Routine and Authority

Abstract The purpose of this article is a comparative analysis the post-Soviet reappearance Russian Orthodox Church in two rural Komi communities. We aimed to study local perceptions restoring Church's presence particular localities. conducted ethnographic fieldwork communities and spoke clerics inhabitants villages under study. Our field research also involved participant observation literature analysis. collected evidence indicates that community with more distinctive folk traditions or less plainly contested priests’ authority. Still, people generally perceived renewal positively. argue institutions priests did not necessarily replace specialists’ authority, but rather diversified religious scenes.