Worship in Russia. State religion and other religions of modern Russia

In this article we will answer the question of what religions exist in Russia. The Russian religion is a complex of ecclesiastical currents that have been consolidated in the lands of the Russian Federation. As a secular country, Russia defines the Constitution, effective from 1993.

What is freedom of religion? The Constitution is the document that guarantees both the sovereignty of religion and the independence of conscience. He grants the right to confess personally or in community with others any belief or not to believe in anything. Thanks to this document, it is possible to freely popularize, choose, have religious and other beliefs, to function in accordance with them. It is known that the federal law of September 26, 1997 No. 125-F "On Religious Coalitions and Freedom of Conscience" assures "equality before the law, regardless of views and attitudes towards faith."

In Russia, there is no special state federal body designed to monitor the observance of rules by religious organizations. It is known that in the USSR under the Council of Ministers there was a Council for Religious Affairs.

The basic doctrines that appear in Russia are: Buddhism, Islam and Christianity (Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Catholicism). At the same time, part of the Russian population does not believe in God.

Number of believers

What proof do you know about God? We want to tell you that the Lord does not provide proof of his deeds: either there is an act or you do not have faith. In Russia, now there is no official statistics on membership in mantis structures: the law prohibits people from ascertaining their religious affiliation. As a result, the fear of God can be discussed only by studying the results of sociological polls of the population.

It is interesting that the data of such events are ambiguous. Thus, in a blitz poll from 2007, the ROC claimed that its followers were about 120 million Russian citizens. And the leaders of Islam at the same time believed that the country is home to 13 to 49 million Muslims. But in Russia there are only 144 million souls! Consequently, one of the faiths greatly exaggerates its fame.

In August 2012, the "Sreda" service conducted an all-Russian study "Atlas of Nationalities and Religions" in 79 of 83 subjects of the Russian Federation. Here's what she found out:

• 58.8 million (or 41%) of the inhabitants of the Russian Federation belong to the Russian Orthodox Church (they profess Orthodoxy).
• 9.4 million people (or 6.5%) believe in Islam (including Shiites, Sunnis and those who do not consider themselves to be Shiites or Sunnis).
• 5.9 million (or 4.1%) of the inhabitants profess Christianity, but do not consider themselves either Catholics, or Orthodox, or Protestants.
• 2.1 million (or 1.5%) of the inhabitants profess Orthodoxy, but are not Old Believers and do not belong to the ROC.
• 1.7 million (or 1.2%) consider themselves to be the classical religion of their ancestors, serve the forces of nature and different gods.
• 0.4% (or 700 000) of the inhabitants profess Buddhism (usually Tibetan).
• 0.2% (or 350 000) of people are Old Believers.
• 0.2% (or 350 000) people call themselves Protestants (Lutherans, Baptists, Anglicans, Evangelists).
• 0.1% or (170,000) people refer themselves to Eastern religions and spiritual practices (Hare Krishnas and Hindus).
• 0.1% (or 170,000) refer to themselves as Catholics.
• 170,000 (or 0.1%) are Jews.
• 36 million (or 25%) people believe in the Lord, but do not take themselves to a particular religion.
• 18 million (or 13%) absolutely do not believe in the Lord.

It is known that in July 2012 the service "Glas Runet" conducted a poll, which revealed that 67% of visitors to the Russian-speaking Internet are God-fearing.

And the Levada Center's study, conducted in November 2012, showed that the percentage of believers in the Russian Federation was distributed in this way:

• Orthodoxy - 74%.
• Protestants - 1%.
• Catholicism - 1%.
• Atheists - 5%.
• Refused to answer - 0%.
• Islam - 7%.
• Judaism is 1%.
• Hinduism is <1%.
• Buddhism is <1%.
• Other - <1%.
• Difficult to answer - 2%.
• To no religion - 10%.

Information POOM for June 2013 looks like this:

• Orthodoxy - 64%.
• 25% do not consider themselves to be lovers of God.
• Other Christian denominations (Uniates, Protestants, Catholics, Baptists, etc.) - 1%.
• Other creeds - 1%.
• Islam - 6%.
• Difficult to answer, can not name a specific denomination - 4%.

