Orthodox Church Research Articles

Mediums, Media, and Mediated “Post”-Truth: Baba Vanga in the Russian Imagination

Abstract It is impossible to understand the phenomenon of disinformation without unraveling the more perplexing notion of “truth.” This article explores how a Bulgarian psychic or prophet named Baba Vanga (1911–1996) became one of the most noteworthy mediums of “truth” in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russian imagination. With Bulgarian-Russian transnational ties as context, we trace how belief in Baba Vanga’s abilities and prophecies was propagated by witnesses via word-of-mouth, newspaper articles, books, TV programming, and the internet. We periodize the ways Vanga secured a place in Russian “truth worlds,” drawing upon both science and religion or a conglomeration of both. We look deeper into the origins and more recent circulation of a purported Vanga prophecy from 1979: namely, that Russia would rise to be the ruler of the world. The dissemination of this message, we argue, is not a Russian state plot to bolster aspirations in Ukraine and its standoff with the West. Instead it has been transmitted in far more fragmented and mediated ways and even countered by the Russian Orthodox Church. A deeper pondering of these mediations of Baba Vanga can help us better understand what we call the “post”-truth world, in which truth is crafted by online “posts.” In contrast to the notion of “post-truth” that posits a dearth of truth, our concept of “post”-truth recognizes that truth is not just in unprecedented excess today but is built through a complex and participatory bricolage that uses science and religion to build shared realities as never before in history.

Positive Influence: Negotiating a Church Historiographical Canon with the West

The present article discusses the way in which the historiographical canon on the history of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches in Transylvania during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was reconceptualized during and in the aftermath of the academic visit of Western specialists in Romania. Keith Hitchins’s visit to Romania in the early 1970s to undertake research in the church archives for his work on the history of the Romanian intelligentsia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire made an impact on how the history of the Greek Catholic Church was portrayed in the religious journals of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The subtle shifts in the canon included distinguishing the Greek Catholics from the Orthodox in Transylvania and reintroducing the Greek Catholic interwar historiography into the interpretation.

Историческая значимость деятельности Иоанна Каподистрии в решении греческого вопроса в первой половине XIX века

The article examines the activities of Ioannis Kapodistrias as an eminent politician and diplomat in the history of Russia and Greece. It analyzes Kapodistrias’ contributions to the national liberation struggle of the Greek people for independence from Ottoman domination. The role of Russia in facilitating Greece’s path to independence is highlighted, alongside an exploration of the leaders of the Greek national liberation movement. The significance of Orthodox faith, indigenous traditions, and culture for the Greek people is also addressed. The research underscores the pivotal role of Ioannis Kapodistrias in fostering relations between the peoples of Greece and Russia, grounded in their shared Orthodox faith and the institution of the Orthodox Church. An examination of archival data, scholarly works, historical literature, and the statements of high-ranking officials from the Russian Federation provides essential groundwork for further study of the personality of Ioannis Kapodistrias, as well as the application of his experiences and insights in the modern geopolitical conjuncture.

Race, Interests, and Perceptions in International Migration: A Review Article

Abstract The field of international migration has largely ignored race. Does the Global North's apparent warm welcome of mostly white Ukrainian Orthodox Christians fleeing Russia's war and its hostility towards black and brown non-Christan Middle Easterners and Africans escaping war and deprivation tell us anything? Although latecomers to the study of international migration, since the 1990s, political scientists have innovated the field of the politics of international migration but few works locate race as a focal point of analysis in either migration politics or international relations. The study of race in international migration in international relations is still rather nascent and centers on the Western world with a focus on how racial differences influence perception of threat, common identities, and even standards of good governance. Andrew Rosenberg's book Undesirable Immigrants: Why Racism Persists in International Migration offers a corrective to much of this in his examination of race and international migration from the perspective of international relations. It builds on the work of many critical and traditional scholars with a novel quantitative approach that “seeks to unmask” the issue of racial bias against “non-white migrants” primarily from the Global South. (11)

