations by Vitalii Kokhan.
Full author pages: Dukh i Litera · Nikea · PRAVNET · LiveLib · Goodreads · LitRes
§ 04 · Lectures & courses
YouTube channels and live courses
There are hundreds of Filonenko's lectures online, scattered across dozens of platforms. Below: the main channel, Ukrainian live venues with recordings, guest interviews and archives. Searching for "Alexandr Filonenko" directly on YouTube returns inconsistent results because of varying transliterations of his name; this list is a starting point.
Official archive channel
Сади Олександра Філоненка
The main archive — run by friends and students, but recognised by Filonenko himself as his primary channel. The name ("Gardens of Oleksandr Filonenko") refers to his concept of culture as a garden. Lectures from many venues, including rare ones that never made it into any published cycle.
266 videos
29 playlists
living archive
@OlexandrFilonenko →
Main live venue
Cowo.guru
An "environment for thought and action" — this is where Filonenko's freshest lectures and authored courses are recorded today: "The Art of Asking", "Game and Strategising", "Theology of Action", "The Way and the Truth", and slow-reading cycles of Dante. New content appears regularly.
authored courses
Dante cycles
fresh lectures
@cowoguru →
Other main channels with lectures
Ukrainian live venues, course archives and channels where Filonenko appears regularly. Sorted by freshness and volume of material.
YouTube · Yana Rozhniatovska
Yana Rozhniatovska
Channel of the coordinator of the Ihor Kozlovsky Philosophy and Psychology School — one of the central venues where Filonenko appears in person once or twice a year with large lecture cycles. Here are fresh recordings from 2024–2025: "The Great Dependence", "Mourning" (5+ lectures), "War and the Garden", "The Time of Hope".
youtube.com/@ЯнаРожнятовська →YouTube · Hradus Svidomosti
Hradus Svidomosti (Degree of Consciousness)
A Ukrainian philosophical community Filonenko himself calls "one of his gardens". Regularly hosts live multi-hour events with his participation: "Beauty and Gratitude", "Hryhorii Skovoroda", "The Divine Comedy: Inferno", slow readings of Dante. One of the main sources of fresh Ukrainian content.
youtube.com/@gradus_svidomosti →YouTube · OOU
Open Orthodox University (Відкритий Православний Університет)
On the OOU channel — a dedicated playlist "A. Filonenko. The Theology of Anthony of Sourozh" with 21 lectures. The most coherent cycle on one of Filonenko's central themes anywhere on YouTube.
"Theology of Anthony of Sourozh" playlist →YouTube · Koleso Zhyttia
Koleso Zhyttia. Publishing house
Channel of the publishing house Liudyna Dyvo Svit / Koleso Zhyttia. Interviews, round tables and conversations with Filonenko on themes from the grammar of life to today's challenges.
youtube.com/@kolesogiznivideo →YouTube · Bila Kava
Bila Kava (White Coffee)
One of the largest sources of Filonenko's lectures online by sheer volume — six big playlists with his courses: "Mercy", "Anthropology of Play", "Skovoroda", "Anthropology of Literature", "Ethics of the Resurrection", "The Divine Comedy". A unique trove that for many is a first encounter with Filonenko's thought.
youtube.com/@kavavlad →YouTube · Otium
Otium Academy
Odesa-based academy run by Inna Holubovych. Here Filonenko delivered the "Sentimental History of Ideas" cycle and individual lectures on Dante and the anthropology of desire.
youtube.com/@otiumacademy →YouTube · ETHOS
ETHOS · Open Orthodox University
Channel of the ETHOS educational platform. Here are recordings of the Kyiv Summer Theological Institute (KSTI 2020/2021) where Filonenko is one of the leading lecturers, and the course "Christianity: The Beginning".
youtube.com/@ethos5980 →YouTube · Nestor Center
Nestor Center
Channel of the Nestor Center (director: Vitaliy Khromets). Publishes recordings of the 2019 Kyiv Summer Theological Institute with Filonenko's lectures and the podcast programme "Our Education" on Svitlo Radio "Emanuel" with his interviews.
youtube.com/@nestor.center →YouTube · OOU partner
St. Clement's Center
Kyiv-based St. Clement's Center, an OOU partner. Publishes individual theological conversations and lectures with Filonenko, often overlapping with KSTI.
youtube.com/@StClementsCenter →Specialised channels
Channels devoted specifically to Filonenko — short clips, themed selections, individual series.
YouTube · Clips
Alexandr Filonenko • Lecture fragments
A dedicated channel with short fragments of Filonenko's lectures — perfect for sharp single ideas, quotations, and a quick first taste of his way of speaking.
youtube.com/@filonenkoclips →YouTube · Themed
Theoaesthetics
A themed channel on the theology of beauty — one of Filonenko's central programmes, on which he published a separate book, "Theoaesthetics. Seven Lectures on Beauty".
youtube.com/@theoaesthetics →Clubs, festivals, major interviews
Channels where Filonenko appears as a guest lecturer or interviewee. Major interviews, multi-hour events, public conversations.
