The necessity of reforming the Russian Orthodox Church: an expert review

The present article is basing on the results of an expert survey «The Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Modern Society». The research objective was to formulate, based on expert assessments, the vector of the required transformations of the Russian Orthodox Church, perceived by enlightened society and the clergymen. The original hypothesis proceeded from the assumption that without reforms the Orthodox Church would not be able to strengthen its position in the society as a social institution and to include new social forces, primarily youth cohorts of the population into the social relations carried out within it. In the course of the study, the findings exceeded the limits of the first hypothesis. The authors concludes that the Orthodox Church today is closed, old-fashioned and inflexible structure.