Русский Мир

Impossible to understand with mind,

Impossible to measure, whatsoever,

As Russia is one of the kind,

One to believe and love forever.

F.I. Tyutchev (translated by Yulia Vorobyeva)

Mentality is the prevailing stereotypes and patterns of thinking

The facts show that the Russian (Soviet, Empire, Rus) state and the Russian ethnic group were historically, geographically and psychologically “programmed” to resist the most severe pressure from outside. The Russian ethnos originated in the center of Eurasia, on a plain not protected from the west and east by either seas or mountains and accessible to military invasions from both East Asia and Western Europe. The only way to maintain independence in such conditions is to occupy as much territory as possible, in which any enemy armies would get bogged down (увязнуть).

Huge spaces, harsh climate and the need to resist the combined forces of many peoples from the West and from the east at the same time gave rise to the prevailing type of subconscious and conscious psychological attitudes (подсознательные и сознательные психологические установки) known as “harness slowly, but drive fas”.

Severity of our climate has also greatly affected the mentality of the Russian people. Living in a territory where winter lasts about three – six months in some regions, Russians have developed tremendous willpower (огромная сила воли), perseverance in the struggle for survival in a cold climate. The low temperature during most of the year also affected the temperament of the nation.

Russians have a lot to be proud of, we have a huge and strong country, we have talented people and rich literature.

What do cultural researchers note as specific features of the Russian mentality?

The centuries – old path of selfless search for beauty, truth, justice, the path of hard work and great discoveries – all this is the subject of the most interesting part of the science of the past – the history of culture. This is the history of the activity of mankind in its best manifestations, the history of the life and creativity of wonderful people who used their abilities, mind and vitality (жизненная сила) not for destruction and war, but for creation.

Russia has made an enormous (огромный) contribution to world culture. Its significance cannot be overestimated (переоценить). Words and superlatives hardly do justice (не передают) to our country’s role in the global cultural process. It can only be fully understood through careful and thoughtful study. Together, we will explore information about the origins, development (формирование), and achievements of Russian civilization over its more than 1,000-year history.

The fundamental principle of Russian national culture is language. Countless (бесчисленные) works of fiction written in Russian have become world classics, and many inventions and scientific discoveries, including groundbreaking ones (передовые открытия), are documented (описаны) in Russian. The works of all great thinkers, almost all scientific literature, foundational (основные) religious texts, and world classics of fiction, drama, music, literature, and cinema have been translated into Russian from other languages.

According to the 2020 census, the population of Russia is 147,182,123. Six ethnic groups (народы) in the Russian Federation have populations exceeding one million: Russians, Tatars, Chechens, Bashkirs, Chuvash, and Avars.

The Russian ethnos constitutes the largest population. Regarding ethnicity, there are 106 million Russians in Russia (81%), Tatars—4.7 million (3.6%), and Chechens—1.7 million (1.3%), etc.

While Russians are the state-forming people, more than 190 ethnic groups inhabit (проживают) the territory of the Russian Federation. Each has left its mark on history.”

Orthodoxy as the Spiritual and Moral Core of Russian Civilization

Russian Orthodoxy is a deeply complex and multifaceted topic, as the Orthodox faith is intertwined with Russian history, culture, national identity, and even politics. It’s crucial to understand that there isn’t a single, monolithic view; perspectives vary widely among Russian believers and those with a connection to Orthodoxy. However, I will present the key themes and common viewpoints.

Key Aspects of Russian Orthodoxy from the Russian Perspective

Deeply Intertwined with National Identity:

“Russian Soul”: Orthodoxy is often seen as the core of the “Russian soul,” shaping the values, worldview, and cultural expressions of the Russian people. It’s not just a religion but a defining aspect of what it means to be Russian.

Historical Legacy: The conversion of Rus’ to Orthodox Christianity in 988 AD (the Baptism of Rus’) is a pivotal event in Russian history. It’s considered the foundation of Russian civilization, and the Orthodox faith is seen as a link to that past.

National Heritage: Orthodox cathedrals, monasteries, icons, and liturgical music are not just religious objects but also national treasures, deeply interwoven into the fabric of Russian heritage.

Emphasis on Tradition and Ritual:

Preserving the Faith: Russian Orthodoxy places a high value on tradition and the preservation of ancient rituals and liturgical practices. This emphasis on continuity is seen as vital for maintaining the purity and integrity of the faith.

