Deconstruction of the myth of the “russian world” doctrine about Orthodoxy as the basis of Russian identity

Abstract

The article analyzes the basic ideology of the “Russian Peace” doctrine: the myth that “Orthodoxy is the basis of Russian identity.” The existence of this ideologeme in the informational and symbolic field of Ukraine and the whole world, its manipulation, and its inclusion in the current context of the Ukrainian cultural space lead to a distorted perception of relations between Russia and Ukraine, the existing war between them. The article attempts to reveal those distortions and semantic substitutions that are ontologically contained in many ideologemes of the “Russian world” and which can be analyzed as typical errors in the context of the argumentation theory. Such research aims to develop a conditional “dictionary” for the mythologist of the “Russian world,” which could be used during the conduct of a thorough information confrontation. The author chose the myth “Orthodoxy is the basis of Russian identity” as the basic ideologeme because most other ideologues are derived from this thesis with the help of skillful semantic manipulations. Secondly, this myth is interpreted and used by Russian ideologues in incredibly diverse ways and in various contexts. Based on the analysis of this myth, the author concludes that the ideology of the “Russian measure” by definition does not meet the criteria of clarity, clarity, and unequivocalness; the meanings of its key concepts are as variable as possible, depend on the context, are used interchangeably in general formulations where clarification of the non-standard use of the term is not foreseen; there is a change of identities, which makes it possible to manipulate historical facts and people’s memory. Russian ideologues constantly use such logical errors in their argumentative practices. In the process of revealing the illogicality and paradox of the mentioned myth, it turns out that the very essence of this mythologem significantly contributes to the unfolding of the crisis of Russian culture and politics, which is spoken about by the same ideologues who praise the messianic role of Russia.