The paper identifies the major features of the autocratic form of government, a concept which was developed by the Slavophiles as a model of their political ideal. These features include: national character of power, unlimited legal power of monarch, the mutual non-interference of the people into government activity and of the state in inner spiritual life of the people, the lack of bureaucracy as an intermediary between the state and society, the moral image of the ruler.

Key words: Slavophilism, form of the state, autocracy, Russian philosophy, Russian consciousness.