Marian Zdziechowski (1861–1938) was a Polish thinker deeply but critically engaged in Russian religious philosophy. Born in Belarus, he studied literature in Russia, and taught philosophy in Krakow and Vilnius. On the one hand, although he belonged to one of the nations oppressed by Imperial Russia, he was interested in Russian culture and recognized its remarkable Christian value. He met Soloviev, was in touch with Tolstoi, and was a friend of the Trubetskoi brothers. In Poland, he was even ironically called the only Russian religious philosopher writing in Polish. On the other hand, however, Zdziechowski clearly saw that the sublime ideals of Russian religious philosophy often served Russian nationalism and imperialism. In his works, he described regrettable degeneration of Russian Slavophilism. He was honest enough to see that the Christian ideas were actually politically instrumentalized to justify evil.

Zdziechowski’s attitude seems to be of great importance today. In the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, we are encountering the same dilemmas regarding Russian culture. In 2023, therefore, we decided to focus on the heritage of Marian Zdziechowski. We propose to investigate his fundamental works on Russian religious philosophy, especially on Slavophilism and Russian communism, and his complicated relationships with Russian thinkers, in particular with the Trubetskoi brothers. Most importantly, we would like to continue some of the topics he was concerned with, such as the transformations of Slavophile ideas, the similarities between Polish and Russian messianism, and finally the problem of evil in Russian thought. We also invite scholars investigating Zdziechowski’s possible influences on Polish and Russian culture. After all, Czesław Miłosz, his former student in Vilnius, openly admitted his intellectual and spiritual impact.