Interests of community in the Russian culture always stand above personal interests, and therefore

personal plans, purposes and interests are so easily suppressed. In return the Russian person counts on
“the world” to support him/her when one has to face adversities, the rubs and worries of life. So it
comes to a sort of joint responsibility. As a result the Russian person can comply with putting aside one’s
private matters for the sake of a common goal, which may not be even giving one immediate benefit. It
is based on an almost subconscious belief that conditions of the social unity are more important than
personal things and thus should be worked on and treated first, and then this common wellbeing will
start working to the advantage of the person. Russian people are conciliar-minded and can exist along
with society only. A person arranges it and sets the society up, and is rewarded by its warmth, attention
and support. To become a personality, the Russian individual is to become a conciliar personality.

The habit of emergent mass activity (like in harvesting campaign) was brought up by the same absence
of individual freedom. Hard work and festive spirit were oddly combined here. Probably, the festive
atmosphere was a peculiar compensation that made it easier to handle hard work and give up personal
freedom in economic activity.

The wealth could not become a value under the condition of domineering of the idea of equality and
justice. No wonder that the well-known Russian proverb says: honour and profit lie not in one sack.
Striving for capitalizing was considered as a sin. Thus, in the Russian northern village they respected the
dealers who were artificially putting brakes on trading volume.

Labour as such was neither a value of crucial importance in Russia (as compared to Protestant countries,
for example). Certainly, work was never rejected and its usefulness just could not be overlooked, but it
was not considered the means that automatically provided implementation of a person’s mission.
Therefore work takes a subordinated place in the system of Russian values: "The work will still be there".

Way of life not geared to work gave the freedom of spirit (partly illusory, though) to the Russian person.
It always stimulated human creativity. It could not be expressed in constant laborious work aimed at
wealth accumulation, but was easily transformed to eccentricity or surprising inventions (such as wings,
a wooden bicycle, a perpetual motion machine and so forth), i.e. the actions which did not make much
sense for economy. On the contrary, economy was often subordinated to this inventive idea.

The respect of the community could not be deserved by simply becoming rich. It was only a feat,
sacrificing oneself for the sake of common good that could bring glory.
Patience and suffering for the sake of community (but not personal heroism) is another value of the
Russian culture. In other words, the purpose of a feat could not be personal: it always had to be beyond
the person. Well-known is the Russian proverb: “God suffered and to us ordered”. It is not a coincidence
that the first canonized Russians princes Boris and Gleb became saints; they became martyrs but did not
resist their brother, prince Svyatopolk who wanted to kill them. Dying for the Homeland brought
undying glory to the hero. Interestingly, medals in imperial Russia bore inscriptions: “Not to us, not to
us, but to Thy name”.

Patience and suffering are the major basic values for the Russian person. They stand along with
consecutive abstention, self-restriction, and continuous sacrifice in favor of other people. Without it
there is no person, and there is neither status nor respect of people around. Hence is the Russian
persons’ age long inclination to suffer — that comes from the desire of self-actualization, attaining inner
freedom necessary for bonifying and cultivating kindness. After all, the world exists and moves on with
the help of sacrificing, patience, and self-restriction. Here lies the secret of forbearance peculiar to the
Russian person, who can bear a lot (especially material challenges) if one knows, why it is needed.

Values of the Russian culture constantly indicate its tendency to some higher, transcendental sense.
There is nothing more exciting for the Russian person than search of this higher meaning. For the sake of
it some individuals can even leave home and family and become hermits or God’s fools, who were
esteemed in Russia.

Russian culture as a whole finds such sense in the Russian idea, to implementation of which the Russian
person directs one’s way of life. Therefore researchers speak about traits of religious fundamentalism
inherent in consciousness of the Russians. The idea could be changing (the idea of Moscow as the third
Rome, the imperial, communistic, Euroasian ideas, etc.), but its place in the value-belief structure
remained invariable. The crisis Russia is enduring nowadays is in many respects related to the fact that
the people have lost the idea uniting them, and it is not clear for the sake of which we have to suffer and
be patient. Thus, finding a new fundamental idea would be an efficient way for Russia to overcome the
crisis.

The values listed above are inconsistent. Therefore the Russian person could be a man of courage in the
battlefield and at the same time a coward in civil life, could be personally devoted to the sovereign and
at the same time plunder imperial treasury (like Prince Menshikov did during the reign of Peter the
First), or could even leave the house behind and go to war to release the Balkan Slavs. High patriotism
and mercy were manifested as sacrifice or benefaction (but it quite could as well turn into positive
harm). So these peculiarities, obviously, made all researchers speak about the “mysterious Russian
soul”, greatheartedness, broadness of the Russian character, and that “it is impossible to grasp Russia
with the reasoning mind”.