The Russian Orthodox Church: Ideology, Politics, and War

The Russian Orthodox Church plays an important role in supporting Russia's war in Ukraine, even at the cost of an intra-Orthodox theological schism. For many years, the Moscow Patriarchate has supported the Russian authorities in many of their political goals while retaining its autonomy in some societal and memory-related themes, and has taken the lead of the traditional values crusade. Join us with a unique team of experts to discuss the politics and ideology of the Russian Orthodox Church, before the war and since then.

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8:00am Opening remarks by Marlene Laruelle, IERES Director

8:00am–9:00am PANEL 1: The Moralist International

Kristina Stoeckl, University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Dmitry Uzlaner, University of Innsbruck, Austria

• Presentation of the book The Moralist International: Russia in the Global Culture Wars.

9:00am–10:30am PANEL 2: The Russian Orthodox Church and the War

Dima Adamsky, Reichman University, Israel

• Church in War: Ecclesiastical Contributions Towards and On the Battlefield

Sergei Chapnin, Fordham University, US

• “Theology of War” in Sermons and Public Speeches of the ROC Bishops and Clergy: A New Framework for the Post-Soviet Civil Religion

Jason Roberts, The University of Texas at Austin, US

• Power and Authority in Russia's Anti-Modern Orthodox Imaginary

Pål Kolstø, University of Oslo, Norway

• Opposition to the War in Ukraine among the Russian Orthodox

10:30am–12:00pm PANEL 3: The Russian Orthodox Church and the State

Mikhail Suslov, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

• The Russian Orthodox Church and the Regime Ideology of Putinism

Bojidar Kolov, University of Oslo, Norway

• The Russian Orthodox Church’s Political Agency and Identity. Looking into the Power Relations between Church and State from a Historical Perspective

Ivan Grek, The George Washington University, US

• Orthodox Civil Society in Case Studies

Boris Knorre, Higher School of Economics, Russia

• Soviet Heroic Narratives in Post-Soviet Church Orthodox Milieu

12:00pm–13:00pm PANEL 4: Orthodox Geopolitics

Ivan Petrov, Saint Petersburg State University, Russia

• Russian Orthodoxy in the Baltic States

Nikolay Mitrokhin, University of Bremen, Germany

• Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the 2022 War: between Two States