ABSTRACT
There is hardly any sector inRussian state and society which has undergone such radical changes in public perception as religion: suppressed and widely ignored in the Soviet Union, religion and especially Orthodoxy has become one of the most respected elements in contemporary Russia. In Russia, religion has a positive connotation which it has lost in most other modern industrial countries. And it is very much present in the public sphere; this is shown by a glance in almost any street scene in a Russian city or on the skyline in most towns, which has changed considerably because of the construction of new churches.
