THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DOSTOEVSKY AS EVALUATED BY I. S. AKSAKOV AND ARCHBISHOP NIKANOR

Our article is an analysis of two opinions on the Christian meaning of Dostoevsky and his role for Russian society. One of the opinions was voiced by the famous Slavophile I. S. Aksakov, the other by Nikanor, Archbishop of Kherson and Odessa. We provide a brief overview of Dostoevsky's relations with the Slavophiles, including K. S. Aksakov's critical reviews of his earliest works, Dostoevsky's criticism of Slavophiles in Vremya, the convergence between the pochvenniki and Slavophiles at the Pushkin celebration in Moscow in summer 1880. We have analysed I. S. Aksakov's article and short note on the death of Dostoevsky, as well as the Slavophile's letter to O. F. Miller discussing the sad event. To correctly understand Aksakov's critical stance and ideological position we must turn to the obituary he published under the title Several words on Gogol (1852). We also focus on Archbishop Nikanor's sermons where he mentions Dostoevsky and I. Aksakov, emphasizing the similar assessment of Dostoevsky by both thinkers. The Archbishop's sermons prove the spiritual affinity between Dostoevsky and the Slavophile thought.