Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church (also known as the Orthodox Catholic Church of Russia) (Русская Православная церковь) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In this way Russian Orthodox believers are in communion with all other Eastern Orthodox believers.

History

The Russian Orthodox Church traces its roots to the Baptism of Kiev in 988, when Prince Vladimir I officially adopted the religion of the Eastern Roman Empire as the state religion of the Rus' state. Thus, in 1988, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated its millennial anniversary. It therefore traces its apostolic succession through the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The Church was originally a Metropolitanate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Byzantine patriarch appointed the metropolitan who governed the Church of Rus'. The Metropolitan's residence was originally located in Kiev. As Kiev was losing its political significance due to the Mongol invasion, Metropolitan Maximus moved to Vladimir in 1299; his successors, Metropolitan Peter and Theognostus, moved the residence to Moscow by 1326.

The 14th century was the time when the Russian Church was pivotal for the national survival. Such holy figures as Sergey of Radonezh and Metropolitan Alexis helped the country to withstand the years of Tatar oppression and to expand both economically and spiritually.

In 1448, the Russian Church became independent from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Metropolitan Jonas, installed by the Council of Russian bishops in 1448, was given the title of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. This was just five years before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Thereupon the Russian Church became the successor of Constantinople, and the doctrine of Moscow as the Third Rome signifies its position as the spiritual center of The One, Holy, and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.

The reign of Ivan III and his successor was plagued by numerous heresies and controversies. One party, led by Nil Sorsky and Vassian Kosoy, called for secularisation of monastic properties. They were oppugned by the influential Joseph of Volotsk, who defended ecclesiastical ownership of land properties. The sovereign's position fluctuated, until he threw his support to Joseph.

Monastic life flourished in Russia; it focused on prayer and spiritual growth. Monasteries produced innumerable numbers of bright examples of holiness. Monasteries largely contributed to the spiritual growth and purification of the souls of all people in Russia. Some bright examples of monastic holiness are Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery, Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery and the Solovki.

In the 1540s, Metropolitan Macarius convened a number of church synods, which culminated in the Hundred Chapter Synod of 1551. This assembly unified Church ceremonies and duties in the whole territory of Russia. At the demand of the Church hierarchy the government canceled the tsar's jurisdiction over ecclesiastics.

In 1652, Patriarch Nikon resolved to centralize power that had been distributed locally while conforming Russian Orthodox rites and rituals to those of the Greek Orthodox Church. For instance he insisted that Russian Christians cross themselves with three fingers, rather than the then-traditional two. This aroused antipathy among a small section of the believers who saw the changed rites both as heresy, although it only had a minor ritual significance. This group became known as the Old Ritual Believers or Old Believers and they reject the teachings of the new Patriarch. Tsar Aleksey (who was simultaneously centralizing political power) upheld Nikon's changes. The Old Ritual Believers were separated from The Orthodox Church. Avvakum Petrov, Boyarynya Morozova and many other dissidents were burned at the stake, either forcibly or voluntarily.

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church experienced phenomenal geographic expansion. In the 1686, the Metropolia of Kiev passed from Constantinople's control to that of Moscow bringing millions more faithful and a half dozen dioceses under the pastoral and administrative care of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch. In the following two centuries, missionary efforts stretched out across Siberia into Alaska, then into the United States at California. Eminent people on that missionary effort included St. Innocent of Irkutsk, St.Herman of Alaska, St. Innocent of Siberia and Alaska. They learned local languages and translated the gospels and the hymns. Sometimes those translations required the invention of new systems of transcription.

In 1700 following Patriarch Adrian's death, Peter the Great prevented a successor from being named, and in 1721, after the advice of Feofan Prokopovich, he established the Holy and Supreme Synod to govern the church instead of a single primate. This was the situation until shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1917, at which time the Local Council (more than half of its members being laypersons) adopted the decision to restore Patriarchy. And on November 5 (according to the Julian calendar) a new patriarch, Patriarch Tikhon was named through casting lots. The 19th century saw the rise of starchestvo under Paisiy Velichkovsky and his disciples at the Optina Monastery. This marked a beginning of a significant spiritual revival in the Russian Church after a period of westernization.

