In this article we will answer the question of what religions exist in Russia. The Russian religion is a complex of church movements, entrenched in the lands of the Russian Federation. As a secular country, Russia is determined by the Constitution, in force from 1993.
What is religious freedom ? The Constitution is the document that guarantees both the sovereignty of religion and the independence of conscience. He grants the right to profess personally or jointly with others any belief or not to believe in anything. Thanks to this document, one can freely popularize, choose, have religious and other beliefs, and 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 to faith”.
In Russia, there is no special state federal body designed to monitor compliance with religious organizations. It is known that in the USSR under the Council of Ministers there was a Council for Religious Affairs.
The basic creeds 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 of God do you know? We want to tell you that the Lord does not provide evidence of his actions: there are either acts or you have no faith. In the Russian Federation, there is currently no official statistics on membership in praying structures: the law prohibits finding out from citizens their religious affiliation. As a result, the God fear of Russians can be discussed only by studying the results of sociological surveys of population.
Interestingly, the data from such events are dual. So, in a 2007 blitz-poll of the Russian Orthodox Church, its followers are about 120 million Russian citizens. And the leaders of Islam at the same time believed that from 13 to 49 million Muslims live in the country. 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 of the Atlas of Nationalities and Religions in 79 of 83 constituent entities 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 (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 classify themselves as 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 Russian Orthodox Church.
- 1.7 million (or 1.2%) consider themselves to be the classical religion of their ancestors, serve the forces of nature and various gods.
- 0.4% (or 700,000) of the inhabitants profess Buddhism (usually Tibetan).
- 0.2% (or 350,000) of the people are Old Believers.
- 0.2% (or 350,000) of people call themselves Protestants (Lutherans, Baptists, Anglicans, Evangelists).
- 0.1% or (170,000) people consider themselves to be Eastern religions and spiritual practices (Hare Krishnas and Hindus).
- 0.1% (or 170,000) call themselves Catholics.
- 170,000 (or 0.1%) are Jews.
- 36 million (or 25%) people believe in the Lord, but do not attribute themselves to a particular religion.
- 18 million (or 13%) absolutely do not believe in the Lord.
It is known that in July 2012, the Voice of the Russian Internet service conducted a survey, which revealed that 67% of visitors to the Russian-speaking Internet are God-fearing.
A Levada Center study conducted in November 2012 showed that the percentage of believers in the Russian Federation was distributed as follows:
- Orthodoxy - 74%.
- Protestants - 1%.
- Catholicism - 1%.
- Atheists - 5%.
- Refused to answer - 0%.
- Islam - 7%.
- Judaism - 1%.
- Hinduism - <1%.
- Buddhism - <1%.
- Other - <1%.
- Difficult to answer - 2%.
- To no religion - 10%.
FOM information for June 2013 looks like this:
- Orthodoxy - 64%.
- 25% do not consider themselves god-lovers.
- Other Christian denominations (Uniates, Protestants, Catholics, Baptists, etc.) - 1%.
- Other creeds - 1%.
- Islam - 6%.
- Difficult to answer, can’t name a particular denomination - 4%.
Russian Christianity
Religions in Russia, as you see, have become widespread. Christianity is represented by three basic areas: Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Catholicism. In this country there are also followers of various new Christian movements, sects and cults.
Orthodoxy
Agree, religions are widespread in Russia. Let's try to study Orthodoxy now. It is known that the RSFSR Law of 1990 (October 25) was replaced by the Federal Law of 1997 (September 26) No. 125-FZ “On Religious Coalitions and Freedom of Conscience”. Its introductory part contains the adoption of the "extraordinary role of Christians in the history of Russia."
Orthodoxy in the Russian Federation is represented by the Orthodox Russian Church, Old Believer associations, as well as a large number of alternative (non-canonical) Christian structures of the Russian tradition.
In general, the Russian Christian Church is the largest religious association in the lands of Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church considers itself historically the first Russian Christian community: officially its state foundation was laid in 988 by the Holy Prince Vladimir, according to established historiography.
According to the leader of the "Public Russian Movement", political analyst Pavel Svyatenkov (January 2009), the Russian Orthodox Church is de facto in a special position in today's Russian society and political life.
Popularization of Orthodoxy in Russia
And how common are religions in Russia? In March 2010, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center conducted a nationwide survey, according to which, 75% of residents consider themselves Orthodox Christians. It is noteworthy that only 54% of them studied the Bible, about 73% of Christians observe religious tenets.
Tarusin Mikhail Askoldovich, who holds the post of head of the sociological department of the Institute for Collective Design, believes that this information shows absolutely nothing. He said that these data are only indicators of Russian modern national identity. If we consider Orthodox people as 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 opinion polls show that the vast majority of believers call themselves Orthodox on the basis of national unanimity.
