Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (May 1 (13), 1804, Moscow - September 23 (October 5), 1860, Ivanovskoye village, Dankovsky district, Ryazan province) - Russian poet, artist, publicist, theologian, philosopher, founder of early Slavophilism, member of correspondent of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1856).
In 1821 he passed the examination for the degree of Candidate of Mathematical Sciences at Moscow University. Khomyakov's first experiments in poetry and the translation of Tacitus' Germania, published in the Proceedings of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, date back to the time of his studies in Moscow. In 1822, Khomyakov decided to enter military service, first in the Astrakhan cuirassier regiment, a year later he was transferred to St. Petersburg to the Horse Guards. In 1825 he temporarily left the service and went abroad; studied painting in Paris, wrote the historical drama "Ermak", staged on stage only in 1829, and printed only in 1832. In 1828-1829, Khomyakov participated in the Russian-Turkish war, after which he retired with the rank of headquarters captain and left for his estate, deciding to take up farming. Collaborated with various magazines.
In the article "On the Old and the New" (1839), he put forward the main theoretical provisions of Slavophilism. In 1838, he began work on his main historical and philosophical work, Notes on World History.
In 1847 Khomyakov visited Germany. Since 1850, he began to pay special attention to religious issues, the history of Russian Orthodoxy. For Khomyakov, socialism and capitalism were equally negative offspring of Western decadence. The West has not been able to solve the spiritual problems of humanity; it has become carried away by competition and neglected cooperation. In his words: "Rome preserved its unity at the cost of freedom, and the Protestants gained freedom at the cost of unity." He considered the monarchy the only acceptable form of government for Russia, advocated the convocation of the "Zemsky Sobor", linking with it the hope of resolving the contradiction between "power" and "land", which arose in Russia as a result of the reforms of Peter I.
Being engaged in the treatment of peasants during the cholera epidemic, he fell ill. He died on September 23 (October 5), 1860 in the village of Speshnevo-Ivanovsky, Ryazan province (now in the Lipetsk region). He was buried in the Danilov Monastery next to Yazykov and Gogol. In Soviet times, the ashes of all three were reburied at the new Novodevichy cemetery.
Books (14)
Selected Philosophical Works. In 2 volumes. Volume 1.2
Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov is a Russian poet, artist, publicist, theologian, philosopher and founder of early Slavophilism, whose range of interests was extremely wide. Philosophy and theology, history and historiosophy, sociology and jurisprudence, economics, aesthetics, criticism and linguistics - this is not a complete list of the scientific interests of the famous figure.
Scientific heritage of Khomyakov A.S. is distinguished by its extraordinary “comprehensiveness” and at the same time subjectivity, which brings his works closer to works of art, and to this day is relevant and in demand.
Full composition of writings. Volume 1
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
Full composition of writings. Volume 2
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
Full composition of writings. Volume 3
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
Full composition of writings. Volume 4
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
Full composition of writings. Volume 5
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
Full composition of writings. Volume 6
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
Full composition of writings. Volume 7
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
Full composition of writings. Volume 8
Language: Russian (pre-reform)
In the expanded and supplemented collection of works of A.S. Khomyakov, the creator of "Slavophilism", in addition to philosophical and journalistic works, included his poetic works, the poetic tragedies "Ermak" and "Dmitry the Pretender", as well as letters from different years.
Khomyakov Alexei Stepanovich (1804-1860) - philosopher, poet, publicist, theologian, one of the founders of Slavophilism and its leaders in the 1830s-1850s. He came from an old noble family. Possessed encyclopedic knowledge, eloquence and received the nickname "Ilya Muromets of Slavophilism." He was close to the Moscow circle of "Lyubomudrov". Collaborated in the magazine "European", "Moskvityanin", "Russian conversation", was the chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Moscow University (1858-1860). He was a supporter of the abolition of serfdom through reform. In autocracy he saw the only possible political power for Russia.
bright resurrection
"Bright Sunday" is the only work written by the famous Orthodox philosopher and writer Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov for children.
More precisely, this is an artistic retelling of the story of the English writer Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol", only Khomyakov transferred all the events from the Christmas holiday to Easter.
The story tells about the greatest miracle - the miracle of the transformation of the human soul. Even the most callous, most cruel soul that has rejected light and mercy is capable of resurrecting for a new life, for the feat of love and compassion for one's neighbor. But for this, the soul must see clearly, see the abyss of its sinful fall, the darkness into which a person drives himself with his cruelty, greed, envy. And enlightenment is possible only thanks to the grace of God. So, on the eve of the Bright Feast of the Resurrection of Christ, three mysterious messengers come to the insatiable miser Skrug, who reveal to him his past, present and terrible future - and thereby turn his whole life upside down.
