Alexey Khomyakov: philosopher of Russian identity. Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov, about life and work Briefly about biography
Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov was a senior representative of the philosophy of the Slavophile movement, which developed around the 2nd half of the 1830s. An unusually gifted man, with the most versatile erudition, Khomyakov had a subtle mind and a brilliant ability for dialectics. In the literary development of the foundations of his philosophical worldview, Khomyakov became one of the most brilliant and authoritative theorists of the Slavophile school. Brought up in the spirit of strict religiosity and ardent attachment to the principles of the Orthodox Church, Khomyakov established his philosophical constructions on those Christian theological principles. Their study imparted a purely theological character to his socio-philosophical worldview, to which he remained invariably faithful throughout his life. From his theological point of view, Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov solves almost all the main issues of Slavophilism - questions about Russia’s attitude to Europe and its civilization, about the national significance of Russia and its future role in humanity.
Slavophile Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov. Self-portrait, 1842
Together with other outstanding representatives of the philosophy of Slavophilism, Khomyakov emphasizes the advantages that Russia has over Europe; in the original development of these advantages lies, according to his philosophy, the historical vocation of Russia. We have nothing to count on gaining strength by assimilating Western principles, which are completely alien to Russian life, which has grown on a different, higher principle. In order to eliminate the shortcomings of the current one-sided, purely rational Russian education, it is necessary to restore the inner consciousness that we have lost, which is broader than the logical and constitutes the personality of every person, like every nation. According to Khomyakov, the contemporary situation in Russia was largely bleak - and precisely because since the time of the reforms of Peter I and even earlier, it had become detached from the people's soil, from those spiritual forces that lay at the basis of the former, holy Orthodox Rus' and which alone and can fertilize the thinking of individuals.
Of all the spiritual forces of the people, their faith is one of the main points that determine the nature of enlightenment. Faith gives direct, living and unconditional knowledge. “All the deepest truths of thought,” writes Khomyakov, “all the highest truth of free aspiration is accessible only to reason, within oneself arranged in complete moral harmony with the omnipresent mind, and to him alone are revealed the invisible secrets of things divine and human.” The highest and most perfect law of reason is, according to Khomyakov’s philosophy, the law of love. Agreeing with it and subordinating our mental powers to it strengthens and expands our mental vision. Unlike all other teachings, the teaching of the Orthodox Church is precisely characterized, according to Khomyakov, by this method of discovering the truth - by a set of thoughts associated with love. This fullness of spirituality, commanded by Christianity, found its pure embodiment in Eastern Orthodoxy. It contains the highest moral historical foundation for the great global role destined for Russia in the matter of moral and mental renewal of all the peoples of the West, which is disintegrating due to the complete bankruptcy of its purely rationalistic enlightenment and internal social discord. Catholicism and Protestantism (which is the logical development of the first), as perverted expressions of Christian teaching, are imbued with the same spirit of one-sided philosophical philosophy, deeply hostile to Christianity. rationalism.
Khomyakov, however, does not deny in many respects the superiority of the West over the East, especially the Protestant West; he admits that we received much and beauty from the Roman-Protestant world. But this does not give the West either equality or even the right to compete with us. “The temporary superiority of the West does not prove anything against the exclusive Orthodoxy of Orthodox peoples”... “Western teachings, that is, churches, are certainly false... All Christian communities,” believes Khomyakov, “must come to us with humble repentance, not as equals to equals, and as owners of private truths, which they can neither connect with each other nor completely establish for themselves, they must come to those who, being free from lies, can provide them with complete harmony and fearless possession of those truths that are from them They are constantly eluding us and, if it weren’t for us, they would certainly have eluded them. Orthodoxy is not the salvation of man, but the salvation of humanity.”
Therefore, Khomyakov, who considered the Russian people and their church to be the guardians of this Orthodoxy, was indignant at the attitude of the Russians towards Europe, which in his eyes was slavish admiration. In our strength, which inspires envy, and along with it in the Russian recognition of their own spiritual and mental wretchedness, characteristic of the mid-19th century, Khomyakov saw the real reason for the offensive comments about Russia in the West.
