Description
Book SynopsisJennifer Hedda analyzes the ideas and activities of the parish clergy serving in St. Petersburg, the capital of imperial Russia, in order to discover how the Russian Orthodox Church responded theologically and pastorally to the profound social, economic, and cultural changes that transformed Russia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The challenges of modernity forced the Orthodox clergy, like other members of educated society, to re-examine their interpretation of the Church''s earthly mission and their own role in fulfilling it. During the mid-nineteenth century, Orthodox theologians began to argue that the church had a responsibility to society as well as to individuals, and to assert that its mission was to lead believers in building a society that manifested the gospel principles of love, mercy, charity, and justice.
The idea of creating the kingdom of God on earth inspired many clergymen, who dramatically increased their social outreach work in the last
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
1: Foundations of the Modern Russian Orthodox Church
2: Bridging the Great Divide: The St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy and the Church's Mission to Society
3: Good Shepherds: Preaching and Pastoral Care in St. Petersburg
4: Church Charity and the Search for Christian Community
5: Teaching, Temperance, and the Expansion of the Church's Mission
6: In the Footsteps of Christ: The Work of Father Grigorii Petrov
7: From Religion to Politics: Father Gapon and the Assembly of Russian Workers
8: Renewing the Church: The Renovationists and Church Reform
9: The Decade of Despair: 1907–1917
Conclusion
Appendix: The Union of Zealots for Church Renovation, 1906
Notes
Works Cited
Index
