Konstantin Leontiev against the Background of Byzantism and “the Eastern Confederation”

The article is devoted to the biography and socio-political views of K. N. Leontiev, the great Russian notionalist and publicist of the second half of the nineteenth century. The article discusses the evolution of Leontiev’s views. The emphasis is put on Leontiev’s ideas about byzantism as the foundation of Russia’s potential historical “longevity” and about “the Eastern Union” — a confederation, which, from his point of view, should include Orthodox and Slavic peoples, as well as many peoples of the Asian continent. The methodology of this review paper is based on the principles of science, historicism and objectivity. The research was based on the methods of comparative historical analysis, immersion into the ideological atmosphere of the time in which K. N. Leontiev had lived, and biographical analysis with elements of psychological research, which allowed to understand and reveal some fundamental aspects of his socio-political views. The article reviews and analyzes the literary heritage of the notionalist, including his journalism, fi ction and letters. K. N. Leontiev was one of “the pioneers” who had introduced the concept of byzantism into the socio-political discourse of postreform Russia. He nurtured great hopes that the Byzantine principles would allow Russia to outlast Western Europe by a long time — ultimately for a whole cultural and state epoch, i.e. for 1000–1200 years. The notionalist had generated these hopes in the fi rst half of the 1870s. However, K. N. Leontiev stopped counting on such a long period of Russia’s historical longevity towards the end of his earthly journey. An appeal to the biography and views of this notionalist, to his ideas about byzantism, “the Eastern Confederation”, Orthodoxy and the problem of the Church allows us to signifi cantly more accurately, sharper and deeper assess the catastrophic results of the 20th century for our country, the civilizational, spiritual, metaphysical, historical essence and the signifi cance of revolutions that befell it, as well as the period of the communist rule, and to outline potential ways for Russia to get out of the diff icult situation in which it has found itself in the current post-Soviet years.

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