The Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church has become a more prominent part of post-Soviet Russia. A number of assumptions exist regarding the Church’s relationship with the Russian state: that the Church has always been dominated by Russia’s secular elites; that the clerics have not sufficiently fought this domination and occasionally failed to act in the Church’s best interest; and that the Church was turned into a Soviet institution during the twentieth century. This book challenges these assumptions. It demonstrates that church–state relations in post-communist Russia can be seen in a much more differentiated way, and that the Church is not subservient, very much having its own agenda. Yet at the same time it shares the state’s, and Russian society’s, nationalist vision. The book analyses the Russian Orthodox Church’s political culture, focus- ing on the Putin and Medvedev eras from 2000. It examines the upper echelons of the Moscow Patriarchate in relation to the governing elite and to Russian public opinion, explores the role of the Church in the formation of state religious policy, and the Church’s role within the Russian military. It discusses how the Moscow Patriarchate is asserting itself in former Soviet republics outside Russia, especially in Estonia, Ukraine and Belarus. It con- cludes by re-emphasising that, although the Church often mirrors the Kremlin’s political preferences, it most definitely acts independently. Katja Richters gained her Ph.D. from the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UK. She currently works as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Erfurt, Germany. Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series 1 Liberal Nationalism in 11 A Russian Factory Enters the Central Europe Market Economy Stefan Auer Claudio Morrison 2 Civil–Military Relations in Russia 12 Democracy Building and Civil and Eastern Europe Society in Post-Soviet Armenia David J. 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McDermott, Bertil Nygren and Carolina Vendil Pallin 22 Russia’s Skinheads Exploring and Rethinking 31 The Religious Factor in Russia’s Subcultural Lives Foreign Policy Hilary Pilkington, Alicja Curanovic´ Elena Omel’chenko and – Al’bina Garifzianova 32 Postcommunist Film Russia, Eastern Europe and World Culture 23 The Colour Revolutions in the Moving Images of Postcommunism Former Soviet Republics Edited by Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Successes and Failures Kristensen Edited by Donnacha Ó Beacháin and 33 Russian Multinationals Abel Polese From Regional Supremacy to Global Lead 24 Russian Mass Media and Changing Andrei Panibratov Values Edited by Arja Rosenholm, 34 Russian Anthropology After the Kaarle Nordenstreng and Collapse of Communism Elena Trubina Edited by Albert Baiburin, Catriona Kelly and Nikolai Vakhtin 25 The Heritage of Soviet Oriental Studies 35 The Post-Soviet Russian Edited by Michael Kemper and Orthodox Church Stephan Conermann Politics, Culture and Greater Russia Katja Richters 26 Religion and Language in ’ Post-Soviet Russia 36 Lenin s Terror Brian P. Bennett The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence 27 Jewish Women Writers in the James Ryan Soviet Union Rina Lapidus 37 Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe after EU Membership 28 Chinese Migrants in Russia, Edited by Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Central Asia and Eastern Europe Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan Edited by Felix B. Chang and – Sunnie T. Rucker-Chang 38 Power and Legitimacy Challenges from Russia 29 Poland’s EU Accession Edited by Per-Arne Bodin, Stefan Sergiusz Trzeciak Hedlund, Elena Namli The Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church Politics, Culture and Greater Russia Katja Richters First published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Katja Richters The right of Katja Richters to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Building justice in post-transition Europe : processes of criminalisation within Central and Eastern European societies / [edited by] Kay Goodall, Margaret Malloch and Bill Munro. p. cm. - - (Routledge frontiers of criminal justice ; 2) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Crime- -Europe. 2. Criminal justice, Administration of- -Europe. 3. Criminal law- -Europe. 4. Law enforcement- -Europe. 5. Post-communism- -Europe. I. Goodall, Kay Eileen. II. Malloch, Margaret S. III. Munro, Bill (William G.) HV6938.5.B85 2012 364.943- -dc23 2012003040 ISBN: 978-0-415-66933-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-11573-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Taylor & Francis Books Contents List of tables viii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x A note on translations, transliteration and place names xi 1 Introduction1 2 The Bases of the Social Conception and political culture: theory and practice 18 3 The ROC’s approach to other religious associations: from tradition and national identity to ‘Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture’ 36 4 The Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Army: sharing a nationalist vision 57 5 Political and religious challenges to the Moscow Patriarchate in Estonia 75 6 The Moscow Patriarchate’s defence of its canonical territory in Ukraine 96 7 Church–State relations in post-Soviet Belarus 128 8 Conclusion 149 Notes 169 Select bibliography 204 Index 208 Tables 3.1 Number of registered Parishes or Equivalents in Russia, 1990–2004 37 5.1 Size of the two Orthodox Churches in Estonia, 2001–2002 76 6.1 Number of Orthodox Parishes in Ukraine, 1997–2011 97 6.2 Distribution of Believers in Ukraine in 2000 98 6.3 Size of ROC and Romanian Orthodox Church, 2010 112 7.1 Number of Parishes or Equivalents in Belarus, 1996–2010 129 Acknowledgements This book is based on my doctoral thesis which I wrote at UCL–SSEES. Many people have helped me during my years as a Ph.D. student and since then as a post-doctoral researcher and I am very grateful to all of them. Peter Duncan, who was my main supervisor at SSEES, made an invaluable contribu- tion to the success of this project. His attention to detail, extensive knowledge and understanding for my concerns never ceased to amaze me and are greatly appreciated. He has also been very kind to continue discussing my research ideas with me even after I graduated. Geoffrey Hosking, who supervised me during my first year at UCL and who read the complete final draft of my dissertation, also deserves special thanks. Very useful feedback and comments were also provided at different stages by Edwin Bacon, Sergei Bogatyrev, Rasmus Nilsson, Sebastian Rimestad, Peter Sowden and Philip Walters. I am grateful for their constructive criticism, but all errors are, of course, exclusively mine. I would not have been able to write this book without the input of my interview partners. They deserve my gratitude for their time and patience when answering my questions and for sharing their views and experiences with me. Thanks to the funding provided by the UCL Graduate School, the University of London’s Central Research Fund, the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies, and SSEES I was able to travel to Russia and elsewhere to carry out this fieldwork. In addition to this, the UCL Graduate School and SSEES as well as the University of Erfurt funded my attendance at international conferences where I received interesting comments and encouragement. During the final year of my Ph.D., I was sponsored by the British Federation of Women Graduates, and as a post-doctoral researcher I have received financial and other support from the Graduate School ‘Religion in Modernisation Processes’ at the Uni- versity of Erfurt and the ‘ProExzellenz’ programme of the county of Thuringia (Germany).