The Orthodox Church in Post-Communist Russia and her Perception of the West: A Search for a Self in the Face of an Other
The given study deals with the process of identity formation in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Russia's post-communist period (1990-2000). Thereby, it relies on the relationist concept of identity as a result of changeable Self/Othernexi. In the case of Russian collective identity, >th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | German |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Diagonal-Verlag
2012
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| In: |
Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft
Year: 2002, Volume: 10, Issue: 2, Pages: 131-174 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The given study deals with the process of identity formation in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Russia's post-communist period (1990-2000). Thereby, it relies on the relationist concept of identity as a result of changeable Self/Othernexi. In the case of Russian collective identity, >the West< - understood as specific cultural / social / political / religious unity - constitutes the Other that not only the Russian national, but also the Russian religious (Orthodox) Self primarily relates to. As shown in the study, this nexus is of central importance for the ROC's formation of a new official position within the setting of the post-communist transformation, understood by Orthodox as Westernization. In search of new responses to the radical changes in its environment (liberalization and pluralization), the Church leadership draws on the pool of ideas of the two openly competing factions that the politically active part of the community of believers is divided into. Their positions may be traced back to the diametrically opposed assessment of the West. The basis of the final position of the Church leadership as found in the documents of the Millennium-Council is ultimately a negative perception of the Other. It is based on ideas of the anti-Western faction that have been confirmed by the leadership's own experiences in the >Westernizing< society, the inter-confessional dialogue, as well as international politics. At the same time the Church leadership takes up elements of the pro-Western position in the spheres of the practical arrangement of the Church's internal and inter-confessional life and of her relation to society at large. Hence, the new official identity of the ROC constitutes a synthesis of the rival positions within the Church towards the West; the Other and its changing image in the 1990s must be considered a pivotal element in the formulation of the Church's post-communist Self. |
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| ISSN: | 2194-508X |
| Contains: | In: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/0035.131 |