The Catechonic Concept of the State in the Russian Political and Legal Discourse

Relevance. In critical epochs, there is always an increasing interest in the topics of metaphysical comprehension of being and not only of an individual, but also of the political form of social structure – the state. One of the littlestudied in legal science is the Christian catechonic theory of the state as a force that keeps the world from universal evil and the coming of the Antichrist. And not any state, but one chosen by God. In the Russian conservative discourse, Russia was considered such a state, as the successor of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire.
Purpose: to study the genesis of the catechonic theory of the state in the Russian political and legal doctrine.
Objectives: to study the evolution of the theory of "catechon", its analysis in the modern political and legal discourse and comprehension of practical relevance at the present stage.
Methodology. The article uses a complex of general scientific and special legal research methods. The historical-legal and partly interdisciplinary nature of the article determined the importance of using the transcendental method, the method of theoretical and legal interpretation of legal ideas and legal hermeneutics.
The results of the study are of a political and legal nature and include practical proposals for improving the national statehood, in particular: the construction of power relations on a Christian-conceptual basis, where the government and the people are connected by a system of common spiritual and moral values; the development of the state in a complex form - a spiritual and political empire, heterogeneous ethnically, economically, politically, but with a single the center of government; recognition of the unity and indivisibility of state power, designed to serve, the realization of spiritual and moral ideals.
Conclusions. The study of the genesis of the catechonic concept of the state showed that the domestic conservative political and legal doctrine proceeded from the mission mission of Russia as a superstate (spiritual and political empire), designed to keep the world from the reign of the Antichrist. Currently, this idea is actively spreading in political discourse.

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