Orthodox Christianity in Post-Soviet Society

Abstract

On the basis of quantitative research, the author analyzes the process of mass affiliation to Orthodox Christianity in the post-Soviet period, the understanding of the foundations of faith and attitudes toward the sacraments, and the special characteristics of contemporary Orthodox religious practices. She traces the connection between the anti-Westernism and anti-modernism of the present-day Russian Orthodox Church and anemic grassroots social processes legitimized by the Putin regime. She shows that parishioners are not the main concern of today's bureaucratized Church, which demonstratively identifies itself with the state and in which conservative-fundamentalist tendencies are winning out.