The Holy See and Fyodor Dostoevsky: Mutual Attraction and Repulsion

Arts. 2023. Vol. 12. No. 2. Article 76.

Besschetnova E.

The article analyzes the attitude of Fyodor Dostoevsky toward the Roman Catholic Church.
The author shows how Dostoevsky comes to the Slavophile idea of unity and the impossibility of
salvation outside church communion, while speaking of the Church as an ecclesia, that is, an assembly
of believers. At the same time, the reception of Dostoevsky from the side of the Vatican is presented.
In the article, special attention is paid to the perception of Dostoevsky’s ideas by Pope Francis. The
author notes that the point of attraction and repulsion between Dostoevsky and Catholic culture
lies in the plane of his understanding of the concepts of nationality and universality. Dostoevsky’s
Russian idea and his view on the essence of Christianity grows from the synthesis of these concepts.
The author emphasizes that only in this perspective it is necessary to interpret Dostoevsky’s ideas.

Keywords: Святой Престол, The Holy See, Dostoevsky F. M., Ф. Достоевский

Publication based on the results of: Отечественная философия XIX-XXI вв. в интеллектуальном пространстве Запада: критика, рецепция, диалог (2019)