The Effect Of The Russian Orthodox Religion

On The Cult Essay, Research Paper

The Effect of the Russian Orthodox Religion on the Cult

Orthodox Christianity has had an huge consequence on the civilization of Russia.

The acceptance of the Orthodox religion from Constantinople by Prince Vladimir in 988

introduced cultural influences that deeply affected the Russian

consciousness. As the people embraced Orthodoxy it developed a uniquely Russian

spirit and frozen deep in the fertile Russian psyche. Orthodoxy had a major

impact on political relations, art, and about every other facet of Russia & # 8217 ; s civilization.

Orthodoxy helped hammer Russia & # 8217 ; s universe position and defined her topographic point in the universe.

The church affected the idea forms and motives of a whole civilization and

changed the manner Russians thought about themselves and the ways that they lived

their lives.

The church acted as a consolidative factor for the Russian state. Church

vacations and fasts enriched and brought intending to the rhythm of seasons and

seeding in the subsistence society. Russians possessed a deep spiritual religion

and from it they derived a sense of intent in the existence and the promise of

redemption. The church nourished and preserved the civilization of Russia during

centuries of internal discord and foreign intercession. Orthodox people feel a

strong sense of community and brotherhood towards one another through a shared

bond of religion. As a consequence of this accent on community, the rights of the

group tend to take precedency over the rights of the person in Russian

civilization. The Orthodox and Catholic religions had an adversarial relationship for

old ages. As this rift deepened and grew progressively counter, the rift

between the East and the West besides grew. The difference in faith between

Russia and Europe can mostly explicate the huge differences that developed in

their civilizations.

The Tsar of All Russia derived his power and right to govern from his

position as God & # 8217 ; s chosen representative on Earth. As it is God entirely who bestowed

power on the czar, it was in the best involvement of the monarchy to protect and

advance the church. This construct of the czar possessing a Godhead right to

regulation contributed to the political passiveness of the Russian people. In the

Byzantium tradition the construct of symphonia defined the relationship between

the church and the province and acted as a balance on the limitless power of the

czar. As the caput of the church and the caput of the province, the metropolitan and

the czar were peers and the metropolitan had the right to reprimand the czar.

The difference between the Possessors and the Non-Possessors challenged the thought of

symphonia, or harmoniousness and cooperation between the pillars of society. The

Owners and the Non-Possessors held immensely different thoughts about the function the

church should play in society and political relations. When the doctrine of the

Owners triumphed, the church gained the right to wealth and serfs at the

disbursal of political influence. The czar became superior to the metropolitan,

and the government could now interfere in secular affairs of the church. The

release of the czar Fr

om any beginning of answerability left the czar with

absolute, limitless power. The maltreatments of Ivan the Terrible epitomize the danger of

absolute regulation left unbridled. The Russian people really believed that God had

sent Ivan to govern Russia as a penalty for her wickednesss. The split between the

two cabals caused the also-rans, the Non-Possessors, to be reviled as misbelievers.

This had a negative consequence because the church came to be represented by a

cabal alternatively of through a consensus. This led to merely one set of thoughts being

developed in the church and the civilization and as a consequence it lost some of its

verve. The Possessors made ritual sacrosanct. Every gesture, word, and

motion was important and to divert from the service in any manner would be

unorthodoxy. This accent in the exterior signifier of faith over interior jubilance

paved the manner for another struggle that was to earnestly sabotage the power of

the church.

The 3rd Rome theory was formulated by the monastic Philotheus in the

15th century. He asserted that Russia was the inheritor and defender of the

merely true religion. Rome and Constantinople had both fallen and Moscow was the

3rd and concluding place of Orthodoxy. This theory legitimized the Russian

Orthodoxy & # 8217 ; s power and affirmed that she was no longer dependent on

Constantinople. A church split occurred in the 17th century due to

alterations in ritual implemented by the Patriarch Nikon. His efforts to rectify

incompatibilities in the rites of the Greeks and the Russians were simply to

set up greater solidarity and continuity between the two religions. Russia was

seeking to assist the Greeks who were populating under Turkish regulation since 1439. Russia

had a sense of manifest fate and she felt that she had been chosen to support

the Eastern Orthodox peoples. The belief that ritual must be inviolable caused

the change of ritual to be considered dissident. Those who refused to

alter their beat of worship were called Old Believers and they were executed

and silenced by the governments. The Old Believers insisted on following the

old signifiers because they feared perpetrating unorthodoxy. The manner they saw the state of affairs

was that Rome had fallen because of unorthodoxy. Moscow was the last place of

Orthodoxy and if Russia fell from the grace of God, it would intend the terminal of the

universe. The basic issue in the split was the relationship between the Russian

and Orthodox churches. Some felt that since Russia had adopted Orthodoxy from

Byzantium she should stay a? junior spouse & # 8217 ; . Others felt that it was

Russia & # 8217 ; s destiny to be a leader and to liberate her Eastern brethren.

The Orthodox relegion has been indispensable to the people to convey them a

sense of hope and fate and a glance of Eden on Earth. The pick of

Orthodoxy was every bit influential as the Mongul Yoke on the formation of the Russian

character. Orthodoxy brought the people a batch of joy, created a sense of

community, intensified the states isolation, created beautiful art, started

wars, complicated political relations, and best of all, reminded the people to love each

other.

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