Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy

by Dmitry Adamsky

A nuclear priesthood has arisen in Russia. From portable churches to the consecration of weapons systems, the Russian Orthodox Church has been integrated into every facet of the armed forces to become a vital part of Russian national security, politics, and identity. This extraordinary intertwining of church and military is nowhere more visible than in the nuclear weapons community, where the priesthood has penetrated all levels of command and the Church has positioned itself as a guardian of the state's nuclear potential. Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy considers how, since the Soviet collapse in 1991, the Church has worked its way into the nuclear forces, the most significant wing of one of the world's most powerful military organizations.

Dmitry Adamsky describes how the Orthodox faith has merged with Russian national identity as the Church continues to expand its influence on foreign and domestic politics. The Church both legitimizes and influences Moscow's assertive national security strategy in the twenty-first century. This book sheds light on the role of faith in modern militaries and highlights the implications of this phenomenon for international security. Ultimately, Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy interrogates the implications of the confluence of religion and security for other members of the nuclear club, beyond Russia.

Genres: Russia, Politics, History, Religion, Military Fiction

Audible Audio

Published May 17, 2022

Reviews

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

From consecration of weapon systems to mandatory "Orthodox culture" courses in military academies, the Russian Orthodox Church is present in in every facet of the Russian armed forces.

I remember in interview clips of Russian soldiers in Crimea and Syria, the soldiers themselves frankly expressed that they perceive their mission as a holy task of protecting the Orthodox faith. This had puzzled me before but now I have a better grasp thanks to Adamsky's "Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy".

While there have been studies on the implications of religion on international relations and national armed forces, the studies so far have been focused on political Islam. What often flies under the radar is the degree in which Eastern Orthodox Christianity has been integrated into every facet of Russian armed forces and woven into the current ideology of the Russian military.

The book is structured into 3 parts chronologically and in each part discusses the Russian Orthodox Church's (ROC) relationship with the armed forces in general (State-Church Relations), ROC's role in the nuclear community (Faith-Nuclear Nexus in the nuclear triad, space and storage divisions), and the implications in national security ideology (Strategic Mythmaking).

The author convincingly demonstrates that in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ROC found an unique opportunity to position itself as the public defender and provider of an underlying ideological foundation for the demoralized military, especially the nuclear community. This paid dividends and the priesthood in effect, replaced the Soviet political officers in the military and are generally more respected and wielding greater influence than their Soviet counterpart. This is a very dramatic turnaround from the strictly atheist Soviet military.

With the rise of Putin, who demonstrates genuine Orthodox faith and gave public statements about how ROC as one of the pillars of the Russian state (providing the spiritual-psychological bulwark against Western infiltration), the grassroots movement of clerics integrated into every aspect of the military becomes enforced from the top-down as well.

Some of the new national myths (strategic myth-making) that created in this era include how the Second World War turned around in the Russian front only when Stalin reached out to the ROC and obeying the advice of parading certain icons of the saints in all the major turning-point battlefields (Stalingrad, Leningrad, etc.). It's intriguing that even after ROC scholars debunk myths such as these, the military still maintains them.

By no means does this mean we're seeing a theocracy in the making but more like the Russian State tag-teams with the ROC in helping one another and there is now an extraordinary intertwining of church and military. The author suggests that this even has strategic implications and indeed in the case of Crimea, the rallying cry is that Russia is performing the sacred duty of protecting the place where Prince Vladimir of Rus was baptized (cradle of Russian civilization claim) and that in Syria they are the only ones defending the Orthodox Christians in the Middle East.

In the end, Adamsky successfully argues that we have a "Faith as Enabler" situation in Russia where religion has penetrated the national ideology and is equated with patriotism within state military organizations. Not only does the state military enable the practice of the "national religion" but use it for generating higher levels of military effectiveness (recruitment, mobilization, unit cohesion, etc.). This is particularly true in the strategic nuclear wing of the Russian military. I concur with the epilogue's statement that "it is impossible to understand the current version of Russian political mentality and strategic culture, and consequently its security theory and practice, without the clerical and theological components."

