The Christian meaning of Dostoevsky's Pushkin speech

The article examines Christian ideas, notions and concepts of Dostoevsky’s Pushkin speech, which was delivered on June 8, 1880. The study provides a critical analysis of the newspaper-magazine controversy that unfolded after the publication of the speech and the release of the “Writer’s Diary.” Dostoevsky invested the most intimate thing that he had nurtured all his life in Pushkin speech. In his analysis of Pushkin’s artistic typology, Dostoevsky revealed the Christian ideal, which is manifested in the image of Tatyana Larina and corresponds to the popular ideal. Almost immediately, the enthusiasm of the listeners was replaced by a stormy controversy around the key ideas of Dostoevsky’s speech. A particular misunderstanding of critics was triggered by his concept of “pan-human (vsechelovek),” which became the subject of criticism by K. D. Kavelin, K. N. Leontiev, V. V. Rozanov and others, ridicule by D. D. Minaev and I. S. Turgenev. In order to discredit the concept, the writer and poet came up with their own parodic neologisms: “all-woman,” “all-wife.” The theological and philosophical meaning of the “pan-human (vsechelovek)” concept is revealed in the works of St. Justin, S. F. Bulgakov, in the works of modern researchers. For Dostoevsky, the pan-human (vsechelovek) is a follower of Christ, “to become pan-human (vsechelovek)” for the writer means to be a Christian. The time has come to understand and accept the ideas of Dostoevsky’s Pushkin speech.