Editing Russian Orthodox Church (section)

===Synodal period===
{{further|Church reform of Peter the Great}}
[[File:Софийский собор (Тобольск).jpg|right|thumb|St. Sophia-Assumption Cathedral in [[Tobolsk]]]]

Following the death of Patriarch [[Patriarch Adrian of Moscow|Adrian]] in 1700, [[Peter the Great|Peter&nbsp;I of Russia]] ({{reign|1682|1725}}) decided against an election of a new patriarch, and drawing on the clergy that came from Ukraine, he appointed [[Stefan Yavorsky]] as ''[[locum tenens]]''.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=23}} Peter believed that Russia's resources, including the church, could be used to establish a modern European state and he sought to strengthen the authority of the monarch.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=23}} He was also inspired by church–state relations in the West and therefore brought the institutional structure of the church in line with other ministries.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}} [[Theophan Prokopovich]] wrote Peter's ''Spiritual Regulation'', which no longer legally recognized the separation of the church and the state.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}}

Peter replaced the patriarch with a council known as the [[Most Holy Synod]] in 1721, which consisted of appointed bishops, monks, and priests.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}} The church was also overseen by an ober-procurator that would directly report to the emperor.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}} Peter's reforms marked the beginning of the Synodal period of the Russian Church, which would last until 1917.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}} In order to make monasticism more socially useful, Peter began the processes that would eventually lead to the large-scale secularization of monastic landholdings in 1764 under [[Catherine the Great|Catherine&nbsp;II]].{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}}<ref>Lindsey Hughes, ''Russia in the Age of Peter the Great'' (1998) pp.&nbsp;332–56.</ref> 822 monasteries were closed between 1701 and 1805, and monastic communities became highly regulated, receiving funds from the state for support.{{sfn|Shevzov|2012|page=24}}

The late 18th century saw the rise of ''[[starets|starchestvo]]'' under [[Paisius Velichkovsky|Paisiy Velichkovsky]] and his disciples at the [[Optina Monastery]]. This marked a beginning of a significant spiritual revival in the Russian Church after a lengthy period of modernization, personified by such figures as [[Dimitry of Rostov|Demetrius of Rostov]] and [[Platon Levshin|Platon of Moscow]]. [[Aleksey Khomyakov]], [[Ivan Kireevsky]] and other lay theologians with [[Slavophile]] leanings elaborated some key concepts of the renovated Orthodox doctrine, including that of ''[[sobornost]]''. The resurgence of Eastern Orthodoxy was reflected in Russian literature, an example is the figure of [[Starets]] [[Father Zosima|Zosima]] in [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s ''[[The Brothers Karamazov|Brothers Karamazov]]''.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, the [[clergy]], over time, formed a hereditary [[Priestly caste|caste of priests]]. Marrying outside of these priestly families was strictly forbidden; indeed, some [[bishops]] did not even tolerate their [[Clerical marriage|clergy marrying]] outside of the priestly families of their diocese.<ref name="Russian Clergy">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAiwJjtBKk0C&dq=russian+hereditary+clergy&pg=PA18|title=The Russian Clergy. Translated from the French ... By C. Du Gard Makepeace|first=Ivan|last=GAGARIN|authorlink=Ivan Gagarin|date=25 December 1872|accessdate=25 December 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref>

====Fin-de-siècle religious renaissance====
[[File:Russisch Orthodoxe Kirche Dresden.JPG|thumb|[[St. Simeon of the Wonderful Mountain Church|Russian Orthodox church]] in [[Dresden]], built in the 1870s]]

In 1909, a volume of essays appeared under the title ''[[Vekhi]]'' ("Milestones" or "Landmarks"), authored by a group of leading left-wing intellectuals, including [[Sergei Bulgakov]], [[Peter Berngardovich Struve|Peter Struve]] and former [[Marxism|Marxists]].

It is possible to see a similarly renewed vigor and variety in religious life and spirituality among the lower classes, especially after the upheavals of 1905. Among the peasantry, there was widespread interest in spiritual-ethical literature and non-conformist moral-spiritual movements, an upsurge in pilgrimage and other devotions to sacred spaces and objects (especially icons), persistent beliefs in the presence and power of the supernatural (apparitions, possession, walking-dead, demons, spirits, miracles and magic), the renewed vitality of local "ecclesial communities" actively shaping their own ritual and spiritual lives, sometimes in the absence of clergy, and defining their own sacred places and forms of piety. Also apparent was the proliferation of what the Orthodox establishment branded as "sectarianism", including both non-Eastern Orthodox Christian denominations, notably [[Baptists]], and various forms of popular Orthodoxy and mysticism.<ref>A. S. Pankratov, Ishchushchie boga (Moscow, 1911); Vera Shevzov, ''Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); Gregory Freeze, 'Subversive Piety: Religion and the Political Crisis in Late Imperial Russia', ''Journal of Modern History'', vol. 68 (June 1996): 308–50; Mark Steinberg and Heather Coleman, eds. ''Sacred Stories: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Russia'' (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007)</ref>