N. Mitrokhin: “In Russia, the study of Islam is much better developed than the study of Orthodoxy”

Candidate of Historical Sciences, author of the book “The Russian Orthodox Church: Current State and Current Problems” (M., 2004), Nikolai Mitrokhin, commented for the SOVA Center on the appointment of an Islamic specialist to the position of head of the department of theology at the Ural State Mining University.

The situation in the field of studying religion, and theology also belongs to this field, in Russia has developed in such a way that de facto the Russian Orthodox Church is of no interest to anyone. It is dangerous to study it, since you can always encounter a negative reaction from church authorities or government officials. There are also relatively few “fans” of the Russian Orthodox Church, who express in scholarly language what the hierarchy would like to read, and, as quite a lot of experience has already shown, the level of their academic preparation is extremely low. The authorities of universities and research centers – both those with a humanitarian education and those without it – understand this very well.

Another major topic in the study of religion could be the activities of Protestant organizations. But most researchers are afraid to do it, since any study of Protestant organizations brings suspicion on the one who is doing it. Any researcher of Protestantism, realizing that Protestants in Russia are successful, active and their numbers are growing, is de facto forced to turn into a defender of Protestant organizations from unfair attacks. This requires inner strength, which the average researcher, as a rule, does not have.

Therefore, the most popular area in the study of religion in Russia turned out to be the study of Islam. There is always money for Islamic research, since a significant part of Russian society associates Islam with a terrorist and separatist danger. For this reason, within the corporation of researchers there has even been a circle of those who are closely associated with the intelligence services, advise them on Islamic issues and write examinations (which, of course, does not mean that all Islamic scholars cooperate with the intelligence services). Naturally, such studies often receive government support: the state needs to be able to distinguish “good” Muslims from “bad” ones, and without the help of experts who can read Arabic and understand the complex relationships between muftiates, this is impossible to do.

As a result, over the last 10-15 years we have seen the flourishing of Islamic studies: a significant number of high-quality scientific works and serious researchers have appeared. In fact, now in Russia the study of Islam is much better developed than the study of Orthodoxy. In addition, as can be concluded from conversations with regional religious scholars and organizers of religious studies seminars, the topic of Islam is of greatest interest to the public.

Thus, when the question arises as to who should lead religious research, university officials may suddenly discover that Islamic scholars are much stronger than their competitors, or at least as good as they are.

Once upon a time, the church worked hard to open this and one and a half to two dozen other theological departments and departments at universities. The university authorities, who agreed to the creation of such a department, had to appoint teaching staff there, including specialists in theology of other religions, and try to rationalize the activities of the department so that it would not engage in naked religious propaganda, but would represent something at least somehow related with science. And now the Metropolitan, who headed the department for several years, has played enough with this toy and realized that he does not have time to seriously engage in this: he has 200 parishes under his command, a cathedral where he must serve, a seminary of which he is the rector. Moreover, the “toy” still does not bring the desired effect, because the academic community stops all direct attempts at religious propaganda. It is quite logical that the university administration replaces the metropolitan with the most effective employee of the same department: this is natural, reasonable and looks sensational only at first glance.