Dear CCI Friends,
If there is any month that seems appropriate to discuss ‘things of the spirit,’ it is December, since Christmas, Hanukkah and other spiritual traditions are clumped together in this month. I’d like to share with you my evolving thoughts on Russian Orthodoxy, in addition to a CCI YouTube below that we recently put together on this topic: A Glimpse into Russian Orthodoxy.
An American Antiochian Orthodox father and his two teenage sons applied to go on our September trip to Russia. Among other reasons, they hoped to visit with an American Orthodox priest who moved his family to Russia to continue his life as a Russian Orthodox priest. Our videographer and I traveled on this leg of the journey with them to Rostov Veliky as you will see from the YouTube video. This opened up another porthole for me into the faith which Russians are gradually beginning to explore in varying degrees.
Numbers of Russians today have begun for the first time to identify with the long religious history of Orthodoxy. They find comfort in being part of these traditions whether they go to church regularly or not. Quite a few of them wear small crosses around their necks … more so than at any time since the 1917 Revolution when the church was forbidden, sanctuaries were used for storage dumps and many priests were killed.
Does this mean that Russians are full-fledged Sunday church goers as in American churches? No, not quite. Sunday seems to be the most important day of worship for Russians, but their churches have services and priests are available throughout the week. As far as I can tell, the priests and choirs are central to the worship services which are lovely beyond words. Unlike in American churches, I’ve seen no comradery in the sanctuaries. Each person walks in, makes the sign of the cross and seems intent on the worship service. Afterward they depart seeming to pay no attention to who is nearby. There are evidences that the faithful are increasing. More babies are being baptized today, more weddings officiated by priests and more Russians have begun attending feast days like Easter. I’ve been surprised to go into successful entrepreneurs’ homes and see the traditional elements of icons on their walls, candles hung in corners of the rooms … amid their modern decor. This is new.
Let us think for a moment where we in America are today regarding religion and spirituality. Why? Because what we think of another country’s interest in this subject, will be partially circumscribed by where we ourselves are on the spectrum of this topic.
A part of traditional America seems to be going through a revival of Christian symbols and church going … this being a wing of the Republican party, particularly with Trump supporters. Protestant churches seem more active than Catholic adherents these days, but on the whole there seems to be a lot less interest in church activity now than previously.
Many say that we in America have adopted consumerism and hedonism to replace church and spiritual practices. This may be the reason a number of Americans have been suspicious of Russia’s renewed interest in Russian Orthodoxy.
As an un-churched American woman for many decades, I stand by watching the spirituality or lack thereof, in our country… and at the same time, watching with interest the quiet development of faith across Russia.
It feels to me there is an urgent need in both countries to bring a sense of higher values back into modern life. We human beings tend to be at loose-ends when we have nothing but materialism to get us through the great issues of existence. Where is meaning and purpose if we are primarily consumers? How do people deal with unexpected adversities, mental illnesses, terminal diagnoses … and death? What is filling these human needs in the 21st century?
Are Russians coming back to Orthodoxy because of Vladimir Putin? I think not. Russians are not prone to follow leaders. Historically they have been their heaviest critics. Russians are deep thinkers … whether financially comfortable or at near poverty levels, they are instinctive philosophers who don’t usually ‘buy-in’ to whatever their leaders think, do or say.
Russians may be coming into a serious analysis of themselves and their thousand years of ‘Russian-ness’. What does it all mean? What has kept Russian people together through tyrants, despots and devastating wars? Is there something unique about their history? Even when they were living at poverty levels after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were asking each other the great question: What is our National Idea? Who and what are we as a nation of people? Russian magazines, newspapers and on-line discussions pursued this topic as if it was crucial. During that time, this quest of theirs was a mystery to me. We in America have never had a serious national idea into which we felt we were born. We have always taken pride in our different-ness, not some great same-ness. But for some reason this need for being a part of a National Idea has been very important to most Russians — it seems to mean being part of something that stands for the highest values in culture, spiritual intentions, literature, the arts and human nature. Where is it to be found … if not in our histories, spiritual traditions, churches, synagogues, mosques or temples?
Whether one has a spiritual background or not… to stand in a Russian Orthodox service and hear angelic choral groups chant magnificent ancient scriptures, while the beauty of gold, icons, flickering candles and incense pervade the utter stillness of these centuries-old churches… even an atheist would likely be temporarily moved by it all.
I can see no downside to Russians becoming more Orthodox so long as they don’t expect that others to do likewise––and they don’t. As far as I can tell, Orthodox teaching throughout the world does not support proselytizing. Russia’s laws on these issues are straight forward. People can worship in churches as much as they please, but no knocking on doors, proselytizing in homes, metros, streets, etc. It should be mentioned that there are five major practicing religions across Russia: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, in addition to numbers of smaller religions and spiritual traditions of their 160 nationalities.
As for President Putin, do I think he participates in church or retreats for show, to get Russian citizens to do the same or, as rumored, to consolidate the nation? No, I don’t. My sense is the immense weight of Russia is continuously on his shoulders … such that whatever affiliation he has with religion, it serves a deep personal need within him. The decision making he lives with on a daily basis, must feel like the burden of which Abe Lincoln spoke in the 1860s. Remember that he admitted, “I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives