Keywords: culture of empathy, ethnic consciousness, mentality, ethnic stereotypes, moral rules

In this article on the basis of methods and instruments of humanistic ethnology the culture of empathy of Ossetians is studied in the context of dynamics of ethnic consciousness — the dominant resources of the very ethnicity. The traditions of empathy are the significant part of the Ossetians spiritual heritage, the most important consolidating component of the static part of their ethnic consciousness. Humanism and empathic behavior determine in many respects modern ethnic image of this nation.