The year 1917 was a major turning point for the history of Russia and implicitly also the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian empire was dissolved and the Tsarist government - which had granted the Church numerous privileges - was overthrown. After a few months of political turmoil, the Bolsheviks took power in October 1917 and declared a separation of church and state. Thus the Russian Orthodox Church found itself without official state backing for the first time in its history. One of the first decrees of the new Communist government (issued in January 1918) declared the freedom of religious expression for believers of all faiths, as well as for atheists. This led to a marked decline in the power and influence of the Church. The Church was also caught in the crossfire of the Russian Civil War that began later the same year, and many leaders of the Church made the mistake of throwing their support behind what would ultimately turn out to be the losing side (the White movement).

After the end of the civil war and the creation of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church had very tense relations with the secular Communist government, whose members were for the most part atheists. The Soviet Union's official policy was one of religious toleration, though in practice the government often made attempts to discourage organized religion and particularly disregarded religious buildings (new churches were rarely built, and old ones were sometimes converted to other purposes if attendance was deemed too low). Several monastaries were put to use as gulags. However, the Russian Orthodox Church did accept the new government as legitimate, which led to a split with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

To the degree that the new Bolshevik government did persecute the Church, it executed the Metropolitan Vienamin in Petrograd in 1922 for refusing with the demand to release church valuables, including sacred relics, to the government.

Relations between the Soviet government and the Church improved considerably during World War II, with such milestones as the reopening of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary that had been closed since 1918. Nevertheless, the Church and the government remained on unfriendly terms until 1988. In practice, the most important aspect of this conflict was that openly religious people could not join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which meant that they could not hold any political office. However, among the general population, large numbers remained religious. In 1987 in the Russian SFSR between 40% and 50% of newborn babies (depending on the region) were baptized and over 60% of all deceased received Christian funeral services.

A pivotal point in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church came in 1988 - the millennial anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus'. Throughout the summer of 1988, major government-supported celebrations took place in Moscow and other cities; many older churches and some monasteries were reopened. An implicit ban on religious propaganda on state TV was finally lifted. For the first time in the history of Soviet Union, people could see live transmissions of church services on television.

Modern condition

Today, the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. Depending on how the question is asked, as many as 90% of ethnic Russians identify themselves as Russian Orthodox. The number of people regularly attending church services is relatively low, but has grown significantly since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Church has over 23,000 parishes, 154 bishops, 635 monasteries, and 102 clerical schools in the territory of the former Soviet Union and has a well-established presence in many other countries all over the world. In recent years some church buildings have been officially returned to the Church, most of these being in a deteriorated condition. There have been difficulties in the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican, especially since 2002, when Pope John Paul II created a Catholic diocesan structure for Russian territory. The leadership of the Russian Church saw this action as a throwback to prior attempts by the Vatican to proselytize the Russian Orthodox faithful to become Roman Catholic. This point of view is based upon the stance of the Russian Orthodox Church (and the Eastern Orthodox Church) that the Church of Rome is but one of many equal Christian organizations, and that as such it is straying into territory that was already Christianized by the Orthodox Church. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, while acknowledging the primacy of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia, believes that the small Catholic minority in Russia, in continuous existence since at least the 18th century, should be served by a fully developed church hierarchy with a presence and status in Russia, just as the Russian Orthodox Church is present in other countries.

Due to its deep cultural roots, many members of the Russian government are keen to display their respect for the Church. It is common for the President of Russia to publicly meet with the Patriarch on Church holidays such as Easter (Paskha or Пасха in Russian). Meetings with representatives of Islam and Buddhism occur less frequently.

The Russian Orthodox Church should not be confused with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (also known as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad), based in New York. The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was formed by Russian communities outside then-Communist Russia who refused to recognize the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church, as they believed it had fallen under the influence of the Bolsheviks. The two churches have been steadily moving towards reconciliation.

Structure and organization

Russian Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure. Every church building and its attendees constitute a parish ( prikhod ). There are over 23,000 parishes in the Church.

All parishes in a geographical region belong to an eparchy (eparkhiya - equivalent to Western diocese). Eparchies are governed by archbishops ( arkhiepiskop and arkhierey ). There are around 130 Russian Orthodox eparchies worldwide.

Further, some eparchies are organized into Exarchates or autonomous churches. Currently these include: Belarusian exarchate; Latvian, Moldavian, and Estonian Orthodox Churches. Chinese and Japanese Orthodox Churches were granted full autonomy by Moscow Patriarchate, but this autonomy is not universally recognized.

Smaller eparchies are usually governed by single bishops. Larger eparchies, exarchates, and autonomous churches are governed by Metropolitans and sometimes also have one or more bishops assigned to them.

