The soviet ideocratic state trapped in the post-soviet intertime: from orthodox liberalism to soviet orthodoxy

Abstract

The article examines the crisis of post Soviet identity as a split in the Soviet conscious­ness between the Soviet and Orthodox ideals, as well as Russia’s falling into a situation of inter-time. The main subject of the split is the confrontation in assessments of the place and role of the Soviet ideocratic state in the history of Russia between two areas of social thought: Orthodox liberalism and Soviet Orthodoxy. The main thesis of the article is that Russia’s exit from the crisis of post-Soviet identity can only be achieved through over­coming the split from the standpoint of Soviet Orthodoxy. This means that it is necessary to combine in the public consciousness the Orthodox ideal of the moral perfection of the individual with the Soviet project of social transformation. The argumentation is carried out using the concept of Russian ideocratic consciousness and the methodology of social analysis in the ideocratic paradigm, as well as using the methodology of myth rationalization and reconstruction of mythical consciousness.