ETHNO-RELIGIOUS DIMENSION OF MODERN RUSSIAN IDENTITY: ORTHODOXY VS NEO-PAGANISM

Abstract

According to public opinion polls, the majority of Russians consider themselves Orthodox, which even gave the Pew Research Center a basis to classify modern Russia as one of the countries with the largest Christian populations. However, sociologists are well aware that not all self-described Orthodox Russians are believers. But even those Russians who believe in God do not necessarily recognize Orthodox dogmas. This fact does not surprise scientists, as they correlate Russian Orthodoxy with ethnocultural rather than religious identity of Russians. It is worth noting, however, that in addition to the Orthodox Russian ethnocultural identity, neo-pagan Russian identity is also steadily gaining popularity in Russia. With all the seeming antagonism of Orthodoxy and (neo)paganism these two types of Russian identity are similar and can even flow smoothly one another, combining in the worldview of a modern Russian. It is no accident that the Russian Orthodox Church expresses strong concern about the growth of neo-pagan sympathies and attitudes in society. This looks inexplicable given the clear disparity between these forces in terms of administrative weight and political influence. But the rapid growth in the post-Soviet period of the number of Russians who consider themselves Orthodox, gives grounds to argue that under certain circumstances, an equally rapid increase in the number of adherents of neo-paganism is possible. The religiosity of many Russians could be more accurately described using popular in Western science term “spirituality,” which denotes an individualized set of religious beliefs that are not reducible to any specific confession. And the efforts of the state to popularize traditional Russian folk culture as a means of patriotic education of citizens naturally lead to the fact that these religious ideas are saturated with Russian ethnic flavor. This process creates favorable conditions for the further dissemination of the ideas and ideals of Russian neo-paganism.