Коллективный подвиг эпохи Смуты: народное ополчение как цивилизационный ответ на кризис российской государственности

The Collective Feat of the Time of Troubles: The People’s Militia as a Civilizational Response to the Crisis of Russian Statehood

The aim of the research is to reveal the mechanisms behind the formation of collective patriotic mobilization amid a deep state crisis during the Time of Troubles. Collective heroism is understood here as a distinct mode of social action in which a multitude of personal aspirations merges into a single meaning directed toward the preservation of supra-personal values: the state, the faith, and civilizational identity. Within this framework, the militia of 1611–1612 is interpreted as a mechanism of civilizational self-preservation. The research draws on a comprehensive body of sources, including the appeal letters (circular charters) of the militias and chronicle evidence. It also makes extensive use of the findings of contemporary Russian historians. The toolkit of historical psychology makes it possible to trace the transformation of individual fear into collective sacrifice, while a semiotic analysis of the charters helps to reveal their role as a unique type of text combining theological and legal registers. The inner logic of the feat is reconstructed step by step. First, the Time of Troubles is characterized as a total systemic crisis that undermined the sacred foundations of the medieval Russian worldview and made an unprecedented response "from below" necessary. Second, the phenomenology of mobilization is analyzed, consisting in the gradual transformation of purely individual motives, under the influence of Orthodox providentialism, into a readiness to sacrifice personal interests for the common good. The role of the Church and the sacral status of the written word are examined as instruments of legitimation amid the collapse of central authority. The comparison of the First and Second militias forms the analytical core of the work. The First militia (1611) exposed the principal threat to any collective feat—the clash of private corporate interests with the common aim—whereas the Second militia (1611–1612) overcame this division, becoming an embodiment of the synthesis of religious duty, civic patriotism, and trans estate solidarity. Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky are interpreted as cultural heroes of a particular, service oriented type, and the role of the Cossacks is also examined. It is concluded that the feat of the people's militia constitutes a unified cultural phenomenon in which the military, religious, legal, and memorial dimensions appear in their internal interconnection. It is presented as an archetypal model of trans estate collective action that has persisted in Russian memorial culture from the seventeenth century to the present day, embodying the enduring values of sacrifice and solidarity.