Russian 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.

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.

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.

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.

Преодоление последствий глобализации на примере взаимодействия государства и Русской Православной Церкви в информационной сфере

Introduction. The article considers the problem of overcoming the consequences of globalization in the context of informatization of society using the example of interaction between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church in the information sphere. The following methods were used in the study: system analysis, philosophical analysis, interpretation, comparison and synthesis. Theoretical analysis. The State and the Church, as active users of the information resources and technologies available today, have a significant impact on their development. Many hierarchs and laypeople, adhering to “protective” views, represented by an established political course, continue to participate in the media sphere. The participation of the Church and the state makes it possible to maintain political stability in the country. It is pointed out that, on the one hand, the spiritual and moral crisis of modern society is caused by informatization as one of the conditions for its development, but on the other hand, informatization permeates all areas of life and activity, both of the Church and the state, to such extent that neglecting its resources is impossible today. Conclusion. The characteristic features of the Church and the state which, with the help of information resources and technologies, are trying to resist the negative consequences of globalization and Westernization, are highlighted and described. The ways of solving these problems are outlined. It is emphasized that the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church and the state authorities are interested in consolidating efforts aimed at resolving the numerous social contradictions that exist in the information space today.

Approaches towards legal protection for holy places: The example of the Alexander Nevsky Church in the Old City of Jerusalem

Abstract Given the varying degrees of importance that a holy place holds for different parties and the variety of laws used to regulate them, laws pertaining to holy places integrate a broad array of legal, political, social, religious, and economic interests. Acknowledging the difficulty of capturing a singular standard of protection merits examining different existing modalities to discern the means of protection for holy places. A 2022 Israeli District Court case concerning ownership rights over a Russian Orthodox church in the Old City of Jerusalem shall provide the platform for scrutinizing the relevant laws and variety of interests at play for holy places in Israel, providing insights into the importance of accounting for divergent interests in the cultural heritage protection milieu. This article shall highlight the approaches used towards holy place protection in a difficult and complex context, Israel, to better understand heritage protection methods for unique or significant cultural sites in other regions.

Repressed Catholic Priests and Monks during the First Years of the Occupation and Annexation of the Republic of Lithuania: June 1940–June 1941

The subject investigated has not been systematically researched at scientific level until now. The claims made by historians and other authors are fragmented and controversial. However, the publications of historical sources necessary for the subject under research, particularly Volume 1 of the list of names published by the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, as well as numerous archival documents make it possible to reveal the main features of the reprisals of Lithuanian priests and monastic communities in 1940 and 1941. During the occupation and annexation of the Republic of Lithuania, local Catholic priests, monks and nuns were not among the most important groups of the repressed, i.e. among politicians, white collar workers, officers and public figures. Nevertheless, the registration and surveillance of priests, the cases of the annihilation especially of the Russian Orthodox Church and smaller religious groups of the aggressor country, testify indirectly to the fact that the oppressive apparatus of the Empire that was hostile to religion was getting ready to annihilate the Lithuanian Catholic priests at least as a separate group. The NKVD / NKGB took efforts to win over as many priests as possible. About 115 priests (7.9% of all the priests) were repeatedly summoned to the agencies with this purpose in mind but the result was as poor: 12 of those who promised to arrive (0.8% of all priests, 10.4% of recruited priests), three of them staff workers (0.2% of all priests, 2.6% of recruited priests) showed up. According to the available research results, during the period examined a total number of repressed Catholic priests and monks in Lithuania (of the local Church Province, the part of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius assigned to Lithuania, and Polish refugees) is about 111 persons: 64 (almost 58%) Lithuanian and 47 (over 42%) Polish. From the Lithuanian Church Province or its monasteries and convents 61 persons were repressed, out of whom 53 were diocesan priests, five were monks ordained as priests, three were from monastic communities (one brother and two sisters): 21 from Kaunas diocese, 19 from Vilkaviškis diocese, 11 from Panevėžys diocese, and five from Kaišiadorys and Telšiai dioceses each; all of them were Lithuanians. From the Lithuanian part of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius and the monastic communities based there, about 15 priests (three Lithuanian and 12 Polish) were subject to repression; fewer than half of them were priests, the others were nuns. Taking together the instances in the parts of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Belarus and Poland, based on the facts from a longer period (from September 1939 until July 1941), the number of the repressed priests in the archdiocese is at least 62 persons: 34 were refugees who suffered from repression; about 27 of them were nuns. The number of people who suffered greatly, i.e. were imprisoned and exiled before Hitler’s war against the “Bolsheviks” were at least 57 Lithuanian Catholic priests and monks (from the local ecclesiastical province and the part of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius). The number of Lithuanian priests – 17 – who were killed by the retreating Soviet Army troops at the first stage of the war between Nazi Germany and the USSR that has been known for a long time remains the same. Nevertheless, counting the priests killed not only in the Lithuanian Church Province and in the part of the Vilnius Archdiocese that belonged to Lithuania but also analogous facts from the parts that belonged to Belarus and Poland, the number of the victims of this category amounts to at least 26. The war that broke out between Hitler and Stalin opened the road to freedom for some priests and members of the monastic community. Between 16 and 18 priests were liberated or freed themselves from prisons in Lithuania, while most of Polish priests who were taken to forced labour camps or exiled were granted an amnesty; later they joined Polish army units and became chaplains. The number of arrested, imprisoned, taken to forced labour camps and exiled priests and members of monastic communities is much higher than those who promised to collaborate with the KGB and joined the staff, which demonstrates that the Lithuanian clergy as well as those who arrived from Poland avoided collaborating with the occupying powers; almost all of them resisted, did not succumb to this temptation and did not act under compulsion.