My only minor critique is Adamsky's coining of certain terms that sound a little awkward, such as "churching" of the military; the author was trying to express getting nominal believers to be regular attendees of religious services.

[Ian Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who is generally interested in the role of the ROC in Russian politics, this was an essential read that helped explain a key development in the ROC's rise: it's ability to co-opt the military-nuclear complex and establish itself as a key pillar of Russian patriotism, national identity, and historical continuity. In the course of this book, Adamsky not only offers a comprehensive account of the military-nuclear complex's clericalization (beginning with the 1990's Soviet disintegration), but opens space for new academic work to expound on its many implications: (1) has the clericalization of the military-nuclear complex created a parallel power structure that could interfere with state-military decision making? (2) Can the ROC's influence eventually spread to nuclear policy or strategy? (3) Will religious jurisprudence one day be established in the military-nuclear complex, or will it remain an "enabler" of military decision-making and ideology? These are questions that will surely have geopolitical and nuclear security ramifications in the years to come.

My only complaint about this book is the structure could be improved with regards to historical progression of the narrative. At times I felt like I was returning to the same subject from earlier chapters. I would've also liked more pages devoted to the myth-making project in Russian national identity, which I found some of the most interesting.

[Wilson Tun · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting development of how Orthodoxy linked itself in mutualistic relationship with Kremlin from the downfall of Soviet Union to modern era.

Funnily enough, I saw the parallel between Orthodoxy-Russia relationships and Warhammer 40K’s Emperor-Imperium relationships.

One crucial thing I learned is that Religion rises when there’s a vacuum in faith, whether that be faith in leader (Autocracy), faith in science (Technocracy), or faith in government(Democracy/Socialism).

[Dmitry · Rating 2 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Вера слухам и сонникам, вера из глубин
Вера в силу наших несгибаемых дубин
Потряси дубиной, если ты мужик
Мы своей дубиной можем поиметь другой материк
Поклонение большой дубине
Маленькой дубинкой постриг принял

Суть книги начинает вырисовываться уже в первой четверти, когда автор начинает писать только об одном и том же - тесной связи между РПЦ и российской армией. Наверно для американцев, которым и адресована данная книга, такая тесная связь между религиозным институтом, который в теории должен призывать к миролюбию, и российской армией, т.е. институтом, чьей главной задачей является нести смерть, покажется странным и не естественным. Однако те люди, кто хорошо знают как историю России, так и реальность современного российского государства, такое развитие событий не покажется странным и не естественным. Дело всё в том, что ещё при российских царях институт церкви был государственным органом, полностью зависимым от светской, т.е. царской власти. В советское время эта связь стала ещё более тесной. Наверно автора такая связь или такое поведение представителей российской православной церкви показалась крайне удивительной, настолько удивительной, что он решил написать целую книгу, но для меня это было в порядке вещей.

РПЦ давно состояло из бывших или действующих агентов КГБ, ибо в СССР все организации были напичканы агентами Лубянки. Позже, уже при Ельцине, РПЦ совершила свой главный грех - начала заниматься бизнесом, как это произошло чуть ли не со всеми гражданами бывшего СССР. «Лихие 90-ые» как раз о том, как бизнес стал ассоциироваться с бандитизмом и мафией. Если почитать книги о России 90-ых, то можно найти сведения о том, что РПЦ была замазана в тёмных делах связанных с торговлей алкоголем и табаком (если я не ошибаюсь), а заниматься таким видом бизнеса и не иметь в 90-ых "крышу" было просто невозможно. Думаю, такой "крышей" были коллеги тогдашнего патриарха по КГБ. Исходя из этого, не стоит удивляться нынешнему поведению представителей РПЦ, которые в своих речах радикальней, чем даже сотрудники силовых ведомств. Впрочем, речи российских церковников и квази-консерваторов удивительно схожи, что может говорить о том, что эти люди очень часто общаются друг с другом или входят в один и тот же круг.

