The Representations of Christian Images and Concepts in the Correspondence between Voltaire and Catherine II

It is well known that the first Russian monarch who called herself as “the head of the Church” was the empress Catherine II. The first using of this concept in a such way by Catherine II can be found in her correspondence with Voltaire in the 1770s. The detailed consideration of the religious and political context of this correspondence between the Russian empress and the French philosopher allows to speak about the birth of this Catherine’s self-characterization within Voltaire’s epistolary representational game, which dealt with various Christian images and concepts. These Voltaire’s representations, despite their specificity, correspond to various manifestations of sacralization of a monarch in Russia in the 18th century. Afterwards, perception of the concept of “the head of the Church” by Catherine II showed itself in her correspondence with the other foreign persons and perhaps had a direct impact on the legal statement of the idea of supremacy of an emperor over the Church, which was made by Paul I in the act on the order of succession. This act was proclaimed in 1797, but it was drawn up and signed by by Paul in 1788.