The significance of Christianity in Russian religious philosophy of the 19th and 20th centuries

This article by Pierre Rosniansky examines the social dimension of Christianity as it was developed by Russian religious philosophy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Proceeding through documented study, the author analyzes the contributions of major thinkers of the diaspora — Bulgakov, Berdyaev, Fedotov, Mother Maria Skobtsova — as well as movements such as "Orthodox Action" and the "New City." The central idea is that Russian Orthodox thought, rooted in the concept of sobornost and confronted with the Marxist challenge, developed a properly theological vision of the social question, irreducible to Western Christian socialism. The article highlights the convergences and divergences with Catholic social doctrine, particularly around the personalism of Maritain and Mounier, underscoring Berdyaev's decisive contribution to this encounter. It thus helps to restore a little-known dimension of Orthodox social theology.