ABSTRACT
Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox religiosity is characterized by massive restoration of religious institutions, state support for the Russian Orthodox Church, mass identification with Orthodoxy among Russians, and a relatively low level of actual participation in religious practices. The role of the “little flock” in post-Soviet religious life has determined the rise of Orthodox Christianity in Russia as a “bottom-up” social movement, albeit with political support for Russian Orthodox Church from the ruling elite. The significant influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Russian political and social life, and the unequivocal political support for the Church by the ruling elite determine today’s state of Orthodoxy as public religion. “Moral torment” in Orthodoxy is also associated with radical personal transformation, with millenarian expectations, and with anxiety about personal religious salvation. Observations on developments in contemporary Russian Orthodoxy have brought the researcher repeatedly back to the question of the relationship between continuity and social change.
