Although the Russian Orthodox Church participates in the activities of the ecumenical movement, it remains sceptical about the evolution of Western Christianity, mainly Protestantism. In particular, attempts to challenge traditional dogmatic and ethical formulations are unacceptable. The Russian Orthodox criticism goes even further when it reveals the sources of the rejection of church tradition in early Protestant theology. In this context, the article presents the main elements of the contemporary Russian Orthodox critique of the Reformation’s rejection of tradition as an authoritative source of Christian faith. The first part outlines the theological and ideological specificity of the Russian Orthodox discourse on the Reformation. The second part presents the Orthodox concept of the authority of tradition in the Church as a starting point for the criticism of the Reformation. The third part discusses the main elements of the criticism of the reformatory concept of sola Scriptura with particular emphasis on its socio-political reasons and consequences.

The article analyzes the names given today to the children of inhabitants of Przemyśl — followers of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, at the same time showing their differences and similarities within both religions. In the same urban, communication and cultural community, Catholic and Orthodox live side by side (often for many generations). Despite everything, they to some extent retain their own identity (culture, traditions and customs), which also manifests itself in the names given to children. For a more complete picture of the situation, the names of the two older generations (parents and grandparents) were also presented.

”The 500th anniversary of the Reformation for the Orthodox Church is not a special reason for joy, because that was another division in the Church” – Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) said. Although it concerned the relationship between Luther and the Western Church, its reference became the Orthodox Church, in which Luther sought primary teaching and ecclesiology. The proof of this was the Leipzig dispute, during which the primacy, liturgy, structure of the Church, the teaching of justification and purgatory, Luther confronted with the teaching of the Orthodox Church. If Luther saw in the Orthodox Church a framework for his reform, why did he not decide to convert to the Eastern Church? Karmires, emphasizing Luther’s great knowledge of the Orthodox Church, claims, however, that it had only a superficial character, lacking empirical knowledge. He also concludes that Luther neither wanted nor accepted Orthodoxy because of his affection to the mentality of the Western Church and to scholastic theology as well.

Andrzej Walicki’s book: O Rosji inaczej („On Russia in a different way”, 2019) is a crucial item for the Polish reader, because it treats significant issues in Polish and Russian history, as exemplified by ideology based on philosophy and other pivotal issues of contemporary times. Walicki was a prominent expert on Russian thought and on important phenomena of Russian culture. He was well prepared to raise important questions and offer competent new answers. In his book, Walicki focused primarily on modernism which had influenced the development of socialist thought and on the philosophy of the opposition at the so‑called golden age. The main intention of this paper is to make certain additions to the assessment of these phenomena by the Russian Orthodox thought, and especially by those who sustain the position of the conservative Orthodox Church, regardless of the historical moment of its formulation. Modernism stands in opposition to Orthodox dogmatics, anthropology, ecclesiology and patristics. It has its roots in Byzantine Renaissance that migrated to Italy after the fall of Constantinople. Modernism constitutes an important paradigm of post‑medieval culture. It is active in Western culture and influences Russian culture as well. Obviously, Russian culture is attached to the Orthodox Church in a special way, as the Church constitutes a specific genotype of that culture. Modernist influences that are rooted in this specific soil bring forth completely different upshots in Russia from those that emerge in the West. Essential examples of this phenomenon are absolutism, imperialism or Marxist socialism in their Western and Russian versions. These phenomena concern primarily political matters but they clearly show that the ideals of modernism in Russia assume a religious character. However, they were not inherently religious, and should rather be placed in the sphere of myths.