Research Paper On Russian Culture

One country is comparable to the United States of America in terms of world power and prominence. Russia makes their name known beginning in World War 2 (WW2), later in the Korean War, Cold War, and today’s proxy war in the Syria. Russia’s culture, environment, politics, military, and economy do not just make Russia a regional powerhouse, but slowly becoming a region of influential power to surrounding countries with the end state of a global superpower. All the factors that make Russia the powerhouse that it is slowly becoming, highlights the impressive trend that supersedes the previous Soviet Union and past leaders.

Russia has many cultural characteristics that have shaped the country we know today. A nation 's culture can define its actions and make them more predictable as a state on the international level. Understanding a nation’s culture gives great insight into the motives and reasoning behind their aggression or acts of force. Factors such as geography, weather, political landscape, military, and key infrastructure provide a clear understanding of Russian culture and how it has shaped the nation over the past century.

With many new factors making the world globalized and as steps were taken toward modernization in the 1700s, the world underwent many changes, however still keeping some of its initial traditions. From 1700-1900 in Eastern Europe, the economy had switched from agricultural to manufacturing due to the growth of factories and industry in the 1800s and serfdom was abolished, however the tsars still remained the center of authority.

Steven G. Marks, asserts that Russia significantly influenced the modern world with its innovations on: politics, culture, society, fashion, economics, and arts, particularly between 1880 and 1980 in How Russia Shaped the Modern World. Normally Russia is left out of the world history rhetoric, but doing so is incorrect as its conflicting ideals with Western values has two notable significances: the animosity toward Russia by Western society created a series of reactions that impacted the world, and the hostility of others towards the West meant they were rather welcoming to Russian ideas. He begins with the theory of anarchism developing in Russia, from where it would spread to the world. Next he focuses on critical figures in Russian history

We are shown how saints and pilgrimages intersected with national, religious, and regional identities with the peasants. Even though Chulos states that Russia didn't develop a sense of nation (78) a strong sense of cultural identity develop that was inseparable from Orthodoxy. I found this chapter to have greatly showed how religion was important to the peasants by showing just how intertwined it had become throughout the years, that without it the peasants would not have a major part of themselves that helped them live through their troubled

Tsar and People overviews the history of Russia from the Muscovite Tsardom to the end of Imperial Russia in 1917. The book moves through the history of Russia while covering a large unspoken topic, Russian myths. The state of Russia was considered a Christian nation for sponsoring Orthodoxy as their religion from their existence. “Holy Russia” was part of the Russian national myth. The myths in Russia surrounded the state, tsar, and Orthodoxy.

In the past five hundred years in Russia, there have been more not so great rulers compared to the superior rulers. However, in 1762, a great ruler came to power and began changing Russia for the better, her name was Catherine the second. Born a German providence and brought to Russia by the order of Elizabeth I. She [Catherine] later gained the throne after a coup d’état and from there on out Russia was underway become more of the enlightened state. The ways that it became enlightened was through the changes in the internal government, foreign affairs with the western area of Europe and added an influx of culture into the backward country. In order for the county to be powerful in the rest of the world’s eyes, it needed to start somewhere

The denomination that I have chosen to research is Russian Orthodox. The reason that I chose to write on this religion is because I have been interested in learning about the Russian Orthodox religion and all that it entails. The main points of this research paper is a quick history, some of their beliefs, and how does their cross compare to the Roman Catholic cross.

Due to geographical isolation of Russia, many Russians were xenophobic; however, much of the xenophobia has to do with a lack of national identity. Many failed to accept Orthodoxy as their one unified faith, and while religion played a big role in the unification of people in Western nations, it did trouble withstanding on its own. After the dramatic changes imposed on by Peter the Great for Europeanization of Russia, behavior towards Russia’s image as a European nation altered. For instance, Western nations held a supremacist view of themselves, and the idea of enforcing cultural superiority over the East was also adopted by Russians. Western nations did not view Russia as a true European country, and Russia’s new identity was dismissed. “The reluctance of Europe to accept Russia as one of

During the late 10th century, Vladimir I, king of Russia, decided to utilize religion to his advantage. Surrounded by european states unified by a single monotheistic religion, he analyzed the benefits. The growing appeal of such belief systems lessened the attachment to the Russian gods. Centralization of Orthodox Christianity changed the trajectory of Russia forever. The russian alliance with the Byzantine empire grew even stronger in trade and military power. Additionally, Byzantine influence heightened in russian literature, art, and mannerisms. Russian religion separated the kingdom from Roman Catholic western Europe, creating a cultural division that still lasts today. Eventually when the Byzantine empire fell, Russia took it upon themselves

These church people were under the church’s jurisdiction and direct control and included monks, the clergy, church employees and their families, among others. (134, Engelstein) From its inception, the church served as a social welfare organization for the weakest and least fortunate elements of society who were threatened by death or slavery in these barbaric times. In this instance, the church acted as guardian as well as the government. This is yet another example of the construction of influence the church had in shaping Russian culture and government. (134,

The Russian Church was a well-established because of their strong family ties, the way they faced persecution, and the landscape helped the Christians gather together. Today, about 75% of the population of Russia are Orthodox Christian (Fast Facts in Russia). Russian Christians were stronger and held their ground stronger than the other people in the world. In Matthew 10: 22, God states “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

The first russians were Scandinavians and they were called Vargarians. Led by Rurik a great warrior they took control of Novgorod and began there, expanding over the years. This was around 860’s. Fast forward to year 989 the Rurik Dynasty was now under Yaroslav marking the peak of the Kievan Rus, who separated the land to his children and hoped that it would flourish and they would cooperate. They did not and split into regional power centers. The struggling dynasty was invaded by the mongols in 1237 by Batu Khan who over the years destroyed most of the major cities with an exception of Novgorod and Pskov. Mongols were known as Tartars.They established the empire of the Golden Horde. The Kahn of the Golden Horde became the overlord of the Russian Princes. With the Tatars

Russian culture is defined by its ethnic diversity, religion, music, arts, and literature which are admired and respected all over the world. The country currently has close 190 ethnic groups composed of Tartar, Ukrainian, Bashkir, Chuvash, and Chechen descent (Bradford, n.d). These ethnic groups have contributed their language to the Russian society among other things. Religion can be considered one of the most important

Religion can contribute a vast array of aspects to a culture including politics and many other ideals. Many people think that just because Orthodoxy is under the Christian umbrella and the members of this religion meet in a church that it is the same as other forms of Christianity. One may even hypothesize that is “just like the Catholic Church”. This accusation is wrong and many aspects of Russia and the former USSR regions justify this disposition. Despite the conflicting views and accusations about the Russian Orthodox Church, there is a staggering Anthropological context. In order to make sense of the social and cultural impact of Russian Orthodoxy, it is important to know