From the Russian Orthodox perspective, the very concept of “individualism,” the fundamental principle of American society, can only truly be reconciled with Christianity to the extent that it refers to “individuals” living in “trinitarian communion” with their neighbors. It is one thing to say “love thy neighbor as thyself” but quite another to actually do it in reality. The requirement is NOT that you “like” your neighbors as “individuals,” it is that you “love them as yourself.”
On the other hand, the downside of “sobornost” is that it lends itself to abuse of the masses by a ruling elite. That is one aspect of the kind of problem that the American Revolution sought to correct with its emphasis on the political rights of the “individual.”
In comparing and contrasting the relative benefits and costs of “sobornost” versus “individualism” for a society in which the majority claim to be sinners struggling to be Christian, I invite my American counterparts to think long and hard about the words of the Lord as recounted in John 4:23-24: “God is spirit and those who worship him can only worship in spirit and in reality (emphasis added).” It is NOT ENOUGH, to pray. You must pray and also BE your prayer and also “love thy neighbor as thyself” in reality. And of course, reality is defined by the social context in which you find yourself.
While Christianity has been practiced in Russia for more than a thousand years, and is now thriving in the post-communist era, in the “adolescent” USA, the prevalence of “Christianity” has, by all accounts, steadily declined since the onset of the “Reagan economic miracle.” Ironically, though, even after this “decline,” a much larger percentage of the population regularly participates in primarily Protestant Christian services in the USA (about 23%), (13) which Orthodox consider to be “watered-down” at best, than regularly participate in the rigorous “sacrament of the assembly” of the Mystical Body of Christ in Russia (about 7%) (14). Even after this “decline,” something like 23% of the American public still regularly attends Protestant services! This is unequivocally positive. The sense of community with other people and their families that this provides and the effort to pray together within the spiritual nightmare of the “Reagan economic miracle” can, in and of itself, be “life giving.” But it is almost completely devoid of effect as “the measure of yeast” that “raises the whole” within the “cult of individualism” that exits under the State Church of Mammon. This is because the Satanic social context of “Reagan economic miracle” society is unresponsive to the “measure of yeast” spiritual phenomenon.
One obvious manifestation of continuing “sobnornost” in Russian society and its contrast with American “individualism” is the complete absence of what Americans call a sense of “personal space.” Of course Russians, like everyone, have a sense of their “presence” which they “project.” But this “projection” is more-or-less limited to the physical contours of their bodies. There is simply no such thing in Russian society as Americans’ sense of “personal space” that can be “invaded.” (Note that this concept of “personal space” is inherently at odds with “loving thy neighbor as thyself,” as I will attempt to explain later.) Russians are accustomed to waiting patiently in lines and moving by mass transit within a crowded stream of pedestrians. The vast majority live in crowded apartment buildings. And even Russians who drive automobiles (about 1 in 3) have not yet passed over into the American motif of “projection” from within their mobile ego isolation chambers.
In contrast with the “cult of invidualism,” the principle of “sobornost” which is (at least for now) still manifest in Russian society ensures that there yet remains, on the collective level, unity in love – you could call it, unity in “the love of the Russian people.” (15) This is the context within which Russian sinners struggling to be Christian are obliged to worship “in spirit and in reality.” To “love thy neighbor as thyself” is much easier in this context because this is already inherent to some degree in “sobornost.” Within this social context, the conscientious efforts of a comparatively small percentage of the population (e.g. 7%) to “love thy neighbor as thyself” directly manifests the “measure of yeast” phenomenon.
Nothing even remotely comparable to “sobornost” exists within the “cult of individualism.” To explain this point, I will invoke the concept of the “superorganism.” By this I mean a generalized organism made up of many other organisms that work together and cannot survive individually. Through the survival of “sobornost,” the “Super-Russian” is still an “organism” that exhibits “spirit.” The “Super-American” is not simply the sum of its “cult of individualism” parts. But whatever it might once have been, it has also been transformed by the “Reagan economic miracle.” The “Super-American” of “Norman Rockwell” days gone by, when the “good economic news” was that “savings are up,” when “individuals” lived in “communion” with their neighbors, when elections were still meaningful and effectively a spiritual ritual of the “church” of “constitutional pluralism” – that was something in which sinners struggling to be Christians could participate in good conscience. But by now the “Super-American” has become something spiritless and, in my view, terrifying. The “Super-American” is now a far cry from being a kind, caring “supra Mom” in which consumers find collective love and a sense of belonging. It is instead a de-humanizing machine, the embodiment of “mechanical capitalism” and its “endlessly rising canon” of consumption (as well as the willful practitioner of lucrative mass murder of foreign people in the defense of “democracy” from its opponents, such as the evil Russians).
I invite my American counterparts to think long and hard about why American consumers are oblivious to the sinister character of the “Super-American.” I respectfully submit that this is the consequence of “cognitive dissonance” whereby the “individual” consumer carries on day by day, confident in their own decency and respect for others. I respectfully submit that American sinners struggling to be Christian have accepted this “cognitive dissonance” primarily because they have been deluded that their “personal relationship with Christ” is all that matters. Woefully short of working for “unity” (i.e., “trinitarian communion”) with their neighbors, they have been deluded into accepting superficial kindness towards other consumers as “loving thy neighbor as thyself.”
Orthodox teaching is that “loving thy neighbor as thyself” in the “sacrament of the assembly” of the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e, in the liturgy of Christ, plays a fundamental role in the process of getting to know who “thyself” exactly is, when body, soul and spirit are unified, free of one’s fallenness. And regular participation in the assembly is the means whereby we are able to remember “thyself” in the ongoing struggle to live in peace and repentance. Not infrequently, the act of “loving thy neighbor as thyself” in reality requires an internal confrontation with and opposition to one’s badness, exactly as we experience in every iteration of the liturgy of Christ.
An interesting contrast with the “Super-American” can be found in Denmark, where I lived for 20 years as a member of a thriving Russian Orthodox parish in Copenhagen. Danes are certainly collectivists and, despite the great majority professing to be atheists, they live (at least for now) a more-or-less de facto Christian lifestyle where they really truly do “love thy (Danish) neighbor as thyself.” The “Super-Dane” is indeed (at least for now) a kind, caring “supra Mom.” Which of these two “did their father’s will” as per the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:31), the atheist Danes or the bible-thumping “cult of individualism” Americans?
Notes:
(13) Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off,” Pew Research Center, February 2025, Communication 202.419.4372 (In english)
(14) “Russians Return to Religion, But Not to Church,” Pew Research Center, February 2014, Communication 202.419.4562
(15) The term “Russian people” applies equally to Ukrainians and Belarussians and the phenomenon of “sobornost” is evident also within a wider group of Orthodox peoples.
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