As the Russian Orthodox Church enters its second millenium, the new ‘openness’ in the Soviet Union has led to sweeping changes in the state's attitude to religion. Among the most recent of these changes has been the tentative reintroduction of religious education on an experimental basis in a limited number of Russian schools. Very little information is as yet available, but the following is an attempt to put together some pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, based partly on private (and often contradictory) conversations the author had in Moscow in July 1991. At the time of going to press, it seems likely that many of the religious reforms associated with glasnost and perestroika will be retained as the republics seek to break away from central control