scholarly journals Social and Political Consequences of the Pandemic for the Russian Orthodox Church

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-558
Author(s):  
Roman N. Lunkin

In the article analyzed the social and political consequences of pandemic of coronavirus for the Russian Orthodox Church in the context of the reaction of different European churches on the quarantine rules and critics towards the church inside Russia. The author used the structural-functional and institutional approaches for the evaluation of the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church, was analyzed the sources of mass-media and the public claims of the clergy. In the article was made a conclusion that Orthodox Church expressed itself during the struggle with coronavirus as national civic institute where could be represented various even polar views. Also the parish activity leads to the formation of the democratic society affiliated with the Church and the role of that phenomenon have to be explored in a future. The coronacrisis makes open the inner potential of the civic activity and different forms of the social service in Russian Church. In the same time pandemic provoked the development of the volunteer activity in the around-church environment and also in the non-church circles among the young people and the generation of 40th age where the idea of the social responsibility for themselves and people around and the significance of the civil rights was one of the popular ideas till 2019. The conditions of the self-isolation also forced the clergy to struggle for their parishioners and once again renovate the role of the church in the society and in the cyber space.

Author(s):  
Vladislav A. Tulyanov

The article deals with the interaction of the Russian Orthodox Church (hereinafter, the ROC) and the penitentiary system of Russia. The author addresses the problem of the social role of the ROC in penitentiary institutions. The purpose of the article is to analyse the effectiveness of Church social service in penitentiary institutions of modern Russia. The basis of the research methodology is the analysis of statistical information of the Federal penitentiary service and social projects of the ROC on the effectiveness of the Church penitentiary service. It is concluded that the activities of the ROC in the penal system has significant positive outcomes that are associated primarily with the problem of improving relations among specific population of penitentiary establishments, as well as re-socialisation of former prisoners and prevention of offenses, which is an important element in the fight against general crime rate in the country.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 254-268
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Bazavluk

The author analyzes the ideological views of a group of Russian migrants of the fi rst wave, known as Eurasianists, including N.S. Trubetskoy, P.N. Savitsky, N.N. Alekseeva, L.N. Karsavina and others. The author discusses fundamental elements of the classical Eurasianist program, such as the role of the Orthodox Church and the state in the life of Russia and its society, their attitude to Roman Catholic culture, and their place in dialogue with other religions. In addition, other important elements of Eurasianism noted here are the ideas of pan-Eurasian nationalism, ideocracy, the spatial borders of Russia-Eurasia, the symphonic personality, a guarantee state. These issues are associated directly with the authors of these concepts and with Eurasianism in general. The author demonstrates the continuity with the teachings of the Slavophiles and highlights the special attention that the Eurasians paid to the traditional cultures of Russia. Also noted is the interest in Eurasianism of church circles in exile in Europe. At the same time, the Eurasianists’ critical vies on the “Petersburg period” in the history of the Russian church are highlighted, which are also implicit in Eurasianism as an independent ideological and philosophical line of thought of Russian emigration in the fi rst half of the twentieth century. An attempt is made to show how, through conservative thought, Eurasians tried to form a new type of political identity. This ideological direction with an emphasis on spirituality and special institutions was considered by Eurasians as a prototype of the future statehood of Russia as opposed to the Soviet-Marxist system. In the context of the contemporary Eurasian integration (EAEU), of the current role of the Russian Orthodox Church and external political manipulations around the role of the Moscow Patriarchate, the theoretical views of the Eurasians take on a new dimension.


2009 ◽  
pp. 170-174
Author(s):  
O.S. Bykova

With the development of Ukraine as an independent state, interest in its history and especially in the turning points of history is increasing. One such period was the famine of 1921-1923. At this time, contradictions between the Soviet government and the Russian Orthodox Church were particularly acute. In 1922-1923, a campaign was taken to seize church values ​​to help the hungry, in which the Church was unable to increase its authority through active assistance to the population and which significantly reduced the role of religion in the lives of Soviet people. The consequences of these events are still relevant today.


Author(s):  
Scott M. Kenworthy

In 1912–1913, a controversy erupted first among the Russian monks on Mount Athos of the claim in one book on prayer that ‘the Name of God is God Himself’. The so-called ‘Name-Glorifiers’ teaching would be condemned by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, leading Russian religious thinkers, especially Sergius Bulgakov, Pavel Florenskii, and Aleksei Losev, would take up the issue. The very nature of the controversy would provoke these thinkers to reflect broadly on the philosophy of language in general. More specifically, they also reflected on the nature of religious symbols and the role of religious symbols such as language in mediating religious experience between the person in prayer and God. This chapter surveys the genesis of the debate and its treatment within the Church. The debate itself originated in connection with the practice of hesychastic spirituality and the Jesus Prayer, but the Church authorities reacted in a swift way, without fully understanding the issues at stake. One important consequence of the controversy was the revival of the theology of St. Gregory Palamas, the Byzantine theologian who had defended the hesychasts in the thirteenth century, but whose theology had largely been forgotten in Russia. Although the debate erupted on the eve of the revolution and therefore was forgotten by many, the reflections on language and symbols by thinkers such as Florenskii and Losev would have a broader resonance in later Russian thought, not only with regard to language but even in mathematics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
Irina V. Lobanova ◽  

In the article through the prism of the fate of E.A. Karmanov, a church publisher, editor and bibliophile, shows the complex process of survival of Russian church history science in the Soviet period. Deprived of the possibility of development, it turned out to be focused on the task of preserving its pre-revolutionary heritage and new manuscript evidence, which was to become material for future research. Under these conditions, the role of collectors and keepers of the book culture of the church became very important, as was E.A. Karmanov (1927 1998).


