Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad 2008-2025

What is ROCOR Studies?

The primary mission of the website Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad (ROCOR Studies) is to analyze with empathy the past of our church without omitting difficult episodes or inconvenient truths. I believe that without such a holistic approach to history, we will not be able to find answers to complex questions that we are facing at present.

During decades of polemics, ROCOR authors have focused on problematic aspects of the history and theology of our opponents without placing under scrutiny our own “side of the story.” This approach has prevented us from reflecting on our history in a balanced way.

A Glimpse from 2024

Over 100 items were posted on the website during 2024 in English and/or Russian, including

Interviews with Archbishop Peter (Loukianoff);

Archpriest Nikolai Artemoff,

Great- Schema-priest-monk John (Abernathy);

Documents from Russia and Abroad about ROCOR’s history;

Audio-recordings;

Discussions of Russian literature within the ROCOR (Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago).

A considerable achievement in the global field of Russian studies has been the preparation of a database of the historical ROCOR periodical Pravoslavnaia Rusʹ (1928-2005). This database was created by Reader Dmitry Anashkin (d. 2018), funded by Metropolitan Laurus, and posted on the website by Dr. Walker R. Thompson. The database works as an index of all the articles (more than 30k records) and allows searches by various criteria. A demo version is already available online at: https://www.rocorstudies.org/2025/01/27/index-of-historical-pravoslavnaia-rusʹ-articles/

A Ten-Month-Сut of the Website Traffic (Feb-Nov. 2024)

Unique Visitors	Page Views	Visitors by Country
40,335	66,934	USA	19,514
		Russia	7,666
		Canada	1,678
		UK	1,678
		Australia	1,044
		Germany	908
		France	630
		Ukraine	514
		Serbia	491
		Romania	488

Several visitors without valid location data were not included in these totals. This represents a significant increase over a comparable 10-month period of March–December 2023, with 32,749 unique visitors to the site and 61,137 views. The top 10 countries are the same as in February-November 2024. These statistics show that the site continues to fulfill its mission, attracting a broad audience not only from countries with a traditional ROCOR presence but also from the traditional Orthodox “homelands” and globally.

There are currently 597 active subscribers to the ROCOR Studies e-mail newsletter. This is an increase of 27 compared with last year’s report.
The Historical Studies Facebook group had 3,300 members in 2023, and it has now 3,900. I share materials with this group several times a week.
The ROCOR Studies YouTube channel reached 1160 subscribers this month, and the number of views has quadrupled from 3,418 in 2023 to 13,943 in 2024. More than 300 videos are posted there, and I regularly add new ones.

I Cannot Do This Alone

Most of my life is church-related. In addition to ROCOR Studies, I work as an educator at three Orthodox Christian institutions and continue to share my academic expertise with the public.

I could not run ROCOR Studies without input from translators and editors, which has to be paid for. The Fund for Assistance to the Russian Church Abroad supports my expenses for the website and my other activities as an educator for $700 per month. But this January, I spent $1,198 on these expenses, of which $498 came from my pocket. Last month was not typical, but I need to supplement the grant from the Fund for Assistance.

So, my goal is to raise an extra $300 a month for 2025, for a total of $3,600. This money will cover editors’ honoraria and my expenses as an educator. In 2024, I gave presentations in six ROCOR parishes: one in New England, three in the southern USA, one in London, England, and one in Stuttgart, Germany.

I hope that ROCOR Studies, with further help from the FFA and all who care about our mission, will make the website a sustainable operation that will continue its existence for many more years and beyond the scope of my life.