The significance of Orthodoxy in the life and historical fate of Russia
Every Russian person, when meeting foreigners, especially from the West, feels and notices that we – Russians – are in many ways different from them. Our thinking, worldview, character, interests and general traits are different. Foreigners also notice this and give us epithets like “crazy Russian”, or “mysterious Russian soul” or “every Russian is a religious philosopher” or simply “you are so funny” (you are so funny). So what's the deal?
The solution to the Russian man is that the Orthodox Christian faith nurtured his character and became the basis of his worldview and culture. Therefore, the difference between a Russian and a Western person most often occurs due to the fact that the Russian approach is more Christian.
Many Russian spiritual fathers, as well as secular writers and thinkers, spoke and wrote about this. But all this was short or just isolated thoughts and hints. There are several works that touch on this topic, but no well-developed book. Book by Professor A.A. Tsarevsky is an exception.
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The book offered to the reader is a reissue of the work of Professor A.A. Tsarevsky. This is a beautifully written work that touches the entire life of the Russian person and clearly shows the influence of the Orthodox faith on him. The book was written with great feeling and love for the Russian people, his culture and the country in which he lives - Russia. For clarity and convenience, this publication has been supplemented with subchapter titles and paragraph summary headings.
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The book describes in detail all sectors of the country's life and the character of the Russian people. There are four chapters in it: (I) Influence on the political fate of Russia, (II) Influence on the internal life of Rus', (III) Influence on the character of the Russian person and (IV) The main properties of the Russian person.
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The book was written for a believer, an Orthodox Christian, who lives according to his faith and knows the Law of God, the history of the Church of Christ, the lives of the saints, etc. For those who do not know all this, it will be difficult. Moreover, we live in a time when people are extremely ignorant about Christianity. It is often said that all religions teach the same thing and that there is little difference between them. Therefore, let us remind the reader about the basic principles of Orthodox Christianity.
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Jesus Christ taught about the One Lord God, the Creator of the whole world, the Righteous and loving Father, the Provider, who created us and gave us commandments on how to live. The Lord taught us that we need to live according to these commandments, we need to work honestly, honor our parents, we must not kill, commit adultery, steal, lie and envy, and most importantly, we must devote time to God. These were the famous Ten Commandments, which were given to the ancient Jews before Jesus Christ. Jesus deepened these commandments and also taught about love for everyone, about modesty, about living according to God's truth, about mercy, about inner purity of heart, about peacemaking, about good deeds, sincerity, moral purity, about spiritual and not material wealth, about spiritual, not physical beauty, about hope in God and about life after death (Matthew 5–7). The entire teaching of Jesus Christ was a deepening of the ancient Jewish faith. The teaching was so righteous, deep and obvious and unusual for those pagan times that it was clear that it did not come from a person.
The teachings of Jesus Christ contained the seeds for a healthy culture and civilization of human society. It quickly spread throughout the world and became the foundation for the laws, morality and life of all peoples. Therefore, this new culture began to be called “Christian”, and the peoples “Christian”. In the world of English there is an expression “this is the Bible” which means: this contains everything, here is everything, this is the basis of everything.
Christianity has had a beneficial effect on the entire world. The pagan world - dominated by power, wealth, pride, cruelty, and moral depravity - was gradually reborn under the influence of Christianity. The main values were kindness, love, mercy, modesty, forgiveness, and purity of morals. Christianity influenced a person’s entire life, all areas of his complex life and washed everything and everyone. Christian rules and norms for life have become the basis of the laws of all civilized countries. Christian teaching became the cradle of a new purified Christian culture.
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We also remind the reader that the Orthodox Christian Church and Orthodox Christianity are that Church and that Christianity that was begun by Jesus Christ and then, at His will, continued by the apostles. At the very beginning, five ancient Churches were identified: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome and Constantinople. Later, these mothers of the Church created other daughters of the Church, who also became independent and equal in rights. Thus, now there are also Bulgarian, Greek, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Sinai, Church on the island of Cyprus and other Churches. The Christian Creed (a short definition of what Christians believe) states that the Church is “conciliar.” All Churches were equal to each other and they did not have a common government. General issues were resolved at meetings called Ecumenical Councils. During the first millennium, the teaching of the Church was established at seven Ecumenical Councils.
