The History and Future of Theocracy by Vladimir Solovyov: sources, editions, and the manuscript

The article consistently reconstructs the history of the creation and publication of one of the most important and least researched treatises by Vladimir Solovyov—Istorija i Budushhnost’ Teokratii (The History and Future of Theocracy). The first printed version of this treatise was published in Zagreb in 1887. The ideological context in which this work was written is shown. The important point of this context was the polemics between Solovyov and almost all representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, both conservative and liberal, as well as the restrictions imposed on the publication of his works in Russia by the clerical censorship and personally by the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev. The differences and discrepancies between the first edition of this text and the later editions published in three versions of Solovyov’s Collected Works (1904, 1914 and 1966 respectively) are analyzed. The history of the only known manuscript of this treatise, which is currently kept in the Vatican Apostolic Library (Vat. Slav. 64), is presented.