ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the actual character and the sociocultural role of the Russian Orthodox Church, as the true position of other faiths both Christian and non-Christian in Russia. In view of the manifold and vital functions performed by the Russian Orthodox religion, it has probably played a more important role than any branch of the Christian Church in most of the European countries. In its spirit and philosophy the Russian Orthodox Church occupies an intermediate position between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Hierarchically the Russian Church was originally subordinated to the Byzantine Church, being under the jurisdiction of its Patriarch. The principle of Caesarism has certainly found far less authentic expression in the Russian ecclesiastical system than in Roman Catholicism or Calvinism. The Russian religion and church throughout the centuries have been virtually as democratic as any comparable religious system in the world.
