ABSTRACT
Russian history bears a distinct mark of tragic upheavals whenever radical changes are introduced to impose a basically new type of civilization. Thus, the reign of Ivan the Terrible from 1533 to 1584 was marked with unprecedented atrocities and repressions, but all of these bloody excesses happened within the framework of an Orthodox monarchy, though one burdened with Tartar influences. To be "the Russia of Christ" is to be a country where the people not only confess the Gospel truth and perform particular traditional liturgical actions, but really live with Christ and in Christ, according to His commandment: "Abide in me, and I in you". It should be admitted that many things in the life of Orthodox churches do look at first sight as though conditioned by the state and political factors. This is the reason for the current lack of an intellectual theological potential in the Church which would enable it to overcome its artificially implanted conservative-defensive psychology.
