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To: ansel12

I will grant that there is plenty of nominal Christianity among the Orthodox— just as there is among all other Christian traditions— but there is also plenty of living and passionate Christianity as well. I know it from having had the opportunity to know many old-country Orthodox from all over the old Soviet bloc, especially a lot of the younger people. I know people who grew up in essentially a catacomb church in Albania. They are some of the most serious and devoted Christians I have ever met.

I would never idealize the religious situation in Russia. Some of what you said is true, but it is also much more complex than that.


15 posted on 09/20/2026 8:09:55 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.)
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To: Southside_Chicago_Republican

Their church attendance is very, very low.

“In 2024, at the height of patriotic mobilisation around the “special military operation”, Christmas services were attended by about 1.4 million Russians, or roughly one percent of the population. Attendance at Easter services is higher, which is linked to a change in the counting methodology insisted on by Patriarch Kirill. Easter figures now include not only worshippers attending the service, but also those who come to have Easter cakes and eggs blessed. In 2023, their number was about 2.8 million.”


17 posted on 09/20/2026 8:19:50 PM PDT by ansel12
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