At Putin’s Forum, a Top Religious Scholar Declares State Ideology Is Now ‘Theological’

A key Russian religious academic has declared that President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 decree on “traditional values” is a "theological document" that has fundamentally reoriented Russia's future for the next century, explicitly basing state policy on the values of "sacred books."

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum—Russia's premier platform for projecting economic strength—Alexander Shchipkov, the influential rector of the St. John the Theologian Russian Orthodox University, argued that Russia is consciously shedding a secular model for one rooted in pre-20th-century religious tradition.
"This is a fantastic, fundamental document that, with a single signature, turned the future development of Russia around for the next 100-150 years," Shchipkov said of Putin's Decree No. 809. "If you look at it from this point of view, it is a theological document, because it establishes a model in which morality, values, and traditions are enshrined in the sacred books."