Russian Profile
Religion

At left is the Church of the Spilled Blood – a well-known Russian Orthodox Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. The brightly colored onion-shaped domes depicted here are uniquely Russian – and Russian Orthodox.

In Russia, more than 60 percent of the population is Russian Orthodox. However, there is more religious variety in many of the former Soviet republics that are now independent states. For example, in 1993 one Belarussian publication reported the numbers of religious communities in Belarus as follows: Orthodox, 787; Roman Catholic, 305; Pentecostal, 170; Baptist, 141; Old Believers (an Orthodox sect), 26; Seventh-Day Adventist, 17; Apostolic Christian, 9; Uniate, 8; New Apostolic, 8; Muslim, 8; Jewish, 7; and other, 15. (source: http://russianculture.about.com/culture/russianculture)

Before 1917, Belorussia had 2,466 religious communities, including 1,650 Orthodox, 127 Roman Catholic, 657 Jewish, 32 Protestant, and several Muslim communities. However, during communist rule, the activities of many religious communities were severely restricted while other communities were completely destroyed, their leaders exiled or executed. Lyobov Boyko remembers clearly the intense persecution she felt as a Pentecostal Christian during this time, particularly in the 1970s under Breschnev.

Many of the refugees from the former Soviet Union who have settled in Utica left their homeland to escape religious persecution. Vera and Victor (both from Belarus) and Lyobov (who was from Moscow, Russia) came to America in 1990 to seek religious freedom. They are all Pentecostal Christians, and their religion is an important part of their lives.

Vera is at her church nearly every day of the week, from choir practice on Monday to prayer service on Friday. Services are held on Wednesday evening, Saturday evening and twice on Sunday - and Vera says that most members attend all four services each week.