In close connection with this historical and theological justification of the Slavophil teaching are the purely philosophical views of Khomyakov, set out in several articles, which, however, do not represent a fully developed system. Rejecting the rationalistic teachings of the West, Khomyakov at the same time rejected the possibility for reason to reach the truth; the germs of the latter are given by revelation, by faith. The task of reason is purely formal - to develop these embryos; but the mind is never able to comprehend such concepts as the concepts of spirit, immortality, etc. on its own: they are comprehended only by the fullness of the powers of the spirit.
Among the problems of Russian life at that time, Khomyakov’s attention was most attracted to the peasant question. The philosopher ardently defended the Russian peasant community, without sufficient justification, seeing in its semi-socialist structure an institution sanctified by centuries of Russian history and capable of becoming the starting point for the development of an entire civil world. In articles devoted to the current situation of the peasantry, Khomyakov spoke out already at the end of the 1840s for the need to free the peasants with their land. Serfdom sharply contradicted Khomyakov’s Christian-religious sentiments. “The slave owner,” he said, “is always more depraved than the slave; a Christian can be a slave, but cannot be a slave owner.”
Khomyakov showed his high talent not only in philosophy, but also in poetry and drama. He entered the literary field even before entering military service and began to write poetry mainly on biblical topics. Beginning in 1826, Khomyakov's poems began to appear on the pages of Russian magazines, and soon his name became so famous that he was ranked among the poets of Pushkin's galaxy. The main motives of his lyrical poems clearly reveal his Slavophile-patriotic sympathies. Khomyakov’s poems, published in a separate edition in 1844, have considerable artistic merit, although Westernist criticism, represented by Belinsky, who at that time persecuted Gogol for “Slavophilism”, met them very unfavorably.
Of the works of Alexei Khomyakov of a later period, the poem “Russia”, written in 1854, was very popular, first widely circulated in manuscript and only later allowed for publication. In it, the poet-philosopher gives a well-known description of the situation in Russia before the start of the reforms of Alexander II: “In the courts, black lies are black and the yoke of slavery is branded; godless flattery, feigned lies and dead and shameful laziness, and full of all kinds of abomination”...
In purely political matters, which, in his own words, were of no interest to him, Khomyakov was a conservative. Loving freedom, he at the same time was a supporter of autocracy, which he considered possible to reconcile with broad publicity and popular representation. The political forms of Western European life, which generally seemed to him a product of false development, he found completely inapplicable in Russian reality.
Khomyakov published his journalistic and philosophical articles in Slavophile organs: “Moscow Observer”, “Moscowite” and “Russian Conversation”.
Literature about the life and philosophy of Khomyakov
Lyaskovsky V. N., “A. S. Khomyakov" (St. Petersburg, 1898)
Zavitnevich V. A., “A. S. Khomyakov" (Kyiv)
Ursin, “Essay on the psychology of the Slavic tribe”
Pypin A., “Characteristics of literary opinions from the 1820s to the 1850s” (St. Petersburg, 1890)
Miller Opest, “Fundamentals of the teaching of the first Slavophiles” (“Russian Thought”, 1880)
Gradovsky A., “The National Question in History and Literature” (St. Petersburg, 1873)
Samarin Yu., “Works”
Belinsky, “Russian literature in 1843”
Vladimirov A., "A. S. Khomyakov and his ethical and social teaching" (Moscow, 1904)
A number of notes about Khomyakov and his correspondence with various persons were published in the Russian Archive of the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov on May 1, 1904, a whole series of notes and articles in newspapers and magazines were again dedicated to him.
Alexey Khomyakov was born in Moscow, on Ordynka, into the old noble family of the Khomyakovs; father - Stepan Aleksandrovich Khomyakov, mother - Marya Alekseevna, nee Kireevskaya. Received home education. In 1821 he passed the exam for the degree of candidate of mathematical sciences at Moscow University. Khomyakov’s first poetic experiments and the translation of “Tacitus’s 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 enlist in military service, first in the Astrakhan Cuirassier Regiment, and a year later he 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 published only in 1832. In 1828-1829, Khomyakov took part in the Russian-Turkish War, after which, with the rank of headquarters captain, he retired and went to 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 principles 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 and the history of Russian Orthodoxy. For Khomyakov, socialism and capitalism were equally negative offspring of Western decadence. The West was unable to solve the spiritual problems of humanity; it became carried away by competition and neglected cooperation. In his words: “Rome maintained unity at the cost of freedom, and Protestants gained freedom at the cost of unity.” He considered the monarchy the only acceptable form of government for Russia, advocated the convening of the “Zemsky Sobor”, pinning on it the hope of resolving the contradiction between “power” and “land” that arose in Russia as a result of the reforms of Peter I.
