Abstract
Russian policy makers and historians in their recent search for Russia’s historical cultural identity, are compelled to cultivate a new sense of Russian identity and consciousness. In doing so, they invariably use religion, in their attempt to re-discover the origin of the Orthodox faith in Ancient Rus, and its power to unite the people, when Prince Vladimir introduced Christianity in the kingdom of Ancient Rus in 988 AD.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian neo-nationalism had ‘aligned itself more closely with Orthodox religious resurgence’ (Smith A, National identity. Penguin Books, London, 1991, p. 148). From this religious resurgence, it was drawing on traditional values: a good deal of its national, moral and cultural aspirations. This trend of placing the Orthodox faith on a pedestal was a defining feature of the 19th conservative Russian monarchy and cultural life. The current cultural and ideological connections to religion as a symbol of cultural identity in Russia represent a new dimension of a return to traditional values. It could be argued that for Russia, in her search for identity in the twenty first century, the road leads to inclusive and integrative religion, which acts as a symbol of cultural identity.
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Zajda, J. (2017). Origins of the Russian State: Russia’s Historical Cultural Identity and the Holy Rus. In: Globalisation and National Identity in History Textbooks. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0972-7_2
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