Daniel H. Shubin has written two books on the topic of Christian religion: Christian Pacifism, and The History of Monasteries of Russia. He has also translated five books from Russian into English, all dealing with Christianity in Russia. Shubin has traveled extensively throughout Russia, studying the various sectarian movements.

In writing this history, the author has relied on primary Russian-language works, especially the medieval chronicles, filtering fact from legend, and has sought to keep the presentation focused while including those points of Russian political history and tradition which are needed to explain the religious history.

In this 4-volume set, the traditions of Russian Christianity are presented in detail.

Volume I deals with the period from Apostle Andrew to the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, just prior to the election of the first Russian Patriarch, a...

In this 4-volume set, the traditions of Russian Christianity are presented in detail.

Volume I deals with the period from Apostle Andrew to the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, just prior to the election of the first Russian Patriarch, a period of almost 1600 years.

Volume II second volume covers the Patriarchal Era through the reign of the great reformer, Tsar Peter I, and the eventual institution of the synodal system as a replacement for the Patriarchate.

Volume III covers the period 1725 through 1894, which is known as the Synodal Era of Russian Orthodoxy. This is the era of Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great, and the great tsars of 19th-century Russia. The Synodal Era includes the rise of the dissenters and sectarians. The history of Old Believers is discussed, along with the Iconoclasts, Judaizers, Dukhabors, Molokans, Khlisti, Skoptzi, and Stundists of Russian Christianity, and the many other small sects, as well as the Christian philosophies of Grigori Skovoroda and Leo Tolstoy.

In Volume IV, the initial chapters cover the decline of the power of Russian Orthodoxy, the rise of Rasputin, and the last tsar Nicholas II; then the struggle of Russian Orthodox Christianity to survive as the Russian Empire falls to the Soviets is discussed. The balance of the volume deals with the dramatic era of the Soviet regime's efforts to bring down Russian Orthodoxy, ending with the reversal under Gorbachev in 1990 and the Church's resurgence.

It is difficult to write solely a history of the Russian Orthodox Church, because the history of Russia as a state, people and culture is completely interwoven with their religion; and every event, person and location has a religious association. And two other problems are present. The first is the meager information available on the period prior to AD 1240, when major cities, churches and monasteries of Russia were utterly destroyed by Mongol invaders – for the next 240 years, Russia was under Mongol occupation. The second problem is credibility: Russian Orthodoxy has rewritten its history over the years, beginning with the mid-14th century, incorporating much improbable embellishment. Fiction and legend must be removed in order to present an objective account.