Orthodox scholar Alexander Shchipkov to be in charge of church, society relations instead of Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin

Natalya Mihailova | 06 January 2016
Moscow, January 6, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has appointed Orthodox publicist Alexander Shchipkov acting deputy head of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations, the synodal department told Interfax-Religion.
Orthodox scholar Alexander Shchipkov to be in charge of church, society relations instead of Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin

Shchipkov will be in charge of the issues of cooperation with bodies of state power and non-governmental organizations.

Until recently, these tasks were in the sphere of responsibility of Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who had managed the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations for almost seven years, but was dismissed from this post by the decision taken by the Synod on December 24, 2015.

Shchipkov was born on August 3, 1957 in Leningrad. He is a sociologist of religion, political expert, specialist in the sphere of public and religious relations, Class 3 Active State Advisor, director of the Moscow Center of Social Studies, member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He is an author of the books “What Russia Believes”, “Cathedral Courtyard”, “Christian Democracy in Russia”, “The Territory of the Church”, “The Religious Layer of Journalism”, “The Bronze Age in Russia. Outlook from Tarusa”. He is also an author of scientific monographs “Traditionalism, Liberalism and Neo-Nazism in the Current Political Space”, “National History as a Social Contract”, “Economic and Religious-Ethical Dialectics in the Establishment of Russian Social Traditionalism”. He is a compiler of philosophical collections “Fracture” (about the justice of tradition) and “Scaffold” (about Russian identity).

Since you are here…

…we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong.

Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable.

For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir.

If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life's purpose, family and society.