Orthodox Christian Mission in Contemporary Mongolia: A Perspective from the Religious Situation

Introduction. The paper introduces results of a research project aimed at investigating missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church across Inner Asia. Goals. The study seeks to analyze institutional religious structures of Mongolian society for distinguishing features of collective consciousness, the Orthodox Christian Mission be viewed as both an external vehicle of change and a recipient of influence. Materials and methods. When it comes to collect and explore primary sociological data, the article focuses on interviews with Orthodox Christian priests, monks, and laymen, since the method proves instrumental in analyzing events pertaining to the development of Orthodox Christian communities, construction of temples, and peculiarities inherent to everyday life of parishes — on the basis of eyewitness accounts and participant opinions. The method yields data on specificities of government-church relations throughout the process of legalizing Orthodox Christian parishes, makes it possible to assess actual levels of interaction between the clergy and Russian citizens, as well as representatives of other Asian countries during the whole period investigated. Conclusions. Insights into official statistical reports and media publications have supplemented the results of our sociological survey to show Orthodox Christianity is perceived as part of the Russian cultural model. The complicated structure of Mongolia’s Orthodox Christian community attests to that missionaries do face somewhat challenging conditions in their endeavors. Christianity is a noticeable and emerging institution in contemporary Mongolia, but its adherents are still a minority, the Orthodox Christians being a minority in minority.

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