Aktivisty vne konfessional'nykh granits: «konservativnyy ekumenizm» Vsemirnogo kongressa semey

This article is devoted to the history of the World Congress of Families (WCF) and its interaction with Russian partners. The article begins with a story about Allan Carlson’s trip to Moscow in 1995, where as a result of a meeting with sociologists, the idea of creating a WCF was born. The author then analyses the cooperation between the WCF and the Russian Orthodox Church as an example of so‑called “conservative ecumenism,” which partly replaces classical, more liberal ecumenism, such as that presented by the World Council of Churches. Further, this interaction of the WCF with Russian partners is placed in a broader framework of value‑oriented geopolitics and culture wars in Europe, in which the WCF is actively involved. The author concludes that Russia’s turn to “traditional values” is not a reference to the country’s past but rather the reverse: namely, the reflection of value polarization in the pluralist society. The work is based on previously unpublished material, including interviews with activists, as well as archival materials related to the history of the WCF.