Two verticals: the formula of love in Soviet atheism and in Orthodox Christianity (historical, philosophical and worldview aspects)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51216/2687-072X_2026_2_14-50Keywords:
fundamental question of philosophy, atheism, Orthodoxy, Carnal love, Christian marriage, religious thinking, secular consciousnessAbstract
The worldview of a person in the Soviet era, not in the propaganda sense, but in the true sense of the word, can be called vertically oriented, as opposed to modern, horizontal liberal-democratic (in socio-political terms) and postmodernist (in philosophical terms) notions of the world and human existence. The vertical presupposes a certain ideal height, toward which objects, phenomena, events, actions, and thoughts are evaluated within a system of coordinates of “lower-higher,” “worse-better”, while the horizontal precludes any upward movement, evaluating everything within the paradigm of “this-other (different)-equally acceptable,” so long as it does not contradict the accepted and current legislation in public life. The Christian Orthodox worldview, forcibly displaced in the history of Russian society after the 1917-1921 revolution, is also vertical.
Marxist materialism and Christian theism are seemingly irreconcilable ideological opposites, yet they are united by their vertical orientation, which constitutes both the paradox and tragedy of Soviet atheism. The opposition of these two verticals and their constant ideological “roll call” find expression in various works of Soviet artistic culture.
One manifestation of the interaction and intersection of these two incompatible verticals is their extraordinary and surprising agreement on the eternal theme of love between the sexes, the search for one’s “other half,” marriage, and family life. In this case, the semantic vectors of Soviet communism and Orthodox Christianity are paradoxically unidirectional and together oppose modern “progressive” liberal-democratic, tolerant-relativistic, gender-neutral notions of gender relations.
For citation: Gusev D. A. Two verticals: the formula of love in Soviet atheism and in Orthodox Christianity (historical, philosophical and worldview aspects) // Theological Collection of Tambov Theological Seminary 2026, no. 2 (35), pp. 14-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.51216/2687-072X_2026_2_14-50. EDN: SFCXRD
Received 17 March 2026.
Accepted for press 30 April 2026.
Funding: This study did not receive external funding.
Conflict of interest: The author declares no conflicts of interest.
The content is available under a license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
ISSN 2687-072Х
RSCI: SPIN-код: 5613-1270, AuthorID: 677741
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