The Formation of Cultural Identity of Russia and the West in the Context of Transformation of Forms of Ancient Christian Synthesis

The focus of this paper is on two variants of trans-formation of forms of ancient Christian synthesis – Western, European and Eastern, represented by the Russian Orthodox civilization. Christianity is the “core” of both European and Russian cultures, which is why this issue is so important and relevant. The author considers the concept of A.F. Losev in which two modifications of Platonism – varlaamism and palamism – are identified as key forms of an-cient Christian synthesis, and examines the influ-ence of the concepts of Barlaam of Calabria and Gregory Palamas on the formation of the identity of European and Russian cultures. Also, in the context of this topic, the study by A.G. Glinchikova, who singles out the theories of Augustine Aurelius and Dionysius the Areopagite as the dominant forms of the ancient Christian synthesis, is analyzed. On the whole, the work reflects the key reference points of the above theories that influence the formation of the cultural identity of Russia and the West.