"Empire" and "strife" in modern Russian studies

In article is analyzed M.A. Babkin.s fundamental monography «Priesthood and the Kingdom (Russia, beginning ÕÕ century. 1918): Researches and materials» (Ì., 2011), devoted to studying of position of the Russian Orthodox church in the Russian empire in a context of historical and theological problem of priesthood.kingdom. The book is considered in the light of modern discussions about destinies of Orthodoxy during a revolutionary era of beginning of ÕÕ c. and search of methodological approaches by church and secular historiography. Its potential in dethronement of some myths about state-church relations, role of church hierarchy and clergy in revolutionary events is marked. The book is estimated as an important step to studying of history of the Orthodoxy.