DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 ORTHODOX POLITICAL THEOLOGIES: CLERGY, INTELLIGENTSIA AND SOCIAL CHRISTIANITY IN REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA Alexandra Medzibrodszky A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the Central European University In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2020 Dissertation Supervisor: Matthias Riedl DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 Copyright Notice and Statement of Responsibility Copyright in the text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies by any process, either in full or part, may be made only in accordance with the instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European Library. Details may be obtained from the librarian. This page must form a part of any such copies made. Further copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the written permission of the Author. I hereby declare that this dissertation contains no materials accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions and no materials previously written and/or published by another person unless otherwise noted. CEU eTD Collection ii DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 Technical Notes Transliteration of Russian Cyrillic in the dissertation is according to the simplified Library of Congress transliteration system. Well-known names, however, are transliterated in their more familiar form, for instance, ‘Tolstoy’ instead of ‘Tolstoii’. All translations are mine unless otherwise indicated. Dates before February 1918 are according to the Julian style calendar which is twelve days behind the Gregorian calendar in the nineteenth century and thirteen days behind in the twentieth century. Reference to published primary sources is provided in the format of their first publication in order to highlight the publishing context of the original publication. If an article or articles were later republished as an independent brochure then page reference corresponds to the independent publication. CEU eTD Collection iii DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 ABSTRACT The dissertation is the intellectual history of the Orthodox left during the revolutionary years of 1905-8 in Imperial Russia. The research reconstructs debates and dialogues between progressive clergy and radical religious intelligentsia following the massacre of Bloody Sunday on 9 January 1905. The dissertation interprets the visions that emerged in the network of the Orthodox left in the framework of ‘political theologies’. It focuses on three programs and their theo-political language: the Brotherhood of Zealots for Church Renovation; the Christian Brotherhood of Struggle; and the Union of Christian Politics. Members argued that the mutually dependent relationship between the tsar and the people, which served as a political bedrock for the Empire for centuries, was now beyond repair. The bloodshed was perceived as a fundamental break in Russian Orthodox political theory, and the horrible events inspired religious intelligentsia and progressive clergy to theorise about politics and social justice as Orthodox believers. The dissertation identifies the concept of Christian obshchestvennost’ (sociality) as the focal point of all programs that emerged among advocates of the Orthodox left in the period. The concept had palingenetic power, it was meant to reinvigorate the Church and to re-Christianise the whole of fin de siècle Russian society. My research argues that the theo-political imagination and language of the Orthodox left was inspired both by Russian Orthodox tradition, in particular by Modern Russian CEU eTD Collection Theology; and by non-Orthodox traditions of social Christianity, but it developed in opposition to the Marxist left. The analysed projects were short-lived due to internal conflicts and repressions by Church and state, but they represent a vibrant chapter in the history of Russian Orthodox social and political thought, reflecting on theo-political concepts that remain central to the Russian Orthodox world up until today. iv DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Nikolai Fedorov, an excentric Russian philosopher in the nineteenth century, believed that culture was the product of many generations, therefore, claiming copyright for one’s work was unjustified and even selfish. He argued that creation is mostly borrowing from others, contemporaries and predecessors. Thus, one’s original contribution always remains minute – we are all just contributing morsels to the collective knowledge of our ancestors and peers. I am obliged to put my name on this dissertation according to the CEU PhD guidelines, but it must be acknowledged that many others contributed to the writing of this dissertation. I am eternally grateful to Matthias Riedl, for taking me on as supervisee when he did not have to, for all the last-minute recommendation letters, discussions, and detailed comments on my research. I always knew that I can count on you, and that was more important for writing this dissertation than anything else. There would be no dissertation without your guidance and support. Throughout the years, I was lucky to be mentored by outstanding professors all over the world. Their guidance contributed to my research immensely both on a personal and professional level. During my stay in the USA, I could not have wished for a better faculty sponsor than Claudia Verhoeven, being as honest and approachable a person as she is. Many of the chapter drafts were written in Ithaca and presented at chapter seminars, her expertise on Russian radicalism and on writing intellectual history shaped CEU eTD Collection my research greatly. I am also grateful to Manfred Sing, my mentor at the Institute in European History in Mainz, for his comments on my research and lively discussions on a wide range of topics, including Islamic liberation theologies. During my fieldwork year in Kazan’, I say thank you to Elena Khabibullina at the Kazan’ Federal University for being my supervisor and for giving me the freedom to work independently. v DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 Professors at the History Department of CEU helped and influenced me during the years I spent there as an MA and a PhD student. I am greatly indebted to Balázs Trencsényi for his paradigm-changing courses on political languages and for being one of the few people who believed in this project from the very beginning; to Karl Hall for the inspiring courses which simply made me look at the world differently; to Nadia Al-Bagdadi for her support of my studies and our work together on the Religion and Secularism course; to Jan Hennings for comments on my research and for turning my attention to continuities and discontinuities in the radical intelligentsia tradition; to Alfred Rieber, Alexei Miller, Constantin Iordachi for guidance that helped me to frame my research agenda; to Marsha Siefert for a great mock comprehensive exam and for advising to start compiling a list for acknowledgements early. (It would be much harder to write this section if I did not follow her advice.) My interaction with academics throughout the world heavily influenced the writing of this dissertation. I am grateful to Simon Dixon for providing me with useful comments in the crucial initial phase of the project; CEU eTD Collection to Victoria Frede-Montemayor for our discussions in Budapest and for highlighting the importance of triggering events in the mobilisation of intellectuals; vi DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 to Page Herrlinger for her interest in my research and discussions at various conferences around the world; to Frances Nethercott for discussions on Russian intellectual history in Budapest and in Chicago; to Thomas Bremer for his comments on my research in Berlin. I had the chance to discuss my research with various academics during my fieldwork year in Russia. I am particularly thankful to Alexander Semyonov for his warm welcome in St. Petersburg and his comments on my dissertation draft. I am also grateful for discussions with Yulia Balakshina, Dmitrii Golovushkin, Andrei Mikhailov and Svetlana Malysheva. My research methodology was shaped by discussions on conceptual history and intellectual history with Anton Jansson, Wiktor Marzec and Niklas Olsen. Parts of my research were presented at various workshops throughout the years, I am particularly indebted to participants of the chapter seminar at CEU, the Religion and Russian Revolution workshop in Berlin, the research seminar at IEG Mainz and the graduate workshop on political thought at Cambridge University. This dissertation would not be the same without the comments and support I have received from peers at CEU and elsewhere. I am thankful To Imogen Bayley because I would not have survived this PhD without her; CEU eTD Collection To Agnes Kelemen for all the support throughout the years and for reading parts of this dissertation; To Katalin Pataki for our discussions in Mainz; vii DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.08 To Nick Bujalski for comments on my draft chapters and for our discussions on Russian intellectual history in Ithaca; To Harrison King for bringing me my stranded photocopies of archival materials from Moscow and for our discussions of Russian history; To Anna Mazanik for our discussions on Russian history and academic life; To Martin Pjecha, Réka Krizmanics, Ági Kende, Nirvana Siljnovic, Vilius Kubekas, Yulia Karpova, Mladen Medved, Dejan Lukic, Adela Hincu, Rikkamari Muhonen, Anastasia Papushina, Nikola Pantic, Cody Inglis, Una Blagojevic for sharing the CEU experience; To members and staff of the Telluride