The Performance and function of St. Petersburg’s New Churches
Keywords:
uuskarismaattisuus, Pietari, performanssiAbstract
The article examines the ways in which the neo-charismatic movement performs itself beyond its own
functional, sacral sphere in St Petersburg. The theoretical standpoint of the article is grounded in
distinguishing between subsystems of society, and functions and performances of religion in modern
society; i.e. the aim is to study how religion performs in different functional areas of society. The research
therefore focuses on the analysis of empirical data collected from four churches in St Petersburg that can
be categorised as neo-charismatic, i.e., new Pentecostal/charismatic communities that are independent of
the traditional Christian denominations and emphasise spiritual gifts such as healing, prophecy and
speaking in tongues (Anderson 2010, 19). Pentecostalism in all its multifaceted forms is rapidly expanding
globally. The focus of the study is to analyse what kind of secular performances can be observed in the neocharismatic churches under examination in Russia, where the Orthodox Church is the majority church
based on its size, history and position.