While treating peasants during a 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. During Soviet times, the ashes of all three were reburied at the new Novodevichy cemetery.
Yu. Samarin wrote about him:
“Once I lived with him in Ivanovsky. Several guests came to see him, so all the rooms were occupied and he moved my bed to his. After dinner, after long conversations, enlivened by his inexhaustible gaiety, we lay down, extinguished the candles, and I fell asleep. Long after midnight, I woke up from some talking in the room. The morning dawn barely illuminated it. Without moving or raising a voice, I began to peer and listen. on the cushion of the chair, his head resting in his hands. I heard restrained sobs. This continued until the morning. Of course, I pretended to be asleep. The next day he came to us cheerful, cheerful, with his usual good-natured laughter. I heard that this happened almost every night..."
Publicist, philosopher and poet Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov was born on May 13, 1804 in Moscow into an old noble family. Already in childhood, under the guidance of his mother, he thoroughly studied French, English and Latin, and received an excellent education at home. The War of 1812 forced the entire family to leave Moscow and settle in the village of Krugloye, Dankovsky district. Next door to the Khomyakovs, in her Dankov village, lived the daughter of Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, P.M. Tolstaya. From her, the Khomyakov family knew the smallest details of the events that took place at the theater of military operations.
Vivid childhood impressions remained forever in Khomyakov’s heart and grew into a great love for the Motherland and freedom.
In 1815, the Khomyakov family moved to St. Petersburg. Here, eleven-year-old Alexey and his brother continue their education. Among Khomyakov’s St. Petersburg teachers was A. A. Gendre, playwright and friend of A. Griboyedov. In Moscow, where he returned in 1817, Khomyakov completed his education under the guidance of Doctor of Philosophy A.G. Glagolev and in 1821 successfully passed the exam for the degree of candidate of mathematical sciences.
The first literary experiments of Alexei Khomyakov date back to 1819. He writes poetry, the poem “Vadim”, of which only two parts have survived, is engaged in translations, and tries his hand at drama. A translation of Tacitus’s essay “On the Morals and Position of Germany” was published in 1821; this was Khomyakov’s first appearance in print.
In 1822, Khomyakov entered military service in the Astrakhan Cuirassier Regiment. A year later he was transferred to the St. Petersburg Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. In St. Petersburg, he became close to K. F. Ryleev, A. I. Odoevsky, A. A. Bestuzhev, and published his poems in the almanac “Polar Star”. Khomyakov and Ryleev and his entourage were united by a serious attitude to life, contempt for secular vanity, and the pathos of freedom and human dignity. But he did not share the views of the Decembrists, their ideology, or aesthetic program.
Khomyakov learned about the uprising on December 14 in Paris and condemned the rebels. His thoughts about the fate of the Motherland, the people, and active individuals were reflected in the tragedy “Ermak”.
Returning to Russia at the beginning of 1826, Khomyakov lived either in the village or in Moscow or St. Petersburg. He becomes close to the circle of wise men, who are beginning to play a noticeable role in the literary life of the era. Khomyakov's poetic fame is growing.
In connection with the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish War in May 1829, Khomyakov again entered military service and with the Belarusian Hussar Regiment reached the Danube.
And in the army his poetic work continues with the same activity. A. S. Pushkin in the preface to “Travel to Arzrum” noted: “Of the poets who were on the Turkish campaign, I knew only about A. S. Khomyakov and A. N. Muravyov... The first wrote at that time several beautiful lyrical poems..." 1 .
After the war, A.S. Khomyakov retired and was engaged in agriculture on his estates. At the same time, he begins work on the second great tragedy, “Dimitri the Pretender.”