The general theme of the book is the disclosure of differences, or rather the gulf that separates the Orthodox Church and Western denominations that call themselves Christian (Catholicism and Protestantism) in the field of teaching about the Church.
Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (May 1 (May 13), 1804 - September 23 (October 5), 1860) - Russian poet, artist, publicist, theologian, philosopher, founder of early Slavophilism, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Alexei Khomyakov was born in Moscow on Ordynka in an old noble family. Received home education. In 1821 he passed the examination for the degree of Candidate of Mathematical Sciences at Moscow University. He published quite actively (poems, translations). In 1822, Khomyakov was determined for military service, first in the Astrakhan cuirassier regiment, a year later he was transferred to St. Petersburg to the Horse Guards. In 1825 he left the service, went abroad, engaged in painting, wrote the historical drama "Ermak". In 1828-1829, Khomyakov participated in the Russian-Turkish war, after which he retired and left for his estate, deciding to take up farming. Collaborates with various magazines.
In 1836 he marries the sister of the poet Yazykov, Ekaterina Mikhailovna. In the article "On the Old and the New" (1839) he puts forward the main theoretical provisions of Slavophilism. In 1838, he began work on his main historical and philosophical work, Notes on World History. In 1847 Khomyakov visits Germany.
Since 1850, he paid special attention to religious issues, the history of Russian Orthodoxy. For Khomyakov, socialism and capitalism were equally negative offspring of Western decadence. The West has not been able to solve the spiritual problems of humanity; it has become carried away by competition and neglected cooperation. In his words: "Rome preserved its unity at the cost of freedom, and the Protestants gained freedom at the cost of unity." He considered the monarchy the only acceptable form of government for Russia, advocated the convocation of the "Zemsky Sobor", linking with it the hope of resolving the contradiction between "power" and "land", which arose in Russia as a result of the reforms of Peter I.
Being engaged in the treatment of peasants during the cholera epidemic, he fell ill. He died on September 23 (October 5), 1860 in the village of Speshnevo-Ivanovsky, Ryazan province (now in the Lipetsk region). He was buried in the Danilov Monastery next to Yazykov and Gogol. In Soviet times, the ashes of all three were reburied at the new Novodevichy cemetery.
The fundamental work "Notes on World History" (Semiramide) remained unfinished, but journal articles have been preserved. The material world seemed to Khomyakov only an external expression of a freely creative spirit (God), and the material factors of social development were its external manifestations. History is a process of gradual manifestation of the fullness of the spirit in the social life of mankind. Each nation in its development expresses one side or another of the absolute. Accordingly, the history of the people was a process of manifestation in its social life of a certain primary idea originally inherent in it. Each nation had its own special substance, "beginning".
The philosophy of A. S. Khomyakov was based on providentialism. The historical development of each nation was predetermined by the absolute. However, in its development, the people, for one reason or another, may deviate from it and fail to fulfill the “mission” assigned to it.
The understanding by the Slavophiles (including A. S. Khomyakov) of the process of the historical development of this or that people as a gradual manifestation of its "beginning" had two indisputable advantages. Firstly, such an approach implied the desire to understand the meaning of the history of the people. Secondly, he forced to pay special attention to the specifics of folk life (it was the Slavophiles who were the first to pay serious attention to such a fundamental phenomenon of Russian reality as the rural community).
Khomyakov Alexey Stepanovichwas born in Moscow on May 13, 1804 in an old noble family. In 1822-1825 and in 1826-1829 he was in military service,in 1828participated in the war with the Turks and was awarded the order for bravery. Leaving the service, he took up the affairs of the estate. The range of spiritual interests and activities of Khomyakov was exceptionally wide: a religious philosopher and theologian, historian, economist who developed projects for the liberation of the peasants, the author of a number of technical inventions, a polyglot-linguist, a poet and playwright, a doctor, and a painter.
In the winter of 1838/1839, he introduced his friends to his work "Old and New", which together with the responseon herKireevsky marked the emergence of Slavophilism as an original trend in Russian social thought. INthis article-speecha constant theme of Slavophile discussions is outlined: “Which is better, the old or the new Russia? How many alien elements have entered its current organization?... How much has it lost its root principles, and were these principles such that we regret them and try to resurrect them?
Aleksey Khomyakov's views are closely connected with his theological ideas and, first of all, with ecclesiology (the doctrine of the Church). Under the Church, the Slavophil understood a spiritual connection, born of the gift of grace and "cathedral" uniting many believers "in love and truth." In history, according to Khomyakov, only Orthodoxy preserves the true ideal of church life, harmoniously combining unity and freedom, realizing the central idea of catholicity. On the contrary, in Catholicism and Protestantism the principle of catholicity has historically been violated. In the first case - in the name of unity, in the second - in the name of freedom.ANDchange of the cathedral beginningin both Catholicism and Protestantismled to the triumph of rationalism.