В общем, об РПЦ необходимо знать, что это вовсе не независимый институт, а это в прямом смысле государственный орган контролирующийся государством и полностью от него зависимый (с небольшими исключениями). Таким образом, книга стала мне понятна уже в самом начале, а к середине я понял, что я просто зря трачу время, слушая все те новостные сводки о тесном взаимодействии РПЦ и российской армии, включая их совместные мероприятия, как например освещение ракет, участие в жизни солдат и пр. Самое главное: не нужно искать в этом искренность и некую политическую идеологию. Российские церковники будут говорить и делать ровно то, что им велит государство. К тому же, цели у российских церковников и у государства одинаковы и это - сохранение и контроль власти без учёта того хочет ли российский народ продолжение данной политики и сохранения у руля власти прежних людей, включая президента, или нет. РПЦ, как и нынешняя путинская власть, это бизнесмены, которые заинтересованы в секьюритизации своих активов и безопасной передачи их по наследству. Никакой идеологии и тем более веры тут нет, и не может быть в принципе, как не может быть никакой искренности.

P.S. Автор либо не понял, либо не захотел понять, что Россия является очень суеверной, но не религиозной страной. Посмотрите на все эти иконки, которые россияне устанавливают в свои автомобили и вам станет понятна суть российской веры, которая к христианству никакого отношения не имеет (и тем более к христианской теологии).

The essence of the book begins to emerge in the first quarter, when the author starts writing only about one and the same thing - the close connection between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian army. Perhaps for Americans, to whom this book is addressed, such a close connection between a religious institution, which in theory should call for peace, and the Russian army, i.e., an institution whose main task is to carry death, would seem strange and not natural. However, for those people who know well both the history of Russia and the reality of the modern Russian state, such a development will not seem strange and unnatural. The fact is that even under the Russian tsars, the institution of the church was a state body, completely dependent on the secular, i.e., tsarist power. In Soviet times this connection became even closer. Probably the author found such a connection or such behavior of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church extremely surprising, so surprising that he decided to write a whole book, but, for me, it was the order of things.

The Russian Orthodox Church has long consisted of former or current KGB agents because, in the USSR, all organizations were stuffed with Lubyanka agents. Later, already under Yeltsin, the ROC committed its main sin - it started doing business, as it happened to almost all citizens of the former USSR. “Dashing 90's” is about how business became associated with banditry and mafia. If you read books about Russia in the 90s, you will find information that the Russian Orthodox Church was covered up in shady dealings related to alcohol and tobacco trafficking (if I am not mistaken), and it was simply impossible to do this kind of business and not have a “roof” in the '90s. I think that such a “roof” was the KGB colleagues of the then patriarch. On this basis, one should not be surprised at the current behavior of the ROC representatives, who are more radical in their speeches than even members of law enforcement agencies. However, the speeches of Russian churchmen and quasi-conservatives are remarkably similar, which may indicate that these people often communicate with each other or belong to the same circle.

In general, it is necessary to know about the ROC that it is not an independent institution at all but a state body controlled by the state and completely dependent on it (with a few exceptions). Thus, the book became clear to me at the very beginning, and. by the middle, I realized that I was just wasting my time listening to all those news reports about the close cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian army, including their joint activities, such as participation in the lives of soldiers, and so on. Most importantly, there is no need to look for sincerity or some kind of political ideology in this. Russian churchmen will say and do exactly what the state tells them to say and do. Besides, the goals of the Russian churchmen and the state are the same, and that is the preservation and control of power without taking into account whether the Russian people want the continuation of this policy and the preservation of the old regime, including the president, at the helm of power or not. The ROC, like the current Putin government, are businessmen who are interested in securitizing their assets and safely passing them on. There is no ideology and even less faith here, and there can be no sincerity in principle.