By the end of the 30s, Khomyakov became one of the leaders of the Slavophiles and acted mainly as an orator and publicist. The propaganda of Slavophile doctrine occupies an increasingly important place in his poetic practice. Khomyakov appears as a propagandist and inspirer of Slavophilism in historical and philosophical works.
In the early 50s, Khomyakov became increasingly interested in issues of religion. He is an ardent defender of Orthodoxy, which, in his opinion, is the only way the Christian spirit has been preserved.
In the last years of his life, Khomyakov intensified his social activities. He is one of the organizers and leaders of the Slavophile magazine “Russian Conversation”, is elected chairman of the “Society of Lovers of Russian Literature”, and intensively fights for the fair implementation of land reform in Dankovsky district.
Despite the undoubted integrity of his worldview, Khomyakov’s socio-political views were not consistent. A supporter of autocratic power, he repeatedly advocated the convening of an elective all-class Zemsky Sobor, resolutely stood for the abolition of serfdom, but at the same time sought to preserve the foundations of noble land ownership, and proposed establishing a compulsory ransom for land allocated to peasants.
Khomyakov often visited Ivanovsky during these years, received his Slavophile friends here, and traveled to Lebedyan. On one of his visits to Ivanovskoye in the fall of 1860, he contracted cholera.
Thus ended the life of an extraordinary scientist, poet, speaker and publicist, to whom A. I. Herzen dedicated many pages in his book of memoirs “The Past and Thoughts” 2, calling him “a fighter without fatigue and rest,” “Ilya Muromets,” “an extraordinary a gifted man”, who “at any time of the day or night was ready for the most intricate argument and used everything in the world for the triumph of his Slavic view...”.
1 Pushkin A. S. Complete. collection cit.: in 10 volumes. M., 1957, vol. 6, p. 639.
2 Herzen A.I. Past and Thoughts. 1852-1866. M: USSR Academy of Sciences 1856, part IV, p. 40, 133, 136, 147, 152, 153, 156-158, 162, 163, 169, 290-291.
Author's works
- Works: in 4 volumes - M., 1861-1873.
- Complete works: in 8 volumes - M., 1900-1907.
- Works: in 6 books. – Petrograd: P. P. Soykin, 1915.
- Works: in 2 volumes / ed. E. V. Kharitonova. – M.: Medium, 1994. – (From the History of Russian Philosophical Thought).
- T. 1: Works on historiosophy. – 1994. – 589 p.
- T. 2: Works on theology. – 1994. – 476 p.
- Selected works / A. S. Khomyakov, I. V. Kireevsky; comp., author. entry Art. and comment. N. I. Tsimbaev. – Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2010. – 543 p. – (B-ka of Russian social thought from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century).
- Poems / ed. A. N. Chudinova. – St. Petersburg: Publishing house. I. Glazunova, 1909. –100 p. – (Russian Classroom Library. Issue XXXIX).
- Poems and dramas / [intro. article and notes B.F. Egorova]. – L.: Sov. writer, 1969. – 595 p. – (B-poet. Large gray.)
- About the old and the new: articles and essays / [comp., intro. Art. and comment. B.F. Egorova]. – M.: Sovremennik, 1988. – 462 p. – (B-ka “For lovers of Russian literature.” From the literary heritage).
- Poems / comp. S. B. Rassadin. – M.: Text, 2000. – 173 p. – (Russian poets: silver series).
- Doctrine about the Church. – St. Petersburg: Russian Symphony, 2010. – 600 p. : portrait
Literature about life and creativity
- Blagova T. I. Alexey Ivanovich Khomyakov and Ivan Vasilievich Kireevsky. Life and philosophical worldview: to the 190th anniversary of the birth of A. S. Khomyakov / T. I. Blagova. – M.: Terra, 1994. – 203 p.
- At the sick philosopher’s bedside: [note by L. M. Muromtsev about the last minutes of A. S. Khomyakov in the village. Ivanovsky Dankov. county] / prepared. A. Naydenov // Lipetsk newspaper. – 1995. – November 18.
- Koshelev V. A. Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov, biography in documents, in reasoning and research / V. A. Koshelev. – M.: New lit. review, 2000. – 504 p.
