The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Honors College Spring 5-2016 The Triad of Nationality Revisited: The Orthodox Church and the State in Post-Soviet Russia Robert D. Potts University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors Part of the History Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Potts, Robert D., "The Triad of Nationality Revisited: The Orthodox Church and the State in Post-Soviet Russia" (2016). Honors College. 408. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/408 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE TRIAD OF NATIONALITY REVISITED: THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE STATE IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA by Robert D. Potts A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Degree with Honors (History and Political Science) The Honors College University of Maine May 2016 Advisory Committee James W. Warhola, Professor of Political Science, Advisor Paul Holman, Adjunct Associate Professor of International Relations Mimi Killinger, Rezendes Preceptor for the Arts Richard Blanke, Professor Emeritus of History Kyriacos Markides, Professor of Sociology Abstract The Orthodox Church has been intimately wrapped up in the Russian state since Russia’s conversion to Christianity in 988. The relationship between the two is most succinctly wrapped up in Tsar Nicholas I’s so-called triad: “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality.” This paper seeks to explain the manner in which the Orthodox Church reasserted itself as a force in Russian politics after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 up through the first administration of President Vladimir Putin.