Abstract

This paper investigates man's feeling of law, i. e. the perception of law, the comprehension of law and its influence on human activity, in the countries that have historically belonged to the Orthodox tradition. Consciousness of law is based, firstly, upon a concept of law, and, secondly upon a certain attitude to law, i.e. the place of this concept in everyday life and human activity. The paper treats those elements of the Orthodox outlook that constituted certain inherent mechanisms of culture, and thus greatly influenced the process of formation of the feeling of law in the countries of the Orthodox culture. These elements include interaction of the Orthodox Church and the State, then the problem of the meaning of life according to the Orthodox doctrine, and finally the way personality is perceived and treated in the Orthodox outlook. The paper also considers particular features of the Orthodox outlook as they were exposed in the course of the cultural history of Orthodox countries.