- Bukharov Yu. “And I followed the people...” // Good evening. – 2000. – January 26-February 1. – P. 19.
- Naydenov A. A. Ivanovskoe. The last refuge of a philosopher // Russian provincial estates of the 18th – early 20th centuries. – Voronezh, 2001. – P. 259-266.
- Berdyaev N. A. Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov / N. A. Berdyaev. – M.: Higher. school, 2005. – 237 p. – (Classics of philosophical thought).
- Sergeeva T. Pedigree of the leader of the Slavophiles // Testaments of Ilyich [Dankovsky district]. - 2007. – February 20.
- Pimenov V.S. Alexey Khomyakov: life after death: opening of the monument to A.S. Khomyakov in the village of Speshnevo-Ivanovskoye, Dankovsky district, Lipetsk region 09/21/2007 / V.S. Pimenov. – M.: Vostok-Izdat, 2008. – 48 p.
- Storozhko O. M. Famous fellow countryman // Russian House. – 2009. – No. 5. – P. 42.
- Dmitriev N. A. Founder of Slavophilism // Russian history. – 2010. – No. 3-4 – P. 102-105.
- Krivoshein N.V. Khomyakov Alexey Stepanovich // Lebedyansk Racing Society: history, participants, documents / N.V. Krivoshein. – M., 2011. – P. 229.
Reference materials
- Encyclopedic Dictionary. – Reprint. reproduction ed. F. A. Brockhaus - I. A. Efron 1890 - M., 1993. - T. 74. - P. 543-547.
- Lipetsk encyclopedia. – Lipetsk, 2001. – T. 3. – P. 456-457.
- Bunin Encyclopedia / author-comp. A. V. Dmitriev. – Lipetsk, 2010. – P. 796.: portrait.
- Glorious names of the land of Lipetsk: biogr. reference about the known writers, scientists, educators, artists. – Lipetsk, 2007. – P. 296-302.
- Russian literature from the 11th to the 19th centuries inclusive: bibliogr. decree, works of Russian literature in connection with the history of literature. and criticism / comp. A. V. Mezier. – St. Petersburg, 1899. – Part 1. – P. 445-446.
- History of Russian literature of the 19th century: bibliogr. decree. / ed. K. D. Muratova. – M.-L., 1962. – P. 764-767.
- Russian writers: biobibliogr. dictionary. – M.: Education, 1990. – T. 2. – P. 357-358.
- Writers of the Lipetsk region: bibliogr. decree. – Voronezh, 1986. – Issue. 1. – pp. 27-32.
At this time, Khomyakov established acquaintance with the Decembrist poets, published the poem “The Immortality of the Leader” () in the Polar Star (almanac of Ryleev and Bestuzhev).
One of his contemporaries recalled:
Slavophil historiosophy is represented mainly in Khomyakov’s “Semiramis”. The name of the work was given by N.V. Gogol: once looking into Khomyakov’s manuscript, he saw the name of an ancient queen there and joked: “ Alexey Stepanovich writes to Semiramis". In this unfinished work (published after the author's death) an attempt was made to present a holistic presentation of world history and to determine its meaning.
Khomyakov had a very deep consciousness of not only the special path of Russia, but also the universal task of Russia. This worldwide task, according to Khomyakov, was to free humanity from the 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 to be the only acceptable form of government for Russia, although he advocated the convening 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 Westernizing 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 the accusatory lines: “ In the courts, black with black untruth / And branded with the yoke of slavery...».
Poetic gift
Khomyakov’s poetic (namely lyrical) gift was highly appreciated by: Pushkin, Gogol, Tyutchev, L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, not to mention the assessments of close friends: Shevyrev, Pogodin, Aksakovs, Kireevskys, Yazykov, Samarin and others. Pushkin, sensibly, soberly and fairly objectively pointed out Khomyakov’s lack of a dramatic element in his tragedies (which are pure lyricism ), named the poems of the tragedy “Ermak” “ the charming beauty of poetry" Khomyakov as a “poet of Slavophilism” in the 2nd half. XIX - AD V. was extremely popular in Slavic countries, second only to Pushkin and Lermontov in terms of the strength of his influence. In the city he wrote a wonderful poem “Russia”, which caused a storm of anger in government circles, in noble society, and among conservative liberals. In addition to poems with 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
Alexey 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 made 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.” After his death, these words were added: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for truth.” After the monastery was closed, his remains were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.