Catholicism
So, does the Lord exist or not? Can anyone provide any evidence? After all, no one has seen God. Nevertheless, historically, Latin Christianity in the lands of the Eastern Slavs was present from the inception of Kievan Rus. Very often, the rulers of the Russian state changed their attitude towards the Catholics: either rejected them or accepted them favorably. Today, the Catholic community of Russia includes several hundred thousand believers.
We know that the October Revolution took place in Russia in 1917, but the Catholic churches continued to work freely for some time. Nevertheless, the Soviet government in the 1920s began to eradicate this faith in Russia. In those troubled times, many Catholic priests were shot and arrested, almost all churches were looted and closed. Many active parishioners were repressed and exiled. After the Great Patriotic War, only two Catholic churches operated in the RSFSR: Our Lady of Lourdes (Leningrad) and St. Louis (Moscow).
The image of Christ did not leave Russia, and from the beginning of the 1990s, Catholics resumed their activities in Russia. Two Latin-rite Apostolic Catholic administrations, a college of Catholic theology, and a theological seminary appeared.
The Federal Registration Service in December 2006 reported that about 230 parishes operate in Russia, a quarter of which do not have temple buildings. Parishes consist of four dioceses, united together in a metropolitanate.
In 1996, there were 200 to 500 thousand souls in Russia of Catholics.
Protestantism
The number of Protestants in Russia R.N. Lunkin is estimated at three million people (2014). He said that over half of them are parishioners of a large number of Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches. Other major Protestant denominations include tens of thousands of faithful citizens: Baptists, Lutherans, Gospel Christians, and Adventists.
According to the number of religious organizations officially registered by the Ministry of Justice, Protestants in the country are in second place, second only to the Orthodox. By the way, Protestants in the Volga and North Caucasian federal districts are also inferior to Muslims, and in the Far Eastern district they take first place.
Other
Jehovah's Witnesses venerate the image of Christ. Their number in Russia in 2013 averaged 164,187 active preachers. It is known that about 4988 Russians were baptized in 2013, becoming Jehovah's Witnesses. In the evening, Memories in 2013 were visited by 283,221 people. In Russia, there is also spiritual Christianity, which includes Molokans and Dukhobors.
Islam
The names of the gods of the ancient world are almost forgotten. Today in Russia, about 8 million people practice Islam. The Muslim Spiritual Administration of the European part of the Russian Federation claims that about twenty million followers of Islam live on the territory of this country.
The vast majority, of course, calls themselves “ethnic” Muslims. They do not fulfill the requirements of a creed and attribute themselves to it due to traditions or place of residence (Tatarstan, Bashkorostan). In the Caucasus, communities are very powerful (the Christian region of North Ossetia is an exception).
Many Muslims live in the Volga-Ural region, St. Petersburg, Moscow, the North Caucasus and Western Siberia.
Judaism
Agree, the religions of nations 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 500 thousand Jews live in Moscow, and about 170 thousand live in St. Petersburg. About 70 synagogues work in Russia.
Along with FEOR, another major alliance of Jewish religious communities is functioning - the Congress of Jewish Religious Associations and Organizations of Russia.
The 2002 census states that 233,439 Jews are officially living in Russia.
Buddhism
Beliefs and beliefs can be studied endlessly. For which regions of the Russian Federation is Buddhism traditional? It is common in Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva. The Buddhist Association of Russia estimates 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 2012 census) was: Kalmyks - 174 thousand people, Buryats - 445 thousand, Tuvans - 243 thousand people. In total, about 900 thousand souls traditionally attribute themselves to the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.
In the 90s of the twentieth century, Zen and Tibetan Buddhism gained immense popularity among urban intelligentsia. In those days, even corresponding communities appeared.
St. Petersburg has the world's northernmost Buddhist church. It was erected even before the revolution in Petrograd ("Datsan Gunsechoynei"). Today this building is a tourist and cult center of Buddhist culture.
Other religious forms and paganism
The existence of God by science has not been proved, but the indigenous inhabitants of the Far Eastern and Siberian regions, simultaneously with the officially professed Orthodoxy, retain the nuances of traditional godliness. Some Finno-Ugric peoples (Udmurts, Mari and others) also honor ancient creeds.
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 in relation to most Russians, especially village ones.
The names of the gods work wonders. Therefore, many peoples of Russia are trying to revive traditional beliefs. In 2013, the Sreda experimental service determined that 1.5% of Russians call themselves pagans. Interestingly, all religious movements of this kind are designated as "neopaganism."
And in the urban environment, in addition to well-established beliefs, the newest religious movements of the east (tantrism, etc.), occult and neopagan (rodnoverie, etc.) are flourishing.
State and religion
Religious freedom is the greatest value in any country. According to the Constitution, the Russian Federation is a secular country in which no religion can be mandatory or state. In the modern Russian Federation, the clericalization of the country is the dominant trend - the gradual creation of a model with a dominant religion.
