A Conspiracy of Silence: Interfaces of the Sacred and the Political in the Discursive Practices of Modern Russia

Abstract

Who in modern Russia speaks about the what, when, and how of the mutual implications of the sacred and the political? As the article’s primary focus, it is shown that almost no-one produces coherent, well-articulated narratives, with the exception of some representatives of higher state authorities (however, not the state as such), the anti-clerical intelligentsia (who have neither political representation nor political influence), and the Islamic community (which concentrates predominantly on their own internal disagreements). The nature of a “powerful” narrative is thoroughly investigated. It is shown that its nature is rather close (although with some reservations) to the phenomenon of “political religion” as in Emilio Gentile’s meaning. In the second focus, the reasons of the avoidance of deliberations on the right and wrong interfaces of the sacred and the political of most officials of the Russian Orthodox Church are presented. It is demonstrated that the most likely reasons for this “silence” consists in the inevitable case of the violations of the questioning of the legitimacy of modern Russian state itself. Finally, some scenarios of disruption of the unstable equilibrium that still exist on the dividing line between the Russian sacred and the Russian political are outlined.