Russian Orthodoxy Open to Dialogue: A Conversation with Dr. Aleksei Bodrov

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The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the appearance on its ruins of a new democratic Russia brought about a series of unprecedented changes to the country. Recent transformations in Russia have radically challenged not only the previous Soviet order but also the whole tradition of Russian culture and statehood. A newly established republic represents a complete break from centuries-long authoritarian rule in Russia, including that of Soviet totalitarianism. Similarly, an attempt to develop a capitalist-style market economy is a step in an opposite direction from the usual in Russia, whose paternalistic, socially oriented economic structure culminated in the Soviet experiment of a total welfare state.

In the domain of religion, the tendency toward radical change displayed itself in a movement toward renewal, openness, and dialogue that became visible in Russian Orthodoxy in the last decade of the twentieth century and that moved away from the spirit of inflexibility so characteristic of both Orthodox Christianity and orthodox communism in Russia. One of the pioneers of the Orthodox Christian movement for renewal is St. Andrew's Biblical …