The paper analyzes an article by Vassily Rosanov “Representatives of the ‘new religious consciousness” (1908). The article was published under the pseudonym of V. Varvarin in the newspaper Russkoe slovo (“Russian Word”), it was written in the unusual for Rosanov form of half-fiction. The article describes the ten years ago events which became turning points for the Rosanov’s world view. Those events were the acquaintance with Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius and two conversations about Christianity. Actually, in that article Rosanov reconstructed in details stages of changing his worldview and perception of religion. Notably the decadents and their unorthodox religiosity, debates with positivism, constant stylistic experiments became to him the nearest in thoughts. In the years 1896–1897 Rosanov changed his view upon the gender, marriage, correlations between New and Old Testaments. Rosanov tries to remind in his article about the early century discussions. That is why he opted for the form of estranged narration on himself as a major representatives the new trend of religious seeking. The paper also analyzes as the very mechanism of self-representation and also its purposes and results.

One of the bright and dramatic pages in the history of Parisian Orthodox Theology is the activity of the Fotiy`s Brotherhood (1925 (1923?) – 1980s). However, it has not yet been studied completely. The publication, which is based in particular on archival documents from the personal collection of Nicholay Poltoratsky’s family (1909–1990), who at a certain stage acted as the head of the secret society. Nicholay Poltoratsky returned to Homeland after the Second World War and ended up in Odessa, becoming a center of intellectual and spiritual attraction. Our task is to contribute to the reconstruction of the history of the Fotiy`s Brotherhood. That plot is very important for the history of the Russian religious and philosophical Renaissance. The Brotherhood at different times included A. Stavrovsky, V. Lossky, E. Kovalevsky, P. Kovalevsky, M. Kovalevsky, L. Uspensky, I. Lagovsky, G. Krug, A. Bloom and others. Members of the Brotherhood proposed the project of “Latin Rite Orthodoxy” with elements of the ancient Gallican rite. Such a project was implemented in several French parishes, of which some are still active now. The focus of the paper is on a theoretical analysis of the project to create an Orthodox religious order, connecting loyalty to the Orthodox tradition and an оrientation to the ancient Gallican liturgical rite of the Christian church before the time of schism.

The Religion-Science relationship is often understood as problematic, and they themselves as sides in the confrontation between clericalism and scientism. Against the background of those polemic party positions stands out the study of the positive significance of theological toposes and mythology in science when it is secular and atheistic. One of the vivid examples of that one meets in the reflections of two French philosophers of Russian origin, Alexandre Koyré and Alexandre Kojève. By studying the genesis of science, Koyré discovers that modern mathematical physics requires a homogeneous world, and it became so for the first time in Christian Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. Kojève continues Koyré’s reflections – according to him, the application of the celestial science of mathematics to terrestrial physics became possible through the habit of European thinkers to the scandalous thought about the Incarnation of God, about the possibility for the infinity and for the perfection to be born in the flesh and thus “heal” it. The positions of both have their origin in Hegel’s thoughts, but in some points do not agree with him. The research consists of three parts published in three separate articles: on the foundation of Modern science at Koyré, Kojève and Hegel. The second part is about Alexandre Kojève.

The authors consider foreign practical experience (primarily on the example of the PRC) in the application of digital technologies and artificial intelligence to solve practical tasks dictated, among other things, by the need to control the spread of COVID-19. A comparison of the methods used to combat the coronavirus in China and European countries demonstrates an emphasis on the heteropolar possibilities for digital development and their difference in the effectiveness of the fight against the disease and in terms of individual rights and freedoms. Attention is also paid to the specifics of collecting the information for Big Data, as well as the reality and prospects of implementing innovative digital technologies and artificial intelligence in the Russian Federation. The introduction of the latest digital technologies and artificial intelligence systems requires a balance between legislation adapted to new developments, and efforts aimed at ensuring the security of citizens ‘ private lives as a result of the increasing digitalization in all state systems. It emphasizes the importance of digital illiteracyin all areas: both the practical use of applications, and the security and functioning of technologies in order to create a comfortable digital environment for citizens of all generations.