Approaches of the Greek Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to the National and Confessional Issues at the Beginning of the 20th Century

The article examines the approaches of the Greek Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to the national and confessional issues at the beginning of the 20th century. Sheptytsky’s views are placed in the context of the views of his contemporaries, both collaborators and figures who had a different national and/or confessional option. Identified through the analysis of the texts of Metropolitan Andrey set of his views on the Christian world and its constituent confessions (Catholics of various rites, Orthodox, especially Russian Orthodox and Old Believers, Protestants) is presented. Certain features of Christian universalism in Sheptytsky’s interpretation are revealed, including the concept of «Christian people» as one of the occurrences of the Christian world at the national level. A conclusion about the most important priority in the activities of Metropolitan Andrey is drawn. It is concluded that the most important priority in the activities of Metropolitan Andrey was the desire to unite all Christians. He had an idea of how this process might develop. The main role was assigned to the Russian Orthodox Church, which, in his opinion, should have realized its unity with the Catholic Church.

Building a New Ideology in the conditions of a Transitional State-Legal System (the Case Study of the Russian Republic in February — October 1917)

The paper presents the author’s point of view regarding the spiritual sphere of Russian society, changes in which were caused by the crisis resulting from the revolutionary events of February 1917, and the related experience of building a new ideology in the conditions of the transitional state law system in the Russian state in March-October 1917. The author, based on the study of a wide range of sources, critically analyzed this experience and made a number of conclusions: such construction in the conditions of permanent spiritual crisis was difficult and it was conditioned by a set of factors, namely, political, socio-economic, cultural-religious, etc. The author’s analysis of this experience was based on the study of a wide range of sources. The state of a state law anomie, that can rightly be considered one of the characteristic features of the transitional state-legal system, was the result of a deep spiritual, religious, ideological, cultural conflict that emerged, starting from the first days of the formation of the «new» Russian state, and the resulting spiritual vacuum and situation of ideological and religious uncertainty. The changing position of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the new bourgeois government and its reformist plans due to the political situation also contributed to the deepening of the spiritual crisis in Russian post-revolutionary society. The emphatically indifferent position of the Russian clergy towards the Provisional Government once again emphasized the unpopularity of its decisions in the eyes of society, deprived its projects of ideological support. Thus, this contributed to the loss of the government’s authority among the population. Under such conditions, all attempts of the central government to form a new post-revolutionary bourgeois-republican ideology were unsuccessful.

To the issue of identifying multi-temporal complexes in urban cultural layer (based on excavations of Sophia-Uspensky Cathedral, Tobolsk Kremlin)

The paper describes archaeological complexes identified among materials of the excavations inside Sophia-Uspensky Cathedral in Tobolsk Kremlin. The archaeological works were imposed on the cape. The cape hosted the town, the Kremlin and, later, the residency of the highly placed clergyman. History of these processes is kept as records. It helps compare the processes with archaeological materials and distinguish multi-temporal complexes among them. The excavations revealed traces of an ancient settlement. The settlement dated back to the early Iron Age – early Middle Ages and had existed long before the town was established. The research apparently identifies the cultural layer dated the late 1500s – middle 1600s. This layer refers to the activities of the first Russian settlers in Siberia. The same period applies to discovered burials of the Orthodox Christian cemetery by the wooden Church of Our Savior. The researchers especially highlight layerings and objects from the construction of brick Sophia-Uspensky Cathedral (late 1600s). They reflect the beginning of stone construction in Siberia. In the excavations, the researchers discovered several brick tombs. These tombs were made for burying highly placed clergymen known by their names. The findings and multi-temporal complexes allow to describe main phases of Troitsky cape development. They also show how the status of this territory changed. The archaeological materials are a valuable source of information about the material culture, funeral rites, stone architecture of both the town and the whole vast Siberian region.

