The affiliation of M.N. Katkov with one of the schools of thought was the subject of discussion even inter vivos of the publicist. Both Slavophiles and the majority of the memorialists (even A.V. Bogdanovich closely acquainted with Katkov) considered the editor-in-chief of “Moscow Vedomosti” an opportunist. That was only partially true as Katkov was rather a politician of the new type combining political opportunism with the obsession with his theoretical conception namely creating Russian political nation in the forming of which ethnicity and religion played no significant role. Katkov's views on some of the principal confessional issues of his time (Russification of Catholicism, Greco-Bulgarian schism) as well as some of his comments, testify to the fact that he can't be ranked among the supporters of political subjectivity of the Orthodox Church.