YouTube · Zhovti Kedy
Zhovti Kedy with Yulia Borysko
A major interview with Filonenko on Ukrainian YouTube — "The Crisis of Desires. Managing the Impossible", 1h 24m. It reaches a wider self-development and pop-psychology audience.
Watch interview →YouTube · CEO Club
CEO Club Ukraine
A Ukrainian business club that regularly invites Filonenko for lectures on culture, meaning, leadership and play. Six lecture recordings on the channel.
youtube.com/@CEOClubUkraine →YouTube · Natalia Kleino
Natalia Kleino
A deep conversation with Filonenko, "The Path of Happiness. How Not to Betray Yourself" — 1 hour, March 2026. One of the freshest and most personal exchanges.
Watch conversation →YouTube · Sententsia
Sententsia — discussion club
A Ukrainian philosophical discussion club. Guest lectures and conversations with Filonenko in an open discussion format.
youtube.com/@sententia_ua →YouTube · Aspen Institute Kyiv
Aspen Institute Kyiv
The series "Skovoroda's Ideas in Our Present" — one of the key discussions on Skovoroda with Filonenko. There is also a separate interview, "The Significance of Skovoroda's Ideas for Today".
youtube.com/@AspenKyiv →YouTube · Tretiy Poverkh · Lutsk
Tretiy Poverkh (Third Floor)
An interdisciplinary cultural centre in Lutsk. Filonenko visited it for the Summer School of Humanities Research — recording: "Cultivating Gardens from the Future" (1:12:25).
youtube.com/@Третійповерх →YouTube · A metropolitan's channel
Metropolitan Fedir
The personal channel of Metropolitan Fedir — conversations with Filonenko on faith, the Church, and theology.
youtube.com/@Fedirarh →YouTube · Open Academy · Dnipro
Open Academy of Culture
An open academy of culture in Dnipro — individual guest lectures by Filonenko on culture, art and the human being.
youtube.com/@ArtCulture_dnipro →YouTube · UKRLIFETV
UKRLIFETV
A Ukrainian media channel — interviews and conversations with Filonenko on themes of society, war, and meaning.
youtube.com/@UKRLIFETV →YouTube · Meeting Rimini · Italy · 2013
Meeting Rimini
A historic appearance by Filonenko at Meeting Rimini 2013 — the talk "What Awakens the Human" with Franco Nembrini, 1h 25m. Available in English and Russian versions.
Watch (RU) →Other appearances and one-off lectures
Channels with one or two appearances by Filonenko — forums, museums, schools, festivals, international venues.
- Філософський слем (Philosophy Slam) — discussion club
- Lviv Urban Forum — Lviv urban forum
- Харківський ЛітМузей — Kharkiv Literary Museum
- Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv
- "Apeiron" School of Thought
- Chornomorska TV/Radio Company
- Petr Dubinskiy — conversation
- Своїми очима (With Our Own Eyes)
- Проект Порозуміння (Understanding Project)
- Живі (The Living)
- Сад можливостей ЩастяKids (Garden of Possibilities)
- Передать словами (To Convey in Words)
- Püha Johannese Kooli konverentsid — Estonia
- μετάνοια
- Yana Agoeva — Orthodox psychologist
Courses on educational platforms (Nestor 4.0, KSPA, Liudyna Dyvo Svit, ETHOS), alternative video hosts (Rutube), Telegram channels and everything that is not YouTube are collected on a separate page "Archive".
The list will keep growing. If you know a channel with lectures by Filonenko that did not make it onto this list — please write to us via the contacts at the bottom.
§ 05 · Schools & platforms
Where to listen in person
Today Filonenko teaches authored courses and lecture cycles primarily at Ukrainian educational venues. Below — first the places where you can hear him now; then the academic path and the international institutions he has been part of for many years.
Where he teaches today
Cowo.guru / Skovoroda Club
Kyiv · online & offline
Filonenko's main live venue today. Recurring courses: slow reading of Dante, philosophy of science, anthropology of literature, "The Way of the World-Builder", "World-Making". The main channel of communication is Facebook.
Hradus Svidomosti (Degree of Consciousness)
Zaporizhzhia · offline + online
A Ukrainian philosophical community Filonenko himself calls "one of his gardens". Regularly hosts live multi-hour gatherings with him — "Beauty and Gratitude", "Hryhorii Skovoroda", "The Divine Comedy: Slow Readings". Filonenko visits to teach in person; announcements appear only on Facebook.
