№ 2 - 2008
Schmidt W.V.
Interpretation of the Personality of Patriarch Nikon in Russia and Abroad (J. Billington’s Research “The Icon and the Axe” as Example)

The heritage of the Orthodox Greco-Oriental civilization and of the Slavo-Russ one as its integral part attracts attention of representatives of other civilizations in the aspects of opposition and antagonism. States, in order to preserve their ethno-national-cultural identity under the conditions of the processes of globalization and liberalization growing ever more intensified, are compelled to offer adequate answers, the basic elements of which are historical experience and socio-cultural archetypes. Such basic element in the Slavo-Russ picture of the world is presented by the 17th century and by the figure of Patriarch Nikon.