Daria Oreshina, Elena Prutskova, Ivan Zabaev Social Capital of the Russian Orthodox Christianity in the Early 21st Century: Applying Social Network Analysis Daria Oreshina - Research Fellow, Institute for Social Development Studies, National Research University - Higher School of Economics; Researcher, "Sociology of Religion" Research Seminar, St. Tikhon's Orthodox University" (Moscow, Russia), daria.oreshina@gmail.com Elena Prutskova - Researcher, "Sociology of Religion" Research Seminar, St. Tikhon's Orthodox University (Moscow, Russia). evprutskova@gmail.com Ivan Zabaev - Associate Professor; Scientific Advisor, "Sociology of Religion" Research Seminar, St. Tikhon's Orthodox University (Moscow, Russia), zabaev-iv@yandex.ru The article examines the influence of religion on social capital formation in Russia. The study suggests that active involvement of the parishes in the organization of social work, based on the principles of delegation of power and authority from priests to the laity increases the parish social networks, attaching more lay people to it, including those who are "unchurched". The data for the article come from the research projects conducted in 2011 - 2013 at the "Sociology of Religion" Research Seminar, St. Tikhon's Orthodox University: a mass survey of parishioners of 12 Russian Orthodox Church parishes, located in different types of settlement and in different regions of Russia (the total sample size is The article was prepared in the framework of the study "Social Network of the Orthodox Community", implemented with the support of the Council for Grants of the President of the Russian Federation to support young Russian scientists and leading scientific schools. Grant MK-4450.2012.6. Research data are also used: "Organization of social activities in the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of the XXI century. Sociological Analysis", RGNF grant 12 - 03 - 00565, and the first wave of the All-Russian OrthodoxMonitor study. De ... Read more