History of Russian Orthodoxy in the Age of Revolutions and Modernization: Review of an International Conference in Smolensk

Abstract

The conference “Russian Orthodoxy from modernity to the present day (late 19th - late 20th centuries): projections of the Great Russian revolution in history and historiography” was held on June 15-17, 2018 at Smolensk State University. The conference was attended by more than 30 scholars from various academic centers of Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Poland and the USA. The discussion focused on a wide range of issues related to the evolution of Orthodoxy (from governance structure to religious practices) under the influence of the modernization of Russian society at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and the socio-political processes introduced by the revolutions and the formation of the Soviet system. The changes that took place then largely impact today's Russian Orthodoxy.