- N.V. Gogol was very close to the Khomyakov family and was even the godfather of their son.
- As Chairman of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature (elected in the 1980s), Khomyakov accepted Leo Tolstoy as a member of the society.
Memoirist D.N. Sverbeev about A.S. Khomyakov.
09.23.1860 (6.10). – Philosopher, founder of Slavophilism, poet Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov died
Founder of Slavophilism
(1.5.1804–23.9.1860), philosopher, writer, publicist, one of the founders of Slavophilism. Born in Moscow into an old noble family. He was educated at home, studied philosophy, history, mathematics and other sciences, and mastered several foreign languages. The head of the family was the mother, Marya Alekseevna (nee Kireevskaya, died in 1858), a powerful and energetic woman who held the entire house and a huge household in her hands. Khomyakov, by his own admission, owed her “his direction and his steadfastness in this direction.” All of Alexei Stepanovich’s later beliefs have their roots in family traditions and the environment of his childhood. His mother raised him in strict devotion to the Orthodox Church and national principles of life. In 1815, the family moved to Westernized St. Petersburg, which seemed like a pagan city to an 11-year-old boy, but this only strengthened him in Russian Orthodoxy.
Looking ahead, we should immediately say that, unlike many prominent Russian thinkers whom we included in the heading “Toward a Knowledge of Russia from the Reverse,” Khomyakov was initially formed as a convinced Russian person. ON THE. Mukhanov, having met Khomyakov in 1824, says about him that “he never fell into the delusions of his youth, he led a strict life, kept all the posts established by the Church, so that from a very young age he was as we knew him later time". Koshelev, who knew Khomyakov from 1823 until his death, claimed that he had never met a person more constant in his beliefs and in his relations with people. The same Koshelev speaks about the St. Petersburg period of Khomyakov’s life (1827, 1828): at that time and always, Alexey Stepanovich was “a strict and deeply religious Orthodox Christian.”
In 1822, Khomyakov graduated from the Department of Physics and Mathematics and at the age of 17 passed the exam for the degree of Candidate of Mathematical Sciences. In the same year he began publishing (a translation of Tacitus's work). He showed great interest in literary creativity and the philosophy of German idealism (he had a negative attitude towards the conclusions of Schelling and Hegel, but used them as arguments in disputes).
After studying, Khomyakov was assigned to military service, first in the Astrakhan Cuirassier Regiment, and a year later he was transferred to St. Petersburg to the Horse Guards. Establishes acquaintance with poets, publishes the poem “The Immortality of the Leader” in “Polar Star” (1824). In 1825, he retired and went abroad (Paris, Italy, Switzerland, Austria), which gave him important experience of practical knowledge of Western life, the spirit of Western Christianity, and influenced the formation of Slavophil teaching.
In 1828, with the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish War, he returned to Russia to serve in the Belarusian Hussar Regiment; was an adjutant under General Madatov and took part in several battles; For bravery he received the Order of St. Anne with a bow. At the conclusion of the Peace of Adrianople, Khomyakov retired for the second time and took up farming on his estate. In winter he lived in Moscow, where he organized a circle of like-minded people, which soon became known as Slavophile. Members of the circle in the early 1830s were, according to Koshelev, ardent Westerners, and Khomyakov almost alone defended the need for each nation to have its own unique development, the superiority of the Orthodox Church over the teachings of Catholicism and Protestantism. moved to Slavophile views precisely under the great influence of Khomyakov, the same influence was exerted on and.
Already in Khomyakov’s early poems, the ideas of Slavophilism are noticeable: “Eagle” (1832), “Dream” (1834), and the historical drama “Dmitry the Pretender” (1833). The main theoretical principles of Slavophilism were outlined by him in the article “On the Old and the New” (1839). During these years, he intensively engaged in self-education, expanding the range of his scientific interests. In 1838, he began work on his main historical and philosophical work, “Notes on World History.” Khomyakov did not part with this work until his death and brought a systematic review of world history to the middle of the Middle Ages. "Notes on World History" was published only posthumously. Khomyakov’s goal was not to actually describe history, but to create a scheme for its interpretation, which would cover the life of all peoples of the globe and would consider the historical process from the point of view of the internal forces that determine it, mainly religion.