Ihor Kozlovsky Philosophy and Psychology School
Ukraine · offline + online
A school named in memory of Ihor Kozlovsky; coordinated by Yana Rozhniatovska. One of the central venues to which Filonenko comes once or twice a year to teach big lecture cycles in person. Recent live cycles 2024–2025: "The Great Dependence", "Mourning", "War and the Garden", "The Time of Hope". Announcements are posted in the school's Facebook group.
Kyiv School of Public Administration (KSPA)
Kyiv · offline
Multi-year offline cycles of slow reading of Dante's "Divine Comedy" with Oleksandr Filonenko.
Nestor Center / Nestor 4.0
Kyiv · online
An authored online course "Theology of Communion and Eucharistic Anthropology" on the Nestor 4.0 platform.
Liudyna Dyvo Svit / Koleso Zhyttia
Ukraine · online
The "Return of the Gods" course, the annual "Education of the Wonder-World" forum, and regular appearances at the Koleso Zhyttia publishing house.
Academic path
V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University
Kharkiv · nearly thirty years
Faculty of Philosophy, Department of the Theory of Culture and Philosophy of Science. Here Filonenko grew from doctoral student to Doctor of Philosophy and ran the interdisciplinary "Koinonia" seminar. The principal site of his academic work for nearly his entire career.
Cambridge · Faculty of Divinity
Cambridge · 2004
Visiting fellow at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
Accademia Ambrosiana
Milan · since 2014
Academician (full member) of one of Italy's oldest academies.
Meeting Rimini
Rimini, Italy
Regular participant, speaker, exhibition organiser. One of Europe's largest gatherings on culture and faith.
meetingrimini.org →
St Andrew's Biblical-Theological Institute
Moscow · 2000–2003
Visiting lecturer; recipient of the Templeton Foundation Award (2000) for the course "Science and Theology".
St Thomas Aquinas Institute
Kyiv · since 2002
Visiting lecturer at the St Thomas Aquinas Institute of Religious Sciences.
Other venues
Aspen Institute Kyiv
Kyiv
Participation in discussions and educational programmes, including a series on Hryhorii Skovoroda.
aspeninstitutekyiv.org →
ICPK — family psychology
Ukraine · online
A course on the philosophy and religion of family and marriage at the Institute of Family Psychology and Counselling.
icpk.net →
Organisations he co-founded
"Emmaus" public organisation
Kharkiv · since 2010
A public organisation, co-founder. Italian partner: Associazione Amici di Emmaus (since 2022).
emmaus.com.ua →
"Dante" Centre for European Culture
Kharkiv · since 2013
The Dante Centre. Co-organiser of "DanteFest" and various book projects. Hosted by Emmaus.
dantefest →
§ 06 · Online presence
Links
Filonenko has no website, channel, or blog of his own. Here — only the most current links: his personal social accounts, academic profiles, and pages at his main publishers. Everything else — dozens of columns, audio archives, bookshop pages, reference databases — is collected on a separate page, "Archive".
Personal social
- Facebook · @afilonenko Main account, mostly reposts
- Instagram · @filonenkoalexandr Occasional updates
Academic profiles
- Wikipedia (Ukrainian) The fullest formal biography
- Karazin University · Theory of Culture department Profile at the Faculty of Philosophy
- ResearchGate Academic publications
- Meeting Rimini · profile Italian culture festival
Main publishers
- Dukh i Litera Kyiv · main publisher, author page
- Koleso Zhyttia · Facebook Latest Ukrainian-language books
§ Archive
Everything else lives on the "Archive" page
A large collection of everything we found around Filonenko that did not make it onto the home page: columns, articles, academic publications, bookshop pages, and non-YouTube media. Including resources that may not open outside Russia.
- § A Texts — columns at Pravmir, NV, RISU, Otrok, Huxley.media; major interviews at Suspilne, Aspen, Tempi, Rayon and others.
- § B Reference — Wikipedia, academic profiles, Dva Grada, Bogoslov.ru archive
- § C Non-YouTube media — Predanie.ru, Rutube, Telegram channels
- § D Bookshops — Goodreads, LiveLib, LitRes, Nikea, Labirint, and Ukrainian bookshops
- § E Courses and programmes — online platforms, archived and active
- § F Library — 36 key articles preserved locally, ~58K words
§ 07 · Contact
How to get in touch
You can try writing to us by email — you may receive a reply. Or reach out directly to the venues where Filonenko teaches.
Email: mail@alexandrfilonenko.com
For matters of lectures and courses — directly to the educational venues he works with today: Cowo.guru, KSPA, Liudyna Dyvo Svit.
Cowo.guru: marketing@cowo.guru, +380 93 167 46 59.
About this site.
This is an unofficial reference site assembled by readers and
listeners of Alexandr Filonenko. All materials are gathered from
open sources and link to the originals. Texts, lectures, books and
videos belong to their respective rights holders.