"Kenotic" messianism : about the russian idea by Vyacheslav Ivanov

The paper presents the key theses of Vyacheslav Ivanov's concept of the national idea, both in a general (concerning every nation) and a specific (concerning the Russian nation) perspective. The starting point are the youthful intuitions of the philosopher, who from the very beginning was not able to accept nationalist views of the great minds of his times. This rejection of nationalism (understood as national egoism) becomes the basis for formulating the religious national idea (for every nation); against this background Ivanov perceives Russia as an exceptional country at the beginning of 20th century. The philosopher claims that Russia has an extraordinary historical mission, but he also sees potential obstacles in realizing this mission.