Archpriest Mikhail Raevsky and Slavophiles

The article is devoted to the cooperation of Vienna embassy church archpriest M.F. Raevsky with some representatives of the Slavophil circle in the second half of the 19 century. The position of the priest was between representatives of Russian society and foreign Slavs. This information illuminates the idea of Slavic unity in the slavophiles’ doctrines after serfdom. Slavophiles went to the Austrian slavic lands where they had personal acquaintance with Raevsky and the local situation. Cooperation has continued in the field of information. The priest send materials from Vienna for the publication in Russian media sources to highlight the problems of the Slavs in Austria. It created a simplified image of the Slavic brothers connected with Russia by a common historical destiny. The religious and philosophical component of the Slavophile ideology, the appeal to the historical medieval past as the ideal and the concept of messianism originally brought together the views of this social movement and M.F. Raevsky. And last but not least: faith was one of the main factors of national identification for the Orthodox priest and Slavophiles. This influenced their attitude towards the Slavic nationalities.