February 15, 2026

A Spike for Spiritual Services


A Spike for Spiritual Services
At least the history is priceless. Snetogorsky Monastery, Pskov. A.Savin

A recent joint study by The Moscow Times and pro-democracy website Svoboda.org discovered that the prices for services performed by the Russian Orthodox Church have increased by an average of 40% nationwide since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Per the investigation, the services to see the greatest price hikes are weddings (a 107% increase), funerals (71%), and baptisms (50%). Even the costs of sanctuary candles and requests for commemoration of the deceased have risen.

It should be noted that such price increases are not a result of top-down directives. Service prices are set at the individual church or diocese level. Therefore, these price hikes are a response to external forces.

Indeed, that's the conclusion the investigation comes to. With rising prices of basic necessities and utilities as the war in Ukraine drains the economy, churches have had to compensate by pushing those costs onto their parishioners. And while these prices are framed as "voluntary donations," the reality is that there is a huge social pressure to pay the amount suggested.

That's one thesis down, 94 more to go.

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