In the early 1840s, the Slavophil doctrine received a developed and harmonious appearance during the disputes between Khomyakov and Westerners (Granovsky, etc.) in the salons of Elagina and Sverbeev. In these disputes, Khomyakov played the main role among the Slavophiles. Possessing enormous erudition, especially in the field of church history and theology, and extraordinary dialectical abilities, he was head and shoulders above Westerners and easily refuted their schemes.
Throughout his subsequent life, Khomyakov collaborated in various Slavophile periodicals, publishing articles on issues of peasant reform, sociology and philosophy. Khomyakov's range of intellectual and practical activities is extremely wide: theologian, sociologist, historian of world civilization, economist, author of technical innovations, poet, doctor, painter. But the main feature of his personality was deep religiosity.
At the end of the second half of the 1840s, he wrote “An Experience in a Catechetical Presentation of the Doctrine of the Church”; this work was published only after his death in the Orthodox Review in 1864. By 1844–1855. refers to Khomyakov’s correspondence with the Englishman Palmer, caused by the latter’s desire to leave the Anglican Church. In 1847, Khomyakov again traveled abroad, visited Germany, England and Prague - new Western impressions push him to a more in-depth understanding of Russian Orthodoxy, in which he sees the source of the development of the national Russian spirit, the basis of folk morality. During these years, Khomyakov examined Orthodoxy with particular thoroughness in its relationship to Catholicism and Protestantism in three brochures published in French abroad in 1853, 1855 and 1858. under the general title: “A few words from an Orthodox Christian about Western religions.” In the second brochure, the result of moral fratricide, expressed in the division of churches, is presented, among other things, as the alliance of the West with Islam against Orthodoxy. In 1860, Khomyakov prepared for the French magazine "Union Chretienne" an article "about the biblical works of Bunsen", "Letter to the Bishop of Utrecht" and a note "On the meaning of the words: Catholic and conciliar"; only the latter was published in the magazine. All of Khomyakov's theological works are collected in the 2nd volume of his Works.
Like other Slavophiles, Khomyakov was a convinced opponent, substantiating this position with the Gospel teaching, which was reflected in 1854 in his poem “Russia” with the accusatory lines: “In the courts it is black with black untruth / And branded with the yoke of slavery...”.
Of the many articles written in recent years, we highlight two philosophical ones: “Concerning passages found in the papers of I. Kireevsky” (1857) and a letter to Yu.F. Samarin "On modern influences in the field of philosophy" (1859). In these articles, Khomyakov sees the epistemological error of rationalism in the fact that it sees the source of knowledge only in rational activity, not in the fullness of the powers of the spirit, and does not value the importance of the will for knowledge highly enough. Reason comprehends only the laws of the knowable; living reality is perceived with all the fullness of the powers of the spirit.
Khomyakov’s Slavophil teaching is subordinated to one idea - about the fundamental difference between the paths of Russia and the West and proof of the originality of the Russian people. This difference is due to the dissimilarity of the “internal principles” of Russian and Western European life, different types of religious worldview - Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism. Khomyakov hoped that Orthodox Russia could lead to a restructuring of the entire system of European culture. That history calls on Russia to stand ahead of world enlightenment - history gives it the right to do this for the comprehensiveness and completeness of its national and spiritual principles.
Fundamental for Khomyakov was the doctrine of “conciliarity” as a principle of the structure of existence, describing a multitude gathered by the power of love into a “free and organic unity.” In this interpretation, it characterizes the nature not only of the Church, but also of man, society, the processes of cognition and creativity. Subsequently, this teaching became one of the foundations of the concepts of unity and personality in Russian religious philosophy. “Truth, inaccessible to individual thinking, is accessible only to a collection of thoughts united by love.”
