Russia, Christianity in

Russia, Christianity in. Christian missionaries first preached extensively in Russia in the 9th and 10th cents. Prince Vladimir was baptized c.988 and established Christianity as the official religion in his dominions. At the Great Schism of 1054 the Russian Church took the E. side. Monastic life began in the first half of the 11th cent. with the coming from Mount Athos of the monk Antony, who established himself near Kiev. After the reforms initiated in the 14th cent. by St Sergius of Radonezh it extended all over Russia. The monasteries supplied bishops, while the secular clergy were commonly married.

Russia rejected the union achieved at the Council of Florence (1439). As the Church in Constantinople for a time accepted the Florentine union, in 1448 a Council of Russian bishops elected a Metropolitan of Moscow without reference to the Greek ecclesiastical authorities; in this way the Russian Church became autocephalous. In 1461 the Russian Church was divided between two Metropolitans, centred at Moscow and Kiev; the former was entirely Russian and rigidly Orthodox, the latter more exposed to W. influence. In 1589 the Patriarchate of Moscow was created. Before that, in 1551, the famous Council of the Hundred Chapters had been called to reform the clergy.

Since the Council of Florence RCs had been severely repressed in the Moscow Tsardom, but Russians in the metropolis of Kiev fell within the territory of Poland and Lithuania and were under pressure from their RC overlords. Many Russian Orthodox in this area recognized the Papacy at the Synod of Brest-Litovsk in 1596.

Within the Russian Church the liturgical reforms of Nikon, Patr. of Moscow (1652–67), precipitated the schism of the Old Believers, which greatly weakened the Church in Russia. The Emp. Peter the Great (1672–1725), anxious to subjugate the Church to his authority, abolished the office of Patriarch, and in his ‘Spiritual Regulation’ of 1721 replaced it with the Holy Synod, whose members were nominated by the Emperor.

In 1917–18 a council of bishops, priests, and laity met in Moscow and initiated a thorough reorganization of all aspects of Church life, in particular restoring the Patriarchate, to which Tikhon was elected. The Revolution of 1917, however, completely disrupted its work. Though public worship was not forbidden by law, it became difficult after Lenin's decree of 1918 removed the right of the Church to own property and made the teaching of religion to anyone under 18 a criminal offence. Clergy were arrested, monasteries and theological seminaries closed, and the Church's public role ceased. When Patr. Tikhon died in 1925, no successor could be elected. After the German invasion of Russia in 1941, Sergius, Metropolitan of Moscow, supported the war effort and the government allowed the reopening of some 20,000 Orthodox Churches and other concessions, including the election of Sergius as Patriarch. With the defeat of Germany in 1945 and increasing tension with the W., anti-religious propaganda resumed. The Orthodox Church retained a limited degree of freedom, but there was widespread persecution of the Lutheran and RC Churches in the newly acquired western territory, including the Balkan states. There was a further wave of persecution in 1959–64 and pressure remained severe until the accession of President Gorbachev in 1985. In 1988, to mark the millennium of the conversion of the East Slav lands to Christianity, a Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was held at Zagorsk, near Moscow. The government promised concessions in return for help in rebuilding society. The restored Danilov monastery became the headquarters of the Moscow Patriarchate, while in the Balkan states RC and Lutheran cathedrals began to reopen. In 1990 a new code on religious freedom was adopted, but it proved short-lived. In 1997 the Duma passed a new law which gave primacy to the Russian Orthodox Church, Islam, and Judaism as traditional Russian religions, while introducing new restrictions on RCs, Protestants, and all minorities.

See also BAPTISTS and UKRAINIAN CHURCHES.