what did Peter the Great do to the church and religion in russia?

Question

i was just wondering what Peter the Great did in regards to the church and religion. its is for a project

Answer 1

A real question about religion in R&S. I'm amazed. I don't know about the Orthodox Church but he was a great modernizer who studied the economics and politics of the West.

Answer 2

Geographically, Kiev sits at the hub of Europe and is a completely different earth but it's simple to it greater if you begin from with hotelbye . Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and is probably the most beautiful city of all of the article soviet countries. It is really a city of all you least expect. Kiev is an old city wherever previous meets new and east meets west. One of many points you will see in Kiev could be the St. Cyrill's Monastery. That monastery was totally off-the-beaten track. That little church is as previous as time, relationship back again to 12th century. Paintings of the famous Mikhail Vrubel get you right into a different world. And the fact that the Monastery is far from the main tourist web sites in Kyiv will make the knowledge much more humbling and inspirational.

Answer 3

To trace the story of religion in the Soviet Union, one must follow the footprints of the Russian Orthodox Church. It has been by far the most prominent religion in the land.

That Church had its beginning in 988 C.E. when Vladimir the Great of Kiev was baptized into the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christendom’s religion. It is said that he converted from his pagan religion in order to gain his wife Anna. She was the sister of the emperor of the then dominant Byzantine Empire. That empire had its capital at Constantinople, the chief seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Vladimir told his subjects that they must all submit to baptism as orthodox Christians. Whoever would not do so was considered to be an enemy of the State. Thus, from its beginning, the Russian Church was backed by secular force. When the Byzantine Empire collapsed in 1453, the Russian Orthodox Church was declared independent from control by Constantinople. Later, the chief religious head at Moscow was made a patriarch equal to the one in Constantinople. However, in 1692 Peter the Great abolished the position of patriarch, controlling the Church himself. And in 1721 the Russian Orthodox Church was officially made the national church.

Significantly, Peter the Great viewed the Holy Scriptures with respect and is quoted as saying: “The Bible is a book which towers above all others, and contains everything pertaining to man’s duty to God and his neighbour.”

Thus, in 1716, Peter commanded his royal court to have a Bible printed in Amsterdam, at his own expense. Each page was to contain a column of Russian text and a column of Dutch text. Just one year later, in 1717, the Christian Greek Scriptures, or “New Testament,” portion was ready.

By 1721 the Dutch section of a four-volume translation of the Hebrew Scriptures had also been printed. One column was left blank, to be filled in later with the Russian text. Peter turned the Bibles over to the “Holy Synod” of the Russian Orthodox Church—the supreme religious authority of the church—to finalize the printing and to manage distribution. However, the synod did not follow through.

Less than four years later, Peter was dead. What happened to his Bibles? The empty columns meant for the Russian text were never filled in. The Bibles were stacked in large piles in a basement, where they rotted—not a single undamaged copy could later be found! The synod’s decision was to “sell all that remained to the merchants.”

Hope this information is of some help to you.

Answer 4

He did not like Church because the Patriarch was trying to interfere in politics. Prior to him, Church had a huge influence, after him it still had a lot of power (largest land owner), but little political power. After the death of Patriarch, he abolished that position. He also did not like Church because it was customary for Russian rulers (and people in general) to spend a lot of time in church/praying. He believed that he had more impotent things to do and could not waste his time on religion. Also, he wanted to reform Russia, including peoples appearance/clothing, but Church traditions required people to wear traditional clothing and have beards. Peter, wanted Russians to look more like Europeans than like Asians and to spend less time praying and more time working.

It is not to say that he persecuted Church. No priests were killed or hurt in any way. The church also kept most of its land. Peter did go to Church services, although not very often, and he did wear cross.