| Since the perestroika the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has witnessed a major growth in the canonization of saints and an alleged explosion of miracles as part and parcel of an increased worship of icons and relics. Alongside such transformations of traditional forms of worship, new phenomena, like associating bar-codes with satanic powers, are being authorized as authentically Orthodox. These developments serve as a point of attraction to many Russian people, while at the same time they entail grave tensions within Ortho-dox theology and society at large. Being subject to often radically different interpreta-tions, even to contradictions, is intrinsic to any living religious tradition. The aim of this research is to focus on the theological frictions caused by these peculiar developments so as to further explore the meaning and implications of these developments both for the contemporary ROC and for the religious-political situation. The ROC?s relation to the state is extremely tight; concurrently the ROC exerts an increasing influence on politics and on public opinion. Given the current sociopolitical constellation and the Orthodox theological paradigm of unchangeability and normativity of tradition, there is no theological debate on these developments within the ROC itself. The heterogeneity of the ROC calls for a differentiated approach. Whereas the sociopolitical status of the ROC and forms of Ortho-dox worship before 1917 are prominent research themes, the transformation and au-thorization of religious phenomena after communism is totally unexplored. There is also no (systematic-)theological research on the current ROC. The proposed research aims to understand how religion in Russia is transforming given the changed and changing politi-cal and socio-economic setting. The political ambitions of Russia to reclaim its status as a world power make this research societally important. Finally it will contribute to the broader debates on the revival of religion in the 21st century. |
