Russian Orthodox Church Revives Mari-Language Services in Mari El in Effort to Hold Its Parishioners

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 20 – The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in recent decades has been among the leading Moscow institutions pushing for the expansion of the Russian language at the expense of non-Russian ones, even though before 1917, its translations of the Bible helped create literary languages for the latter.
    The ROC MP in the republics in almost every case conducts services in Russian or Old Church Slavonic, but now, in places where attachment to non-Russian languages remains strong and where some people are leaving the church because of its language policies, the Moscow church is making an exception, choosing the defense of the faith over the defense of Russian.
    That is now happening in the Finno-Ugric republic of Mari El where the church, fearful of losing members to traditional faiths or protestant groups that conduct their services in Mari, is offering ROC MP services in Mari as well in a limited number of services each week in two locations (foma.ru/v-dvuh-hramah-joshkar-oly-mozhno-posetit-bogosluzhenija-na-marijskom-jazyke.html and idel-ural.org/archives/chtoby-ne-teryat-maryjczev-yz-pryhozhan-rpcz-vozobnovyla-sluzhby-na-maryjskom-yazyke/).
    How long this will last and how widespread it might be come are very much open questions, but the fact that the ROC MP feels compelled to do this shows that attachment to non-Russian languages is stronger than many think and puts the church on a collision course with the Kremlin in this sphere if in no others.