Businessmen, Priests and Parishes

Abstract

Beginning in the late socialist years, the religious situation changed massively and local authors describe this phenomenon as religious renaissance (renessans) or religious rebirth (vozrozhdenie) (E. Arinin, 2005a, 2005b; V. N. Konstantinov, 2003; L. A. Fevraleva, 2005). The widespread romantic picture of a religion that survived in remote places, however, is misleading because the recent revival of Orthodoxy largely depends on religious and political centers like Sergiev Posad, Vladimir or Moscow (M. Benovska-Sabkova and al., 2010). In my research I focused on the middle-sized city of Vladimir, which is situated about 180 kilometers to the East of Moscow. Due to its historic importance, Vladimir and the surrounding region played an important role for the Orthodox religious revival in Russia. Not only the city itself, but also the close-by towns of Suzdal or Rostov the Great and famous monasteries (Bogoliubovo) or old churches (Church of the Intercession on the Nerl) are considered to be part of the Orthodox heartland. Therefore, at particular events Vladimir is referred to as the "heart/soul of Russia" (serdtse/dusha Rossii). Not only the level of religious affiliation changed considerably but also the way how people practice religion, relate to priests and participate in parish life. In this way, the ethnographic material presented here reminds in many details on the material presented by Jeanne Kormina (2010). Like in her case, believers in Vladimir were not content with their faith alone but wanted to practice religion. However, many believers practiced a kind of "user friendly" version of Orthodox Christianity (see J. Kormina, 2010: 280f). While in J. Kormina's case the temporary community of pilgrims was preferred to the permanent community of the parish, in my case believers do become part of a parish. Participation in parish life, then, is reduced to a minimum and the

Religious change in Orthodox-majority Eastern Europe: from Nation-State to Global-Market

“…Surveys conducted in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union reported that 37% of the population in Russia, 39% in Ukraine, and 59% in Bulgaria 'describe themselves as Orthodox Christians' (Pew Research Center, 2017). Qualitative appreciations are difficult, yet characteristics include 'the forceful separation of religious life from the larger society' (Agadjanian & Roudometof, 2005: 12, emphasis in text), the formatting of religion into well-discernible and controllable institutions, as well as its privatisation and spiritualisation (Köllner, 2013). Depending on the country, Orthodoxy was either politicised (in favour of the regime, never in opposition as Catholicism in Poland), i.e.…”

“…In comparison, anthropologists (e.g. Köllner, 2012Köllner, , 2013Caldwell, 2005) have more readily remarked the coincidence of the shift to market economics and the religious revival, and used this in their analysis. Why is it then that sociologists have been blind to what is obvious for other disciplines?…”

Patriotism, Nationalism, Illiberalism in Their Relation to Religion: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

“…This finding can also be found in other states such as post-Soviet Russia where the career prospects for politicians and businesspeople increase when they declare their commitment to mainstream religions such as Orthodoxy in public. Religion, then, becomes a crucial marker showing the trustfulness of politicians, government officials or businesspeople although their actual relation to religion as such is much more complicated and rests on very different associations that include religious belief, religious practice or notions of belonging to the religious community (Koellner 2013(Koellner , 2020.…”