The Russian Idea in the Historiosophy of Margarita Sabashnikova-Voloshina

Abstract

This article aims to single out and interpret ideas connected with the role of Russia and the Russian people in world history and the development of humanity and space in the literary heritage of Margarita Sabashnikova-Voloshina, a Russian artist, poet, and representative of anthroposophy. This article examines her biography of St Serafim of Sarov and her autobiography The Green Snake, first released in German in 1954. Although Sabashnikova-Voloshina does not use the expression “Russian idea” in any works to denote her historiosophic ideas relating to the mission of Russia and Russians, the author argues that she has a complex of ideas about Russia’s mission. The article looks at texts of Rudolf Steiner that reflect his views on humanity’s development by means of a consecutive alternation of cultural epochs, pointing out the presence of such ideas in the works of Sabashnikova-Voloshina. According to the article, she continued to refer to them into the Soviet period when interpreting certain facts connected with Russian history and the Russian people. She considered the Soviet state a tragedy, a disaster, and a betrayal of the “Russian idea”.