Theocratic Project of the Russian Old Believers in the Mid XVIIth Century and Orthodox Renovationism of the Early XXth Century: Social Utopia or Civilizational Alternative?


	Philosophy and Culture Reference: Golovushkin D.A. Theocratic Project of the Russian Old Believers in the Mid XVIIth Century and Orthodox Renovationism of the Early XXth Century: Social Utopia or Civilizational Alternative? // Philosophy and Culture. 2015. № 12. P. 1777-1782. URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=67257 Golovushkin D.A. Theocratic Project of the Russian Old Believers in the Mid XVIIth Century and Orthodox Renovationism of the Early XXth Century: Social Utopia or Civilizational Alternative? Abstract: In his research Golovushkin reveals the meaning and historical definition of the socio-political projects of the two brightest forms of Russian Orthodox reformation - the movement of Old Believers of the mid XVIIth century and Orthodox Renovationism of the early XXth century. Researchers traditionally view these phenomena as opposite vectors: Renovationism is usually associated with novations and modernization and Old Believers are associated with fundamentalism and commitment to doniconian Russian Orthodoxy. However, despite these beliefs, their historical path, religious projects and socio-political concepts have much in common which points to some important intersection points and regular patterns of the Russian church and socio-political history. Methodologically, the research is based on historical phenomenology of religion which considers history of religions (discriptive discipline) and phenomenology of religion (comparative and interpretative disciplien) as the two interdependent aspects of religious science combining the methods of empirical study and theoretical analysis of collected empirical data. This approach demonstrates that the movement of Old Believers in the mid XVIIth century and Orthodox Renovationism of the Early XXth century are the expression of not only a new type of religion, religious ethics and morals but also transformation of the political culture of the Russian society and crisis of the theocratic paternalist model of the Russian government. Developing the concept of the 'free theocracy' state where church, government and society are an entity and participate in creation of the Kingdom of God on earth, Old Believers and Renovationists tried to find both the civil way to legitimize the ruling power and the algorithm for building the 'true Orthodox civilization' in Russia. Double failure of that socio-political project had a significant impact on the following civilizational development of the Russian society. The result was the crucial church dissents and reinforcement of the vertical structure of the paternalist secular power, for church schisms do not only initiate changes but also bring traumatic experience, make people fear transformations and encourage political and religious conservatism and anti-dynamism attitudes. Keywords: Old Believers, Orthodox Renovationism, religious fundamentalism, theocracy, Old Believer schism, Renovationist schism, Christian state, secular state, paternalism This article can be downloaded freely in PDF format for reading. Download article References 1. Stankevich G.V. Religioznye faktory v politike sovremennykh gosudarstv // Pravo i politika. – 2011. – № 7. – S. 1096 – 1100. 2. Novikov O. A. Tsivilizatsionnyi vybor Rossii i ideya teokratii // Pravo i politika. – 2010. – № 11. – S. 2029 – 2036. 3. Svetlov P.Ya. Ideya tsarstva Bozhiya v ee znachenii dlya khristianskogo mirosozertsaniya: (Bogoslovsko-apologeticheskoe issledovanie) // Bogoslovskii vestnik. – 1903. – T. 1. – № 2. – S. 247 – 277. 4. Kapterev N.F. Patriarkh Nikon i tsar' Aleksei Mikhailovich. – T.1. – Sergiev Posad: tip. Svyato-Troitskoi Sergievoi lavry, 1909. 5. Zen'kovskii S.A. Russkoe staroobryadchestvo. V dvukh tomakh / Obshch. red. V.V. Nekhotina. – M.: Institut DI-DIK, Kvadriga, 2009. 6. Zen'kovskii S.A. Tam zhe. 7. Florovskii G.V. Puti russkogo bogosloviya. – M.: Institut russkoi tsivilizatsii, 2009. 8. Florovskii G.V. Tam zhe. 9. Kartashev A.V. Tserkov'. Istoriya. Rossiya. Stat'i i vystupleniya. – M.: «Probel», 1996. 10. Glinchikova A.G. 2009. Raskol i nezavershennost' russkogo Moderna // Mir Rossii. – 2009. – № 4. – S. 66 – 88. 11. Kartashev A. V. Tserkov'. Istoriya. Rossiya. Stat'i i vystupleniya. – M.: «Probel», 1996. 12. Sventsitskii V. K voprosu o tserkovnoi reforme // Voprosy zhizni. – 1905. – № 4 – 5. – S. 267 – 274. 13. Ern V. Khristianskoe otnoshenie k sobstvennosti. – M.: «Trud i volya», 1906. 14. Kartashev A.V. Tserkov'. Istoriya. Rossiya. Stat'i i vystupleniya. – M.: «Probel», 1906. 15. Ob otnoshenii Tserkvi i svyashchenstva k sovremennoi obshchestvenno-politicheskoi zhizni. «Zapiska Soyuza revnitelei Tserkovnogo obnovleniya» (Gruppy peterburgskikh svyashchennikov) // Tserkovnyi vestnik. – 1906. – № 11. – Stb. 321 – 331. 16. Svetlov P.Ya. Ideya tsarstva Bozhiya v ee znachenii dlya khristianskogo mirosozertsaniya: (Bogoslovsko-apologeticheskoe issledovanie) // Bogoslovskii vestnik. – 1903.-T. 1. – № 2. – S. 247 – 277. 17. Berdyaev N.A. Rasprya Tserkvi i gosudarstva v Rossii // Dukhovnyi krizis intelligentsii: Sobranie sochinenii / Otv. red., sost. i komment. V.V. Sapov. – M.: Kanon+ ; ROOI «Reabilitatsiya», 2009. – S. 218 – 229. 18. Kudryashova I.V. Fundamentalizm v prostranstve sovremennogo mira // Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya. – 2002. – № 1. – S. 66 – 77. 19. Mezhuev V.M. Traditsiya samovlastiya v sovremennoi Rossii // Svobodnaya mysl'. – 2000. – № 4. – S. 81 – 92. 20. Gurevich P. Fundamentalizm i modernizm kak kul'turnye orientatsii // Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost'. – 1995. – № 4. – S. 154 – 162. 21. Novikov O.A. Religioznoe obosnovanie prava i ideya prav cheloveka // Pravo i politika. – 2013. – № 6. – S. 822 – 824. DOI: 10.7256/1811-9018.2013.6.6443

Journals

Books

Golovushkin D.A. Theocratic Project of the Russian Old Believers in the Mid XVIIth Century and Orthodox Renovationism of the Early XXth Century: Social Utopia or Civilizational Alternative?