Tolstoy as a Social and Religious Reformer

This paper examines the works of the great Russian writer, philosopher and socio-religious reformer Leo Tolstoy created in the late XIX – early XX centuries. Tolstoy's social philosophy assumed and was based on the religious type of culture as its foundation. The Christian type of personality in its Orthodox sound was fundamental for Tolstoy. Although at the same time, he analyzed and criticized the contemporary Orthodox Church from unorthodox positions for its close connection with the power structures of the Russian Empire. As the historian of Russian philosophy V.V. Zenkovsky wrote at the time, Tolstoy's worldview was inseparable from the Orthodox faith. Tolstoy's teaching, in particular his philosophy of nonviolence, became quite widespread and contributed to the emergence of the socio-religious movement of Tolstoyites in Russia. Tolstoy's ideas were adequately perceived abroad, in particular, this is the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi's non-participation in India of the XX century. Tolstoy's philosophy of nonviolence corresponded both to Tolstoy's rejection of the hierarchical structure of intra-church life and to the traditions of Eastern philosophy with its reliance on the principle of non-doing and nonviolence.

Tolstoy, religious reformer, Tolstoism, philosophy of non-violence, anti-ethatism, Great Russian writer, reformation, creativity, writer, composition