The Principle of All-Unity in the Religious and Philosophical Views of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Vladimir Solovyov (1870s−1880s)

The article examines the religious-philosophical views and intellectual intersections of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Vladimir Solovyov during the 1870s–1880s, a pivotal decade for their creative and ideological quests. Drawing on the novels “The Adolescent,” “Anna Karenina,” and “The Brothers Karamazov,” as well as publicistic writings and philosophical treatises, the study identifies parallels and divergences in the thinkers’ understanding of central issues: the crisis of contemporary Christianity, the search for a positive moral ideal, the ontology of active love, and personal immortality as the foundation of universal human unity. Special attention is given to the role of personal contacts and mutual influences (Dostoevsky and Solovyov’s pilgrimage to the Optina Pustyn monastery, Tolstoy’s reading of Solovyov’s works), as well as to the significance of Nikolai Fyodorov’s ideas concerning the “common task” of resurrection. The author concludes that, despite differences in their perception of Christ’s figure and the form of resurrection, all three thinkers agreed that Christian faith must be imbued with new content capable of uniting people through active love. Dostoevsky, Solovyov, and Tolstoy considered the aspiration for collective resurrection and faith in the immortality of the human soul to be the paramount needs of the modern individual.