Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-6228-6695
Abstract
The article is devoted to a comprehensive cultural and religious analysis of the processes of militarization of religious worldview in modern Russia using the example of public speeches of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, as well as the symbolic space of the Main Temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Particular attention is paid to the study of the mechanisms of sacralization of war through the integration of historical memory, Orthodox rhetoric and the state ideology of the “Russian world”. The study analyzes the peculiarities of the interpretation of World War II as the sacred foundation of modern Russian identity, as well as the ways of transforming evangelical narratives of sacrifice into the concept of religiously justified military duty. It is established that in the sermons of Patriarch Kirill there is a rethinking of Christian ethical principles through the prism of state patriotism and military mobilization, which forms a specific model of quasi-religious legitimation of war. The role of historical figures in the formation of a sacralized pantheon of military glory, which is used to substantiate the historical continuity of the Russian military tradition, is separately investigated. It is concluded that the modern religious policy of the Russian Orthodox Church demonstrates a tendency towards the formation of a model of “civil religion”, in which Orthodoxy acts as an instrument of cultural legitimization of state military policy and the formation of militarized collective memory.
Recommended Citation
Lukyanenko, Oleksandr
(2026)
"The Symbolic Language of Militarized Orthodoxy in Patriarchal Sermons, Architecture, and Pseudo-Historical Memory,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 46
:
Iss.
6
, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2791
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol46/iss6/3
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