Khomyakov's religious ontology is an experience of philosophical reproduction of the intellectual tradition of patristics, in which the inextricable connection between will and reason (both divine and human) is essential, which fundamentally distinguishes his position from voluntarism (Schopenhauer, Hartmann...). Rejecting rationalism,Khomyakov substantiated the need for integral knowledge ("living knowledge"), the source of which is catholicity - "a set of thoughts bound by love." Thow,and in cognitive activitydefining roleplaysreligious and moral principle,being both a prerequisite and the ultimate goal of the cognitive process. As Khomyakov argued, all stages and forms of knowledge, that is, "the whole ladder receives its characteristic from the highest degree - faith."
In an unfinished"Semiramide" Khomyakov(published after the death of the author)presentedmostlyall Slavophile historiosophy. An attempt was made in it to give a holistic presentation of world history, to determine its meaning. Critically evaluating the results of the interpretation of historical development in German rationalism (primarily in Hegel), Aleksey Khomyakov at the same time considered it senseless to return to traditional non-philosophical historiography. An alternative to the Hegelian model of historical development and various variants of Eurocentric historiographic schemes in Semiramis is the image of historical life, fundamentally devoid of a permanent cultural, geographical and ethnic center.
Connection in Khomyakov's "history"supportedthe interaction of two polar spiritual principles: “Iranian” and “Kushite”, acting partly in real, partly in symbolic cultural and ethnic areas. Giving the ancient world a mythological outline,AlexeyKhomyakov, to a certain extent, approaches Schelling. Berdyaev rightly noted: “mythology is ancient history ... the history of religion and ... is the content of primitive history, this thoughtKhomyakov shares with Schelling. Various ethnic groups become participants in world history, developing their cultures under the sign of either “Iranism” as a symbol of the freedom of the spirit, or “Kushitism”, symbolizing “the predominance of material necessity, as not a denial of the spirit, but a denial of its freedom in manifestation.” In fact, according to Khomyakov, these are two main types of human worldview, two possible variants of a metaphysical position. It is essential that the division into "Iranian" and "Cushite" in "Semiramide" is not absolute, but relative. Christianity in Khomyakov's historiosophy is not so much the highest type of "Iranian" consciousness, but already its overcoming. The book repeatedly recognizes the cultural and historical significance of the achievements of the peoples representing the "Cushite" type. The idea of absolutization of any national-religious forms of historical life is rejected in "Semiramide": "History no longer knows pure tribes. History also does not know pure religions.
Colliding in his historiosophy "freedom of the spirit" (Iranism) and the "substantial", fetishistic view called "Kushism", Aleksey Khomyakov continued the key dispute for the Slavophiles with rationalism, which, in their opinion, deprived the Western world of its internal spiritual and moral content and established on its place is the "external-legal" formalism of social and religious life. Criticizing the West, Khomyakov was not inclined to idealize either Russia's past (unlike Aksakov) or its present. In Russian history, he singled out periods of relative "spiritual prosperity" (the reigns of Fyodor Ioannovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, Elizaveta Petrovna). During these periods, there were no "great tensions, high-profile deeds, brilliance and noise in the world" and conditions were created for the organic, natural development of the "spirit of life of the people."
The future of Russia, which Khomyakov dreamed of, was to be the overcoming of the “breaks” in Russian history. He hoped for the "resurrection of Ancient Russia", which, in his opinion, kept the religious ideal of catholicity, but the resurrection - "in enlightened and slender proportions", based on the new historical experience of state and cultural construction of recent centuries.
Alexey Khomyakov
Russia
"Be proud! - the flatterers told you. - The land with a crowned brow, The land of indestructible steel, Taking half the world with a sword! There are no limits to your possessions, And, the whims of your slave, Heeds the proud commands of your humble fate. Red steppes are your clothes, And the mountains rested against the sky And like your seas are lakes..." Don't believe, don't listen, don't be proud! Let the waves of your rivers be deep, Like the waves of the blue seas, And the depths of the mountains of diamonds be full, And the fat of the steppes be full of bread; Let the peoples timidly bow their eyes before your sovereign splendor And the seven seas sing a laudatory choir with their incessant splash; Let your thunderbolts rush far like a bloody thunderstorm - Do not be proud of all this power, this glory! Greater than you was Rome, the King of the seven-hill range, Iron forces and wild will A dream come true; And unbearable was the fire of damask steel In the hands of the Altai savages; And all buried in piles of gold Queen of the Western Seas. And what about Rome? and where are the Mongols? And, hiding in the chest death groan, Forges powerless sedition, Trembling over the abyss, Albion! Every spirit of pride is fruitless, Unfaithful gold, steel is fragile, But the clear world of the shrine is strong, The praying hand is strong! And for the fact that you are humble, That in a sense of childish simplicity, In the silence of your heart, you have accepted the verb of the creator, - He gave you his calling, He gave you a bright destiny: To keep for the world the property of high sacrifices and pure deeds; To keep the holy brotherhood of the tribes, Life-giving vessel of love, And fiery wealth of faith, And truth, and bloodless judgment. Yours is everything by which the spirit is sanctified, In which the voice of heaven is heard in the heart, In which the life of the coming days is hidden, The beginning of glory and miracles!.. Oh, remember your lofty lot! Resurrect the past in the heart And interrogate the spirit of life hidden deep in it! Listen to him - and, all nations Embracing your love, Tell them the mystery of freedom, Shed the radiance of faith on them! And you will become miraculous in glory Above all earthly sons, Like this blue vault of heaven - A transparent upper cover! Autumn 1839 Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov(-), Russian religious philosopher, historian, economist, who developed projects for the liberation of the peasants, author of a number of technical inventions, polyglot-linguist, painter, poet and playwright, publicist, founder of Slavophilism, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1856)At this time, Khomyakov establishes acquaintance with the Decembrist poets, prints in the "Polar Star" (almanac of Ryleev and Bestuzhev) the poem "The Immortality of the Leader" ().
One of his contemporaries recalled:
Slavophile historiosophy is represented mainly in Khomyakov's "Semiramide". The name of the work was given by N.V. Gogol: once looking into the manuscript of Khomyakov, he saw the name of the ancient queen there and joked: " Alexey Stepanovich writes to Semiramis". In this unfinished work (published after the death of the author), an attempt was made to holistically present world history, to determine its meaning.
Khomyakov had a very deep awareness not only of Russia's special path, but also of Russia's world-wide task. This global task, according to Khomyakov, was to free humanity from that one-sided and false development that history received under the influence of the West. " Western Europe- noted Khomyakov, - developed not under the influence of Christianity, but under the influence of Latinism, that is, Christianity one-sidedly understood».
A.S. Khomyakov, of course, considered the Orthodox monarchy the only form of government acceptable to Russia, although at the same time he advocated the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor, linking with it the hope of resolving the contradiction between "power" and "land" that arose in Russia as a result of the Western reforms of Peter I. Like other Slavophiles, Khomyakov was a staunch opponent of serfdom, substantiating this position with the Gospel teaching, which was reflected in his poem "Russia" with accusatory lines: " In the courts it is black with black lies / And branded with the yoke of slavery ...».
poetic gift
Khomyakov's poetic (precisely lyrical) gift was highly appreciated by: Pushkin, Gogol, Tyutchev, L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, not to mention the assessments of close friends: Shevyrev, Pogodin, Aksakov, Kireevsky, Yazykov, Samarin and others. Pushkin, sensibly, soberly and fairly objectively pointing out Khomyakov’s lack of a dramatic element in his tragedies (which are pure lyrics ), called the poems of the tragedy "Ermak" " the charming beauty of poetry". Khomyakov as a "poet of Slavophilism" in the 2nd half. XIX - n. in. was extremely popular in the Slavic countries, giving way in terms of the strength of his influence only to Pushkin and Lermontov. In the city, he wrote a wonderful poem "Russia", which caused a storm of anger in government circles, in noble society, among conservative liberals. In addition to poems of a patriotic, civic sound, Khomyakov has many poems about nature, love and other human feelings. In his beautiful poems, Khomyakov often expressed deeply religious feelings.
demise
Alexei Stepanovich, while treating peasants during a cholera epidemic, fell ill and died on September 23 of the year. A few seconds before his death, he firmly and consciously signed himself with the sign of the cross. He was buried in the Danilov Monastery, under the same monument with his wife, erected by himself, with the words of the psalm: "If you see iniquity, Lord, Lord, who will stand." To these words after his death was added: "Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for the truth." After the closing of the monastery, his remains were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.
- N.V. Gogol was very close to the Khomyakov family and was even their son's godfather.
- As Chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature (elected in the 1990s), Khomyakov accepted Leo Tolstoy as a member of the society.
Memoirist D.N. Sverbeev about A.S. Khomyakov.
Read the biography of the philosopher thinker: facts of life, main ideas and teachings
ALEXEY STEPANOVICH KHOMYAKOV
(1804-1860)
Religious philosopher, writer, poet, publicist, one of the founders of Slavophilism. Orientation towards Eastern patristics was combined in Khomyakov with elements of philosophical romanticism. He spoke from liberal positions for the abolition of serfdom, the death penalty, freedom of speech, the press, etc. He was the author of the poetic tragedy "Ermak" (1832) and "Dmitry the Pretender" (1833).
