The Times uses the pre-G8 World Summit of Religious Leaders to take a look at religion and faith in modern post-communist Russia.

“The diversity of the Moscow gathering emphasises that it is no longer true to call Russia an “Orthodox” country. Even in the heartland of Russian Orthodoxy, west of the Urals, there are significant communities of Muslims (North Caucasus and Tatarstan), Buddhists (Kalmykia) and even pagans (Mari-El), and all are enjoying significant revival.”

The article highlights an extensive encyclopedia published by the Keston Institute. This study is unique in that it is one of the most thorough looks at faith in modern Russia. It reveals that Paganism (and religion in general) has established a significant presence in the formerly “atheist” country.

“Sponsored by Keston Institute, Oxford, the 4,000 or so pages are the product of a team of scholars in Moscow who have visited almost 80 of Russia’s 89 regions. Here is a kaleidoscope of religious belief and practice, the patterns of which shift, sometimes dramatically, from region to region. The religions divide into family groups: there are more than 130 individually studied, including 16 sub-divisions of Pentecostalism, 11 varieties of paganism and 15 “new religions”, such as Scientology.”

Sadly the study is only in Russian, and there are no funds available to translate and edit the study for English-speaking audiences. But we can be glad that it was finished before the recent attempts to control and codify “official” faiths under Yeltsin and Putin.

Tags: Paganism