According to most researchers, the concept of the "
Russian world" was introduced into modern scientific and political circulation in 1993–1997 by P. G. Shchedrovitsky and E. V. Ostrovsky. This ideology, mixing
Orthodox theology,
nationalism and a
revanchist feeling vis-à-vis the old territories of the
Russian Empire and the
Soviet Union (USSR) developed mainly since the accession to power of
Vladimir Putin. With the enthronement of
Kirill (Gundyayev) as
Patriarch of Moscow, the
Russian Orthodox Church became a transmission belt for this idea in all sections of
Russian society. This ideology sees a transnational, civilizational
Slavic unity based on references from the
Kievan Rus', the unity of Orthodox Christianity, the use of the Russian language whose center would be Moscow, perceived as the
Third Rome. Since the end of the USSR, the Russian Orthodox Church has increasingly engaged in initiatives to establish its ecclesiastical authority on what it perceived to be its traditional preserve, while trying to spread its influence over the
Orthodox world in general. With the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, the situation became increasingly untenable and tense within the Eastern Orthodox Church; about 1,600 theologians and
clerics, including many
Russians, participated in this document condemning the Russian moves within the Church and the "heresies" of the
Russian Orthodox Church. ==Contents==