Transformation of Religious Identity in the Russian Sociocultural Space in the Second Half of the 19th and 20th Centuries: A Cultural and Philosophical Analysis

This article examines the transformation of religious identity in the Russian sociocultural space from the second half of the 19th century to the 1920s. The study is conducted through a cultural-philosophical approach, drawing on the works of V.S. Solovyov, one of the most important thinkers of the Russian religious and philosophical renaissance, the idea of a “new religious consciousness”, and thinkers such as D.S. Merezhkovsky, N.A. Berdyaev, V.V. Rozanov, and others. The fundamental platform is the search for new forms of spirituality, expressed in the renewal processes of the church through the synthesis of religion, philosophy, and science. The reason for such important research was the close fusion of state and church institutions, which led to the formation of a certain kind of “alienation” from historical Christianity and the erection of barriers between the clergy and society. The appearance of this state was criticized at the turn of the century, and took the form of various attempts to prescribe the proper image and ideal for the church, along with the construction of its own church, a vision of a “different Christianity” was formed, which was supposed to be more Orthodox, more mod-ern and more authentic in the conditions of changing socio-cultural specifics.