“Trinity” Consciousness in Russian Worldview

Abstract

Each nation has not only unique history, but also its own system of the worldview, which takes shape during its formation and is fixed by culture. The purpose of the present article is to show one of the foundations of Russian worldview: the “trinity” consciousness that goes back to the spiritual heritage of Sergius of Radonezh. The article examines the manifestations of this consciousness in the spiritual and secular aspirations of its bearers: unity, brotherhood, salvation of the whole world, communion with nature and the union of everyone and everything in the movement towards the Transfiguration. The authors make the assumption that these manifestations were fundamental for the formation of Russian worldview over the centuries. Despite the many layers, the influence of the “trinity” consciousness is obvious also today, even though the connection with the religious forms in which they arose and were assimilated is lost. In this aspect, we can assume that there exist deep spiritual foundations of Russian civilization.