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territory=Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, some and other former Soviet republics|

website=[http://www.mospatpatriarchia.ru/ Russian Orthodox Church of Russia]

The '''Church of Russia''', also referred to known officially as the '''Moscow PatriarchateRussian Orthodox Church''' and known officially also referred to as the '''Russian Orthodox ChurchMoscow Patriarchate''', is one of the [[autocephalous]] Local Orthodox Churches, ranking fifth after the Churches of [[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]], [[Church of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Church of Antioch|Antioch]], and [[Church of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]]. It exercises [[jurisdiction]] over the Orthodox Christians living in the former member republics of the USSR and their diasporas abroad. It also exercises jurisdiction over the autonomous [[Church of Japan]] and the Orthodox Christians living in the People's Republic of China. The current Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is His Holiness [[Kyrill I (Gundyayev) of Moscow|Cyril Kyrill I]].

In the 12th century, the period of feudal divisions, the Kievan-Rus' Church (present day Ukraine) remained the only bearer of the idea of unity of the people, resisting the centrifugal aspirations and feudal strife among Rus' princes. Even the Tartar invasion, this greatest ever misfortune that struck Rus' in the 13th century, failed to break the Orthodox Church. The Church managed to survive as a real force and was the comforter of the people in their plight. It made a great spiritual, material and moral contribution to the restoration of the political unity of Russia as a guarantee of its future victory over the invaders.

===Non-Possessors and Josephites ===Saint [[Nilus of Sora]] (Nil Sorsky, 1433?-1508), a monk from a remote hermitage in the forests beyond the Volga, launched an attack on the ownership of land by monasteries. St. [[Joseph of Volokolamsk|Joseph, Abbot hegumen of Volokolamsk]] (1439-1515), replied in defense of monastic landholding. This became known as the dispute between the "Possessors" (Josephites) and the "Non-Possessors". (Note that both are saints of the Church.)

As the "Third Rome", the tsar derived his power and right to rule from being God's chosen representative on earth. So, to keep his status, he needed to protect and promote the church. In the Byzantium tradition, the relationship between the church and the state acted as a check on the power of the tsar. The metropolitan and the tsar were equals, and the metropolitan had the right to censure the tsar. The dispute between the Possessors and the Non-Possessors challenged this idea because about a third of the land in Russia belonged to monasteries at this time.

Early in the 20th century the Russian Church began preparations for convening an [[All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918|All-Russian Council]]. But it was to be convened only after the 1917 Revolution. Among its major actions was the restoration of the patriarchal office in the Russian Church. The Council elected Metropolitan [[Tikhon of Moscow]] Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1917-1925). St. Tikhon of Moscow exerted every effort to calm the destructive passions kindled up by the revolution.

When in 1921-1922 the Soviet government demanded that church valuables be given in aid to the population starving because of the failure of crops in 1921, a conflict erupted between the Church and the new authorities who decided to use this situation to demolish the Church to the end. By the beginning of [[World War II ]] the church structure was almost completely destroyed throughout the country. There were only a few bishops who remained free and who could perform their duties. Some bishops managed to survive in remote parts or under the disguise of priests. Only a few hundred churches were opened for services throughout the Soviet Union. Most of the clergy were either imprisoned in labor camps, where many of them perished, or hid in [[catacombs]], while thousands of priests changed occupation. World War II forced Stalin to mobilize all the national resources for defense, including the Russian Orthodox Church as the people's moral force. This process, which can be described as a "patriotic union", culminated in Stalin's receiving on September 4, 1943, Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan [[Sergius I (Stragorodsky) of Moscow|Sergiy Sergius (Stragorodsky)]] and Metropolitan [[Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow|Alexy Alexius (Simansky)]] and [[Nicholas (Yarushevich) of KievKrutitsy|Nikolay Nicholas (Yarushevich)]].

The Russian clergy outside the USSR, who rejected demands of loyalty to the Soviet Communist authorities put forth by Sergiy Sergius (Stragorodsky ) in 1927 (in the so called [[Declaration of 1927]]), formed the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]].

*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg-usdefault.aspx?eccpageIDID=17&IndexViewpagetypeID=toc 9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1 Article on the Orthodox Church of Russiaby Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA web site] (CNEWA)