Orthodox Christianity in Russian Collective Consciousness

  1. Lemma
  2. Православие в массовом сознании россиян
  3. Russian
  4. Asliturk, Miriam
  5. Ecumenism and dialogue > Education - Ecumenism and dialogue > Ecumenism - Culture and national identities
  6. 20-10-2017
  7. Ореховская, Наталья Анатольевна [Author]. Православие в массовом сознании россиян
  8. Вестник Московского государственного университета культуры и искусств
  9. Soviet education - Russian culture - paganism - Russian literature - History of the Russian Orthodox Church - Consciousness - Ecumenism
  10. Click Here
    1. <p>Ореховская, Наталья Анатольевна (2011). Православие в массовом сознании россиян.<em> Вестник Московского государственного университета культуры и искусств</em>, (2), 22-26. Retrieved from: <a href="https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/pravoslavie-v-massovom-soznanii-rossiyan">https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/pravoslavie-v-massovom-soznanii-rossiyan</a> </p>

    1. The author compares the collective consciousness with the subconscious of society. The Russian Orthodox Church has always played a prominent role, affecting public opinion and general Russian culture. From its beginnings, Russian Orthodox Christian culture had a great appreciation for written texts and reading. This is why, according to the author, Russians still prefer books to new forms of media.

      In the author's view, it is through Orthodox Christianity that Russians adopted universal humanistic values. Prince Vladimir the Great (958-1015), who Christianized Ancient Russia, appreciated Orthodox Christianity for its absolute judgments: concurrently a religion of Doomsday, Forgiveness and Salvation. This vision had a great impact on the Russian collective consciousness: one that seeks the absolute and wants to reach it instantly. According to the author, the choice of Orthodoxy by Russians can be explained by their difficult life conditions of 10th century Russians. According to the author, Russian Orthodox Christianity became a national form of Christianity in Russia, unlike Orthodox Churches in Bulgaria, Serbian, Romania, and Greece. Moreover, the Russian Orthodox Church had to adopt various forms of pre-Christian traditional paganism, while at the same time emphasizing the strict character of religious rites and ceremonies, thus bringing about a unique Russian culture.

      The author believes that Russian culture developed a sensual perception of Christian truth that is the basis of Russian religious consciousness. Orthodoxy does not refute the mind and rational thinking but questions its primacy. The Russian Orthodox Church considers that one cannot build faith on abstract thinking; one needs emotional observation for that. The author believes that Russian culture did not lose these qualities during the time of Soviet anticlericalism because it is not only the Church that could preserve the basis of Russian culture: Russian classical literature is based on Russian Orthodox Christian ethics, and the Soviet education system favored studying Russian literature. Moreover, Russian art, music, and theater were always a linked with the Russian Christian tradition during Soviet times. An experiment was recently conducted in schools in eighteen Russian regions included a course on Orthodox Christianity into their curriculums. The objective of the experiment was defined in the following way: on the one hand, to form Russian citizens and, on the other, to avoid conflicts with other religions practiced in Russia. Children were to learn that religion is part of human culture and all religions teach the same things: kindness, care, and tolerance. Russia, however, still needs to prepare teachers on this subject. The author concludes by stating that the spiritual unity of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians was based on the Orthodox Christianity. This unity was destroyed in 1991 politically and it appears that currently Russia’s enemies aim at the cultural unity, which is Orthodox Christianity.