The leader of the Slavophiles, AS Khomyakov, should rightly be recognized as one of the greatest Russian thinkers. A multifaceted man, philosopher, theologian, historian, publicist and poet, Khomyakov is a prominent figure of the 1840s. In the perception of contemporaries, Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov appeared to be at least a strange person.
In the famous literary salons of Moscow in the 1840-1850s, according to the memoirs of I. S. Turgenev, he "played the leading role, the role of Rudin." M. P. Pogodin was delighted: “What an extraordinary mind, what liveliness, an abundance in the thoughts that he had in his head, it seems to be an inexhaustible source, bubbling, in any case, right and left. How much information, the most diverse, combined with extraordinary gift of the word flowing from his lips in a living stream. What did he not know?
To some ill-wishers, this brilliant erudition seemed superficial and shallow. The historian S. M. Solovyov, for example, considered Khomyakov "self-taught" and "amateur." Such assessments were not completely unfounded. Khomyakov is indeed "self-taught", having received a home education. And indeed an "amateur", who showed himself unusually bright.
Even in his early youth, Khomyakov declared himself as a poet and playwright, won the recognition of connoisseurs and confidently took the place of a major poet of the "second rank" in the minds of his contemporaries. He had the talent of an artist (and even went to Paris to improve his painting), but left behind only a few excellent watercolors and drawings. The circle of Khomyakov's scientific interests strikes, first of all, with its unusual versatility, even "dispersion".
Philosopher and theologian, who gained fame in the West for his French pamphlets on Russian ecclesiastical wisdom. Historian and historiosophist, author of the voluminous Semiramis, unfinished and unpublished during the author's lifetime. A sociologist and jurist, who managed to publish the sharpest political articles in the censored press in the most remote Nikolaev time. An economist who developed practical plans for the destruction of serfdom back in the 1840s and later actively influenced the preparation of the peasant reform. Aesthetician and critic - literary, musical, artistic. A polyglot linguist who knew many ancient and new European languages, and was not unsuccessfully engaged in comparative philology.
True, all these interests of Khomyakov were concentrated almost exclusively at the level of salon "disputes", where his undoubted leadership caused hidden irritation.
"Khomyakov is a short, round-shouldered, black man, with long black shaggy hair, with a gypsy physiognomy, with brilliant talents, self-taught, able to speak incessantly from morning to evening and in a dispute not shy of any subterfuge" (S. M. Solovyov ).
Khomyakov's articles, which occasionally appeared in magazines and collections, discouraged the reading public by the extraordinary diversity and seeming inconsistency of the reported information on various branches of knowledge, and even more by the tone of playful jokes, behind which one could not tell where the author was serious and where he was mocking. And the very extraordinary energy, the enthusiasm of Khomyakov's nature created additional shades of his reputation as a "frivolous" person.
For example, he was fond of technology, he invented a steam engine "with a special pressure" (and even received a patent for it in England), and during the Crimean War - a special long-range gun and ingenious artillery shells. He practiced medicine and did a lot in the field of practical homeopathy. A practical landowner, he discovered new recipes for distilling and sugar making, looked for minerals in the Tula province, and developed "ways to improve winter roads by rolling." A passionate hunter, a wonderful rider, a brilliant shooter, he was perhaps the first in Russia to take up the theoretical problems of sports - for the first time using this English word in Russian. (article "Sport, hunting", 1845).
It is obviously unfair to explain this versatility only by dilettantism, especially since for Khomyakov it was a matter of principle. The diversity of human interests was for him the way to create the ideal of a harmonious universal creative nature. He wrote a lot about the troubles and hardships of modern Russia, about the social ulcers of his time, and in the eyes of those in power he was considered almost a revolutionary, whose articles were banned from publication, and his poems became the property of "free" poetry. ("Russia", 1854).
In the perception of some contemporaries, Khomyakov appeared as a "brother of dialectics", a man of fluid, constantly changing views. In the eyes of others, he turned out to be an unusually stable person, who accepted for himself the "generic", Orthodox world outlook as the only possible one. He was "a freethinker, suspected by the police of disbelief in God and lack of patriotism" - and at the same time was "ridiculed by journalists for national exceptionalism and religious fanaticism."
Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov was born on May 1, 1804 in Moscow on Ordynka, in the parish of Egory, in Vspolye. But his childhood passed in the "noble nest" in Bogucharov, Tula province. Traditions about bygone times, about the love of the quietest sovereign for the sokolnik Pyotr Khomyakov, have been preserved here. Undoubtedly, the teenager was influenced by the story of how Kirill Ivanovich Khomyakov, dying childless, suggested that the peasants themselves choose an heir from the Khomyakov family. The peasants, having collected the necessary information about relatives from the Khomyakov family, chose their great-grandfather Alexei Stepanovich and approved him as an inheritance.