In 1054, the Roman Church (the so-called Catholics, who claim primacy in the Church) separated from the Orthodox Christian Church. From it, in 1517, the Protestants separated, who then - due to the uncertainty of the doctrine - were divided into a mass of separate groups (sects). Currently, in 1998, there are over 22,000 of them. The Orthodox Church does not recognize sectarians as Churches, but only as Christian societies.
The Orthodox Christian Church has preserved the authentic teaching of Jesus Christ and is distinguished by the completeness of its teaching. Other Churches and groups have gradually moved away from the original Christian teaching, and for them it is very “diluted” and distorted.
ASM
To the ends of the earth. Orthodox missionary work in Russian history
Historically, Russia has captured vast territories, which is usually associated with political, military and economic circumstances. Less known in this regard is the role of Orthodoxy and the Russian Church. However, warriors, industrialists and dashing Cossacks were not the only pioneers of endless spaces: Orthodox missionaries also went to the ends of the earth, carrying with them the light of the Christian faith, and at the same time literacy and medicine...
According to the behests of Prince Vladimir
Saint Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'
“Grace and Truth filled the whole earth, and faith spread to all nations, and reached our Russian people.” This is what St. Hilarion of Kiev wrote in the 11th century in his “Sermon on Law and Grace.”
The Russian people did not bury the talents they received, but multiplied them and generously shared them with other peoples. Since the time of Grand Duke Vladimir, when a centralized Christian state with its capital in Kyiv was formed, Rus' has expanded, embracing more and more new lands and peoples. Of course, there was the Tatar-Mongol yoke and other difficult events, but by the end of the 16th century, from a relatively small ancient Russian state, a huge Moscow kingdom grew, subjugating the Volga region, the Urals and part of Siberia.
Of course, this process was associated with the growing military-political and economic power of Rus'. But an equally significant factor was Russia’s awareness of its mission to preserve and spread the Christian faith. Princes, kings, church hierarchs and saints, following the biblical understanding, saw in the vastness of the earth a great blessing from God, a sign of special mercy, from which at the same time flowed a huge responsibility for the preservation of Orthodoxy and the structure of their native land. Rus' was called upon to protect and spread the Orthodox faith, to share it with other peoples, including them in a single civilizational space.
“Trinity-Sergius Lavra. (Reverend Sergius of Radonezh blesses Prince Dmitry for the battle with Mamai).” E.E. Lissner. 1907
It is not surprising that the strengthening of Rus', both in old and new lands, was largely thanks to the Church. Suffice it to say that the Monk Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples alone founded about fifty monasteries, including the famous Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. In the North in the 12th-15th centuries, Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk, Ferapontov, Nikolaevsky Karelian, Solovetsky and many other monasteries arose, around which cities and villages appeared. Agriculture, the road network, and economic ties developed. And all this is in direct connection with monastic colonization and the Orthodox mission.
A striking example of missionary service in the 14th century was given by Saint Stephen of Perm. Not with fire and sword, but with a peaceful sermon, he came to the peoples of the Zaryans (present-day Komi) and Permyaks. Despite constant threats, he remained among them, created Christian communities, and developed the Permian written language. Saint Stephen, repeating the exploits of the apostles, gave a classic example of true missionary work, which consists of love for and service to neighbors, respect for other peoples, and not civilized domination over them. Shortly before his death, Stephen prayed to God like this: “Look at these newly baptized people, who were brought to faith by me, the unworthy. And cleanse their souls and bodies with Your grace!”
Saint Stephen of Perm
The same love for other peoples was shown by Saints Theodoret of Kola and Tryphon of Pechenga. In 1518, Theodoret arrived on a small ship in the Kola Bay and began many years of preaching work among the Lapp people (the current Sami). A student of the Solovetsky and Kirillo-Belozersky monasteries, he went through a great test, “tormenting and subduing his flesh into enslavement and obedience to the spirit,” as well as studying the language and customs of the Lapps. Subsequently, the ascetic recalled: “that people of Lapps are very simple and meek people, and not at all inclined to any kind of deceit, but they are diligent and eager for the path of salvation.” Thanks to Blessed Theodoret, the alphabet of the Lapp language and liturgical books in it were compiled. As the Dutch merchant van Salingen, who knew the saint, recalled, Theodoret “dared to create a written language for a language in which no one had ever written.”