The article presents the specifics in the behavior of modern Russians during the coronavirus, which has become a socially topical issue, instantly covering the territories of various subjects of Russia. The publication is based on sociological studies of various levels, as well as publications of the mass media, which allowed for formulating the main patterns that were regularly manifested during the epidemic and considering its typical effects on the social organization of people. The results of a comparative analysis of the impact of the epidemic on human behavior today and a hundred years ago are presented. To that end the results of research conducted in the area by P. Sorokin are used.

The complex development of China and its transformation into a superpower arouses the US fears, what results in the trade and economic wars between the two countries, as well as in a discursive confrontation. As the conflict between the United States and China escalates, the struggle will intensify not only for markets, but also for the hearts and minds of Europeans (in this article, in particular, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy are considered). Reflection on Beijing’s behavior in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic will become one of the important sociological factors that will affect the attitude of European citizens towards China, what, in turn, will have a significant impact on the implementation of the PRC’s foreign policy strategy.

Along with numerous studies of subjective well-being through sociological methods (first of all, surveys), attempts are being made to use Big Data, “digital footprints” (social media texts, social network profile information, search query statistics, personal electronic device data) as an additional source of information. Based on a review of foreign literature, the author reveals major practices of the social media texts analysis to measure subjective well-being. Including the experience of constructing the Gross National Happiness index for Facebook and the Hedonometer for Twitter based on the analysis of emotive vocabulary and the tone of publications of network users. Possibilities of searching for “digital traces” of life satisfaction in the social media texts are revealed. Methodological difficulties and limitations in that area of research, which have not yet been overcome, are highlighted: the issue of the obtained conclusions generalization and the validity of the constructed indices of “happiness” in their correlation with the “real” subjective well-being measured through surveys. Difficulties in measuring subjective well-being are associated with the effects of self-presentation in social media, varying degrees and strategies of users’ publication activity, imperfection of the analysis algorithms that are still inferior to “manual coding”.

The article analyzes scientific literature on the topic of the significance of the transformation of territorial communities in the space of a metropolis. It is shown that there are systemic difficulties in the analysis of a number of social phenomena due to the lack of generally accepted formulations of such concepts as “territorial communities”, “megalopolis space” and the differences between the concepts of “territory” and “space”. It is concluded that the aforementioned definitions should be determined by the social processes that occur in modern society, since today they acquire special significance as independent scientific categories in assessing both individual events caused by short-sighted decisions of the authorities and growing negative social phenomena in the form of protest behaviors that result from them.

The article is devoted to the thorough research of distinctive features of ceremonial and chamber types of portrait in Russian art of 18th century. The matter drew attention of scientists earlier but the identification of specific characteristics, inherent to each type of portrait painting, is not available in academic literature on the subject at the moment. The need for defining a set of features appears relevant for studies into the portrait painting at the turn of 18th – 19th centuries, which is characterized by combination of particularities peculiar to different variants of image in one artwork. It is the identification of distinctive typological characteristics of ceremonial and chamber portrait that allows to explore certain artworks of the mentioned period more effectivly in comparison with stylistic analysis the use of which is objectively difficult with coexistence of various artistic directions.

I.V. Zholtovsky’s (1867–1959) the earliest works are traditionally considered by researchers like a sort of marginalia in his professional biography, although it is reasonable to assume that he was formed as an architect just during the pre-revolutionary period. According to S.O. Khan-Magomedov, Zholtovsky was engaged in something like laboratory experiments in 1900–1910s, selecting the forms and techniques that were most perfect from an artistic point of view. However, that process should be viewed not so much in the plane of abstract artistic quality as in the context of stylistic searches of the early 20th century aimed at overcoming eclecticism. It is usually to associate those searches with Art Nouveau, but in Russia the idea of acquiring a true style was embodied in neoclassic tendency. The new classical architecture as a phenomenon was built against the background of the steady modernization of the society and culture, so that the talking about the revival of the historical traditions had a small relation to reality. The originality of the aesthetic choice became truly significant in architecture, and Zholtovsky’s radical Palladianism, based not on approximate imitation of the classics, but on the exact quotation of famous villas and palazzo, fully corresponded to the trend.