Seeing Double: Prokopovych and Hobbes

• In Event: Orthodox Enlightenments

Abstract

The social contract theory of the state played a key role in the emergence of modern empires in Enlightenment Europe. A crucial component of that theory entailed the relationship between the spiritual and secular powers. Feofan Prokopovych, the ideological godfather of Russia's Empire, appears to have adopted Thomas Hobbes' famous warning against "seeing double" - that is, seeing the ecclesiastical and secular hierarchies as equal authorities. This principle influenced his synodal reform as well as the conceptualization of the Petrine imperium. While no evidence links Prokopovych to Hobbes directly, this paper will examine the possible influence of the Hobbesian political theology on the Ukrainian archbishop. It will also explore the wider currency of similar notions adopted by Enlightenment intellectuals with whom HE actively engaged such as Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf and Johann Franz Buddeus.

Author

• Andrey Ivanov, U of Wisconsin-Platteville