Theodoret's associate, Saint Tryphon, founded the Pechenga monastery, in which the monks were mainly from among the Sami - the same ones who, according to the chronicle, once “got enraged like wild beasts, inscrutably doing dirty tricks on the righteous man of God, dragging him by the hair and on the ground throwing and pushing and beating and screaming at him.”
So, since the times of ancient Rus', Orthodox preachers went, like the apostles, “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), preaching, in the words of church hymns, “to the last ends of the northern country.” Where they appeared, new monasteries and settlements arose, and national writing was born. New peoples entered into spiritual ties with Orthodox Russia and gained the protection of the Russian Tsar. And that was just the beginning.
To the East!
"Saint Innokenty Veniaminov brings communion to his North American flock." F. Moskvitin. 2021
Under Ivan IV the Terrible, the Muscovite kingdom began an unprecedented expansion to the east. In 1552, Kazan was taken, and the young sovereign decided to install an Orthodox bishop in the city. The choice fell on Gury - the future Saint Gury of Kazan. The king commanded him: “Teach your clergy so that they live as the Orthodox faith requires, according to the commandments of God. And lead Gentiles to baptism not through fear, but through kindness, avoiding all coercion and threats.”
The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery and other monasteries were founded in Kazan; schools arose under them, in which children of both Christians and non-Christians studied. Saint Gury did not divide people into “us” and “strangers”: Christians, Muslims, and pagans found understanding and support from him. As it is said in his life, he “lived godly, feeding the poor and helping the poor in all their needs.”
After Ermak’s campaigns in 1581-1585. The Muscovite kingdom overcame the Ural ridge, subjugating part of Siberia. It is curious that the great Russian historian and cartographer Semyon Remezov (born in 1642), in his “History of Siberia,” considers the movement to the east a consequence of the choice once made by Prince Vladimir, the development of the historical mission of Rus' to preach Orthodoxy. According to Remezov, “Our all-seeing Christian God, the Creator of all things, has long since, by his will, destined to proclaim the gospel teaching (...) to all ends of Siberia to the edge of the universe.” As if confirming Remezov’s thoughts, Hieromartyr John Vostorgov in Vladivostok in 1909 spoke about the great Christian meaning of Russia’s access to the shores of the Great (i.e., Pacific) Ocean. He called “to return to the meaning of our ancestors: we are going to the Ocean in order to bring the light of Christ and the kingdom of Christ through state and economic power, we are going with Christian culture to the countries of the region of the Dragon-Devil, which are stagnant in paganism and ignorance of Christ.” This desire to actualize the ancient idea of the Christian empire was clearly manifested in the names Eastern Bosphorus and Golden Horn, which Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky enshrined in the toponymy of the Far East.
Missionaries sail to Alaska
As you know, the limit of movement to the east was Alaska and California...
Many books would be needed to describe this great process, so we will only focus on a few examples. In 1794, several Valaam monks arrived in the Aleutian Islands near Alaska. This was the beginning of the Orthodox spiritual mission in America. Among these monks was the future Venerable Herman of Alaska. He wrote about Alaska: “The Creator deigned to give this land as if it were a newborn baby to our dear Fatherland.” The saint said about himself: “I am the lowest servant of these peoples and a nanny.” True to the traditions of the holy apostles and ancient Russian ascetics, Orthodox missionaries in America became selfless educators and servants of local peoples. They were engaged not only in spiritual education, but also helped the Aleuts and Indians with everyday needs, treated them and protected them from oppression by unscrupulous Russian industrialists and officials. Thanks to the works of Saint Innocent (Veniaminov), Aleut literacy arose, prayers and Christian literature were translated into the language of the indigenous people of America.
In a number of cases, Orthodox missionaries literally contributed to the expansion of Russia. Thus, Saint Gury of Tauride, who was the head of the Orthodox spiritual mission in China, during the siege of Beijing by Anglo-French troops in 1860, did a lot to reconcile the warring parties. Using enormous authority among the Chinese thanks to his righteous life and diplomatic talents, the saint helped in negotiations between Russia and the Celestial Empire. Largely thanks to him, the Beijing Treaty was concluded in 1860, according to which the lands on the left bank of the Amur, including present-day Primorye, became part of Russia.
