Malinov A.V. Religious Worldview of V. I. Lamansky. Russian-Byzantine Herald, 2025, no. 1 (20), pp. 51–66.

Abstract

The article deals with V. I. Lamansky’s attitude to religion. Lamansky’s statements from his diaries and extracts from the scientist’s works, including his assessments of religion and various Christian confessions (Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodoxy) are given. It is noted that it is necessary to distinguish between Lamansky’s personal religious views and the role he attributed to religion in his civilisation doctrine. It is pointed out that, unlike the early Slavophiles (A. S. Khomyakov and I. V. Kireyevsky), Lamansky gave religion a more modest place in the process of forming a distinctive culture or civilisation, believing that political independence and a developed literary language were more important. Lamansky’s main reproach to Western Christianity was its confusion of secular and ecclesiastical authority, its violence and intolerance. He recognised that Catholic conversion contributed to the assimilation of the Slavs by European peoples, primarily Germans, and eventually led to the loss of Slavs’ language, culture and nationality. Orthodoxy, according to Lamansky, to a greater extent remained faithful to the Christian ideals of brotherhood and love. It is noted that in agreement with Slavophile teaching, Lamansky was a consistent supporter of freedom of conscience.