In his personal life, Khomyakov was extremely happy. 1836 he married Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yazykova, sister. Their eldest son became a famous Orthodox philosopher and monarchist figure. However, the last decade of Alexei Stepanovich’s life was darkened for him by the death of his wife, friend (I.V. Kireevsky) and mother. Khomyakov’s life ended unexpectedly - after living for 56 years, he died of cholera on September 23, 1860 in the village of Ivanovskoye, Lipetsk province. Buried in Moscow.
In 1900, Khomyakov’s works were published in Moscow in a new, thorough edition in 8 volumes (volumes 1 and 3 - prose works; volume 2 - theological works; volume 4 - dramas and poems; volumes 5, 6 and 7 - notes on world history , volume 8 – letters).
Russia
Be proud! - the flatterers told you, -
Earth with a crowned brow,
Land of indestructible steel,
Taking half the world with a sword!Red are your attires of the steppes,
And the mountains reached into the sky,
And like the seas, your lakes...
Don't believe, don't listen, don't be proud!Let the waves of your rivers be deep.
Like the blue waves of the seas,
And the depths of the mountains of diamonds are full,
And the fat of the steppes is lush with bread;Let before your sovereign splendor
The people timidly bow their gaze,
And the seven seas with a silent splash
A choir of praise is sung to you;Let the bloody thunderstorm far away
Your peruns have flown...
With all this power, this glory,
Don't be proud of all this ashes!Every spirit of pride is fruitless,
Wrong gold, steel is fragile,
But the clear world of the shrine is strong,
The hand of the praying is strong!And because you are humble,
What is in the feeling of childish simplicity,
In the silence of the heart is hidden,
– You have accepted the Creator’s verb,He gave you His calling,
He gave you a bright destiny:
Preserve the property for the world
High sacrifices and pure deeds!In your chest, my Russia,
There is also a quiet, bright key;
He also pours down living waters,
Hidden, unknown, but powerful.Will not be disturbed by human passions
Its crystal depth,
As before, the cold of alien power
The waves did not chain him.And it flows endlessly,
How the secret of life is invisible
And pure, and alien to the world, and we know
Only God and His saints...(From the poem "The Key", 1835)
Don't say, "The past
Now the old days, now the sin of the fathers,
And our tribe is young
Doesn't know those old sins."No, this sin is with you forever,
He is in your veins and blood,
He has become one with your hearts,
With hearts dead to love...Pray, repent, raise your hands to heaven!
For all the sins of the past,
For your Cain abuses
Ever since the swaddles of infancy;For the tears of that terrible time,
When you are drunk with enmity,
You called alien squads
To the death of the Russian side.For slavery to centuries-old captivity,
For timidity before the sword of Lithuania,
For Novgorod, its betrayal,
For the double-mindedness of Moscow;For the shame and sorrow of the holy queen,
For legalized debauchery,
For the sin of the sacrificial king,
For the devastated Novograd;For slander of Godunov,
For the death and shame of his children,
For Tushino, for Lyapunov,
For drunkenness of frenzied passions;For blindness, for crimes,
For the sleep of minds, for the coolness of hearts,
For the pride of dark ignorance,
For the captivity of the people; finally -For being full of languor,
In blind doubt and anguish
Let's go ask for healing
Not in Him, in His handAnd the shine of victories, and the happiness of the world,
And the fire of love, and the light of minds, -
But a soulless idol,
And dead and blind gods!And, overcome with pride,
Drunk with earthly wisdom,
You have renounced all that is sacred,
From my dear heart!For everything, for all kinds of suffering
For every violated law,
For the dark deeds of our fathers,
For the dark sin of our times,For all the troubles of my native land -
Before God of goodness and strength,
Pray, crying and sobbing,
May He forgive, may He forgive!Russia
I called you to holy battle
Our Lord loved you
Gave you unearthly strength
May you crush the evil will
Blind, crazy dark forcesBut remember! To be an instrument of God
It's hard for earthly creatures
He judges His servants strictly,
And for you, alas! So much
There are a lot of terrible sins!Wikipedia writes that Alexey Stapanovich died in the village of Speshnevo-Ivanovsky, Ryazan province. I checked that such a village still exists in the Lipetsk region. But I couldn’t find the Lipetsk province on the map of the Russian Empire. Apparently Wikipedia is right after all. Although this is not important.