Russian Christianity

Religions in Russia, as you can see, have become very popular. Christianity is represented by three basic directions: Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Catholicism. In this country there are also followers of various new Christian currents, sects and cults.

Orthodoxy

Agree, religions in Russia are widespread. Let us now try to study Orthodoxy. It is known that the Law of the RSFSR of 1990 (from October 25) was replaced by the Federal Law of 1997 (from September 26) No. 125-FZ "On Religious Coalitions and Freedom of Conscience". The opening part of it contains the adoption of the "extraordinary role of Christians in the history of Russia".

Orthodoxy in the Russian Federation is represented by the Russian Orthodox Church, Old Believers' associations, as well as by a large number of alternative (non-canonical) Christian structures of the Russian tradition.

In general, the Russian Christian Church is the largest religious association on the lands of Russia. The ROC considers itself historically the first Russian Christian community: its official statehood was officially established in 988 by St. Prince Vladimir, according to established historiography.

According to the leader of the "Public Russian Movement", political scientist Svyatenkov Pavel (January 2009), the ROC de facto is in a special position in the current Russian society and political life.

Popularization of Orthodoxy in Russia

And how widespread is the religion in Russia? In March 2010, VTsIOM conducted an all-Russian poll, according to which 75% of the residents refer themselves to Orthodox Christians. It is remarkable that only 54% of them studied the Bible, about 73% of Christians observe religious postulates.

Tarusin Mikhail Askoldovich, who holds the post of head of the sociological department of the Institute for Collective Design, believes that this information does not show anything at all. He said that these data are only indicators of the Russian modern national identity. If we consider orthodox people those who at least a couple of times a year take part in the sacraments of communion and confession, then there are only 18-20% of them.

Analysts believe that sociological surveys show that the overwhelming number of believers call themselves Orthodox on the basis of national unanimity.

Catholicism

So, does God exist or not? Can anybody produce any proof? After all, no one saw God. And yet historically, Latin Christianity on the lands of the Eastern Slavs was present from the birth of Kievan Rus. Very often the rulers of the Russian state changed their attitude towards Catholics: either they rejected them, or favorably accepted them. Today, the Catholic community of Russia includes several hundred thousand believers.

We know that in October 1917 the October Revolution was accomplished in Russia, but the Catholic churches continued to work freely for a while. And yet, in the 1920s, Soviet power began to eradicate this faith in Russia. During that troubled time, many Catholic priests were shot and arrested, almost all the temples were looted and closed. Many active parishioners were repressed and exiled. In the RSFSR after the Great Patriotic War, there were only two Catholic churches: the Mother of God of Lourdes (Leningrad) and Sts. Louis (Moscow).

The image of Christ did not leave Russia, and since the early 1990s, Catholics have resumed their activities in Russia. There were two Apostolic Catholic administrations of the Latin rite, a college of Catholic theology and a spiritual higher seminary.

The Federal Registration Service reported in December 2006 that there are about 230 parishes in Russia, a quarter of which do not have temple buildings. The parishes consist of four dioceses, united together in the metropolis.

In 1996, there were 200 to 500 thousand souls in Catholics in Russia.

Protestantism

The number of Protestants in Russia RN Lunkin estimates in three million people (2014). He said that over half of them are parishioners of a large number of Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches. Other large Protestant denominations include tens of thousands of believing citizens: Baptists, Lutherans, Evangelical Christians and Adventists.

According to the number of religious organizations officially registered by the Ministry of Justice, Protestants in the country are on the second place, second only to the Orthodox. By the way, Protestants in the Volga and North Caucasus federal districts are also inferior to Muslims, and in the Far Eastern District they occupy the first place.

Other

The image of Christ is also venerated by Jehovah's Witnesses. Their number in Russia in 2013 was an average of 164 187 active preachers. It is known that about 4,988 Russians in 2013 were baptized, turning into Jehovah's Witnesses. The evening of Recollection in 2013 was attended by 283 221 people. In Russia there is also spiritual Christianity, to which Molokans and Dukhobors belong.

