Paul Goble
Staunton, May 14 – Despite Putin’s promotion of Russian Orthodoxy as part of his much-ballyhooed traditional values, the share of Russians who identify with that church has fallen from 78 percent in a poll taken in 2011 to another one which was conducted in February and March of this year.
These polls were conducted by St. Tikhon Orthodox University for the Humanities and their results have now been published by Moscow’s Vedomosti newspaper (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2026/05/14/1197125-za-15-let-dolya-pravoslavnih-rossiyan-snizilas).
Russian scholars say that the share of Russians identifying as Orthodox fell to 67 percent in 2020 before jumping upward during the covid pandemic which led many to seek solace in their faith. That upward tick soon dissipated although many had expected a rise during the wave of uncertainty brought on by Putin’s war in Ukraine, something that hasn’t happened so far,
While the total share of Russians identifying as Orthodox has fallen since 2011, the percentage who manifest their religious affiliation by attending services has declined only by an insignificant amount, a sign that those who have fallen away were likely those who earlier were far less committed than those who took an active interest in church life.
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