Konstantin Leontiev's Byzantism and Vladimir Solovyov's philosophy of religion. Part I: Leontiev and the idea of universal theocracy

The article is devoted to Konstantin Leontiev’s perception of Vladimir Solovyov’s philosophy of religion in terms of the Orthodox-monarchic ideal of Byzantism. The views of the two thinkers are compared and a contrast is shown between the biography of Solovyov, who has long since been recognized as the most popular Russian philosopher, and a miserable destiny of Leontiev, an ideological outcast owing to his extreme conservatism. Motives for their friendly contacts, the most prominent of which was their religious ardour, are revealed. The fact of a growing interest in Leontiev’s conservative ideas in present-day society is stated and the significance of the publication of his complete works and letters finished in 2021 is emphasized. The meaning of the term “Byzantism” used by Leontiev to describe his views, as well as reasons for his infatuation with Solovyov’s theocratic project, despite the pro-Catholic character of this doctrine, are elucidated. The circumstances of the polemics between Leontiev and Solovyov in connection with Dostoyevsky’s famous speech on Pushkin are discussed. A comparison between Leontiev’s and Solovyov’s ideas makes it possible to highlight the most remarkable features of Leontiev’s Orthodox teaching based on the motifs of Church discipline, obedience and fear of God, and to enlighten a contradictory combination of Church mysticism and liberal “progressive” Westernism of Solovyov’s standpoint. The future second, final part of this research work is to concentrate on the steadily growing ideological divergence of the two essentially dissimilar philosophers, which led to the interruption of their friendly contacts.