Islam

The names of the gods of the ancient world are almost forgotten. Today in Russia, about 8 million people profess Islam. The Muslim Spiritual Directorate of the European part of the Russian Federation claims that there are about twenty million followers of Islam on the territory of this country.

The overwhelming majority, of course, calls themselves "ethnic" Muslims. They do not fulfill the requirements of the doctrine and refer themselves to it through traditions or place of residence (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan). In the Caucasus, communities have great power (the Christian region of North Ossetia is an exception).

A lot of Muslims live in the Volga-Ural region, St. Petersburg, Moscow, the North Caucasus and Western Siberia.

Judaism

Agree, the religions of the peoples are very interesting to study. Let's find out how many people in Russia worship Judaism. In total there are 1.5 million Jews in Russia. The Federation of Jewish Russian Communities (FEOR) reports that there are 500,000 Jews in Moscow, and about 170,000 Jews in St. Petersburg. In Russia there are about 70 synagogues.

Simultaneously with FEOR, there is another major alliance of Jewish religious communities - the Congress of Spiritual Jewish Associations and Organizations of Russia.

The 2002 census reads that 233,439 Jews live in Russia officially.

Buddhism

Belief and religion can be studied endlessly. For which regions of the Russian Federation is Buddhism traditional? It is distributed in Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva. The Buddhist Association of Russia estimated that the number of people worshiping the Buddha is between 1.5 and 2 million.

In general, the number of "ethnic" Buddhists in Russia (according to the information on the 2012 census) was: Kalmyks - 174 thousand people, Buryats - 445 thousand, Tuvinians - 243 thousand people. In total, about 900,000 souls traditionally refer themselves to the Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelug school.

In the 90s of the 20th century, Zen and Tibetan Buddhism gained immense popularity among the urban intelligentsia. In those days there were even corresponding communities.

In St. Petersburg is the world's northernmost Buddhist church. It was built even before the revolution in Petrograd ("Datsan Gunzehoyney"). Today this building is a tourist and cult center of Buddhist culture.

Other religious forms and paganism

The existence of God has not been proved by science, but indigenous residents of the Far Eastern and Siberian regions, along with officially professed Orthodoxy, preserve the nuances of traditional God-love. Some Finno-Ugric peoples (Udmurt, Mari and others) also honor the ancient dogma.

Their beliefs depend on the preservation of the traditional element and are characterized as folk Orthodoxy or shamanism. By the way, the term "popular Orthodoxy" can be used for most Russians, especially village ones.

The names of the gods work miracles. Therefore, many peoples of Russia are trying to revive traditional beliefs. In 2013, the experimental service "Wednesday" determined that 1.5% of Russians call themselves pagans. It is interesting that all religious trends of this kind are referred to as "neopaganism".

And in the urban environment, in addition to established beliefs, the newest religious movements of the eastern (tantrism, etc.), occult and neo-pagan (family faith, etc.) flourish.

State and religion

Freedom of religion is the greatest value in any country. According to the Constitution, the Russian Federation is a secular country in which no religion can be obligatory or state. In modern Russia, the dominant trend is the clericalization of the country - the gradual creation of a model with the dominant religion.

In practice, in Russia there is no clear demarcation line between the state and creeds, after which the state life ends and confessional begins.

By the way, a member of the RAS Commission on Combating Falsification of Scientific Experiments and Pseudoscience V. Kuvakin believes that the current leadership of Russia is making a huge historical mistake trying to convert the Orthodoxy into a state religion. After all, such actions are contrary to the Constitution.

Clericalization

We all know that the Creator of the Universe is great! Religion penetrates all spheres of social life. It can be found in areas that, according to the Constitution, are separated from faith: in schools, the army, state bodies, science and education. It is known that the State Duma agreed with the Moscow Patriarchate to hold preliminary consultations on all issues that raise doubts. In Russian schools, students began to study the basics of religious cultures, in some universities there is a specialty "theology."

In the staffing of the Armed Forces have introduced a new post - chaplain (military priest). A huge number of departments, ministries, government agencies own their own temples. Very often in these ministries there are public councils covering religious topics.

