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Over the last decade, religion in Russia has increasingly been used for political purposes. This article argues that although Alexander Solzhenitsyn shared parts of the Putin-era worldview, he used religious ideas in a different way. First, he appealed to religion to reject Russia’s aggressive foreign policy and emphasise the need to focus on inner development. Second, Solzhenitsyn argued for a moral Christian witness based on virtues and civic responsibility. Third, he called Russians and the Russian Orthodox Church to repentance for their passive or active complicity in oppressive systems.
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This page is a summary of: Putinism and Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Religious Motifs, July 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004731899_008.
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