Is it not from this tradition that the idea of the importance of worldly judgment and community spirit originates?
Young Alexey Khomyakov also liked to remember that in 1787 Empress Catherine passed through Tula and advised the nobility to open a bank.
“We don’t need a bank, mother,” answered the nobles, “we have Fyodor Stepanovich Khomyakov. He lends us money, takes away the ruined estates for his temporary possession, arranges them and then returns them back.”
The image of the great-grandfather served Alexei Stepanovich as an example to follow in his own economic activities. Unfortunately, Khomyakov's grandfather and father did not inherit the prudence and housekeeping of their ancestor. Stepan Aleksandrovich Khomyakov was a kind, educated, but disorderly man, and, moreover, a passionate gambler. Khomyakov's mother, Maria Alekseevna, nee Kireevskaya, had a strong character. When her husband lost more than a million rubles at cards in a Moscow English club, she took over the management of the estates and returned all the family wealth.
To commemorate the liberation of Russia from Napoleon in 1812, she built a church with her own savings. It was a manifestation of her patriotism. Khomyakov said that it was to his mother that he owed his unwavering loyalty to the Orthodox Church and faith in the Russian national spirit.
Even as a boy, Khomyakov was deeply religious. At the age of seven he was brought to St. Petersburg. He found this city pagan and decided to be a martyr in it for the Orthodox faith. Almost at the same time, Khomyakov took Latin lessons from the French abbot Boivin. Finding a typo in a papal bull, he asked his teacher: "How can you believe in the infallibility of the pope?"
Khomyakov was a passionate supporter of the liberation of the Slavs and did not cease to dream of their revolt against the Turks. At the age of seventeen, he fled from his home to take part in the struggle of the Greeks for independence, but was detained in the vicinity of Moscow.
Khomyakov studied at Moscow University, graduated from its physical and mathematical department in 1822. From 1823 to 1825 he served in a cavalry regiment. Here is what his commander said after Khomyakov’s death: “… his education was amazingly excellent. schools. He jumped over obstacles to the height of a man. He fought excellently on espadrons. He possessed willpower not as a young man, but as a husband tempted by experience. Strictly fulfilled all the posts of the Orthodox Church, and on holidays and Sundays he attended all Divine services. "
According to the definition of P. A. Florensky, he was "chaste in expressing his inner life, and even to the point of secrecy, all whole, and proud of his integrity, not allowing himself to reflect on himself"
On July 5, 1836, Khomyakov married the sister of the poet N. M. Yazykov, Ekaterina Mikhailovna. This marriage turned out to be a happy one. The Khomyakov family was numerous - five daughters and four sons.
The primordial rural-landowner freedom, independence - from the authorities, from literary work, from current politics - all this gave a special direction to his search for an ideal life for a person in general and for a Russian person in particular. The search for inner freedom led Khomyakov to a doctrine that later received the inaccurate name of Slavophilism.
The fact of the birth of the Slavophile ideology N. A. Berdyaev considered as a phenomenon of national significance.
“Slavophilism is the first attempt at our self-consciousness, our first independent ideology. Russian existence has continued for a millennium, but Russian self-consciousness begins only from the time when Ivan Kireevsky and Alexei Khomyakov boldly raised the question of what Russia is, what is its essence, her vocation and place in the world."
In Berdyaev's book "A. S. Khomyakov" (1912) this thesis is developed in detail, and the members of the Slavophile circle are represented by the "first Russian Europeans" who, having gone through the school of European philosophizing, "having been ill" with Schellingism and Hegelianism, tried to create the foundations of an independent, properly Russian philosophy.
And it all started with the fact that in the winter of 1839 Khomyakov wrote and read in one of the Moscow salons an article "On the old and the new." In it, for the first time, the original question of the relationship between "old" and "new" in the life of Russian society, of the possibility of combining "law" and "custom" in it, was singled out. At the same time, the composition of the article is deliberately paradoxical. The thesis "Old Russian was an inexhaustible treasure of all truth and all goodness" is immediately refuted by a whole set of negative factors of pre-Petrine life. The antithesis "Nothing good and fruitful existed in the former life of Russia" is also refuted, and by no fewer positive factors. Synthesis, a picture of "the original beauty of society, connecting the patriarchal nature of the regional life with the deep meaning of the state, representing a moral and Christian face" - becomes an occasion for posing new, and also difficult, problems ...
