Method of calculation of Christians in Russia (on the example of the Church of Ingria)

Alexey Igorevich Ivanenko PhD in Philosophy, assistant professor, High School of Technology and Energetics Saint-Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design (ulitsa Ivana Chernykh, 4, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 198095)
iwanenkoalexy@hotmail.com

Ivanenko A. I. Method of calculation of Christians in Russia (on the example of the Church of Ingria), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2018, vol. 7, pp. 126–149.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2018-00007

Language: Russian

The article is devoted to the calculation method of Christians in Russia, because standard criteria of self-identity or church-visiting contradict to Christian dogmatics. For example, a nominal Christian can deny the existence of God. From other side, clerics can give incredible number of Christians. For Russia we have variative numbers: are there 4% believers or 80%? Author suggests that real number of Christians correlates strongly with the number of parishes, where religious rites (such as predicts and sacraments) exist. The article gives optimal number of Russian Christians based on modern statistics, Christian (Lutheran) dogmatics and evidence of priests. This number is calculated for situation in Lutheran Church of Ingria, where middle parish consists of one or two hundred believers. However, some Christians go to church from time to time and unregularly. They are «bad sheep», but they are Christians, who have a weak faith. Dogmatically, they are not good Christians because of sins. So, real middle number of one parish is 360 believers. Author suggests that it is an optimal number of believers for one parish. Real number of Christians for one confession is 360 multiply by number of parishes. So, author suggests that there are only 10 mln Christians in Russia: 9 mln of Orthodox Christians and 1 mln of the Protestants. But this number is true only for the beginning of the 21st century.

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Key words: denominations, parishes, Christians, Protestantism, Lutheranism, number of Christians

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/ivanenko-2018-en/

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The gnosiological aspect of religion

Alexey Igorevich Ivanenko, PhD in Philosophy, assistant professor, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
iwanenkoalexy@hotmail.com

Ivanenko A. I. The gnosiological aspect of religion, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2013, vol. 2, pp. 78–86.

DOI: 10.24411/2308-0698-2013-00016

Language: Russian

The article is devoted to epistemological aspects of religion. Following Hegel, the author maintains that religion in one of spiritual form as well as art and science. This method allows to keep distance between clericalism and atheism. Extreme positions are the following: religion is the only expression of truth; religion is a false form of consciousness. The first position denies rational investigation of religion. The second position denies the object of investigation. On the base of contradiction between science and religion, the author maintains that religion has non-scientific truth, which suggest other form of verification. Religion expresses itself in faith and worship, but more necessary are its moral components, which are based on so called Revelation. However, religion is not only moral teaching. But moral component is a normative foundation of society, culture and civilization, which can be studies rationally. Law bases on normative foundation and regulates connection between people. Religious truth has civil aspect, because of question of access to cultural monuments and of mass celebrations. Religious truth correlates with cultural effects, which it expresses. This truth can make a difference between churches and sects.

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Key words: religion, gnosiology, truth, faith

Permanent link: http://rcs-almanac.ru/ivanenko-2013-en/

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The problem of the Middle Ages in the Martin Luther’s Theology

Alexey Igorevich Ivanenko PhD in Philosophy, assistant professor, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680), iwanenkoalexy@hotmail.com

Ivanenko A. I. The problem of the Middle Ages in the Martin Luther’s theology, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2016, vol. 5, pp. 34–41.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2016-00003

Language: Russian

The article is devoted to the interpretation of the Middle Ages from the engle of the Martin Luther’s theology. The main problem is dual status of the Middle Ages. It’s the time of Christian hegemony, but also the period of negative pre-Reformation tendencies. The Lutherans found a middle position between negative humanistic and positive Catholic estimations. In Luther’s texts the Middle ages are seen within two general concepts — of Millenialism and the Babilonian captivity of the Church. According to Luther, millenialism is not in future, it describes the ancient period of the Church’s history. Here Luther bases on ecclesiology of St. Augustine. Millenialism was the time of undivided Church. The Babylonian captivity of the Church began from the Great Schism in 1054. Luther here concentrates not on the question of procession of the Holy Spirit «from the Son» (Filioque), but on the role of priest and understanding of the sacraments. He critisized the idea, that during the liturgy eucharistic bread transformed into the Body of the Lord. This magical interpretation was invented by Thomas Aquinat in the 13th centure. According to Lutheranism, a priest is a pastor, who predicts the Word of God, but not a wizard, who transforms the substance of bread. Another aspect of the Babylonian captivity of the Church is absence of national language in the liturgy. Western Church had a Latin liturgy in the Middle Ages, because Latin was a national language at the time of St. Jerome and St. Augustine, but it was a dead language by the 10th centure.
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Key words: the Middle Ages, Millennialism, Babylonian captivity of the Church, Reformation, Lutheranism

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/ivanenko-a-i-2016-en/

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