Liturgy as Spiritual Experience: The Orthodox liturgy is considered a deeply spiritual and transformative experience, a way to connect with God and participate in the divine realm. The beauty of the chanting, the iconography, and the solemnity of the rituals are highly valued.

Sacred Art and Iconography: Icons are seen not just as works of art but as “windows to heaven,” imbued with spiritual significance. The reverence for icons is a central part of Russian Orthodox spirituality.

Spirituality and Mysticism:

Direct Experience of God: Russian Orthodoxy emphasizes a personal and direct experience of God through prayer, contemplation, and participation in the sacraments.

Hesychasm and Prayer: The practice of hesychasm, a contemplative form of prayer, is seen as a path to spiritual enlightenment and union with God.

Emphasis on Suffering and Redemption: The theme of suffering and redemption is central to Russian Orthodox spirituality, often reflected in the lives of Russian saints and the experiences of the Russian people throughout history.

Moral and Ethical Values:

Emphasis on Compassion and Forgiveness: Russian Orthodoxy promotes values such as compassion, forgiveness, and love for one’s neighbor.

Importance of Repentance: Repentance and confession are considered essential for spiritual purification and reconciliation with God.

Striving for Virtue: Russian Orthodox believers are encouraged to strive for virtue, humility, and self-control, trying to live a life in accordance with God’s will.

Church-State Relations:

Historically Close Ties: Throughout much of Russian history, the Orthodox Church has had a close and often symbiotic relationship with the state.

“Symphony” of Church and State: The concept of symphonia, the harmonious cooperation between Church and state, has been an ideal in Russian history. However, in practice, this has sometimes led to the subordination of the Church to the state.

Post-Soviet Revival: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a significant revival of the Orthodox Church. The relationship between Church and state continues to be a complex and at times debated issue.

Patriotism and National Identity:

Church as a Unifying Force: For some, the Orthodox Church is seen as a unifying force in Russian society, a pillar of Russian national identity.

Religious Patriotism: Some Russian Orthodox believers view the defense of their country and its traditions as a religious duty. This concept of “religious patriotism” has been particularly prominent during times of national crisis.

Key Russian Orthodox Holidays and Their Significance:

Pascha (Easter):

The “Feast of Feasts”: From the Russian perspective, Pascha is the most important and joyful holiday in the Orthodox calendar, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s considered the culmination of the liturgical year and the foundation of the Christian faith.

Paschal Liturgy: The Paschal liturgy, held late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, is a central part of the celebration. It’s a long and solemn service that culminates in the joyful proclamation of “Christ is Risen!” (Христос Воскресе!), to which the response is “Truly He is Risen!” (Воистину Воскресе!).

Special Foods: Special foods, like kulich (a sweet bread), paskha (a pyramid-shaped cheese dessert), and brightly dyed eggs, are central to the Paschal celebration. They are often blessed by the priest during the liturgy.

Breaking the Fast: The long Lenten fast is broken after the Paschal liturgy, with joyful feasting and family gatherings. This is a time of celebration, rejoicing, and sharing.

Spiritual Renewal: Pascha is seen as a time of spiritual renewal, forgiveness, and hope, celebrating the victory over sin and death.

Christmas (Rozhdestvo):

Celebrated on January 7th: Due to the Julian calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. This is a key distinction from the Western Christmas on December 25th.

Nativity of Jesus: The holiday commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas Eve Traditions: Christmas Eve (January 6th) often involves special liturgical services, and some families observe traditions like fasting until the first star appears in the sky.

Christmas Feasts and Carols: Christmas Day is a time for feasting, family gatherings, and singing traditional Christmas carols (kolyadki). The spirit of the holiday is seen as one of joy, peace, and goodwill.

Less Commercialized: Compared to the Western Christmas, the Russian Orthodox Christmas tends to be less commercialized and more focused on the religious and spiritual aspects of the celebration.

Theophany (Epiphany):

Baptism of Jesus: Celebrated on January 19th, Theophany commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River and the manifestation of the Holy Trinity.

Blessing of the Waters: A central ritual of Theophany is the blessing of the waters. Priests bless bodies of water, and many people participate by dipping themselves or collecting holy water.