Khomyakov's article was a challenge, a kind of glove that had to be lifted. The challenge was accepted by Ivan Vasilyevich Kireevsky: in his response article he proposed a different formulation of the problem.
It is not a matter of what is better, "old" or "new", we "willy-nilly must assume something third, which must arise from the mutual struggle of the warring principles." And how in this "third" to correlate the "triumph of rationalism" (a consequence of Western influence) and the "inner spiritual mind" of Russia? The "destruction of life" occurred precisely because of the inconsistency of these principles. But at the same time, to return the "Russian element" by force - "it would be funny if it weren't harmful." But forgetting it also leads to the fact that there is a constant and rapid "extermination of the remaining forms" ...
Already in this initial dispute, in a "curtailed" form, the fundamental ideas of Russian Slavophilism were contained - the assertion of a special path for the historical development of Russia; the search for its special mission in relation to the West and the East, attention to the common people - the custodian of the original beginnings of Russian life, interest in the past and present of "consanguineous" Slavic peoples, etc.
The circle that soon formed around the two founders was very small, but strong and stable: its unity was based on family ties, similar upbringing and education (all prominent Slavophiles in their youth were associated with Moscow and its university), the correspondence of the main ones born in cruel disputes of belief. I. Kireevsky dealt primarily with philosophy and aesthetics; K. Aksakov and D. Valuev - Russian history and literature, Yu. Samarin - internal politics and the peasant question, A. Koshelev - economics and finance, P. Kireevsky - folklore. Khomyakov and in this circle was distinguished by a special universality of interests and occupations - he mainly devoted his activity to the development of the historiosophical and religious concept of Slavophilism.
In the 1820s, a controversy unfolded about the "History of the Russian State" by Karamzin, which covered almost all circles of the creative intelligentsia of Russia, and one of the main questions it raised was the question of the position of the historian in his attitude to the past, the admissibility of "artistic ", "passionate" approach to history. In the second half of the 1830s, Khomyakov set himself a task of this type. The material for the search was world history. Khomyakov understood the complexity of the task - and this determined two fundamental settings of his work: the setting for incompleteness (“I will never finish it”, “In my lifetime I don’t think to print it ...”) and for visible unprofessionalism, “unnecessary”. The latter were even emphasized by the "everyday" title of the entire extensive work, which was given by Gogol, having accidentally read the name of Semiramis in Khomyakov's notes, Gogol loudly announced "Alexei Stepanovich writes Semiramis!"
The apparent dilettantism of the study, it would seem, is beyond doubt. "Semiramide", which was written with some interruptions for about 20 years and amounted to three volumes, completely retained the style and features of "home" conversations in the Slavophil circle; it lacks quotations, there are almost no indications of sources (and as such Khomyakov kept in mind hundreds of historical, philosophical and theological writings), some facts are stated inaccurately, some comparisons (especially etymological ones) are clearly superficial and accidental. However, Khomyakov's "amateur" position does not stem from a lack of information or from an inability to work professionally.
In a number of theses, Khomyakov declares that the dominant historical science is not able to determine the internal, real causes of the movement of history - therefore, this must be done by an amateur in a free search for theses and their evidence and in a form "disconnected from purely scientific nature." In parallel with the actual historiosophical version of "Semiramide", its journalistic version is being created - a series of articles "in no one read" Moskvityanin "Letter to St. Petersburg about the exhibition" (1843), "Letter to St. Petersburg about the railway" (1844), "Opinion of foreigners about Russia" (1845), "The opinion of Russians about foreigners" (1846), "On the possibility of a Russian art school" (1847), "England" (1848), "About Humboldt" (1848) and some others.
Khomyakov explained their actual journalistic goal in one of his letters.
“I wanted, I had to express the cherished thought that I had carried in myself from childhood itself and which for a long time seemed strange and wild even to my close friends. This thought is that no matter how much each of us loves Russia, we all, like society, its constant enemies because we are foreigners, because we are the masters of serf compatriots, because we fool the people and at the same time deprive ourselves of the possibility of true enlightenment. Outwardly, Khomyakov's historiosophical constructions seem simple.
Of the three possible "divisions of mankind" ("according to tribes", "according to states" and "according to faiths"), the last one is the most significant, but in order to understand the faith of the people in all its aspects, it is necessary to study the primary stage of the "tribe" concentrating the "physiology" of a given people. Analyzing the initial movements of the tribes, Khomyakov comes to the conclusion: "Each nation had its own exceptional passion, that is, it was single-elemental. Considering the" exceptional passion "of the ancient peoples, Khomyakov identifies two antinomic elements that determined the appearance of the original existence of people on Earth" conquering peoples "and" agricultural peoples.
