History and Theology of Russian Orthodox Church

In this thesis I have studied “the history and doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church” to develop a comprehensive and deep analysis of this church. Although an extensive study in each chapter would require the writing of books, I have tried to give an overview in each section and address the main issues. The historic study is presented in four chapters based on the four historic periods of government in Russia. The last chapter attends to the study of the Church doctrine. Byzantine Christianity was officially introduced in Russia by Vladimir the Great in 988 A.D. Before long, though, this new religion turned into one of the defining features of the Russian people. The Russians put all their skill and art towards the excellence of the Byzantine Church. They found the spiritual dimensions of this church most interesting as opposed to its theological aspects. Russian Christianity became a hermitic one where hundreds of churches and monasteries were built to allow thousands of monks and worshipers to gather for worship and self purification. During the Mongolian offensives which led to the occupation of parts of the country, the country was held back for two hundred years. However, the Russian nation stood back up on its feet and Ivan IV was finally able to unite the nation and reestablish its independence. The relationship between the czars and the Christian clergy has generally said to have been good, though there have been reports of contentions. The spread of spiritual tendencies and the presence of notable writers with religious tendencies and two areas we have especially focused on in era of the czars. During the 1917 Russian revolution and the establishment of the new government in 1922 the Orthodox Church was severely inflicted and during the subsequent 70 year reign of the Soviet Union it was kept from any progress. After the Soviet Union was resolved in 1991, the deep rooted faith of the Russian nation in Orthodox Christianity led to the reconstruction of the Orthodox Church. The revival of the Orthodox Church has since become one of the focuses of the Russian nation and government.