“We Cannot Pray Without Kumyshka”: Alcohol in Udmurt Ritual Life

We trace the history of the uses of the alcoholic drink known as kumyshka among the Udmurt. Our focus is on kumyshka’s ritual uses both in public and domestic contexts in the second half of the 19th century, the early 20th century as well as the early 21st century. We suggest that kumyshka not only represents a site of resistance to the dominant religious regime, i.e. Russian Orthodoxy, but is also a tool for self-enhancement and identity making for this indigenous people in the Volga River basin in Central Russia. The consumption of kumyshka has been a frequent object of criticism in the accounts of Orthodox clergy, scholars, doctors, travellers and administrators. Most accounts show a moralising stance, which only occasionally reflects the local understandings behind its uses. As anthropologists working in the region, we compare these historical sources with the current practices. We discuss changes in the religious sphere as well as in gender roles related to the uses of kumyshka.

American Conservatives and the Allure of Post-Soviet Russian Orthodoxy

This article explores the growing affinity for the post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church by far-right Orthodox converts in the United States, highlighting how the spiritual draw to the faith is caught up in the globalizing politics of traditionalism and a transnational, ideological reimaging of the American culture wars. Employing ethnographic fieldwork from the rural United States and digital qualitative research, this study situates the post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church in the international flows of conservativism focused on reclaiming social morals and traditional religiosity. In doing so, this article sheds light on how the post-Soviet Orthodox Church is viewed politically by a growing contingent of American religious and political actors who are turning to Russian Orthodoxy and Putin’s government during this New Cold War moment of tension between the United States and Russia. I argue that the allure of the post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church for conservatives in the West offers us a window into how the institution is situated imaginatively within transnational politics, thereby providing us insights into the rapidly transforming culture wars fomenting globally.

ИЗУЧЕНИЕ ИСТОРИИ РУССКОГО ПРАВОСЛАВИЯ В СЕКТОРЕ АРХЕОГРАФИИ И ИСТОЧНИКОВЕДЕНИЯ ИНСТИТУТА ИСТОРИИ СИБИРСКОГО ОТДЕЛЕНИЯ РАН: ВТОРАЯ ПОЛОВИНА ХХ – НАЧАЛО XXI в.

Представлен обзор научных работ по истории русского православия, подготовленных сотрудниками сектора археографии и источниковедения Института истории Сибирского отделения РАН со времени его организации в 1975 г. и до настоящего момента. Отмечены все значительные научные труды этого академического подразделения по истории Русской православной церкви и старообрядчества, охватывающие период от Средневековья до Новейшего времени. Особое внимание уделено вопросам становления сектора и научной школы академика Н. Н. Покровского, главным исследовательским направлением в работе которых стало изучение проблем истории и культуры русского православия. An overview of scientific works on the history of Russian Orthodoxy prepared by the staff of the sector of archeography and source study of the Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences from the time of its organization in 1975 to the present is presented. All significant scientific works of this academic unit on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Old Believers, covering the period from the Middle Ages to modern times, are noted. Particular attention is paid to the issues of the formation of the sector and the scientific school of Academician N.N. Pokrovsky, whose main scientific direction in research work was the study of the problems of the history and culture of Russian Orthodoxy.

PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATING RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS LITERATURE INTO CHINESE FOR CHINESE TRANSLATORS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF A. VARLAMOV’S NOVEL «THE SUNKEN ARK»)

Varlamov’s novel «The Sunken Ark» is a philosophical story about Russian Orthodoxy, which also affected Chinese readers. The author focused his attention on the translation of this novel. What problems are there in Russian religious literature for Chinese translators and even Russian language learners? Three issues are analyzed, from basic religious vocabulary to religious philosophy. You can get to literary art by overcoming the language barrier.

Russian Orthodoxy in documentary projects of the Russian and English photographers

This article is dedicated to the analysis of distinctive features of the image of Russian Orthodoxy in the works of the contemporary Russian and English photographers. The authors review various aspects of photography as a research tool. They determine the focus of attention of the English and Russian photographers with regards to Orthodoxy, which aspect of religiosity prevail in their works, and which artistic means of photography are used by the photojournalists to express their position. In the course of research of the existing photo projects, the question is raised of whether they seek to capture negative or rather positive aspects of the Russian religiosity. Analysis is also conducted on the degree of the influence of stereotypes upon photo images. Research methodology employs comparative analysis of the documentary photo projects of the Russian and English photographers. The photographers were selected by regional, professional, and objective-subjective criteria. This article is first to refer to the documentary photo projects for analyzing the perception of Russian Orthodoxy by the Russians and foreigners, which defines the scientific novelty and uniqueness of this research. The conducted analysis reveals the similarities and differences in the approaches of the Russian and English photographers. The conclusion is made that the object of research of the English and Russian photographers differ in themes and aspects they pay attention to. The English photographers are interested in religion as a part of the everyday practices of a modern Russian, while the Russian photographers attempt to demonstrate a profound connection of people with the spiritual world. At the same time, both English and Russians photographers capture Orthodoxy in a positive context, at times even romanticizing the image of Orthodox temples and rituals.

