PhD Thesis - University of Glascow
Peter J.S.Duncan is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Russian Politics and
Society at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College
London. He is the author of The Soviet Union and India, and co-author of The
Road to Post-Communism: Independent Political Movements in the Soviet Union,
1985–1991.
Russian Messianism - Third Rome, Revolution, Communism and after Peter J.S Duncan
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Russian messianism is the view that the Russian people are the chosen people.
This idea has preoccupied some of the most well-known Russian writers for
centuries: through suffering and adherence to Orthodox Christianity, the Russian
people will redeem the errors of humanity. When the USSR collapsed in 1991,
many in the West expected a new era of freedom to dawn, whereas in reality
most Russians are nostalgic for the Soviet period and many blame the USA for
their present problems.
This is the first book in English for half a century to analyse the complexities
of Russian messianism as a whole and its interaction with communism. The book
spans Russian history, from the claim of the medieval monk Filofei that Moscow
was the Third Rome to Lenin’s idea that Western capitalism would collapse and
Russia could show the way out of crisis, right up to the present day. Peter
Duncan considers the Orthodox roots of messianism and also focuses on
Russia’s geopolitical experience and situation to explain its endurance. This
unique work will be of great interest to those engaged in politics and Russian
studies, as well as to professionals dealing with Russia.
http://f3.tiera.ru/1/genesis/580-584/581000/09fc5459a6269f750093bc4f0680...
Notes
The earliest surviving formulation of this idea is probably that in a letter by the monk Filofei (Philotheus), the elder
(starets) of Eleazarov monastery in Pskov, written in 1511. Filofei addressed his
Tsar, Vasily III, with these words:
The Church of old Rome fell because of the impiety of the Apollinarian
heresy; the Church of the Second Rome, Constantinople, was smitten
under the battle-axes of the Agarenes; but this present Church of the Third,
New Rome, of Thy sovereign empire: the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church…
shines in the whole universe more resplendent than the sun. And let it be
known to Thy Lordship, O pious Czar, that all the empires of the Orthodox
Christian Faith have converged into Thine one empire. Thou art the sole
Emperor of all the Christians in the whole universe… For two Romes have
fallen, and the Third stands, and a fourth shall never be, for Thy Christian
Empire shall never devolve upon others.
Voir Tarkovsky and movie on Andrei Rublev (1965), russian icon painter from the 15th century
The theory of the Third Rome was intended to justify the autocratic position of
the Muscovite rulers by portraying them as representatives of God on earth,
going rather beyond the Western concept of the “Divine Right of Kings”
Святорусский ("Holy Russian") appears in political litterature in the 16th century
For the peasantry, Holy Russia was the Orthodox
Russian people and land, whose holiness was independent of the existence of the
Tsar and the Muscovite State. Peasant rebellions from the seventeenth century
onwards were essentially conservative, not only in that they sought the return of
the “true Tsar” or the implementation of his wishes, but also in that they sought a
return to the “true Russian path” which was being abandoned by Westernizing
tsars
Can't help to think about Pipes here and the Bolshevik Revolution as a mainly urban revolution ? Conservative peasantry unwilling to follow the revolution, against kolkhoisation, struggling against RA during WWII, welcoming G liberators (in the South) cf RA at war.
P 14-15
The peasant version of Russian messianism emphasized the holiness and uniqueness of the Russian land and people rather than the holiness of the Tsar. It should be admitted at once that there is difficulty in ascertaining what exactly the beliefs of the peasants were at any time in Russian history, since they were largely illiterate and their masters when writing about them may well have distorted their position Nevertheless, the demands of the various peasant revolts make it possible to fit together a plausible peasant ideology, based on the myths of “Holy Russia” and the “saintly ruler”.
Peter I seen again as Antichrist = Western methods and foreigners (Germans) into high places providing a boost to the strength of the Old Believers.
Merchants who had lost their privileges through Peter’s reforms found that the ideology of the Old Believers was
supportive of their interests; many of them broke from the Westernized urban environment and joined the Old Believer communities, spearheading the conquest of Siberia. Old Believer life was industrious and ascetic.
Государство / обчество + народ
The discussion of the State as standing against the nation and the discussion of the popular belief in “Holy Russia” presuppose the existence of some form of national consciousness
Le sentiment national emerge à la suite de l'invasion polonaise en 1610 "S.O.Yakobson suggests that it was the presence
of Polish troops in Muscovy in 1610 which made “the national idea…the common possession of the vast masses of the populace” of Russia."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Muscovite_War_(1605%E2%80%9318)
National consciousness divided about the extent to which they wanted Russia to catch up with the West or maintain her own identity.
P16 Catherine II