Նիկիայի Բ Տիեզերաժողովի (787 թ․) կանոնները. Միջնադարյան հայերեն թարգմանությունը՝ հունարեն բնագրի հետ զուգորդմամբ

The Second Council of Nicaea, which was held in 787 and recognized by the Orthodox Churches that followed the Byzantine tradition and the Western Church (the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches separated from it) as the Seventh "Ecumenical Council", is of great significance to the history of the church, not only in terms of the study of the dispute over the treatment of images but also from the point of view of the study of issues of canon law and church administration. The 22 canons promulgated by the Council were strictly administrative and prescriptive in nature compared to the canons of previously held Councils. Most likely, this was connected with the desire to restore the ecclesiastical order shaken by the disputes over the images and after them. Therefore, the respective study of the canons of the Second Council of Nicaea seems important, first of all, from the point of view of canon law. This study aims to publish an Armenian translation of the canons of the Council of Nicaea of 787, most probably made in the 13th–14th centuries, along with the Greek original. Such research is relevant not only as a disclosure of the previously unpublished original Armenian text of the canons, but also in the context of clarifying various canonical-legal and administrative concepts of the church and the study of church Councils.

Реализация взаимного страхования «от огня» строений духовного ведомства в России в 1910–1917 годы (по материалам Усть-Сысольского уезда Вологодской губернии)

The paper deals with the study of the pre-revolutionary experience of mutual insurance against fires of real estate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Based on financial and office documents of the Ust-Sysolsk Uyezd of the Vologda province, the process of practical implementation of insurance of buildings of the ecclesiastical department on the principles of reciprocity is recreated. The regulatory framework for mutual insurance was based on the legislative act of 1904, but the insurance assessment of buildings was carried out only in 1910. Information is provided on the structure of insurance documents, cases of fires and payments for damage “from fire” from sources deposited in the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive. By January 1, 1911, diocesan buildings in the Russian Empire were insured for over 800 million rubles, in the Ust-Sysolsk Uyezd – for over 859 thousand rubles. Information on the number of insured buildings and their insurance assessment, the amount of annual premiums and compensations for insurance cases in the Ust-Sysolsk Uyezd is systematized. The analyzed materials made it possible to correlate insurance premiums and insurance business costs, to access both the negative aspects and the benefits of mutual insurance for policyholders. The author comes to the conclusion that the practices of mutual real estate insurance, organized by the Holy Synod, demonstrate valuable experience in finding solutions to eliminate material damage “from fire”, when fire losses were compensated through small contributions. Insurance on the principles of rerciprocity was most important for regional parishes, that did not have large incomes and were often unable to independantly restore destroyed buildings. Due to compensations, it was possible to repair and restore many buildings of the ecclesiastical department. Despite bureaucratic, travel, and clerical expenses for insurance business, the remaining funds allowed to form a “reserve capital”, that performed the function of a reserve fund.

The Stance of the Orthodox Church of Georgia on the Great Christian Union

The Stance of the Orthodox Church of Georgia on the Great Christian Union

RUSSIA’S HYBRID WARFARE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND PROXY ACTORS

This paper examines Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics against the Western Balkans, focusing on using direct and indirect methods to exert influence in the region. The study delves into Russia’s strategic use of media manipulation, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns, alongside its employment of proxy state and non-state actors such as Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Leveraging historical, cultural, and religious ties, Russia seeks to destabilize the Western Balkans and prevent closer integration with NATO and the European Union. Special attention is given to the geopolitics of elections, where Russia manipulates electoral processes in countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia to favour pro-Russian or anti-Western political forces. By analyzing key case studies, this paper explores how Russian hybrid warfare exploits regional vulnerabilities—such as ethnic divisions and weak political institutions—while employing tactics of soft power and military cooperation. The findings indicate that Russia’s hybrid warfare, including electoral manipulation, poses a significant threat to regional stability and international security, underscoring the need for strengthened Western engagement to counter Russian influence. This study offers critical insights into the evolving nature of hybrid warfare and its implications for the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Europe.

