Benefits Of Russian Religion

There was a minor religious gap that influenced both sides. Western Europe consisted of Moors, Christians, and Jews. Russians didn’t have such a broad religious gap, comparable to that of

Once Mongol power declined in the 14th and 15th centuries, Moscow surfaced as Russia’s new capital. The first Tsar (ruler) of the Russians, Grand Duke Ivan IV, was crowned in 1547. In 1618, Michael I, the first of the Romanovs, was crowned tsar. Russia continued to expand throughout Siberia in the 17th century to the Pacific Ocean. Under the rule of Peter the Great, from 1682-1725, Russia’s power was extended to the Baltic Sea, and its capital shifted to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg; a move that has been described as a "window opened upon Europe” to replace its long-standing cultural and economic center, Moscow. By the turn of the 18th century, the Russians had expanded their empire further into Europe and Asia (Gall, 2012).

Russia before Peter the Great was disconnected from Europe and did not have the technology that the rest of the world had. This position was largely caused by the Mongol invasion of Russia around the 14th century. However, before the Mongol rule, the city-states of Kievan Rus predominated the region. This settlement was established when the Vikings began migrating from Scandinavia to the Black Sea, merging with the East Slavic people. Soon after the creation of Kievan Rus, they converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and began trade with the Byzantine Empire. About 250 years later, the Golden Horde began controlling Russia, cutting it off from the rest of the Europe. When the Russians finally broke free from Mongol rule around the 15th

The Russian’s ruler on the other hand, was called a tsar, and held absolute power. While Spain’s Catholic church was extremely powerful, Russia’s Orthodox church was

“Beginning with the reign of Constantine I and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Christian church became a tool of the Emperors. Byzantine Emperors and Empresses played a dominant role in the Eastern church and used the Christian religion to strengthen the Empire internally, to spread Byzantine cultural and political influence, and at times, to fortify their own power”

Russia emerged as a significant power during the 1500s through war. It fought its neighbors and expanded its territory aimlessly. Ivan the Terrible’s expansion brought him into contact with both Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Aiming to gain a port and outlet to the Baltic,

Spanish Conquistadors conquered native people and forced them into compliance into their religion of Roman Catholicism upon these people. Spanish colonization of overseas land incorporated the use of friars and priests to convert people as a means of incorporating and conquering. The Russian empire unified Siberia and brought the Russian Orthodox faith to them, using religion to unify and expand their empire. The Russian conquest of Siberia allowed the Russians to spread their faith and use it as a way to conquer. From 1450 - 1750, religion became a way to rapidly grow an empire and also became an important method of

Firstly, there were security threats to Russia located in the grasslands south and east of Russia’s heartland. Nomadic pastoralists lived in these grasslands and were dangerous, like the Mongols before them. For instance, the nomads “frequently raided their agricultural Russian neighbors and sold many into slavery” (Strayer 635). For this reason, attention was focused more on conquering Siberia. The native Siberians were scattered and did not have gunpowder weapons, which posed no threat to Russia. There was also economic opportunity in Siberia. Fur-bearing animals lived in Siberia, and their pelts were in demand in the global market. For this reason, these animals were known as “soft gold”. The Russians were also motivated to bring Christianity, civilization, and enlightenment to the native Siberians. Although Russia tried to pressure the Siberians into converting to Christianity, they were not as harsh as the Spaniards in Latin America. In addition, hunting grounds were lost which caused some Siberian natives to become dependent on Russian market goods. In the end, many of the natives were “Russified, adopting the Russian language and converting to Christianity, even as their traditional ways of life –hunting and herding-were much disrupted” (Strayer 638). Additionally, Russian expansion westward united many people with different cultures creating a strong and powerful empire. Finally, Russia’s effort to make

But Europe was financially and politically powerful because of its technological advances and ideas. While the Church may have labeled intellectual imports from the west as inherently heretical, pure European technological discovery could still be imported without a necessary threat to Orthodox Christianity. And this by itself could strengthen Russia greatly, as it eventually did under Tsarist reforms. Lastly, Europe was a Christian continent, which made them ideologically prettier than animist, and later Muslim Mongol overlords, or Ottoman sultans. After all, how could one be

The Russian Orthodox Church supported the White Army which in the end was the losing side of the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The Soviet government saw the church as a "counter-revolutionary" organization. The Soviet government also believed the church had a great influence on society. Even though the Soviet Union claimed religious tolerance, the government still discouraged organized religion and tried its best to remove religious influence from Soviet society.

In the 13th century, the Russian Orthodox church shielded the population from the Tatar great invasion that could have engulfed the Christian faith throughout Russia. Similarly, in the 14th century, outstanding bishops helped to unite divided principalities, progressively strengthening an emerging Imperial Russia.

They shared a few political views, but they had two different political systems. The political idea that they shared was centralization. Centralization is when a ruler removes all outside influences from their territory, including the Church and the nobles. Both Russia and England were centralized. In England, the creation of the new secular courts started the break between politics and religion.

Signs of unification are also apparent at the end of the script, when the author explains, “Yaroslav rejoiced to see the multitude of his churches and of his own Christian subjects, but the devil was afflicted, since he was now conquered by this new Christian nation.” This alludes to two key points: Rus’ was able to identify an enemy in the devil through embracing Christianity, and being able to do so allowed the Russian people to collectively identify as a nation. The key word in this passage may be that they were a “Christian” nation, but they were a nation nonetheless, and they knew it. Because of this, the accounts of Yaroslav’s reign are telltale signs that Rus’ was a unified entity without any strong evidence to suggest otherwise.

The Russian empire dissipated and the Tsarist government was overthrown. After a few months of political turmoil, the Bolsheviks rose to power in October 1917 and proclaimed a separation of church and state. The government confiscated all church lands; therefore, the Russian Orthodox Church was in serious distress. The church was further weakened, in the period from 1922 to 1926, twenty-eight bishops and one thousand two-hundred priests were executed. During those years of suffering, the church revealed an astounding power to survive. The Bolsheviks collapsed, but the church

state’, where the Tsar (like Byzantine Emperors) would support the Church and vice versa. They would also encourage the Russian