Orthodox cardiognosis of the russian people as the basis of heroism (bogatirstvo) (based on the “Diary of a writer” by F.M. Dostoevsky)

Abstract

The term “cardiognosis” is a neologism at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. F.M. Dostoevsky used in the “Diary of a Writer” and in the Great Pentateuch its Russian counterpart - “heart knowledge”. The chronologically explainable absence in the heritage of the classic of the lexeme under study, based on the addition of Latin roots, does not at all contradict the fact that F.M. Dostoevsky made an invaluable contribution to the intellectual tradition of studying cardiognosis that has developed in Russia. The creator of the “Diary of a Writer” invariably correlated this category with folk Orthodoxy. He saw the “heart knowledge of Christ” as the most effective and infallible way of attaining God. Dostoevsky developed such a perception as a result of his deep immersion in the context of the Bible and patristic literature. The writer was convinced that the cardiognostically conditioned faith of the Russian people is a guarantee of their special - world-unifying - destiny in the future. Nevertheless, he did not idealize popular types, noting their susceptibility to temporary obsession. However, this feature, according to F.M. Dostoevsky, does not exclude the openness of the heroic path to every Russian Vlas. In the “Diary of a Writer”, the occasional semantic content of the category “heroism” (“bo-gatirstvo”) is especially expressively explicated. It is understood not as an indication of a military ethos, but as a service to God in a broad sense. The basis and inspiration of heroism (bogatirstvo), according to F.M. Dostoevsky, is precisely cardiognosis. The writer is sure: a heart that “contains God” can transform into a “better person” even one who has sinned, but who repented in time. On the pages of the “Diary of a Writer” F.M. Dostoevsky not only defines the “best people” of the past of Russia (“Tikhon, Monomakh, Ilya...”), but also admires their followers from the 19th century. He considers those contemporaries who are ready to sacrifice themselves for the protection of brothers in Christ (General Chernyaev, Sophia Lurie, Foma Danilovich Lotaryov) as the incarnators of spiritual heroism (bogatirstvo). Dostoevsky's causal comprehension of the categories “cardiognosis” and “heroism” (“bo-gatirstvo”) showed a significant trait of the Russian national character, demonstrated the writer's faith in the saving mission of the God-bearing people.