God-Guided Contract and Scriptural Sovereignty

The Muscovite Perspective of Pravda voli monarshej v opredelenii naslednika derzhavy svoej

Abstract

The study intends to examine the two related concepts of contract and sovereignty which (practically unknown in Muscovite Russia) are commonly referred to as proofs of dominance of western concepts in PVM. By examining these concepts in the text I try to point out the Muscovite legacy of the argumentation. I claim that the contract of government between the people and the ruler contains the Muscovite idea of God acting through the people ("the will of the people is the will of God" — the crucial premise legitimating succession both in 1598 and 1613 in official documents) while the concept of sovereignty is predominantly justified by traditional references to the Bible and not so much by arguments taken from western political theory.