Fervent Christians: Orthodox activists in Russia as publics and counterpublics

Kormina, Jeanne

doi:10.1080/09637494.2023.2174757

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 34 publications

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“…This sentiment expressed by Anton is symptomatic of traditionalist Orthodox believers’ perception of their position as a minority in Russian society, where, despite high levels of self‐identification with Orthodoxy, religious observance remains low and lifestyle choices associated with conservative religiosity (e.g. sexual abstinence, opposition to contraception, large families, modest dress for women) are not regarded as norms and often ridiculed (Kormina 2023; Luehrmann 2019). This disregard is particularly common among metropolitan middle‐class youth, whose lifestyles, consumption patterns, and personal aspirations strongly gravitate towards ‘cosmopolitan Western culture’.…”

Section: Military‐patriotic Clubs and Community‐buildingmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Real Orthodox men’: religious masculinities and the new Russian culture of military patriotism

Fomina

2023

Royal Anthropological Inst

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Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, radical nationalist and quasi‐fascist movements defining themselves in opposition to the Russian government dominated the country's paramilitary scene. This trend was almost completely reversed in the 2010s, with the relative decline of grassroots Slavic ethno‐nationalism and the emergence of a statist military‐patriotic culture centred on ‘traditional values’ and Orthodox faith. Drawing on field research with members of a Moscow‐based military‐patriotic club, this article shows how Orthodoxy emerged as an attractive ideological framework to give meaning to individual and communal practices of moral and physical self‐cultivation among patriotically oriented young middle‐class men. I argue that rather than a process of militarization of a religious public, the establishment of the Orthodox military‐patriotic milieu in the late 2000s is better understood as the Orthodoxization of the Russian paramilitary sphere, driven by young militaristically minded men's search for a sense of purpose and belonging. This post‐Soviet Orthodox paramilitary scene that combines militant masculinities with promotion of law abidance and civic values effectively works to curtail more extreme forms of ethno‐nationalism and thus invites us to rethink conventional wisdom on the relationship between religion, militarism, and violent radicalization.

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Section: Military‐patriotic Clubs and Community‐buildingmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Real Orthodox men’: religious masculinities and the new Russian culture of military patriotism

Fomina

2023

Royal Anthropological Inst

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Russian Orthodox Imaginaries and Their Family Resemblance to Populism

Rousselet

2023

J. Religion Eur.

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This article sets out to demonstrate how some Russian Orthodox imaginaries bear a family resemblance to populism. These imaginaries have a distinctive ideological anchor. The influential religious figures who convey them lay claim to a legacy of political thought that can be traced back to a specific form of narodnichestvo, which is Slavophile and associated with aspirations for monarchy. This investigation of populism among Russian Orthodox Christians is structured in three parts. The article begins with a presentation of an ideological repertoire that emphasizes the centrality of the idea of “the people.” Drawing on interviews and material collected over several years in different regions of Russia, particularly Yekaterinburg, the article then looks at the rebellion of Christians who feel marginalized or consider that the Russian Orthodox Church does not have enough influence in Russia. Finally, it explores how “the people” has become central to religious practice itself.

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Connecting Earth and Heaven: Tsar Cross Processions, Spiritual Infrastructure, and Orthodox Christian Citizenship

Kormina

2024

assr

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This article develops Michel de Certeau’s concept of utopian space and applies it to the Russian Orthodox realities, considering space as created by practices and legitimized by certain texts. It argues that Russian Orthodox utopian space evokes social emotions of collectivity and belonging. The article analyses how utopian space is created and maintained in popular religious performances through walking, prayer chanting, the language of spiritual warfare, and the notion of spiritual gaze. It focuses on the tsar cross processions in Ekaterinburg which commemorate the violent death of Nicholas II and his family in 1918.

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Fervent Christians: Orthodox activists in Russia as publics and counterpublics

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

‘Real Orthodox men’: religious masculinities and the new Russian culture of military patriotism

‘Real Orthodox men’: religious masculinities and the new Russian culture of military patriotism

Russian Orthodox Imaginaries and Their Family Resemblance to Populism

Connecting Earth and Heaven: Tsar Cross Processions, Spiritual Infrastructure, and Orthodox Christian Citizenship

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