Spiritual Cleansing: This ritual is seen as a spiritual cleansing and renewal, connecting believers to the original baptism of Jesus.

Unique Traditions: Some regions have their own unique traditions, like ice swimming in lakes or rivers, symbolizing baptism.

Great Feasts of the Theotokos (Mother of God):

Assumption (Uspenie): Celebrated on August 28th, the Assumption commemorates the death and ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven.

Nativity of the Theotokos: Celebrated on September 21st, the Nativity commemorates the birth of the Virgin Mary.

Annunciation (Blagoveshchenie): Celebrated on April 7th, the Annunciation commemorates the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would conceive and bear Jesus.

Importance of Mary: The Virgin Mary holds a central position of honor in the Orthodox tradition, and these feasts celebrate her role in salvation history. She is viewed as a model of humility, faith, and motherhood.

If we examine Russian civilization through a scientific lens (рассматривать через научную призму), we can initially observe a number of distinctive (отличительный) characteristics not inherent in other civilizations. These include aspects such as Orthodox ethics, Russian icons, church architecture, and concepts like non-possessiveness, philokalia (филокалия), and artel (артель). In this framework of existence (структура бытия), the primary focus is not material possessions or consumption, but the desire for self-improvement, the transformation of the soul, and the priority of spiritual and moral motivations over material concerns. However, this is only a very general perspective on Russian civilization. To grasp its true essence (суть), we must adjust our scientific lens to perceive (увидеть) the inner spiritual foundations.

Orthodoxy refined (усовершенствовала) and reinforced the ancient worldview of the Russian people, giving it a more elevated character.

Russian Orthodoxy is, fundamentally, a love for goodness. This love of goodness is central for a true Orthodox believer (верующий). This approach to faith originates from the depths of Russian national consciousness, which posits (утверждает) that humanity is inherently good, and evil in the world is a deviation (отклонение). Looking at our origins (обращаясь к истокам), we can see that this moral principle pervaded (преобладал) the ancient worldview of our ancestors. In ancient Russian thought, the idea of perfecting the human soul based on the principles of goodness and harmony is clearly evident. Russian Orthodoxy was born as a living faith based on the union of religious feeling and activity.

From the very beginning, Russian Orthodoxy has been a community (союз) of Orthodox people who have embraced the ceremonial and dogmatic aspects of faith, but it extends beyond these limitations. Russian Orthodoxy is not merely a religious system but also a state of mind – a spiritual and moral journey towards God encompassing all aspects of a Russian person’s life, both public and private.

Holy Russia – four basic concepts

The first concept on which Russian civilization stands can be called faith. It is she who determines the right direction and development of life. Outside of faith, a person is not full-fledged, cannot fully mobilize his spiritual forces. The second ideal and criterion of Russian civilization is the love of kindness. Kindness was noted by Greek historians as one of the principles of the life of the ancient Rus, ancient Slavs. Many peoples understood good and evil as two equal forces that are constantly fighting with each other, and somewhere good wins, and somewhere evil. The Russian Slavs believed that in most cases good is irresistible, sooner or later, it will win. And in this, too, the principle of kindness is revealed.

The next ideal and criterion of Russian civilization can be considered the concept of non-possessiveness. It means the predominance of spiritual and moral forms of life over material forms of life. Non-possessiveness, of course, does not mean that the Russian person completely renounces the material, but it indicates a priority in the development of the spiritual principles of a person, the rejection of greed, the pursuit of profit, the desire to build a life solely for the sake of obtaining some benefits and comfort.

Another ideal of Russian civilization can be considered the ideal of conciliarity (соборность). Сonciliarity is the dissolution of the Russian person in the church, the state and the people. This is the love of common values. Conciliarity is directly opposite to the concept of individualism. It is the difference between the West and the East passes, because the West is mainly individualistic and is based on this, and the East, Russian civilization, is based on conciliarity. This does not mean at all that a person becomes a slave, but on the contrary, a person can feel free only in the concept of conciliarity. This is our world, we live by it, only in this world one can fully open up and develop.

Russia has managed to create an organic combination of unity and freedom, in which almost every Russian was a builder of a great power not for fear, but for conscience. Absolute values, on the love of which Russian people united – God, the Tsar, the Motherland, or, as it sounded in the mass: for Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. Thus, the well-known formula “Orthodoxy Autocracy Nationality” did not arise from scratch, but reflected the conciliar values of the Russian people that arose in ancient times. These motifs are heard in the earliest works of Ancient Russia.

