The Grandeur of Autocratic Power

Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (1827—1907), the chief procurator of the Holy Synod, was one of the most significant figures in the political and public life of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. He was reverenced, blessed, exalted, and just as passionately hated. Some saw in him the angel-savior of Russia, others — its evil genius. Pobedonostsev was given a rare fate for a man — to become a symbol of an entire era of his country, those truly fateful decades that determined the fate of Russia for the entire subsequent century: the era of Emperor Alexander III and the first half of the reign of Nicholas II. A firm and unwavering defender of the unbreakable union of autocracy and the Church, a brilliant publicist, a subtle polemicist, a man endowed with remarkable charisma, will, and great persuasive power — such was K. P. Pobedonostsev. He left nothing to chance, keeping everything under his vigilant attention, to the extent that he personally monitored the repertory of theaters, exhibitions, the work of libraries, and public reading rooms. Pobedonostsev considered himself personally responsible for the Russian Empire, and the country — his own possession. The intellectual legacy of K. P. Pobedonostsev is truly enormous. His brightest works, some of which modern readers will encounter for the first time, make up this gift edition. The book is accompanied by rich illustrative material — it will documentarily reveal the represented era not only in the words of its main actors but also in visible, often forever lost images.