Deanna WOtursky unit 10

The Russian Orthodox Church is the most powerful and important actor in Russian civil society today. The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) re-emerged as an informal institution with a demand for religious freedom in the Gorbachev era under Glasnost after the suppression of the church to the state under the Soviets. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the church then emerged as a formal structure under the Moscow Patriarchate with informal factions. The Church is separated into three main areas of thought traditionalism, fundamentalism, and liberalism. The Russian Orthodox Church as a political entity favors a non-western traditionalist view on domestic and international politics. Although traditionalism is the norm, liberal aspects pervade the church-state relationship. The Moscow Patriarchate and the church serve as vital elements in political decision making through their role in civil society by promoting a nationalistic approach to church-state relations.