Is There a Russian Version of US Christian Nationalism?

Christian Nationalism is a phenomenon specific to US political culture. To the extent that it has traveled to Latin America and Africa, it has been under the proselytizing influence of evangelicals from the United States. One case that allows for a comparative framework without being a product of US cultural influence has been Russia. Indeed, Russia has a long tradition of political Orthodoxy and entanglement between spiritual and temporal powers—what is called, in the Byzantine tradition, the symphonies of powers, or sobornost’ in Russian—that may take some contemporary forms similar to what we observe in the United States. What Russia has achieved is what many American Christian Nationalists desire for their country but have yet to be able to implement. Comparison is not reason, but it does offer a relevant analytical framework for thinking about the historical contingencies of such ideological projects and the paradoxical mirror games between the United States and Russia.