State principle, a strong central government and strong local self-government. At the same time, a combined symphony of secular and ecclesiastical power, which implements the main idea that the state, following the ideals of Christianity, must necessarily merge with the church. And finally, another ideal that should be noted is the struggle for one’s earthly Homeland, for one’s Fatherland, which is the initial movement into the Kingdom of Heaven.

National traits also include:

Love of freedom and the “breadth of the soul”

The breadth of the soul, generosity, freedom – all these are characteristic features of the Russian mentality. Russians are not afraid to show concern for others and say what they really think. Since high spiritual ideals push the Russian person to the truth, they will never tolerate what can no longer be tolerated, and will say what is important to them.

National resilience, tolerance and patriotism

The Russian character is sometimes called slavish by those who don’t understand anything about Russian culture, its history, national interests and outlooks. The Russian character, big heart and high ideals allow you to forgive a lot, be tolerant and turn a blind eye to shortcomings for a long period of time. And yet there is no place for slavish. What we do comes from the strength of our character, not from weakness. And the Russian people are patriotic and able to rally in difficult times, and if they had something to fight for, they would certainly stand any test. Later on you will see what the Russians are capable of to defend its land and people. It’s about the strength of mind and will, not to cloud anyone’s eyes and prestige.

Living according to the heart

An open soul, honesty, ease of communication makes a person of the Russian mentality attractive to others. It is typical for a person of the Russian mentality to be delicate, but one does not behave like this with others out of instilled politeness.

Nevertheless, sometimes it is easier for a Russian person to lie than to tell the truth to the interlocutor, so as not to hurt him. But each quality has its negative sides and aspects.

Preservation of individuality and identity

Russia has its own unique path of development, which differs from the Western one. There remains a place for individuality and identity in it. The Russian mentality contains tremendous strength and energy, while the Russian man has an indomitable will, dedication and is ready to be truthful and real, to resist adversity. According to Berdyaev, Russia has a worldwide mission to make a breakthrough in literature, a Russian thought and popular religious life are full of prophetic forebodings for a reason. As you know, the images of Russian classics are recognized worldwide as literary masterpieces, so they are full of insights not only for us. But these are just guesses. Whether Russia will become a spiritual compass for future generations is a big question that will probably remain open for a long time.

Unification of Russian people, native speakers of the Russian language and culture, as well as adherents of traditional values around the ideas of the Russian world is our mission

The history of the origin of the “Russian idea” goes back to the 19th century. During this period, many thinkers and philosophers tried to assess Russia’s past and identify the principles on which its future will be created.

The Russian idea acquired special significance and relevance at the end of the 20th century after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many philosophers have tried to fill the resulting ideological vacuum with the idea of consolidating disunited Russian-speaking compatriots. The concept served as a kind of tool with which ideologists tried to comprehend the realities in which the new state acts as a special historical and cultural space with its own traditions and rules. Some scientists express the opinion that the concept of the “Russian world” complemented and helped to reveal the idea of Russia’s political sovereignty. Although the need for the ideology of the “Russian world” at the official state level seemed obvious, the 1993 Constitution clearly stated that “no ideology can be established as a state or mandatory”.

In the early 2000s, the term Russian world firmly entered the political discourse. The fact that great hopes are pinned on the idea of the “Russian world”, and the promotion of the concept has become one of the primary tasks of state policy, became especially noticeable during the first and second terms of V. Putin’s presidency. This is confirmed by the statement made at the opening of the World Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots, when the need for “consolidation and structuring” of the united Russian world was first voiced. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2006,

“The Russian world can and should unite all those who value the Russian word and Russian culture, wherever they live, in Russia or abroad”.

In 2014, when finally, Crimea returned to its Homeland, to the state, the concept helped the people to convey to society the significance and importance of the long-awaited return of the native Russian territories. Some called it a Russian Spring (русская весна).

It is the “Russian world”, which sounds like a call for national revival and preservation of Russia’s material and spiritual growth, that helped Russians realize the full scale of the historical moment for our country, and Crimea to integrate faster upon returning home. The Russian peoples (народ) has every reason to demand recognition of our rights of reunification as the Russian people. And in the long historical perspective, there is hardly a force that can prevent it.