The highest level of authority in the Church is represented by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, head of the Moscow Patriarchate.

It should be noted that, although the Patriarch of Moscow does have extensive powers, but unlike Pope, he is not considered infallible and does not have the direct authority over matters pertaining to faith. This authority is instead given to a council of bishops ( pomestny sobor ). Some of the most fundamental issues ( such as the ones responsible for Catholic-Orthodox split ) cannot be decided even on this level and have to be dealt with by a council of representatives from all Eastern Orthodox churches. Last time such a council has been held was in 787.

Doctrine and practices

Like all other Orthodox Churches, Russian Orthodox Church places the emphasis on preservation rather than evolution or adaptation of its doctrine and practices. It does not recognize some developments and dogmatic definitions of the Western Catholic Church since the Great Schism. Its followers take pride in the fact that their beliefs and even ceremonies are largely the same as they were 1000 years ago.

Further, the existence of full communion between most Eastern Orthodox Churches ensures that different churches do not drift apart significantly.

As a result, there are few differences between practices of Russian and other Eastern Orthodox churches, and these don't go far beyond using different languages in liturgies, or using Gregorian vs. Julian calendar for Easter calculations.

In Russian Orthodox Church, Church Slavonic language is used for the majority of religious ceremonies, although modern Russian may be used for non-scripted events such as sermons and confessions.

Russian Orthodox churches

Russian Orthodox church buildings differ in design from most western-type churches. First, their interiors are very enriched with sacramental objects, including holy icons, which are painted or made like frescos and often cover most of the interior. Some of these are icons of Saints and scenes from their lives. One particularly inspiring feature of many Russian churches is that the interior reaches all the way up into the dome or domes of the church (most Orthodox churches have the shape of domes). On the ceiling of many churches (inside the main dome in a domed church), is an icon of Christ as Pantokrator (Ruler of All). Pantokrator icons emphasize Christ's humanity and divinity simultaneously, signifying that Christ is a Man and yet is also The God without beginning or end.

There are no pews. Most churches are lit with candles rather than electric light. Virtually all churches have many votive candle stands in front of the icons. It is customary for worshipers to purchase candles in church stores, light them up and place them on the stands ( this ritual signifies person's prayer to God, or to His Holy Mother, or to the saints or angels asking for help on the difficult path to salvation and to freedom from sin).

All Russian Orthodox churches have an iconostasis which separates the large hall of the church from the holy altar, which signifies the Heavenly Kingdom. Covered with icons, it is intended to stop physical sight, but to allow the spiritual sight of the worshipers through.

The colours of the domes of a Russian Orthodox church having meaning, as follows:

Black - servitude. Black domes are found in monasteries.
Green - the Holy Trinity.
Blue - the Spirit of God.
Gold - Jesus. Gold domes on top of tall drum-like towers also intentionally look like candles from a distance.

Silver domes are also found, but these simply indicate that the dome is modern, and has not been painted.

The number of domes also has meaning:

One on its own indicates Jesus.
Three indicates the Holy Trinity.
Five indicates Jesus and the Four Evangelists.
Seven symbolize the Seven Ecumenical Councils which formulated the basic dogmas of the Orthodox Church, as well as the general use in the Church of the sacred number seven.
Nine represent the traditional nine ranks of Angels.
Thirteen cupolas signify Christ and the Twelve Apostles.

Sometimes the bottoms of the crosses found on Russian churches will be adorned with a crescent. The common misconception attributes these to the fact that in 1552, Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) conquered the city of Kazan which had been under the rule of Muslem Tatars, and in remembrance of this, he decreed that from henceforth the Islamic crescent be placed at the bottom of the crosses to signify the victory of the cross (Christianity) over the crescent (Islam). In fact, cresent on crosses was widespread during pre-Mongolian period of Russian history and bears no relation to the Islam.

Gold is a colour of The Heavenly Kingdom. When used as the background of an icon it is not flat, but is instead intended to be of infinite depth. Icons are drawn in a flat, non-perspective style. This is intentional, not just a reflection on the skills of the icon painters. The flat style of the painting allows the icon to be viewed equally by all, regardless of position.

Some churches were funded by merchants. These often have large crypts, which were intended to serve as warehouses for those merchants.

Most churches are symmetric in architecture and interior design, since in The Heavenly Kingdom everything must have an order. Only a few churches, such as Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, are not symmetric structures.

References

The official web site of the Moscow Patriarchate
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
The Russian Canonical Territory, from the website of the Estonian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church | 988 establishments