Christentum als Wertebasis Europas? Zur Sozialdoktrin der Russisch-Orthodoxen Kirche

In: Osteuropa, Band 53, Heft 9-10, S. 1478-1491

Abstract

After the conversion of Rus' to Christianity, the Orthodox Church remained for a time in close contact with Latin Christendom. However, as the Russian state & Church were fused together during the 15th & 16th centuries, the Church turned more & more into an ideological pillar supporting a conception of the state that was alien to West European traditions & had an anti-Western policy. Even in the Soviet Union, this tradition was revived in the late 1930s. The Russian Orthodox Church has remained, right up to the present day, a stronghold of hostility to all kinds of Western thought -- including conservative Catholic thought. One expression of this tradition can be seen in the Social Doctrine drawn up by the Church in 2000. Russia will only become part of Europe when the Russian Orthodox Church recognizes that it is part of European civilization. Adapted from the source document.