ITALIAN CATHOLICISM IN THE COMPREHENSION OF I.V. KIREEVSKY AND D.S. MEREZHKOVSKY: COMPARISON (ON THE MATERIAL OF I.V. KIREEVSKY’S ARTICLES AND D.S. MEREZHKOVKY’S BOOK “FRANCIS OF ASSISI”)

Abstract

The article makes a comparative analysis of the Italian Catholicism comprehension in the works of two Russian religious philosophers – I.V. Kireevsky and D.S. Merezhkovsky. The similarities and differences between variants of this comprehension are revealed on the material of Kireevsky’s articles and Merezhkovsky’s book “Francis of Assisi”. Common aspects include correlation of Catholicism and Orthodoxy; the issue of the Christian ideal of poverty in the
Catholic context; the issue of the political authority of the Roman Catholic Church; the conflict between mystic experience and rational scholasticism, etc. Catholicism as a social, religious and philosophic phenomenon plays an important role in the conceptions of both philosophers, but their accents and conclusions are different because depend on the personal attitude as well as on historical and cultural context. However, I.V. Kireevsky and D.S. Merezhkovsky made a significant
contribution to the formation of Italian text in the Russian literature and the cultural dialogue between Russia and Italy.