In practice, in Russia there is no clear demarcation line between the state and creeds, after which state life ends and confessional begins.
By the way, V. Kuvakin, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Commission for Combating the Falsification of Scientific Experiments and Pseudoscience, believes that the current leadership of Russia is making a huge historical mistake when trying to turn 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 into all spheres of public life. It can also be found in areas that, according to the Constitution, are separated from the faith: in schools, the army, government agencies, science and education. It is known that the State Duma agreed with the Moscow Patriarchate on conducting preliminary consultations on all points that raise doubts. In Russian schools, students began to study the basics of religious cultures; in some universities of the country there is a specialty "theology".
A new position was introduced into the staff list of the Armed Forces - 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 religion of the Armenians. What is it like? It is known that most of the inhabitants of Armenia are Christians who call themselves adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Christianity appeared in this country in the 1st century AD. e. It was then that the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, who are considered supporters of the Apostolic Armenian Church , preached here .
It is known that at the beginning of the 4th century (301 is considered a traditional date), King Trdat III declared Christianity the state religion. That is how Armenia turned into the first Christian state on Earth.
Faith, Orthodoxy are an integral part of the life of almost every Armenian. Thus, the 2011 census of the inhabitants of Armenia states that 2,858,741 souls profess Christianity of various faiths in the state. This figure indicates that 98.67% of the God-fearing population lives in this country.
The religion of Armenians is not the same: 29,280 believers venerate the Armenian Evangelical Church, 13 843 - the Armenian Catholic Church, 8695 consider themselves Jehovah's Witnesses, 7532 call themselves Orthodox (chalcedonites), 2872 - Molokans.
By the way, the Apostolic Armenian Church is among the Orthodox Oriental churches. These include: Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Malankar and Syrian.
Ezidism
It is known that religious freedom exists in Armenia. This country is home to 25,204 supporters of Yezidism (almost 1% of the devout population of the state). These are mainly Yezidi Kurds. They live in the villages of the Ararat Valley, a little northwest of Yerevan. In the Armavir region of the state on September 29, 2012, the Ziarat temple was inaugurated.
It is considered the first temple erected abroad of Northern Iraq - the original homeland of the Yezidis. Its task is to satisfy 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 belong to. Interestingly, in Armenia there are up to 3 thousand Jews, who mainly live in Yerevan.
Islam
The Christian religion of Armenia we have made out. And who in this country welcomes Islam? It is known that Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Persians, Armenians and other peoples profess this creed here. A mosque has been built especially for Muslims in Yerevan.
Today, in this state, the community of Muslim Kurds includes several hundred souls, most of whom live in the Abovyan region. Some Muslim Azerbaijanis live near the northern and eastern borders of Armenia in villages. In general, in Yerevan there are about one thousand Muslims - Kurds, immigrants from the Middle East, Persians and about 1,500 Armenians who converted to Islam.
Neopaganism
Aren't you tired of studying the endless religions of nations? So, we continue to analyze this interesting topic. The 2011 census indicates that 5434 pagan supporters live in Armenia.
The neopagan religious movement is called hetanism. It recreates the well-established Armenian pre-Christian dogma. Hetanism was founded by Armenologist Slak Kakosyan on the basis of the works of Garegin Nzhdeh, the famous Armenian nationalist.
All the neopagan sacraments are constantly held in the temple of Garni. The head of the Armenian pagan communities is the priest Petrosyan Zohrab. No one knows the specific number of followers of this faith. In general, Armenian neopaganism is popular, as a rule, among fans of ultra-right and nationalist movements.
It is known that well-known politicians of Armenia considered themselves guitarists: Ashot Navasardyan (founded the ruling Republican Armenian Party) and Margaryan Andranik (former prime minister of the country).
Freedom of Faith in Russia
The beliefs and religion of the Russian people prompted Emperor Nicholas II in 1905 (April 17) to issue a personalized highest decree for the Senate. This decree told about the consolidation of the sources of religious tolerance. It was this paper for the first time in the history of Russia that legally affirmed not only the right to freedom of belief of persons of the non-Orthodox faith, but also established that going out of it to other creeds was not subject to prosecution. In addition, the king legalized the Old Believers and abolished the existing prohibitions and restrictions for other Christian denominations.
The Law on Religion states that religion has been a personal affair of everyone since January 20, 1918 in Russia. That is exactly what the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR proclaimed.
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 mandatory or state.
- Religious communities are separated from the state and equal before the law. The Federal Law “On Religious Coalitions and Freedom of Conscience” in 1997 recorded “the exclusive role of Orthodoxy in Russian history, in the formation of its culture and spirituality”.
We hope this article helped you get a general idea of Russian religions.