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The influence of the Byzantine tradition on the formation of the political views of classical Eurasians

Churochkina L.A. ,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, milkin.choo@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 1216532 | ORCID: 0009-0006-4786-0309 |

Article received: 2025.12.03 22:29. Accepted: 2026.01.16 22:29


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2026.02.09
EDN: HDKCKV

Rubric: Theory and methodology of political studies

For citation:

Churochkina L.A. The influence of the Byzantine tradition on the formation of the political views of classical Eurasians. – Polis. Political Studies. 2026. No. 2. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2026.02.09. EDN: HDKCKV (In Russ.)

Abstract

The article examines the influence of the Byzantine political tradition on the formation of state views of classic Eurasianists. The paper analyzes how the concept of the “symphony of powers”, formulated in the Byzantine Empire, was transformed into the Eurasian doctrine of the state as an organic unity. The methodological basis of the research is an interdisciplinary approach combining methods of political philosophy, history of political doctrines, cultural studies, and hermeneutics. The author conducts a detailed analysis of the creative reinterpretation by Eurasianists of the Byzantine model of church-state relations in the context of the multinational and multi-confessional Eurasian space. The evolution of the idea of the sacred nature of state power is traced from Byzantine religious legitimation to the Eurasian concept of the “governing idea” as the metaphysical foundation of statehood. Special attention is paid to the study of the anti-Western orientation of Eurasian political philosophy, which has deep historical roots in the Byzantine tradition of civilizational confrontation with the Latin West. The article reveals the fundamental political antinomy of “organic versus mechanistic” in Eurasian understanding of statehood, going back to the Byzantine distinction between formal and substantial understanding of power. The study demonstrates that Eurasianists selectively appropriated and reinterpreted the Byzantine heritage, focusing on those elements that corresponded to their concept of Eurasian unity. The results of the work provide a new perspective on the genesis of Eurasian political philosophy, revealing its deep connections with the Byzantine political tradition. In the modern context, the reinterpretation of the Byzantine heritage in Eurasian political philosophy has gained renewed relevance in connection with the search for alternatives to Western models of statehood.

Keywords

Eurasianism, Byzantine tradition, symphony of powers, ideocratic state, anti-Westernism, political antinomy, state of truth, civilizational identity, organic unity.

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