SOCIAL SERVICE OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH: HISTORY AND MODERNITY
The article provides a comparative analysis of the peculiarities of Church historians ' consideration of the social service of the Russian Orthodox Church in the prerevolutionary period (XIX-early XX century).XX centuries) and understanding of its current state in the XXI century. The article considers the assessments of Orthodox historians and figures of the Russian Orthodox Church based on the analysis of their works and speeches. The article describes various theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding social service as an important social task of the ROC. Its significance for the social policy of Russia is shown.