Институциональные практики социального служения Русской православной церкви и российская система социальной работы

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the institutional practices of the social service of the Russian Orthodox Church. The mechanisms of interaction between the Church and state social structures, the experience of social work in Russia at the state level are explored, the features of church social service are described. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research are the principles of sociological approach, system analysis, structural and functional analysis. System analysis allows us to consider the phenomenon of church social service in the complex of interrelationships between such social institutions of society as the state and the Church. The methodology of study the problem is presented in theories of institutionalization (G. Spencer) and neoinstitutionalization (D. North), and the sphere-institutional approach D. Havre. Methodological pluralism in the research of the problem of the institutionalization of social service in modern Russia is due to its societal and multifaceted nature. The author concludes that social service in content is a non-religious, uncultured activity for secular society and the state. At the same time, this activity has a cult significance, for religious communities, of course, since it is aimed at achieving sacred goals. Church social service is the noble service of love, its active multiplication, diakonia, and not the creation of structures that duplicate existing state ones. This social activity has a significant and beneficial effect on the development of Russian society.