Research projects

The Main Research Projects of the Department of Orthodoxy and East European Church Studies

1. ”Religion and Values after the Collapse of Communism” (1995-1997) ”Religion and Values in Russia” (1998-1999)

A research project financed by Academy of Finland and led by Docent Kimmo Kääriäinen. The aim of the project Religion and Values in Russia is to describe and analyse the transformation in religiousness and values in Russia after the collapse of communism. The project examines (1) the changes in religiousness and values in Russia since the early 1990s, and the nature of Russian morality and religiousness; (2) the influence of religion in personal and national identity among ethnic and religious minorities in Russia and (3) the opinions of Russian elites in regard to religion and values. The materials of the research consist of quantitative material collected by World Values -instrument and of two qualitative interviews. In addition to statistic methods the empirical materials will also be analysed in the light of literature and other sources relevant for the study.

The project has co-operation with the following institutes:

Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Bundesinstitut für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien, Köln, BRD
Research Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland


2. ”The Church life of St. Petersburg and its Contacts with Finnish Ecclesiastical Organisations in the 19th Century and after the Revolution of 1917” (1997-1998)

A research project financied by the St. Petersburg Foundation and led by D.Th. Matti Kotiranta. The research project consists of two separate researches. The first of them, M.Th. Varpu Myllyniemi is preparing a doctoral thesis on the Finnish parish of St. Mary in St. Petersburg in the years 1917-1938. She uses a case study approach to study the Soviet state’s policies on nationality and religion at the local level. Her study is in the final phase and financied by St. Petersburg Foundation from 1997 onwards. (Earlier this study has been financied by a reserch project ”The Significance of Religion and the Nationality in Russia and the Soviet Union in the 19th and 20th Centuries” led by Professor Juha Seppo.) The second, M.A. Irina Kisseleva, is preparing a doctoral thesis on Ingrians and Ingrian Finns in confessional opposition. The case-study of two neigboring parishes - Hevaa and Tyrö. Kissileva’s research project will be the new scientific experience for comparative historical and field studies on micro research level Orthodox and Lutheran confessions. As well as the first attempt to reveal the special ”behavioural enviroment” of microregions with common life and different confessions. Her study is also in the final phase. On theme she has already published an article Marriage Links of Hevaa Ingrians Community to the Problem of Ethnocultural Contacts (in Ethnic Communities and Ethnocultural Processes. Moscow: Nauka, 1993.) Her last article Marriage Pattern and the Mate Choice in Tyrö Parish, 1834-1937 was published in Idäntutkimus 2/1998, 15-37. The continuation of the project after 1999 depends on funding.