In its further development, this antinomy was complicated by many variants, but Khomyakov thinks of the development of world history as a kind of realization of the dramatic conflict of two opposite spiritual "principles". The symbol of faith in the elements of "Iranism" is a deity in the form of a freely creative personality. "Kushitstvo" contrasts this symbol of freedom with the element of necessity. Accordingly to this antithetical pair (freedom - necessity) in the "Cushite" religions (the most striking of them are the pantheistic religions of Buddhism, Shaivism, etc.), the main symbol is the Snake (associated with fertility, earth and water, female or male productive force, time, wisdom, etc.).
"Iranian" mythology is hostile to the Serpent. Hercules defeats Hydra, Apollo defeats Python, Vishnu defeats the Dragon. If there is an admixture of "Kushitism" in "Iranism", the latter will certainly win. Spiritual freedom must be absolute, but any concession to necessity leads to the death of spiritual freedom.
Khomyakov illustrates this process by examining the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, the history of the victory of "Kushitism" among the originally "Iranian" peoples of the European North. The emergence of Christianity was a heroic attempt to oppose the world "Cushiteism", which in Christian countries passed "into the logic of philosophical schools." And Hegelianism, denied by Khomyakov, became a kind of triumph of "Kushitism" in the nineteenth century.
N. Berdyaev called the antinomy "Iranism" - "Kushitism" "Khomyakov's most remarkable idea, closest to genius." Arguing about Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc., Khomyakov started from "faith" as a polysemantic phenomenon. The philosopher's positive program is based on the search for ways to recreate spirituality while realizing the original "essence" of each people, which can only be determined by understanding the laws and factors of the original folk faith. "Nihilism" as well as "fetishism" lead to a moral impasse, the way out of which (both within the elements of "Iranism" and in "Kushitism") lies in the awareness of common historical paths for further united forward movement.
Thus, progress turns out to be impossible without a "returning look back" - this is another of Khomyakov's "paradoxes". Khomyakov was familiar and friendly with many prominent people of his era, including Pushkin and Gogol, Lermontov and Venevitinov, Aksakov and Odoevsky, Chaadaev and Granovsky, Shevyrev and Pogodin, Belinsky and Herzen, Samarin and Yazykov, Bartenev and Hilferding.
In his youth, he argued with Ryleyev, proving to the leader of the Decembrists the injustice of the "military revolution" he was plotting and accusing him of striving for the "tyranny of the armed minority." In his mature years, he argued a lot with the Westerners and Hegelians, one of whom, Herzen, who did not agree with his opponent, wrote, however, on December 21, 1842: “I was glad about this dispute. such a fighter is worth every study."
In the 1850s, Khomyakov became a kind of symbol of the philosophical thought of "conservative Moscow", unshakable, unshakable and invariably opposed to the government, to the revolutionaries trying to overthrow him by force, to the liberals striving for the "golden mean". In his declining years, Khomyakov was no longer captivated by the glory of the poet. He wanted to be more than just a thinker and a scientist, and positively considered himself omniscient. There was no issue on which he did not speak. He seemed to be swallowing books. His friends said that one night was enough for him to assimilate the most thoughtful essay. Endowed by nature with mighty health, he died almost "in Bazarov's way."
In September 1860, Alexei Stepanovich went to his Ryazan estates, where, in particular, he treated peasants for cholera. He became infected himself - and on the evening of September 23 he fell asleep in his village Ivanovskoye. He was buried on a gray autumn day, in the Danilov Monastery, by five or six relatives and friends, and two comrades of his youth.
He left a number of journalistic articles on a variety of problems, several French theological pamphlets and many manuscripts, partially disassembled and published by his students. Russian thought began to master the legacy of Khomyakov many years after his death - and only towards the end of the 19th century, when his main works were published, albeit in relative completeness, when the storms of the "sixties" revolutionism subsided and Russian religious philosophy began to take shape, did the the real scale of this figure of a Moscow debater, who flaunted in Europeanized salons in a zipun and a murmolka. But even here, in later reflection, there were paradoxes.
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... Representatives of German classical philosophy - Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Feuerbach - realize for the first time that man does not live in the world of nature, but in the world of culture. The 19th century is the century of revolutionary philosophers. Thinkers appeared who not only studied and explained the world, but also wished to change it. For example, Karl Marx. In the same century, European irrationalists appeared - Arthur Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bergson ... Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are representatives of nihilism (the philosophy of negation) ... In the 20th century, existentialism - Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre can be distinguished among philosophical teachings. .. The starting point of existentialism is the philosophy of Kierkegaard...
Russian philosophy (according to Berdyaev) begins with the philosophical letters of Chaadaev. The first Russian philosopher known in the West is Vladimir Solovyov. Lev Shestov was close to existentialism. The most widely read Russian philosopher in the West is Nikolai Berdyaev.
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