IMAGES OF A ‘TRUE CITIZEN’ AND A ‘PATRIOT’IN THE RUSSIAN PREACHING DISCOURSE OF THE LAST QUARTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concepts of citizen and patriot in Russian preaching literature of the last quarter of the 18th century, mainly on the example of the “court sermons” of Damaskin, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr (1737–1795). These little-known sources significantly supplement and change the traditional ideas about the range of interpretations and elaboration of the theoretical constructs of the Western European Enlightenment in Russia of this period, leading a discussion of the content of basic concepts such as "love for one's country", "common good", "citizen", "patriot" , from the limited space of rhetorical poetry and other widely used texts, interpreted within the framework of "monarchist patriotism". The author of the article examines the semantic shifts in the content of this range of concepts of Russian intellectual culture of this period in the context of the transfer of ideas of Western European enlighteners and the transformation of the value system of the transitional era. The author concludes that the expansion of the genre spectrum of the studied texts makes it possible to see not only significant parallels and similarities associated with the development of the relevant pan-European educational ideological blocks in the spirit of "political theology", but also important semantic differences that arise in the field of the national cultural code.

Extended abstract:

There is a range of well-known sources that fall into the focus of attention of researchers interested in the history of key concepts in the Russian socio-political discourse and analysis of the “patriotic consciousness” of the Russian elite of the 18th – early 19th century. The preferences of philologists and historians are concentrated in the space of rhetorical poetry and ego documents reflecting the "patriotic ideals" of the upper class in the spirit of "monarchist patriotism". The report analyzes the content of basic concepts – such as "love for one's country", "common good", "citizen", and "patriot" in the little-known "Sermons" (1775–1782) by Archimandrite of the Epiphany Monastery, Rector of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, vicar of the Moscow diocese (later – Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr) Damaskin (Dmitry Semenov-Rudnev, 1737–1795).
Metropolitan Damaskin is a religious educator, a representative of the Russian intellectual elite, which created a cultural bridge that connected the ideas of Western European enlightenment, the theory of natural law, and social contract with the traditions of Orthodox thought. In two of his "court sermons", published in 1783, Damaskin specifically devoted himself to subjects directly related to the ideas of citizenship and patriotism. The semantic shifts in the content of this circle of concepts of Russian intellectual culture of the last quarter of the 18th century are considered in the context of the transfer of ideas to Western European enlighteners and the transformation of the value system of the transitional era. If “love for the Fatherland” is affirmed by Damaskin as the main virtue of a true citizen and patriot, then his understanding that only philanthropy, the desire to make everyone else happy is truly the source of love for the Fatherland, emphasizes the humanistic nature of this set of ideas based on social ideals and moral values of Christianity. The retreat of a virtuous and prudent citizen from high spiritual and moral principles Damaskin equates to an encroachment on the common good and, equally, to the most terrible crime - treason. To benefit one's Fatherland, "great and excellent virtues" are required, which cannot be acquired without enlightenment, which is necessary to free oneself "from the yoke of prejudices, ignorance, and addictions." At the same time, “love for the Fatherland” is manifested not only in the assessment of its advantages, but also in the desire to eradicate its shortcomings and abuses, and the “benefit of the Fatherland” turns out to be directly related to the “advantage of true freedom” “to do good in an unlimited way”. The sermons demonstrate the organic combination of several areas of patriotic discourse, conventionally referred to as “monarchist patriotism”, with the Orthodox theological tradition, as well as a steady trend in the semantic expansion of the conceptual pair “freedom and equality” by including “truth and justice” as basic categories of the national cultural code. The attractive material significantly supplements and corrects the existing ideas about the images of the "patriot" and "citizen" present in the Russian intellectual culture of the Enlightenment.