The Problematics of Violence in Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Discourse

State, Religion and Church . 2015. No. 2.

Alexey Zygmont

This article analyzes a number of issues in contemporary Russian Orthodoxy from the perspective of the link between religion and violence. After a brief survey of the theoretical apparatus, it turns to the imagery of “cosmic war” in the discourse of official representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and of Orthodox nationalists; to the ways that imagery affects questions of ethics and morality; to the events of 2012 associated with the performance of Pussy Riot and the reactions to it; and to examples of symbolic and actual violence. The analysis will conclude with eschatological images of “cosmic conquest” and with what might be called the “sacrificial crisis” of Orthodox parish subculture. This article then attempts to draw links of religion and violence on the theoretical level.

Keywords: Russian Orthodox Church, symbolic violence, religious violence, religious symbolism, Orthodox nationalists, parish subculture