Missions of the Russian Orthodox Church as a Tool of Diplomacy: from History to the Present

Misiones de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa como herramienta de la diplomacia: de la historia al presente

• Oleksandr Trygub Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0610-1702
• Oleksandr Osypenko Odessa National Maritime University, Odessa, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1213-0481
• Mykhailo Fedorenko Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Mykolaiv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1713-6492
• Oleksandr Konotopenko Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3139-4527

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4176.05

Keywords: Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Federation, religion and politics, missionary work, Orthodox mission

Abstract

The aim of the article was to determine the role of the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the context of its historical-political development. The methodological basis of the study meant a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach using systemic, civilizational, historical-chronological and structural-functional methods, as well as the method of comparative analysis and institutional approach. The results obtained allow us to conclude that, in the modern world, the Russian Orthodox Church has been noted for its active participation in missionary activity, which has also set itself the goal of spreading the ideas of the ‘Slavic’ or ‘Russian world’ among the peoples of Asia and Africa. The spiritual values preached through the missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church, taking into account its contribution to the Russian state and culture, are gradually becoming the basis for popularizing the Russian national idea, which is dialectically positioning itself as the main civilizational vector of the international policies of the Russian Federation. Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church has a rather strong influence on the formation of the image of the Russian Federation in the eyes of the world community, this is so, in part, due to its spiritual missions.

References

ALLEN, Roland. 1993. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? Logos Verlag Gmbh, Lage, Germany.

GRIGORIEV, Dmitriy. 1988. “From Ancient Valaam to the New World: The Russian Orthodox Mission in North America” In: Notes of the Russian Academic Group in the USA. Vol. 21, pp. 273-296.

ISAEV, Aleksey; ISAEVA, Yulia. 2013. “The Missionary Activity of Religious Associations: the Social and Political Aspect. In: Central Russian Bulletin of Social Sciences. No. 1, pp. 92-95.

MAKSIMOV, Georgiy. 2013. “Foreign Mission of the Orthodox Church Today”. In: Pravoslavie.ru. Available online. In: https://pravoslavie.ru/60957. html. Consultation date: 29/07/2022.

MEDVEDEV, Alexander. 2000. “Russian Mission in China, 1685-1745” In: Yakov Krotov’s Library. Available online. In: http://krotov.info/ library/13_m/ed/ved_a.htm. Consultation date: 15/07/2022.

PAN, Tatiana. 2000. “Archimandrite Hilarion (Lezhaisky) and the First Beijing Spiritual Mission (1717-1729)”. In: Historical Bulletin. No. 2, pp. 196- 202.

RUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL MISSION IN JERUSALEM. 2015. Available online. In: http://drevo-info.ru/articles/13088.html. Consultation date: 17/07/2022.

RUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL MISSION IN KOREA. 2019. Available online. In: http://drevo-info.ru/articles/16884.html. Consultation date: 27/07/2022.

SHKAROVSKIY, Mikhail. 1999. Russian Orthodox Church under Stalin and Khrushchev. Krutitsy Patriarchal Metochion, Moscow, Russia.

SHKAROVSKIY, Mikhail. 2009. “Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Korea”. In: Bogoslov.ru. Available online. In: https://bogoslov.ru/ article/465367. Consultation date: 13/07/2022.

SHKAROVSKIY, Mikhail. 2018. “Missionary Activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the XX century” In: Ipatiev Bulletin. No. 6, pp. 71-86.

SHUBINA, Svetlana. 1998. Russian Orthodox Mission in China (XVIII – early XX centuries). Yaroslavl State University, Yaroslavl, Russia.

SHUBINA, Svetlana. 2010. “Diplomatic Activity of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in China (XVIII-XIX centuries)” In: Yaroslavl Pedagogical Bulletin. No. 1, pp. 189-193.

SHCHETKOVSKIY, Khrisanf. 2012. From Seoul to Vladivostok. The Publishing of Stretensky Monastery, Moscow, Russia.

POBEDONOSTSEV, Konstantin. 1903. The Most Submissive Report of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. Pobedonostsev on the Office of the Orthodox Confession for 1900. Synodal Printing House, St. Petersburg, Russia.

TROFIMCHUK, Nikolai; SVISHCHEV, Mikhail. 2000. Expansion. Moscow. Available online. In: https://psyfactor.org/expan.htm. Consultation date: 21/07/2022.

TRYGUB, Oleksandr. 2007. “The Russian Orthodox Church at the International Relations on a Boundary of Millennium” In: Eminak. Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 80-83.

TRYGUB, Oleksandr. 2014. Russian Orthodox Church in International Relations. Ilion, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.

TRYGUB, Oleksandr. 2015. “The Historic Tradition of the Use of Orthodox Missions Abroad in the Diplomatic Activities of Russia” In: Orientalia Christiana Cracoviensia. No. 7, pp. 59-71.


TRYGUB, Oleksandr; ENACHE, George-Eugen; BOBINA, Oleg; KRAVCHUK, Olga; SHAPOVALOVA, Iryna. 2022. “Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021): from religion to politics” Cuestiones Políticas. Vol. 40, No. 73, pp. 819-836.

TSERPITSKAYA, Olga. 2010. “Theoretical aspects of missionary activity” In: Browser-Observer. Vol. 3, pp. 81-89.

TSERPITSKAYA, Olga. 2011. “Missions and Representations in the System of Foreign Institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church” In: Browser- Observer. Vol. 4, pp. 42-48.

YAKOVLEV, Nikolai. 2001. “Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Japan and its Cathedral in Tokyo” In: Christianity in the Far East. Pp. 32-44.

ZAITSEV, Tikhon; LUKYANOV, Feofan. N.d. “Brief History and Activities of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem”. In: Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. Available online. In: http://www.rusdm.ru/ history/392. Consultation date: 22/07/2022.