I, personally hold to Berdyaev’s personalism. I know that Eastern Orthodox Church as a whole is against individualism but I really couldn’t care less what philosophy it employs (if I had to guess, colectivism, which I also detest)
More on the reasons for my strong dislike of individualism and colectivism, and the Church’s reason for rejecting individualism tomorrow.
Okay, sorry I didn’t answer earlier, and you’re gonna be sorely disappointed with my answer because I don’t like writing overly long answers.
First thing first, I, a personalist, would, like an individualist, emphasize human freedom, subjectivity and creativity. Where we differ is that individualists underestimates the relational character of humans. In personalist thought, human freedom (in political or religious context) in ‘being free from others’ (that is, libertarian freedom), but rather, in freedom through others. Humans are set free in obligation and service towards others. Second, individualism is a philosophy that naturally leads towards capitalism (that’s a bad thing, but that’s subjective).
Collectivism, on the other hand, takes away an individuals freedom and creativity, making him nothing more than ‘human’ . This is a dangerous line of thinking because if a ‘human’ is neither a person nor an individual he is merely an expendable specimen of homo sapiens making it possible possible to sacrifice one human’s well being for the ‘good’ of others.