Father Iosif Fudel Among Conservatives: Friendship with Lev Tikhomirov

Abstract

The article examines the worldview of the priest Iosif Ivanovich Fudel (1864/1865–1918) through the prism of the Russian conservative thought at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It shows his complex and dynamic views aligned with the chronology of his life and the historical context. Outlining the circle of Father Iosif’s fellow thinkers at different times (Slavophiles, Konstantin Leontiev, Mikhail Novoselov with his Circle of Those Seeking Christian Enlightenment, etc.), the author pays special attention to Fudel’s relationship with Lev Tikhomirov, a prominent representative of conservatism, who was Fudel’s close friend for more than a quarter of a century.The friends were clearly unanimous about the need to nurture the church intelligentsia and restore the sobornost (conciliarity) of the church life, although Fudel throughout his whole life was much less concerned about the political agenda. The direction of the public thought that he represented can be defined as Neo-Slavophilism. It was characterized by switching from vast political topics to specific organization issues within the church with a common antirenovationist and anti-modernist vector. This said, the leaders of this trend advocated for the wider participation of the laity in the life of the church, for the development of fraternal life and the Slavophilelike collegiality and the convocation of the church council. Common to the Fudel’s circle were the criticism of the dominance of the bureaucracy, negative attitude towards Grigory Rasputin, support for Aleksandr Samarin and a certain opposition to the synodal administration. It was, in its own way, a conservative project of the church modernization. Belonging to the circle ideologically, Father Iosif acted not so much as a thinker, but as a doer, fulfilling the main task of his life, that of a pastor.The author emphasizes that Father Iosif’s position had always been personal, not favoring any party, and in the last decade of his life he sought to stay out of politics, cutting his public comments on issues relating to the secular politics. He accepted neither the revolution of 1905–1907, nor the uncertain position of the church in it, nor the political concessions made by the authorities. Father Iosif immersed himself completely in the parish life of Moscow.