RUSSIA’S HYBRID WARFARE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND PROXY ACTORS

This paper examines Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics against the Western Balkans, focusing on using direct and indirect methods to exert influence in the region. The study delves into Russia’s strategic use of media manipulation, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns, alongside its employment of proxy state and non-state actors such as Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Leveraging historical, cultural, and religious ties, Russia seeks to destabilize the Western Balkans and prevent closer integration with NATO and the European Union. Special attention is given to the geopolitics of elections, where Russia manipulates electoral processes in countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia to favour pro-Russian or anti-Western political forces. By analyzing key case studies, this paper explores how Russian hybrid warfare exploits regional vulnerabilities—such as ethnic divisions and weak political institutions—while employing tactics of soft power and military cooperation. The findings indicate that Russia’s hybrid warfare, including electoral manipulation, poses a significant threat to regional stability and international security, underscoring the need for strengthened Western engagement to counter Russian influence. This study offers critical insights into the evolving nature of hybrid warfare and its implications for the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Europe.

Travelling religion: dynamic processes of Orthodox religious education in Germany

ABSTRACT The Orthodox Church in Germany is characterised by its diaspora situation. Most of the Orthodox Christians are related with at least one other country from Eastern, South-Eastern Europe or the Middle East. This constellation has an impact on Orthodox religious education historically as well as in terms of structure and religious pedagogics. Beyond national backgrounds the curricula consider cultural diversity and a formation of an Eastern identity of a Western Orthodoxy in a fruitful dialogue with the concrete local surrounding. At the same time, it corresponds to the religious education models prescribed by the German federal states, which includes denominational religious education and expectantly forms of denominational cooperation. Orthodox religious education in Germany is characterised by a dynamic process that aims to the Orthodox identity, the contextual surroundings and current challenges.

THE CHURCH HIERARCHY REACTION TO THE CAPTURE OF KAZAN (BASED ON HISTORICAL SOURCES)

Based on the historical literary monuments about the capture of Kazan and the letters of Metropolitan Macarius, the paper analyses the role of the Orthodox Church during the conquest of Kazan. The Church hierarchy, represented by Metropolitan Macarius, expressed support for the military campaign of Tsar Ivan. The Church blessed the Tsar and the army for the battle, prayed for victory, positioning itself as a moral authority. The article shows that the analysis of sources does not provide any reasons for assertions about the significant influence of Church representatives on Tsar Ivan in terms of his foreign policy decisions, in particular on the issue of the campaign against Kazan. The Church participation was expressed (in the political aspect) in the formulation of the religious and ideological justification of the Kazan campaign, which was perceived as the defense of the Orthodox faith from the Muslims.

Competing or completing digital religion: priests’ attitudes toward Ortho-bloggers in Romania

ABSTRACT Religious blogging has gained momentum in the last decade. Extensive research covers the evolution, organization, and activity of online Christian religious bloggers among Catholics, Protestants, and Neo-Protestant groups and most analyses focus on the perspective of bloggers. In this context, limited attention within the literature in English is paid to online Orthodox groups and very little is known about the clergy’s views of the activity of Ortho-bloggers. This article addresses this gap in the literature and aims to explain the attitudes of Orthodox priests toward Ortho-blogging activities. It uses Romania as a case study, due to its Orthodox majority, its strong internet infrastructure, and the online activity of the Orthodox Church. The analysis draws on qualitative methods—semi-structured interviews with Orthodox priests, conducted in January–February 2021. The results indicate that priests have normative attitudes toward Ortho-bloggers and their activities online. The findings have important theoretical and empirical implications for the study of religion and the engagement with new modes of communication in new democracies.