КОНФЕРЕНЦИЯ «РУССКАЯ ПРАВОСЛАВНАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ КАК СФЕРА НАУЧНОГО ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ», ПОСВЯЩЕННАЯ ПАМЯТИ М. М. ГРОМЫКО

31 марта 2021 г. в ИЭА РАН прошла Межрегиональная научная конференция «Русская православная традиция как сфера научного исследования», посвященная памяти доктора исторических наук, профессора, лауреата Государственной премии РФ в области науки и техники, лауреата российской академической премии имени митрополита Московского и Коломенского Макария (Булгакова), кавалера ордена святой равноапостольной княгини Ольги Марины Михайловны Громыко (1927–2020). В ходе конференции выступили двадцать два участника из разных регионов РФ: Москвы, Санкт-Петербурга, Новосибирска, Краснодара, Вологодской обл. Задачей научного форума было почтить память недавно почившего выдающегося ученого, организатора науки, создателя нового направления в русской этнографии. Также важным для участников конференции было отметить вклад Марины Михайловны в создание научной школы православных этнографов, повлиявшей на возникновение подобных школ в других регионах РФ. В целом обозначились некие предварительные итоги изучения Русского Православия как цивилизационного феномена и вклад в этот процесс М. М. Громыко On March 31, 2021, the IEA RAS hosted the Interregional Scientific Conference "Russian Orthodox Tradition as a Field of Scientific Research" dedicated to the memory of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in Science and Technology, Laureate of the Russian Academic Prize named after Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Macarius (Bulgakov), Dame of the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga Marina Mikhailovna Gromyko (1927–2020). Twenty-two participants from different regions of the Russian Federation took part in the conference: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Vologda region. The task of the scientific forum was to honor the memory of the recently deceased outstanding scientist, organizer of science, the creator of a new direction in Russian ethnography. It was also important for the conference participants to note the contribution of Marina Mikhailovna to the creation of a scientific school of Orthodox ethnographers, which influenced the emergence of similar schools in other regions of the Russian Federation. In general, some preliminary results of the study of Russian Orthodoxy as a civilizational phenomenon and the contribution to this process of M.M. Gromyko have been outlined.

Dostoiévski – Niilismo, Arte e Cristianismo

In this paper, the religious question in Dostoevsky's work will be addressed taking two different aspects into consideration. Firstly, the religious context of Russian Orthodoxy, as well as the space occupied by the Orthodox tradition in the Russian intelligentsia during the 19th century. It is in this context that the thought of Vladimir Soloviev are found. He was the one responsible for the first theological reading of Dostoevsky's works under the point of view of Orthodoxy and for the development of a sophisticated interweaving of religion and aesthetics. Secondly, there is an effort for displacing the author from the theological tradition of Orthodoxy and also an attempt to position Dostoevsky’s religious thought in the outlook of Modern Nihilism. The paper argues that nihilism enables the birth of a religious vocabulary which is not conditioned by the traditional theological principles commonly linked to Dostoevsky’s aesthetic and religious universe. Thus, we understand that it is on the horizon of nihilism and not within the frameworks of a traditional religion that Dostoevsky's Christianity must be interpreted.

Women of the Catacombs

The memoirs presented in this book offer a rare close-up account of the underground Orthodox community and its priests during some of the most difficult years in Russian history. The catacomb church in the Soviet Union came into existence in the 1920s and played a significant part in Russian national life for nearly fifty years. Adherents to the Orthodox faith often referred to the catacomb church as the “light shining in the dark.” The book provides a first-hand portrait of lived religion in its social, familial, and cultural setting during this tragic period. Until now, scholars have had only brief, scattered fragments of information about Russia's illegal church organization that claimed to protect the purity of the Orthodox tradition. Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia and Elena Semenovna Men, who joined the church as young women, offer evidence on how Russian Orthodoxy remained a viable, alternative presence in Soviet society, when all political, educational, and cultural institutions attempted to indoctrinate Soviet citizens with an atheistic perspective. The book's translation not only sheds light on Russia's religious and political history, but also shows how two educated women maintained their personal integrity in times when prevailing political and social headwinds moved in an opposite direction.

RUSSIAN ETATISM AND RUSSIAN PATERNALISM IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS OF RUSSIA ON THE EVE OF PETER THE GREAT’S REFORMATION

The article сonsiders ideological, political and cultural prerequisites of the Peter the Great state reforms that, according to the author, were formed long before the Peter`s Reformation, and had a significant impact on the course and model of the “regular” (military- police) state created by Peter the First. Among the main prerequisites are the etatization (nationalization) of society and the associated paternalistic nature of state relations, which formed the traditional foundations of national statehood and strengthened in the 17th century in the context of Russia’s withdrawal from the Turmoil and the restoration of the national statehood destroyed in the time of troubles. The paper investigates the reasons for the formation of these features of the development of national statehood, the main of which the author proposes to search in the civilizational and geopolitical features of the formation and evolution of the Russian state, the weakness of the institutional foundations of Russian politics, stylistic peculiarities of Russian Orthodoxy and a number of other factors.