The phenomenon of Sobornist in the context of civilizational discourses of Ukrainian orthodoxy

Abstract

The article examines the authentic (Orthodox) dimension of the phenomenon of Sobornist. It argues that the conciliar (soborny) paradigm offers a complex ideological construction of unity in diversity. Theoretically, this is the ideal of harmony within the Orthodox Church and Orthodox community. Practically, due to a series of ideological distortions, it cannot be realized either in ecclesial or social existence. It is substantiated that in historical retrospect, in Orthodox countries, the source of these distortions was the cultural-civilizational complex of Byzantism (Byzantinism). A number of “social sins” of Byzantism, namely the Caesaropapal subordination of the Church to the state, the statist exaggeration of the historical role of certain countries and peoples, and the devaluation of human personality, absolutized the principle of unity through pressure on diversity. The importance of considering the role of socio-cultural and political factors of different nations and countries in the self-expression of Byzantism on national soil is proven. In the case of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, it is about the tradition of “Kyivan Christianity,” which had several specific traits that laid the foundation for the legitimization of both unity and diversity, somewhat minimizing the distortion of the conciliar (soborny) ideal in the life of the Church and the community. On the contrary, russian Orthodoxy and russian religious philosophy, through the cultivation of the statist component of Byzantism, legitimized russian imperialism. Its current form—the ideology of the “russian world,” with an emphasis on the violent “gathering of lands”—embodies an anti-soborny social paradigm.