The response of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan to the Emigration of Ethnic Russians from Independent Kazakhstan

This chapter will explore how the Russian Orthodox Church of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan district has responded to the dramatic shrinking of the Russian community in Kazakhstan over the past three decades due to the out-migration of ethnic Russian citizens of Kazakhstan to, above all, the Russian Federation. It will present national and regional-level statistics to demonstrate Kazakhstan’s changing demographic composition, and explore the reasons for the exodus with reference to interviews with ethnic Russians who left Kazakhstan for Russia. The chapter will then provide an overview of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan before presenting an analysis of its discursive and practical response to meeting the humanitarian needs of its flock, including those experiencing difficulties as a result of post-Soviet societal changes in Kazakhstan and the migration of a significant proportion of the Russian and Russophone community of Kazakhstan.