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As evangelical zeal and Orthodox reverence meet in a place of grace and whimsy, the priest who mustn't do exorcisms grins and nods.

Here, too, God lives, works, and plays. Neither vulgar nor aloof, he never fails to get through to his children, with or without the help of church and state officials.

Agnieszka Tennant is an editor at large for Christianity Today. She is studying the relationship between corruption and religious institutions in postcommunist countries at the University of Chicago. To view more photographs from this Russia trip, go to christianitytoday.com/go/russiaphotos.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

A photo essay accompanied this story.

Christianity Today's full coverage of Russia is available online and includes "To Russia with Fury," by Agnieszka Tennant.

A Christianity Today article, "Why I'm Not Orthodox," is also available.

BBC's country profile of Russia is a good resource on the regions of Russia, including North Ossetia

The fragility of religious freedom in Russia has been "of consistent concern" in the Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (2005).

The USCIRF has a transcript of a roundtable discussion "Assessing U.S. Human Rights Policy Towards Russia," a press release on the increasing religious intolerance, and has an opinion article on the difficulties that face evangelicals in Putin's Russia.

In 2003, Russia put non-Orthodox Christians at the top of its list of security threats.

In September 2006, the Russian Justice Ministry drafted a law on "Counteracting Illegal Missionary Activity."

U.S. News and World Report has an article on the situation of missionaries in Siberia.

Agnieszka Tennant is moving on, but she will continue to write her column, Taste and See.

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November 2006, Vol. 50, No. 11