War as an existential phenomenon in the report of Zinaida Gippius “History in Christianity”

Abstract

The First World War caused a lot of discussion among the Russian intellectuals. Some of which took place as part of the meetings at the Religious and Philosophical Society in St. Petersburg. One of the important stages of the discussion was the report of Zinaida Gippius “History in Christianity”, which she read at the meeting on November 5^th 1914. Zinaida Gippius offered an original interpretation of the issue, demonstrating the difficult way of accepting and overcoming war as a social and metaphysical phenomenon. War, in her opinion, is an unconditional regression, a return to long-outdated ideas and ways of interaction. War is extremely archaic, it is impossible to ascribe any elevated meanings to it. Even if they are declared, the nature of the war does not change. On the contrary, the war, in turn, begins to change everyone who takes part in it. War is a kind of “thing in itself”, a holistic and rigid phenomenon. Nevertheless, according to Zinaida Gippius, the Russian intellectuals should accept the war, even if they have to leave their comfortable intellectual space. After all, it was exactly the intellectuals who failed to prevent the war, and therefore, according to Gippius, bear their part of the responsibility for the fact that the war again became a reality for millions of people.