P.S. The author either didn't realize or didn't want to realize that Russia is a very superstitious but not religious country. Look at all these icons that Russians install in their cars, and you will understand the essence of the Russian faith, which has nothing to do with Christianity (and even less with Christian theology).

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy by Dima Adamsky is an analytical research narrative into the connection between Russia political leadership, its military sector, and the Russian Orthodox Church. It discusses the resurgence in popularity the ROC had toward and after the end of the Soviet Union, and is composed of three threads: Religion and the State, Religion and the Nuclear Sector, and the role of mythmaking as justification of the role of religion in the two. Adamsky covers those three threads across three decades. Traditional characterization of the role of religion is that it is not that important, that it was a fashionable zeitgeist, and that it could all be for show. Adamsky argues the conversion of Putin and others is genuine, that religion is entangled, perhaps dangerously so, with Russia's nuclear weapons, and that the state-church nexus is a real cause for concern. He even concludes with a chapter that Russian Orthodox believers might be less likely to resist orders related to nuclear weapons use.

While the book is well written and scholarly, I am not entirely convinced. Counterarguments and alternative explanations are dealt with in a perfunctory manner. It is good that Adamsky recognizes them, but I don't think he really engages with them fully. As a result, this becomes something interesting to think about, but not entirely persuasive. How necessary is a discussion of Russian Orthodoxy for understanding Russia's foreign policy? Unsure.

[Almantas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knyga apie tai, kur Rusijoje susikerta religija ir branduolinė triada. Tarnavimas kariuomenėje ir religija galbūt viena kitą ir papildo. Tačiau ne Rusijos atveju. Kokios gali kilti rizikos, kai dėl valstybė, jausdama kaltę dėl bažnyčios, religijos ir tikinčiųjų persekiojimo, bei dėl dar kitų sumetimų metasi į kitą kraštutinumą? Ši bendra orientacija taip pat paveikia ir ypatingą dalį Rusijos karinių pajėgų - branduolinę triadą. Ar tikrai tai nesukelia pavojų regioniniam saugumui? O kas bus jei ši tendencija dar labiau stiprės? Apie tai rašo Dmitry Adamsky, 2024 m. Baltic Military Conference kalbėtojas.

A book about where in Russia the religion and the nuclear triad cross their roads. Military service and religion might even complement each other. But not in Russia. What could be the risks when the state, feeling the guilt for the persecution of religion, church and the religious, as well as for other reasons now throw itself into the other extreme? This overall trend also affects a very special of the Russian military - nuclear triad. Are there any risks to the regional security? What would happen if this trend strengthens? Dmitry Adamsky, a speaker at this year's Baltic Military Conference, explores this theme.

[Scott Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Audiobook) (3.5 stars) This is a more creative work than you would imagine. When it comes to nuclear weapons, most would expect religious elements to condemn them, to be seen as a force against them. However, in Russia, especially in the post-Soviet era, the Russian Orthodox Church is actually become a significant part of the Russian nuclear enterprise. The role of priests and icons in the day-to-day operations is illuminating, and not one I would have associated with the church. Some of that is the increasing influence of the Church in Putin’s rise and consolidation of power, but it is also reflective of the church trying to recapture a role in Russian society it lost in the Communist years.

The writing is not as dry as you might expect, but it is fairly academic. Still, for someone who wants some insight into the Russian military, especially the all important nuclear forces, this is worth the read/listen.

[Russell O. Redman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explains many things about Putin's aggressive stance and planning that were previously obscure to me. His constant threats of nuclear escalation make more sense knowing the years of careful preparation that he has put into rebuilding the nuclear capacity of the Russian military. Of course, if he had been more concerned about the common sense and training of his generals that about personal loyalty to himself, the campaign in Ukraine might have been shorter and more successful.

[Jaanika Merilo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very interesting reading, especially to someone who wants to deep-dive into Russian politics and relations of the Kremlin and Orthodoxy. As I was writing a piece on "Weaponizing religion by Kremlin" it really added value and insights.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry.