Church Conceptualization of Socialism in Russia of the Second Half of the 19th and the 20th Centuries

Abstract

The article is a refl ection and review of the “The Orthodox Church and Socialism. The second half of the 19th–20th centuries» anthology, published by “Vladimir Dal” publishing house in 2023. The anthology consists of a large number of texts, the importance of which can’t be overestimated. The texts are arranged in chronological order and provided with succinct comments, thus representing a chronicle of church attitude to socialism evolution in the second half of the 19th and the 20th centuries: from perception it as an alien alternative to church spiritual values, to the half-way consent with the 20th century cultural life thesis of principally “social” orientation of Christianity in its ethics of love and mercy. The analytical component of the article allows us to focus on the anthology texts that are most important for understanding not only issue of the “Orthodox Church and socialism” itself, but also its evolution over the one and a half century of our state existence. The author of the article considers the anthology especially relevant these days then Russian society begins to think and concentrate of social justice. The variety of the views demonstrated by the authors of the anthology give us a good understanding of the socialism signifi cance in the past and in our time