The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article examines the transformation of one of the fundamental concepts in Russian religious philosophy, conciliarity (Sobornost’), in the ideological and practical experiments of the Soviet government of the 1920s. Based on the works of A. S. Khomyakov, P. A. Florensky, S. N. Bulgakov and S. L. Frank, the author reveals the original content of Sobornost’ as a free spiritual unity of people in love and truth, rooted in the ontology of the church body. The study analyzes how, in the context of the construction of an atheistic state, this concept was secularized and adapted to form the Soviet collectivist consciousness. Based on the material of mass political holidays (the First of May, the anniversary of the October Revolution) and the “red rites” (“Octobrines”, “civil funerals”), the process of replacing Christian ontology with communist ideology is traced. The article suggests a hypothesis that the external forms of church Sobornost’ (unity, veneration of martyrs) were borrowed to consolidate society around the new symbols and goals — the “service” of the revolution and the cult of “heroes of labor”. Special attention is paid to the contrast between the Christian Easter and the May Day demonstrations within the framework of the “Komsomol Easter” campaign, as well as the phenomenon of “political martyrdom” as a secular analogue of holiness. The author concludes that the transformation of the idea of Sobornost’ has become the most important tool for the metaphysical transition from a religious worldview to a quasi-religious Soviet ideology aimed at creating a “new man” — a collectivist focused on selfless service to communist ideals and gaining immortality in the grateful memory of descendants.