Konstantin Leontiev's “byzantism” in the context of Russian disputes

The article analyzes the connection of the disputes about Byzantium in Russian culture betwenn the 1840s and the 1870s and the conceptual vision of Konstantin Leontiev, set forth in his programmatic work Byzantism and Slavdom (1875). The purpose of the work is to identify the problem of understanding the Byzantine heritage in Russian culture, as well as to study the degree of influence of individual authors on the formation of Konstantin Leontiev’s views. The research direction determines the choice of the historical and literary method. Relevance of the work is confirmed by scholars’ attention to Leontiev’s works and his concept of “byzantism”. The study focuses on the analysis of cultural context of byzantizm. The article notes the actualization of the byzantism concept by Konstantin Leontiev in the 1870s. The similarities and differences between Aleksey Khomyakov’s and Konstantin Leontiev’s positions in the issue of Byzantine influence are considered, and the opinions of Granovsky, Herzen, and Aksakov are given. The conclusion is made that Leontiev’s position is closer to that expressed by the camp of the Westernizers, and not to that of his allies - the Slavophiles. Leontiev, by proceeding from the current philosophical and cultural tradition, delves into the process of understanding the Byzantine heritage and forms a new original content for the “byzantism” concept.