The Formation Process of the “National Orthodoxy” Regime in Contemporary Russia

Through dramatic domestic and foreign changes over the Soviet Union’s extinction, Russia has historically reappeared on the world’s stage. Although contemporary Russia does not have a firm unification principle, a “National Orthodoxy” regime is being formed. “The “National Orthodoxy” corresponds to “the state religion” as the core element of national unification. Separate from “the private Orthodoxy” as a live faith, “the public Orthodoxy” emerged as a principle to unify the people. “The National Orthodoxy” regime is the national ideology that the Russian Orthodox Church should unify with the people of Russia and is a political religious system where national unification is realized by the ideology. Under this regime, the value of the Orthodoxy applies to all the people of Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church promotes a harmonious agreement between the Russian state and society.

The Russian Orthodox Church has been revived in contemporary Russia. While the movement from the bottom known as the private side mixes with the policy from the top known as the government side, “the National Orthodoxy” regime formation process in Russia is promoted. In addition, it is observed that the “centralization of the Orthodoxy” assumes that the Orthodoxy is a unification principle. And at the same time, the “marginalization of the non-Orthodoxy” suppresses and removes religion except the Orthodoxy. In this country, dual structure exists separately while the various schools of religion in the private sphere overlap with “the National Orthodoxy” in the public sphere. The contemporary Russian national identity may say to be reconstructed, with the principle of unification known as the “the National Orthodoxy” regime at its core.