For the last 10 years, messianic congregations like Jews for Jesus and Jewish Voice have targeted the roughly two million Jews of the former Soviet Union as potential converts to Christianity. Their tactics include wearing yarmulkes, prayer shawls, and reading from the Torah. Alexandra Alter has more. [full story]  
 
 
   
As the remnants of Communism began to crumble in the late 1980s, so rose the fortunes of Seventh-Day Adventism in Russia. Lila Arzua reports from the Seventh-Day Adventist seminary in the remote village of Zaoksky, 80 miles south of Moscow. [full story]
 
 
 
  In the homeland of the Russian Orthodox Church, Charismatic Catholics have two strikes against them. While they are accepted by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, some Charismatic practices make it difficult to distinguish them from Protestant evangelists. Daniel Burke has more. [full story]  
 
 
   

After facing more than two decades of harassment, lynchings, fire bombings and official hatred, Russia's 15,000 Hare Krishnas now have a different problem: getting noticed. Daniel Evans has the details. [full story]

 
 
 
  As Tatarstan's Muslims struggle to shape their modern-day version of Islam, some Muslim clergy worry that religious illiteracy will cultivate fertile soil for Islamic fundamentalism. Mariam Fam has the story. [full story]  
 
 
   

The stained-glass window in the Catholic Cathedral of Immaculate Conception reflects a contradiction - standing side by side are two brothers, Peter and Andrew, who signed up on the same day to join Christ's band of Apostles in Galilee. Kodi Barth has the details. [full story]

 
 
 
  More than a dozen years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church in Moscow retains a distinctly multicultural feel. It also serves as the spiritual home for immigrants who would otherwise be isolated. Tim Lavin has the story. [full story]  
 
 
   

One day in late March, the Kazanka ice was dotted with legions of burly men armed with the implements of modern Russian ice-fishers: drills, homemade rods, and metal sifters. Tim Lavin takes time out to learn their craft. [full story]

 
 
 
  The Old Believers, a sect of Russian Orthodoxy formed in Russia more than 300 years ago, have adapted their religious observances to accommodate life in a new homeland. Sara Leitch reports from an Old Believers Church in the Northeast. [full story]  
 
 
   

From a parish fighting to regain its belltower and its forbidden chime, to a school fighting to keep the art of bell ringing alive and well, the bells of Russian Orthodoxy are regaining their importance. Stephanie Levitz has more. [full story]

 
 
 
  To Orthodox Christians, icons are more than mere representations of the divine. They represent "Windows to the Kingdom," reminding believers that matter and time can and should be transfigured. Gabriel Rodriguez-Nava has this multimedia presentation. [full story]  
 
 
   

As you wander through the hallowed hallways of Moscow's Red Army Ice Palace, mounds of debris crunch underfoot. Giant metal rods protrude through the ceiling above. It may not seem like it, but the arena is finally getting a facelift. Michael Serazio has more. [full story]

 
 
 
  With ten days to work, we could catch merely a glimpse - a fleeting window of opportunity to peer in on another culture. Yet this trip demanded even more than that. We were asked to become foreign correspondents on the fly. Michael Serazio has more. [full story]  
 
 
   

A towheaded boy stares up out of the black and white newspaper page, his arm hooked up to an IV, a pair of medical scissors lying beside him on the bed. Angela Uherbelau has the story of how the boy's appearance in the local newspaper could save his life. [full story]

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUICK LINKS: Feature Stories | Dispatches | Photo Essays | Itinerary & Maps |
About This Class

A project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism made possible by the Scripps Howard Foundation. Comments? E-mail us.

Copyright © 2003 The Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

[home]