Orthodox activism as perceived by the population of the region: main frames

The article presents the results of a qualitative sociological study of Orthodox social activism and its social consequences, undertaken by the authors within the framework of the research project "Social Projects of the Russian Orthodox Church". An analysis of the mutual perception of Orthodox activists and the rest of the population of the region in terms of the implementation of Orthodox social initiatives allows us to identify four main frames of perception depending on the degree of awareness of secular subjects about their activities and attitudes towards interaction or avoidance of it: partnership, client, stereotyping and critical. The partnership frame is characterised by varying degrees of interest of permanent and situational (episodic) partners, the client frame is characterised by the perception of Orthodox charities and aid groups as substitutes for state institutions of social protection or education and the predominant disregard for their religious specificity. Stereotyping and critical frames, based on the attitude of distancing oneself from interaction with Orthodox activists and differing depending on the degree of awareness of their activities, can be considered as forms of negative self-identification of the non-church or weakly churched part of the regional society of their secular subjectivity in relation to Orthodox activists as bearers of alternative values ​​and lifestyle. The stereotyping frame is characteristic of citizens who are not aware of the extra-religious activities of activists (including both non-believers and believers who identify themselves as Orthodox), the critical frame is characteristic of disappointed activists. As a limitation for the institutionalisation of Orthodox social activity, the authors highlight the negative attitude of potential volunteers and activists to the installation of their churching as subordination to religious activity. The tendency to adopt Orthodox family values ​​and lifestyle is characteristic only of some employees of partner state organisations whose job responsibilities are related to the implementation of a social project to increase the birth rate. In general, the attitude to Orthodox initiatives of non-churched or weakly churched clients, partners, potential or former activists is characterised by a focus on separating religious and social activity and a lack of readiness to submit to religious discipline in the non-religious sphere.

Медиатизированный дискурс православного студенчества об РПЦ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the modern Orthodox conservative mediatized discourse among student bloggers on the Telegram messenger platform. The relevance of the study lies in the lack of development of both the topic of mediatization of Orthodoxy and the topic of studying Orthodox conservatism in modern sociology. The study of this phenomenon in the work took place through the prism of a conceptual approach, which received the name "mediatization of religion" in scientific sociological literature. The scientific problem is that studies of the mediatization of Orthodoxy are no longer a new field, but their number is still small. A large number of religious groups that are currently forming and functioning are outside the field of view of researchers. The figurative approach, which took shape in the German school of studying mediatization, was chosen as the research method. The figurative approach re-actualizes the concept of “figuration” by Norbert Elias and considers modern communicative figuration in media through four components: communicative practices, media ensemble, frame of relevance and constellation of actors. The communicative figuration of modern Orthodox conservatism in the Telegram messenger was taken as the basis of our study, since this platform provides opportunities for discussion on social and theological issues. The purpose of the article is to describe this communicative figuration through its four components. In this regard, the objectives of the study were: a description of the context of formation and features of the modern stage of studying the mediatization of Orthodoxy; a characteristic of the 4 components of the communicative figuration of modern Orthodox conservatism among young people. The empirical part of the study was based on a series of expert, semi-structured interviews with the authors of Telegram channels included in the youth category and who are students of higher educational institutions. In total, 30 interviews were collected from March to August 2024, of which 5 were selected for the article. The results of the study demonstrated that at the moment there is a constellation of actors of modern Orthodox conservatism, in the youth pole of which a group of students can be distinguished. Orthodox conservative students build their own identity, based on the Orthodox tradition, but only in the form of moral prescriptions. They are practically not integrated into the existing structures of the Russian Orthodox Church. The frame of relevance of the communicative figuration of Orthodox conservatism considers Orthodoxy as an integral part of modern Russian culture and humanitarian science. But in the frame, there is also an opposition to liberalism, including church liberalism, which occurs on issues of the foundations of society.

Some Eastern Orthodox Perspectives on Science-Engaged Theology (and Their Relevance to Western Christians)

An Eastern Orthodox understanding of science—that of Christopher C. Knight—is presented as a contribution to science-engaged theology that has implications for western Christian reflection on science as a contemporary locus theologicus. Three areas of enquiry are discussed: natural theology, the human mind in its relationship to God, and divine action. It is suggested that in each of these areas, Orthodox perspectives can provide links between the differing perspectives to be found among western Christians and provide new pathways for theological exploration on an ecumenical basis.

