Russian Society and the Russian Orthodox Church: On the Role of the Church in Society and the Evolution of Relationships

The Russian Orthodox Church has always played an important role in the life of society and the state. The only exception is the Soviet period, when the church and church-state relations were going through hard times. The purpose of the article is to consider the stages of the evolution of relations between Russian society and the Orthodox Church, coinciding with certain periods of the development of the Russian state. The analysis of the history of the development and evolution of these relations made it possible to identify the features of these processes at various stages of the existence of the state.