The Sorok Sorokov Movement (; DSS) is a Russian Orthodox- traditionalist

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

founded on 1 June 2013. It was created by composer Andrei Kormukhin (brother of singer Olga Kormukhina) and athlete Vladimir Nosov. Its main activity is the protection of the construction of churches, religious processions and other church events.

History

In 2012, after the scandal and the

Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Feminism in Russia, Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in the fall of 2011 by the th ...

criminal case, a number of well-known church figures, such as Vsevolod Chaplin, publicly supported the proposal to create Orthodox squads in order to protect religious places from persons "carrying out blasphemous acts". The Sorok Sorokov Movement was created on 1 June 2013 by Andrei Kormukhin and his fellow athletes at the moment when they "faced opposition to the construction of churches in Moscow." According to Kormukhin, not everyone “liked” the program for the construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow: “When the builders began to attack the builders, set dogs on them, insult the priests, we realized that it was time for us to say our word”. In addition, the movement was created as "a response to the 2012 information campaign against the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

and the Pussy Riot scandal." At that moment in time, the movement saw itself primarily as a defender of new temple construction within the framework of the ROC's "200 Churches" program, but was not limited to this. In particular, members of the movement accompanied the Gift of the Magi in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The trip to

took place at the height of the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

, from 24 to 30 January 2014. It turned out to be especially memorable: in contrast to Moscow, where two thousand policemen provided protection for the shrine and pilgrims, in Kyiv the authorities assigned only 25 policemen.

Igor Girkin Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin ( rus, И́горь Все́володович Ги́ркин, p=ˈiɡərʲ ˈfsʲevələdəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡʲirkʲɪn; born 17 December 1970), also known by the alias Igor Ivanovich Strelkov ( rus, И́горь Ива́ ...

, little known at that time, also participated in the protection of the shrine along with members of the movement.

Analysis

Religious scholar Roman Lunkin regards the appearance of the Sorok Sorokov Movement as a bright event in Russian public life. According to him, the movement combines "the defense of biblical values with criticism of liberalism and anti-Western conspiracy theories." In addition, he notes that it has become, unlike some other smaller movements (such as God's Will, the Union of Orthodox Citizens), "a really functioning democratic social force", "a manifestation of civic activism, grassroots democracy", and considers that there are no more similar "religious socio-political movements in Russia".

References

{{Russian political movements Political parties established in 2013 2013 establishments in Russia Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Russia Right-wing populism in Russia Far-right politics in Russia Conservative parties in Russia Eastern Orthodoxy and far-right politics

History

Analysis

See also

References