The article offers a comprehensive analysis of the “Russian idea” phenomenon as a fundamental category of the Russian national apperception. The article seeks to propose a more specific definition of this concept going beyond the narrowly ethnic approach and treating it as a universal civilizational project. It explores both the sources of this universalism rooted in the Orthodoxy, and the unique features of Russian patriotism and the concept of a “god-bearing” people. The article identifies two interpretations of the Russian idea: a broad one that views it as an “ethnic keynote” and a system of cultural archetypes, and a narrow one that is the fruit of the conceptualizing endeavors of the leading Russian religious and philosophical thinkers. Particular emphasis is placed on the continuity of this line of thought in the 20th century, especially in the works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The research concludes with demonstrating the relevance of the Russian idea in the early 21st century as a “philosophy of the future” that defines Russia’s choice of its historical path as a unique civilization in its own right.