Conceptualization of national ideology in the works of archpriest A. Schmemann

This article examines the conceptualization of national ideology in the works of Archpriest A. Schmemann. In his research, the author relies on both various articles by Schmemann and his diaries. The author shows that for Schmemann, love for the homeland and love for the nation are not the same thing. Nationality as a natural belonging to a certain people – a neutral fact – turns into evil when myths are created around it, turning it into a reason for pride, for dividing into ours and others, for opposing ours to others as hostile. Shmemann also criticizes the following principles of national ideology: the perception of the nation as a single, “collective personality”, the ontological elevation of the nation over the person, depersonalization, devaluation, and instrumentalization of the individual. Schmemann is critical of the penetration of national ideology into church consciousness, as this leads to a number of negative consequences: distortion of ecclesiology, pseudo-messianism, and idolatry. The author concludes that in his assessment of national ideology, Schmemann follows V.S. Solovyov, E.N. Trubetskoy, and Archpriest G. Florovsky. Schmemann’s views on this problem are close to the views of Archpriest I. Meyendorff, Metropolitan John Zizioulas, H. Yannaras, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware), A. Papafanasiou, P. Kalaitzidis, D. Dzalto, and other contemporary Orthodox thinkers.

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