Among smaller examples, one can cite the activities of the great Altai missionary Archpriest Mikhail Chevalkov, thanks to whom part of the Teleut tribe transferred to Russian citizenship from under Chinese rule.
Thus, Orthodox missionaries, together with the entire people, and sometimes even ahead of their fellow tribesmen, went to new lands in the east, helping to strengthen and expand Russia.
Educators of Nations
Both before and now, detractors of the Church are trying to portray it as a source of “obscurantism” and backwardness, impeding enlightenment and useful innovations. This myth is completely unfounded. If only because any critic of the Church expresses his thoughts in the letters that Saints Cyril and Methodius gave us. And it would not be out of place to note that it was the Church that made a huge contribution to the development of the economy, science, education and medicine in Russia.
Saint Macarius Nevsky, Apostle of Altai
In this regard, the example of Orthodox missionaries is indicative. Thanks to them, dozens of peoples of Siberia, the Far East and Russian America (for example, Altaians, Yakuts, Aleuts) acquired their own written language and brought their national culture to a qualitatively new level of development. Thus, in 1894, Archpriest Mikhail Chevalkov’s book “Memorable Testament” was published in the Altai language, presented in the form of a narrative about his life addressed to children. Father Mikhail was a native Altai, and Altai literature began with his book. It is not surprising that the National Library of the Altai Republic is named after Chevalkov, an Orthodox priest.
Let us note that the activities of the Altai mission, founded by the Monk Makarii (Glukharev) in 1830, led to a qualitative improvement in the lives of the Altai people. The missionaries encouraged the Altai people to switch to a sedentary lifestyle, built villages for them, instilled literacy, hygiene and agricultural skills. Schools operated at the missionary camps. The latest agricultural technologies were introduced, and Chevalkov even invented a special plow adapted for plowing land on mountain slopes.
For some, this may seem unexpected, but it was the Orthodox missionaries who advocated mass public education, including female education. Saint Macarius of Altai, in an era of almost complete illiteracy, said: “I earnestly wish for the increase of literate people among the common people and the establishment of schools in the villages.” He paid special attention to the education of girls, who in the nineteenth century had virtually no chance of receiving an education. According to the reverend, “schools in the villages are at least proposed for the benefit of boys; but you, poor girls, you, future mothers of generations, aren’t you human beings, aren’t you Russians?”
Altai spiritual mission
Accessible female education in church schools was typical not only for Altai, but also for other territories. Thanks to the activities of the Orthodox Missionary Society that emerged in 1870 and the spread of the school system of Nikolai Ilminsky, millions of people, including girls, were able to become literate.
In the North Caucasus, the development of mass female education is associated with the activities of the outstanding Ossetian priest-educators Alexy Koliev, Mikhail Sukhiev and Alexy Gatuev. Koliev, in particular, said: “An educated mother means educated children, and educated children mean an educated society.” A whole galaxy of school teachers emerged from among the pupils of church schools and colleges in pre-revolutionary Ossetia.
Missionaries also made a significant contribution to the development of medicine. In some places, the Orthodox priest was the only person capable of providing qualified medical care. Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov), who preached in the Far East at the beginning of the 20th century, recalled: “Medicine in Kamchatka was in a deplorable state. The unfortunate inhabitants of this abandoned Russian outskirts almost all suffered from scabies. Guided by my limited medical knowledge, I tried, as far as possible, to treat them. They always looked forward to and joyfully greeted me as a deliverer from bodily suffering.”
Metropolitan Nestor. 1938
Finally, it should be said that missionaries made a huge contribution to science, compiling ethnographic, linguistic, religious, geographical and other works. For example, many heads of the Beijing Spiritual Mission took a well-deserved place of honor in the history of Chinese studies.
Epilogue
Obviously, the history of the Orthodox mission is an integral part of the history of Russia. Hundreds of both famous and little-known educators, with their tireless labors, helped our Fatherland to strengthen spiritually and materially. We must remember this.
Of course, like our history as a whole, the Orthodox mission did not always proceed perfectly. There were also cases of forced Russification and officialdom. There were appointments as missionaries of people who, under the guise of a mission, were engaged in anything but serving their neighbors. But the right mission, in the apostolic and patristic sense, never faded away. And it was she who gave the best, which is to some extent discussed in this article.
