How Did Christianity Influence The Russian State

The Russian state has a very long history in correlation with religion. Christianity was first introduced to Russia by the Byzantine Empire. Trading ties between Russia and the Byzantine Empire was very strong. Through contact with Byzantines, Russians were influenced by their religion, government, architecture, and art. As a result Russians tried to imitate the Byzantines system of government and adopted Christianity. It was not until 988 that Christianity was the state religion as established by Grand Duke Vladimir. Christianity was eventually embraced as Eastern Orthodox Christianity which was opposed to Roman Catholicism.
The church and the state were closely associated and religion was very much in congruent with state ideologies. After the foundation of the Eastern Orthodoxy, the church was under the jurisdiction of Constantinople, however the Russian Church held substantial autonomy. Meaning that the church was able to elect its own leaders, those of which served separately from Constantinople. With such acts, the Russian church was officially granted independence in 1589 by the Patriarch of Constantinople. In the late 17th century Patriarch Nikon wanted to reform the church, he wanted …show more content…
“Peter adopted many German practices…” and for the Russian Church it meant “setting up a synodical system and abolishing the patriarchate…” and allowed the tsar to make himself the head of the church and this “ran in contrary to Eastern Orthodoxy’s conception of symphony between church and state, which held that the ‘ultimate functions’ of church and state… should remain separate” (qtd. in Kazmina 319). Since then the Russian Orthodox Church has been the most influential and the largest denomination in Russia. With many privileges, however it was regulated and controlled by the state. With the Russian Revolution on the horizon, things are about to change once