Author(s):  
Artur Aleksiejuk ◽  

The foundations of the social concept are one of the most important normative acts issued by the Russian Orthodox Church. The unanimous adoption of this document by the Holy Council of Bishops of the Russian Church, which took place on August 13-16, 2000 in Moscow, was not only a local event, but a significant fact on the scale of the entire Orthodox Church worldwide. For the first time in history, one of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches decided to formulate an official position on current social, economic, economic and cultural issues, as well as define the Church-state relationship in the conditions of historical reality in which it found itself at the threshold of the third millennium. The promulgation of the Foundations of the Social Concept has become a powerful impulse for the renewal of spiritual life, greater involvement of the Orthodox clergy in social life, the development of institutional and non-institutional forms of mission and evangelization, and the multidimensional dialogue of Orthodoxy with the world of science, politics and economy. The aim of this publication is to familiarize the Polish reader with the content of chapters twelve and thirteen of the document, which relate to bioethical and ecological issues. It is worth noting that this is their first translation into Polish. The translator hopes that they will contribute to a better understanding of the Orthodox Church’s position on issues that are currently among the most discussed social topics.


Author(s):  
Aleksandr R. Pavlushkov ◽  

Based on various sources, this article attempts to determine the scope and nature of the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Secret Chancellery during the reforms of Peter I. The chronological framework of the period under study is limited to 1718–1725. It should be noted that the number of works on this topic is rather small. The article dwells on the various aspects and forms of the relationship between the penal body and the Church as a whole. The starting point is the case of Tsarevich Alexei, which exposed the dissatisfaction of the clergy with the reforms of Peter I and initiated the strengthening of punitive policies, involving the tools of the Church. According to the author, the established relationship between the Church and the Secret Chancellery cannot be called sporadic, since there had been a certain unity of mutual interests between the parties. It is emphasized that contradictions had been accumulating between them, related to the violation of the secrecy of confession, lack of legal regulation of official relations, and structural vagueness of the institutions of the Most Holy Synod that had contacts with the Secret Chancellery. Nevertheless, in practice there had been developed a certain procedure for coordinating various issues, which both sides refrained from violating. Further, the author analyses the case of Tsarevich Alexei and the role of the first chief procurators of the Most Holy Synod in the context of the development of the relationship between the Church and the Secret Chancellery. Further, the article indicates the reasons for not only mutual interest, but also the subsequent crisis in their relationship that occurred in 1725. The author concludes that the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Secret Chancellery was in line with the policy of forming a police state.


2014 ◽  
pp. 114-119
Author(s):  
Dmitry I. Sazonov

Addresses the times of the Khrushchev thaw as a period of the Russian Orthodox Church persecution. The public rejections of faith by some priests or Renegation were among its instruments. Their “revelations of religion” were used for propaganda of atheist worldview by the Communist Party representatives. However, the Renegation has not undermined the Church foundations; the author argues that it has only expelled Vicars of Bray and disappeared as a phenomenon when new relationship between the State and the Church was established


Author(s):  
Larisa Sergeevna Alekseeva

Throughout many centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church has been creating and preserving inestimable historical and cultural heritage, including the works of the ancient Russian art, ceremonial ware, and other artifacts. The second half of the XIX century marks the surge in preservation of monuments, and the Church takes active part in such activity. For the purpose of preservation of ecclesiastical antiquity were established the church museums. In the pre-revolutionary period, the museums functioned on the premises of theological academies and seminaries, dioceses, temples and monasteries, and other structural divisions of the Russian Orthodox Church. The group of church museums of that time is poorly studied. The subject of this research is the sacristy collections of temples and monasteries. On the example of sacristies under the major temples and monasteries of Novgorod, Pskov, Yaroslavl and Rostov, the article provides a retrospective overview of the activity of the large museums of antiquities. Based on the survived description of sacristies, the author analyzes the content of their collections. The content of such compilations was affected by the cultural and commercial ties of the cities. For example, the Novgorod sacristies preserve the items associated to the spread of Orthodoxy in Rus’, while the Yaroslavl museums of antiquities feature the monuments of later period. Based on the activity of the aforementioned collections, the conclusion is made that they carried out the functions of discovery, preservation, study, and translation of cultural heritage. Therefore, the prerevolutionary monastic and temple museums of antiquities performed the role of church museums. Further development of the group of church museums on the premises of temples and monasteries was hindered by the historical transformations of the XX century.


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