ABSTRACT
In March 2004, one of the senior hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Kirill – then metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, but from January 2009 patriarch of Moscow and All Russia – delivered an address to the participants in the “Eighth Universal Russian Popular Council” on Russia and the Orthodox World. Within the context of the council’s theme, the relations between Orthodox in Russia and elsewhere, Kirill (2004) expanded upon the particular value of the Russian philosophical heritage:
In historical and cultural terms one may speak of the special path of Russia. Initially, this theme was taken up by Russian religious thinkers in the first half of the 19th century. This was the time of Russia’s religious and philosophical awakening with which began the valuable tradition of thought on an intellectual level about the Russian experience of social development. On this theme reasoned the prominent philosophers of Russia: I. V. Kireevsky, A. S. Khomiakov, V. S. Soloviev, N. Ia. Danilevsky, K. N. Leontiev, Father Sergy Bulgakov, S. L. Frank, Father Pavel Florensky, N. A. Berdiaev. They strove to present an integrated Orthodox model of personal and social life. In view of the range of vitally important categories this is a multifaceted model compared to a Western understanding of democracy. Some of them termed this model sobornost which harmonizes the principle of social unity and personal freedom through the love of God and the neighbor. Russian thinkers showed that Russia has its own intellectual and historical achievements, which make up her peculiarity and individuality.
