Iv. Aksakov and Ju. Samarin about the Christian ideal (aspects of law and liberty)

The article describes the problem of christian ideal, reflected in the journalism and epistolary heritage by I. Aksakov and Ju. Samarin that were prominent slavophils after abolition of serfdom in 1861. It is traced how their christian ideal is interpreted in relation to personal biography and milestone events in Russia in the mid-19th century: the Polish uprising, revolutionary terrorism, revitalization of Old Believers movement, the Balkan crisis. When thinking about these events went to the fore the question of antinomy of “Law and Grace”, on which Aksakov and Samarin were total solidarity, differing only stylistically: one as a spunky artist, another as a rigorous scholar and analyst.