Anna Kuchma
The Russian Orthodox Church is not only a religious organization, but also a large corporation that does business. According to unofficial data provided by sociologist Nikolai Mitrokhin and published by Kommersant, the total annual income of the Russian Orthodox Church in the first decade of the 21st century is estimated at $500 million rubles ($7 million).
Between 2000 and 2009 sources for the Church’s revenues were as follows: 55 percent from commercial enterprises, 40 percent from sponsorship donations, and five percent contributed by dioceses. According to the Newsland website, in 2010 the Russian Orthodox Church—via a network of affiliated companies—actively traded in BMW cars as a co-founder of BMW Rusland, together with BMW Austria.
According to the Federal Tax Service, in 2014 the Russian Orthodox Church received $75.7 million in revenue from ceremonies, sales of religious literature, and donations. All this income is untaxed. (The data for 2015 are not yet available.) By 2014 sponsorship donations had decreased, while contributions from dioceses made up between a third and a half of the Church’s total budget, according to Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Department for the Cooperation of Church and Society until the end of 2015, in comments made to business daily RBK.
Big Business
So what are the various income streams that make the Russian Orthodox Church so wealthy? One of the main sources of income for the Moscow Patriarchate is the Sofrino Plant, a factory producing church furniture, various utensils, icons, and candles—many different types of goods costing from a few rubles to 1.5 million rubles ($20,000). According to priests, dioceses strongly recommend that they make purchases from Sofrino. As a result, the plant supplies ecclesiastical products to up to half of all Russian churches.
The Russian Orthodox Church’s sphere of interests also includes medical supplies, jewelry, and the rental of meeting rooms, as well as agriculture and the marketing of ritual services, Vedomosti business daily has reported. According to the SPARK database of Russian companies (www.ispark.ru), the Moscow Patriarchate is also the owner of Ritual Orthodox Service, with earnings of $740,000 in 2014. The Church, in addition, also generates revenue from two Moscow hotels—the Universitetskaya and the Danilovskaya. The income of the latter amounted to 112 million rubles ($1.5 million) in 2014.
The Church’s regional branches, its dioceses, are also involved in the industrial sector. For instance, the Yekaterinburg Diocese previously owned a large granite quarry, while Kemerovo Diocese is the sole owner of the KSK Building Company, as well as a coowner of the Novokuznetsk Computer Center and the advertising agency, Evropa Media Kuzbass.
Core Revenues
Churches in Russia generate their basic income from the sale of candles, but also earn revenue from donations for the performance of religious rites. Candles for the Russian Orthodox Church are molded in dozens of workshops, using as raw materials not only new wax or paraffin, but also used candle ends. The cost of the production of a candle is dozens of times lower than the price it is sold for in the church. The monthly revenue of churches ranges between $70 and $40,500. Part of the income (10-15 percent) made by Russia’s 34,000 Orthodox churches is passed to their dioceses, of which there are about 300 in Russia. Dioceses, in turn, transfer 15 per cent of these contributions to the Moscow Patriarchate.
In addition, the state assists the Church.
In 2012- 2015, the Russian Orthodox Church and its associated structures received 14 billion rubles ($189.2 million) from the state. The state budgeted 2.6 billion rubles ($35.1 million) for the Russian Orthodox Church for 2016. The state gives money to the Church as part of federal programs related to the development of spiritual and educational centers, as well as the conservation and restoration of churches.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Income from the Russian Orthodox Church’s main cathedral in Moscow, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, is also part of the Moscow Patriarchate’s revenue. It is just not clear whose. In addition to the cathedral itself, its grounds host a car wash, a dining area, a dry cleaning shop, a laundry, and a paid underground parking lot for 305 cars. The cathedral’s assembly hall and conference rooms are also available for rent. Based on state prices, these revenue sources can bring in up to $675,000 a year.
However, the cathedral and the surrounding area belong officially not to the Russian Orthodox Church, but to the City of Moscow, and are managed by a non-profit organization—the Christ the Savior Cathedral Fund. This Fund, as well, receives subsidies from the city administration. A total of $9.4 million from this fund was allocated for the “maintenance” of the cathedral between January 2010 and September 2012.
Based on investigative reports from RBK, Vedomosti, and Newsland.
This edited article is reprinted with permission from Russia Behind the Headlines, 9 March 2016.
Anna Kuchma is a reporter for Russia Behind the Headlines, Moscow, Russia.