Since the enthronement of the Patriarch Kirill more Russians have noticed changes. Most of Russians report that the ROC is getting closer to people.
MOSCOW, February 12, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing what changes in the ROC activity Russians have mentioned since the enthronement of Kirill, as well as how they assess the church policies.
Russians increasingly notice changes in the activity of the ROC since the Patriarch Kirill was enthroned: whereas earlier 78-83% of Russians saw no changes, now the share of them is 70%. Russians mention the following changes: the ROC got closer to people (10%, three years ago – 4%); more churches are constructed and restored (from 3 to 7%); the influence of the ROC has increased (3%); the Church started to more closely interact with the government; the church is widely covered in mass media (2%, for each). At the same time, Russians point out that the ROC has become more corrupt (2%).
According to most of Russians, the church policies pursued by the Patriarch Kirill meet public interest (from 64 to 71% over three years). This point of view is often shared by respondents aged over 45 (74-77%) and the Orthodox respondents (82%). Twelve percent of respondents oppose them; they are basically Russians who practice religions other than the Orthodox Christianity (26%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on January 26-27, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Do you notice any changes in the ROC activity since the Patriarch Kirill was enthroned four years ago? If yes, what kind of measures? (open-ended question, any number of answers) | ||||
| January 2010 | January 2011 | June 2012 | January 2013 |
ROC got more open, closer to people | 4 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
Old churches are being restored; new churches are being constructed |
| 3 | 3 | 7 |
Closer interaction of ROC with the state | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Influence of ROC has increased | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Patriarch started to travel more across the country to attract new believers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
ROC put more attention to moral education and spiritual development of people | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
ROCOR and ROC got united | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
ROC activity is more often covered in mass media |
|
| 1 | 2 |
Patriarch promotes peace | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Problems of the church are more discussed in the society | 2 |
| 0 |
|
ROC got more corrupt |
|
| 3 | 2 |
No changes | 78 | 83 | 78 | 70 |
Other |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
Hard to tell | 5 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
Do the policies pursued by the Patriarch Kirill meet the public interests? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||
| 2010 | 2011 | 2013 |
Absolutely yes | 21 | 23 | 20 |
Rather yes | 43 | 45 | 51 |
Rather no | 5 | 3 | 8 |
Absolutely no | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Hard to tell | 30 | 28 | 18 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!