Секта христововеров в Украинской ССР

The article is devoted to the history of the oldest Russian sect of Hristovovery or Khlysty on the territory of Ukraine during Soviet times. The purpose of the work is to explore the existence of the Khlysty sect in the Ukrainian SSR, to consider some of the features of the spread of the sect and the details of its rituals. The source base of the research was unpublished operational documents of Ukrainian archives. Special studies devoted to the sect of Christ-believers in Ukraine during the Soviet period were not found. The article applies a materialistic understanding of history, which requires consideration of historical phenomena in development, in the unity of the logical and historical, i.e. in the unity of material and spiritual factors. In the course of the work, it was established that the Khlysty sect was recorded on the territory of the future Ukraine from the first half of the 18th century and spreads across those regions where the Great Russian population lived compactly: in Old Believer settlements in Starodubye (the future Chernigov region), in the Azov region. West of the Dnieper, the sect of Christian believers is not fixed. In Soviet times, state security agencies regularly reported the existence of Christian believers in the same areas where they existed in the pre-revolutionary period. A feature of the Christian faith in Soviet times was the merger of the sect with Orthodox movements that were in opposition to both the Soviet regime and the official Russian Orthodox Church.

The crisis of the Russian Orthodox Church through the prism of russian-ukrainian war (based on interviews and publications of Andrey Kuraev)

The crisis of the Russian Orthodox Church through the prism of russian-ukrainian war (based on interviews and publications of Andrey Kuraev)

The religious dimension of Russia's war against Ukraine: the context of national security

The author highlights the current problems of the Ukrainian state in the context of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine. The importance of studying the religious factor and its impact on Ukraine's national security is substantiated. It is shown how, with the “spiritual” support of its original assistant, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine in the guise of the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) has been actively proclaiming the “gathering of Russian lands” for decades. This “hostile tandem” has been building a “Russian world” on Ukrainian territory with intolerance to everything Ukrainian, pursuing a collaborationist policy in Ukraine, lobbying for Russia's interests, and becoming an important tool for influencing the minds of a large number of people. With the restoration of the independence of the Ukrainian state, Orthodoxy was supposed to become a consolidating factor in the creation of the Ukrainian nation. Instead, for decades, the UOC-MP has been constantly deconsolidating Ukrainian society, sowing church discord, and discrediting Ukraine's political and spiritual leadership in the international arena. Such activities have resulted in not only the territorial but also the spiritual occupation of our country. It is concluded that the concept of the “Russian world”, cultivated for years in Ukraine by the Kremlin through its “Orthodox” structures of the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC-MP, was mainly the basis for the invasion of Ukrainian territories by the occupiers, which later escalated into a large-scale national liberation war in 2022. The study used data from sociological services, official documents of church institutions, and analyzed Ukrainian legislation on related issues. Certain provisions of the study can be used to further analyze the activities and spheres of influence of the Moscow Patriarchate in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Russian Orthodoxy used by the Soviet, Moscow-Kremlin authorities to destroy Ukrainian religion and culture

The greatest tragedy for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church occurred under the totalitarian Stalinist regime. Using the nineteenth-century proven scenarios of the tsarist autocratic Orthodox authorities' massacres of Uniates and Roman Catholics, the Soviet authorities used this historical experience to abolish the Union of Brest, sever the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church's ties with the Vatican, and “reunite the Uniates” (Greek Catholics), as they said in Moscow at the time, “with their mother, the Russian Orthodox Church” (1946).

Muslims of Central Asia in Siberia in the Context of State‑Confessional Policy in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries

The Muslim population of Siberia represented an ethnically heterogeneous community, which included Tatars, as well as immigrants from Central and Central Asia, the Caucasus and other regions. Such polyethnicity and proximity to the Asian region, as one of the centers of Muslim culture, contributed to building contacts between Muslims of Siberia and Central Asia. Expansion of the territorial borders of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century. and the government’s special interest in Central Asia has influenced the development of relations between the Muslim population of the two neighboring regions. The purpose of this study was to identify the main areas of interaction between the Muslim population of Siberia and Central Asia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century, as well as to estimate the role of the state in regulating this process. Based on archival material, the author found that one of the areas of interaction of the Muslim population was organizing spiritual life. Despite the fact that the government, in an effort to extend its influence to the Asian region, provided support to the Muslim population in the second half of the 19th century, the same building codes were applied to the construction of religious buildings for Bukharans, as for all other Muslims. The closest contacts between the Muslims of Siberia and the Bukharians were built within the framework of pilgrimage trips, since often the way to Mecca for them lay through the territories of Central Asia. In addition, there were holy places in the region, which the Muslims of Siberia aspired to. This fact was of particular concern to the Government. The reforms initiated in the country aimed at limitation of the rights of the Muslim population have reduced the migration flow from the Asian region to Siberia. The government paid special attention to the missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church as a tool for involving Muslims of Siberia and Central Asia in the socio-cultural space of the empire.

The significance and role of the Local Council of 1917–1918 for the development of the Institute of Higher Church Administration

This article is devoted to the Local Council held in Russia in 1917–1918. The article describes the results of the Council's work that influenced the subsequent development of the Church and remain relevant today. Special attention is paid to the administrative management of the Church and the powers of its authorities. In general, the system of balancing the powers of church administrative institutions, which was adopted at the Council, is still in force today. In the context of socio-political instability in the country (in the context of two revolutions in 1917), the adoption of a course for the development of Russia as a secular state, the decisions of this Local Council are timely and constructive. The restoration of the patriarchate is of particular importance, and the authority of the Patriarch is not absolute, moreover, if necessary, the Bishops' Council has the right to judge the Patriarch. The main authority in the Russian Orthodox Church is the Local Council.

To Whom Much is Given: The Russian Orthodox Church’s Role in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Abstract The essence of a war is in its justification. In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the state has turned to Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to assemble a tranche of religio-legal justifications for the war in Ukraine. Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor was instantaneously colored by theological proclamations from the Kremlin and the Patriarchate. While powerful as mere propaganda, much more is at stake. In March 2024, the ROC officially declared Russia’s “special military operation” to be a “holy war,” the first time the ROC has made such a statement since the Russo-Japanese War under Tsar Nicholas II. This article argues that the decree is the logical reverberation of a broader urge to revivify Russian imperial mores, particularly in the legitimation of warfare against Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill have instrumentalized one another. Patriarch Kirill gives religious substance to the Russian president’s claims of geopolitical slight, while the latter buttresses the ROC’s relevance amidst modernization. It is a partnership as nostalgic as it is pragmatic, rooted in the symphonic heyday of tsars and primates. An examination of the historical relationship between the Russian state and its church (as the ROC has come to be known) offers a multitude of lessons in the maintenance of the Kremlin’s power, the stateward trend of ROC theology, and the lengths to which states go to legitimate revanchist acts.

Религиозное воспитание молодежи: социальные аспекты

Addressing the topic of religious upbringing of youth today is very relevant, since religion is one of the social institutions that plays a significant role in the spiritual and moral education of the younger generation in our country. The specificity of the current situation among young people is the presence of a large number of baptized young people, but not churchgoers, so working with young people in the field of religious upbringing is more pressing than ever. The article reveals the concept of religious upbringing, understood as the unity of content, forms and methods of transmitting the cultural religious experience of a person’s conversion to God and communication with the Creator, and highlights the purpose of OrthodoX religious upbringing and its structure. The implementation of religious upbringing should be carried out on two levels, since it is based on two types of laws. The first of them was received by people from God, the second one is determined in accordance with the social structure of human society. Therefore, one of these planes is of a spiritual and mystical nature, the second one is endowed with a rational essence. The relationship between religious upbringing and the process of human socialization has been clarified. The views of modern youth on religious upbringing are revealed, the features of spiritual values that prevail among young people and have a negative impact on the development of personality are clarified. The author reveals the priority forms and directions of work with young people within the Russian OrthodoX Church, focuses on the significant role in the religious upbringing of young people played by OrthodoX youth organizations and associations created on the initiative of both the Russian OrthodoX Church and the youth themselves, and clarifies the features of work on religious upbringing in secondary vocational institutions. The problems that arise in the process of the religious upbringing of young people are also identified.

«Требник атеиста»: теория и практика гражданской обрядности в СССР

The article is devoted to the analysis of the book “Socialist Rituals”. Kyiv. 1985, which outlines the theory and practice of civil rituals in the late USSR. This manual may well be called an “Аn atheistic breviary”, designed to replace the church breviary. The work shows the artificiality and lifelessness of Soviet civil rituals, considered by its creators primarily as an element of persecution of the Russian OrthodoX Church. The inability of Soviet civil rituals to satisfy human spiritual needs has been proven. The main, unsolved task of the creators of non-religious civil rituals was to find means of persuasion and evidence of its effectiveness. The article shows how, in order to impart a certain “spirituality” to civil rites, the authors of the manual consciously or unconsciously use the method of mental associations. New Soviet rituals are analyzed — “rites of the calendar cycle”, “solemn registration of marriage”, “solemn registration of a newborn”, “civil funeral services”.

Из раскола в единоверие: мотивация религиозного выбора старообрядцев во второй половине XIX — начале XX века

The study examines the main aspects of the Old Believers' polemic with the Edinoverie in the second half of the XIX — early XX century. The main content of the work is the analysis of the religious motivation of those Old Believers-schismatics who decided to join the Russian OrthodoX Church on the terms of the rules of Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) of Moscow. Among the most important reasons that largely determined the confessional choice of edinovertsy were the possibility of canonical unity and liturgical communion with the Church while preserving the traditional religious way of life, the inferiority of the priestly hierarchy or its complete absence, as well as the deformation of pre-Canonical rites and the lack of sacramental content of worship in Old Believers’ concordances. Archival documents, materials of the OrthodoX Church and church missionary literature of the Russian periodicals were used as sources in the article.

Trust and the Russian Orthodox Church: the dependence of dynamics on the socio-political context and the problem of accurate measurement

Trust and the Russian Orthodox Church: the dependence of dynamics on the socio-political context and the problem of accurate measurement