The book is the first detailed study of the life and work of the outstanding Russian writer, historian, publicist, philosopher and theologian Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (1804-1860). The biography of the remarkable figure of Russian culture is considered in the broad context of his era; among his contemporaries - friends and interlocutors - many of the most interesting personalities of Russia of the last century: Pushkin, Yazykov, Chaadaev, Aksakov, Kireevsky, Samarin, Valuev...