Secondary School in the Russian Federation and Russian Orthodox Church at the Beginning of the 21st Century

In this article we review major points of view of supporters and opponents of church presence into Russian secondary school in the modern context. Those who support church presence in the secondary school claim that it is necessary and argue that people are willing to have Orthodox education, relations between the church and the government have been improved, it is necessary to introduce the pluralistic model of public-church relations, it is in line with the historical identity of the tradition, and that there is a necessity to eliminate systemic imbalances between secondary and faith school. The opponents of the Orthodox education introduction into the context of modern secondary school include atheist parents of students, followers of other religions, supporters of liberal modernization models for Russia, and the group of Russian “intelligentsia” who traditionally do not trust Orthodox Church as a social institution. Major periods of interaction between Russian Orthodox Church and Russian secondary school are specified. We have analyzed the situation in several regions where Orthodox education encountered resistance from the representatives of other religions. Major tendencies of Orthodox education development in the context of new government approaches to the problem are estimated. We explored the role of the course “Fundamentals of Orthodox culture and ethic”, as a compromise of a kind, due to which the problem of Orthodox education promotion in the republics with non-Orthodox population was resolved.