Anton V. Kartashev and the philosophy of love in the “church” of the Merezhkovsky couple in 1906-1907

The article presents the results of research of A. V. Kartashev’s intellectual biography, and is devoted to his views on gender and marriage at the time of his fascination with the “new religious consciousness” (NRC). The focus is on the circumstances of Kartashev’s stay in the “neo-Christian” triple religious union during his stay (1906-1907) with sisters T. N. and N. N. Gippius in the apartment of D. S. and Z. N. Merezhkovsky in the Muruzi house. The author finds out what made Kartashev participate in the project of “triple unions” and what conclusions A. V. Kartashev made for himself on the problem of “gender and marriage in the church of the new religious consciousness”. The article shows that the Merezhkovskys’ experiment in educating the “churchman” Kartashev with impersonal “all-human” love ended with his victory in personal and intellectual plans. Kartashev convinced T. N. Gippius of the necessity of communion in the historical Russian Church and offered Merezhkovsky his own concept, which was much more in line with V. S. Solovyov’s philosophy of love, laid down in the foundation of the project.