Religion in Tomsk

It's pretty much unavoidable to study abroad in Europe (or Russia) without being overloaded with visits to churches. Luckily I'm in Russia, where the architecture is different and therefore somewhat of a novelty. Until yesterday I had only visited one church since coming here, so yesterday there was an excursion which had the objective of seeing all the churches in one day and getting it all over with, and in fact it only took 2 hours. I think it was too rushed, and I would have liked to explore more, but at the time I was hungry and tired. I got good pictures though. In Tomsk there's a considerable amount of religious diversity: Various Christian groups: Russian Orthodox, Lutheran, Catholic; Jews; Muslims and more. The churches were beautiful both inside and outside, but the Sacre Coeur in Paris, France, remains my favorite.

Orthodox Church and Monastery

Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church (the one near my house)

Catholics! (Also near my house)

Mosque

Tidbits about Russian Orthodoxy for the uninitiated:

-Historically, Orthodoxy is the opposite of Catholicism (in layman's terms). The Great Schism took place in 1054, when the Church split into Roman Catholicism (Latin-speaking) and Eastern Orthodoxy (Greek-speaking). The Greek variety was preserved amongst peoples such as the Russians, Bulgarians and Serbians, whereas as the Roman variety was preserved amongst Poles, Czechs, Germans, French, Spaniards, etc. The Cyrillic alphabet, based off Greek, was inherited from the Orthodox tradition, which explains our differing alphabets (ours is the Roman alphabet).

-Icons are very present in Russian churches and homes. They are considered holy and are an important aspect of worshipping God. The Catholic Church does not recognize this. For me it was interesting to go into a church and see so many glimmering images of people. On a side note, this practice drastically differs from Islam, whose art forbids the depiction of any human being, especially Mohammed.

-Catholics cross themselves in the order of forehead, chest, left shoulder, right shoulder; Orthodox Christians cross themselves forehead, chest, right shoulder, left shoulder.