Effects of Religious Fasting on Markers of Oxidative Status in Vitamin D-Deficient and Overweight Orthodox Nuns versus Implementation of Time-Restricted Eating in Lay Women from Central and Northern Greece

Background/Objectives: The Mediterranean diet has been widely suggested to exert significant beneficial effects on endothelial oxidative status and cardiometabolic health. Greek Orthodox monasteries, due to their specific nutritional and sartorial habits, comprise a population thatstrictly adheres to nutritional patterns with restricted eating and a plant-based subset of the Mediterranean diet, often accompanied by profound hypovitaminosis D. Time-restricted eating (TRE) is also adopted bya large part of the general lay Greek population for health-promoting reasons, without restrictions on animal product consumption, as imposed by Orthodox religious fasting. However, the comparative effects of these nutritional patterns on oxidative stress markers remain scarce. Methods: The present study attempted to evaluate the effects of Christian Orthodox fasting (COF) in a group of vitamin D-deficient and overweight Orthodox nuns from Central and Northern Greece compared to the implementation of TRE, a 16:8 dietary regimen (16 h of food abstinence and 8 h of feeding) in a cohort of adult women from the general population from the same region with regard to markers of endothelial oxidative status. A group of 50 women from two Orthodox monasteries in Northern Greece and one group of 50 healthy lay women were included. During the enrollment, a detailed recording of their dietary habits was performed, along with a scientific registry of their demographic and anthropometric characteristics (via bioimpedance). The Orthodox nuns followed a typical Orthodox fasting regimen [daily feeding window (8 a.m.–4 p.m.)], whereas the lay women followed a TRE 16:8 regimen with the same feeding time-window with a recommendation to follow a low-fat diet, without characteristics of the Mediterranean diet. We included a complete biochemical analysis, as well as calciotropic profiles [calcium—Ca, albumin, parathyroid hormone—PTH, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D—25(OH)D] and markers of TAC (total antioxidant capacity), GSH (glutathione),and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs) concentrations as markers of oxidative status. Results: All the groups were compared at the baseline regarding their calcium, PTH, and 25(OH)D concentrations, with no statistically significant differences between the groups apart from higher PTH levels in the nuns due to lower 25(OH)D levels. The Orthodox nuns manifested a lower median GSH compared to the controls (6.0 vs. 7.2, p 0.04) and a higher median TAC (0.92 vs. 0.77, p < 0.001). The TBARS comparisons showed no significant difference between the two groups. No significant associations of oxidative status with 25(OH)D, PTH, and the markers of glucose homeostasis were evident. Conclusions: The results of this small pilot study indicate that both dietary regimens have advantages over the oxidative markers compared to each other, with increased TAC in the group of Orthodox nuns after a 16-week period of COF compared to a 16:8 TRE and increased GSH concentrations in the lay women group. Future randomized trials are required to investigate the superiority or non-inferiority between these dietary patterns in the daily clinical setting.

Religious belongings and Covid-19 vaccination

IntroductionVaccine hesitancy poses a complex global challenge. Our study investigates correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates, religious demographics, and educational performance.Materials and methodsUsing cross-sectional analysis, data from reputable sources were analyzed for correlations using Pearson’s correlation and linear regression.ResultsWe found statistically significant positive correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates and PISA scores, Catholic populations, non-religious, and atheist populations. Conversely, negative correlations were observed with Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. Our findings suggest potential influences of religious beliefs and educational attainment on vaccination rates.ConclusionThe data reveals a positive correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Catholic, Non-Religious, and Atheist populations, while indicating a negative correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. These findings underscore the potential significance of engaging religious leaders in promoting vaccinations as a strategy to address vaccine hesitancy.