ABSTRACT
Weber’s œuvre contains many references to the Russian patrimonial state and to the Eastern Orthodox religion and tradition, particularly the magic and mystical aspects, furthermore their indifference toward the world and the lack of psychological premia placed on inner-worldly activity. Also the Old Believers and the sects (except to some extent the Skoptsy) were unable to evade the stifling influence of the patrimonial state and showed passive apolitism.
But Russia provided more to Weber than the opportunity to control and to extend his so-called PE-thesis. He looked, although in vain, for the blossoming of a free society in Russia and he found there an alternative or a counterweight against the rational European culture. In particular, he saw a tension between Leo Tolstoy’s religious ethic of conviction (do not resist evil by force) – to the extent that it was lived with inner consistency – and the independent cultural value spheres of the Occident (politics, economics, science, etc.). It seemed to Weber that Eastern Orthodoxy is more concerned with private morals and leaves public life rather underexposed and underexplored.