Armenia

And now let's study the faith of the Armenians. What is it? It is known that most of the inhabitants of Armenia are Christians, who call themselves adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In this country, Christianity appeared in the 1st century AD. E. It was then that the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus preached here, who are considered as supporters of the Apostolic Armenian Church.

It is known that at the beginning of the IV century (the traditional date is 301) King Trdat III declared state religion as the state religion. This is how Armenia became the first Christian state on Earth.

Faith and Orthodoxy are an integral part of the life of almost every Armenian. So, the census of the inhabitants of Armenia in 2011 says that the Christianity of various confessions in the state is professed by 2,858,741 souls. This figure indicates that 98.67% of the God-fearing population live in this country.

The religion of the Armenians is not the same: 29,280 believers honor the Armenian Evangelical Church, 13,843 - the Armenian Catholic Church, 8695 refer themselves to Jehovah's Witnesses, 7532 call themselves Orthodox (Khalkadonites), 2872 - Molokans.

By the way, the Apostolic Armenian Church is among the Orthodox Oriental Churches. These include: Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Malancar and Syrian.

Yezidism

It is known that freedom of religion exists in Armenia. In this country there are 25,204 supporters of Yezidism (almost 1% of the pious population of the state). Mostly these are the Yezidi Kurds. They live in the villages of the Ararat Valley, a little north-west of Yerevan. In the Armavir region of the state on September 29, 2012, the temple Ziarat was solemnly opened.

It is considered the first temple erected abroad by Northern Iraq - the original homeland of the Yezidis. His task is to meet the spiritual needs of the Yezidis of Armenia.

Judaism

God is the Creator of all life on Earth. This opinion is shared by all believers, no matter what religion they relate to. It is interesting that in Armenia there are up to 3 thousand Jews, who mostly live in Yerevan.

Islam

We dismantled the Christian faith of Armenia. And who in this country welcomes Islam? It is known that this belief is practiced by Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Persians, Armenians and other peoples. In Yerevan, specifically for Muslims, a mosque was built.

Today in this state the community of Muslim Kurds includes several hundred souls, most of whom live in the Abovyan district. Some Muslim Azerbaijanis live near the northern and eastern borders of Armenia in the villages. In general, about one thousand Muslims in Yerevan are Kurds, people from the Middle East, Persians and about 1500 Armenian women who converted to Islam.

Neopaganism

Are not you tired of studying the endless religions of the peoples? So, we continue to disassemble this interesting topic. The 2011 census shows that there are 5434 supporters of paganism in Armenia.

The Neopagan religious movement is called Getanism. It recreates the established Armenian pre-Christian dogma. Getanism was founded by Armenologist Slak Kakosyan on the basis of works by Garegin Nzhdeh, the Armenian famous nationalist.

Continually all the neo-pagan mysteries are held in the Garni temple. The head of the Armenian pagan communities is the priest Petrosyan Zohrab. No one knows the exact number of followers of this faith. In general, Armenian neopaganism is popular, as a rule, among fans of ultra-right and nationalist trends.

It is known that well-known politicians of Armenia, Ashot Navasardyan (founded the ruling Republican Armenian Party) and Margaryan Andranik (former Prime Minister of the country) considered themselves to be the gitans.

Freedom of Faith in Russia

The convictions and faith of the Russian people prompted Emperor Nicholas II in 1905 (April 17) to issue the highest decree for the Senate. This decree told about the consolidation of the sources of religious tolerance. It was this paper that for the first time in the history of Russia legislatively asserted not only the rights to freedom of belief of persons of non-Orthodox faith, but also established that the way out of it in other creeds is not subject to persecution. In addition, the tsar legalized the Old Believers and abolished the existing prohibitions and restrictions for other Christian denominations.

The law on religion says that religion since January 20, 1918 in Russia is a personal affair of everyone. This is how he proclaimed the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

And the Constitution of the Russian Federation (part 2, article 14) says that:

• Russia is a secular country. No religion here can be established as binding or state.
• Religious communities are separated from the state and are equal before the law. The federal law "On Religious Coalitions and Freedom of Conscience" in 1997 recorded "the exceptional role of Orthodoxy in Russian history, in the development of its culture and spirituality."

We hope this article has helped you get a general idea of Russian faiths.