Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union.
The premodern legacy of Russia consists of several developments hugely influential in the modern evolution of the country:1. The conversion of Russia to Eastern Orthodoxy entailed cultural influences that inadvertently became serious handicaps. The tradition of Orthodoxy and the liturgical use of an antiquated vernacular—Old Church Slavonic—along with a conservative xenophobia, denied Russia participation in the progressive developments of western Europe, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and much of the Enlightenment. The Russian outlook on life was more mystical, otherworldly, and static—and hence less progressive and developmental—than that of the European West.... ...
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