Ivan Mazurenko
Russia- The Birth of an Idea and Its Realization
- Inspiration and Innovation
- Volunteerism and Expansion
- Growing Recognition
- Mission and Objectives
- Challenges and Transformations
- Awards and Recognition
- Growth and Potential
- External Engagement
- Promotion and Outreach
- Staff and Volunteers
- Advising New Users
- Site Requirements and Eligibility
- Popular Versions and Categories
- Forum and Community
- Site Statistics
- Registered Users and Benefits
- Visitor Profile
- Communication and Feedback
- Future Plans
The Birth of an Idea and Its Realization
In the year 2001, a section dedicated to providing links to Orthodox Christian resources emerged on a popular Orthodox internet portal. Unbeknownst to its creators, this section would soon overshadow the other sections of the portal.
The realization of this unexpected popularity prompted the founders of the portal to reconsider the future of the link section. They decided to establish a dedicated website centered around it and christened it "Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru" (Orthodox Christianity.Ru).
Inspiration and Innovation
In its early stages, the website drew inspiration from the international catalog DMOZ.ORG, which categorized Orthodox Christian websites. This model guided the organization of Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru's catalog, ensuring efficient content management and accessibility for multiple users.
Volunteerism and Expansion
Recognizing the significance of the project, several individuals committed themselves as editors and provided invaluable expertise. The initiation of a pre-moderation process and the inclusion of websites under multiple categories further enhanced the catalog's functionality.
Undeterred by the lack of financial resources, the team embarked on a mission to translate the catalog's interface into 20 different languages. This ambitious undertaking was made possible through the dedicated efforts of volunteers, who meticulously translated and verified the content with the assistance of native speakers.
Growing Recognition
By 2003, Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru had established itself as one of the three largest catalogs of Orthodox Christian resources in the Russian-speaking internet. Its subsequent rise to prominence prompted the team to launch multilingual versions of the catalog.
Mission and Objectives
The mission of Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru is both simple and profound: to compile and systematize all global Orthodox Christian content into a single database. As an integral part of the Orthodox online community, it aims to introduce individuals to the rich tradition of Orthodoxy, the faith of their ancestors.
Challenges and Transformations
The website has maintained the same design for the past five years, with the team acknowledging the need for updates but lacking the time for a redesign.
Awards and Recognition
Despite years of tireless effort, the project remained relatively unknown until recently. In 2006, the site entered the "People's Vote" of the Russian Internet Prize. Despite perceived flaws in the voting system, Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru placed eighth among the top ten Orthodox sites, demonstrating the support of its loyal readership.
Growth and Potential
The popularity of the site has consistently grown, as evidenced by its high ranking in Rambler's "Religion" section and its notable citation index in Yandex. The team remains optimistic about the future of Orthodoxy online, despite the underutilization of the vast repository of information available.
External Engagement
While Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru has received limited attention from mainstream media, it has fostered strong relationships with Orthodox internet organizations. The site's editors actively participate in the annual forum on Orthodox presence on the internet, held during the Christmas educational readings.
Promotion and Outreach
The primary promotional strategy for the website is the placement of multilingual banners on numerous Orthodox websites. Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru also participates in two Orthodox banner exchange networks. Although other forms of promotion have not been employed to date, the team has recently sought professional optimization services to address issues with Yandex indexing.
Staff and Volunteers
The site is currently supported by a small team of one administrator, two full-time editors, ten volunteer editors, and approximately 50 volunteer translators. As the Orthodox internet realm continues to expand, the number of individuals involved in the project continues to grow.
Advising New Users
For first-time visitors, the team recommends exploring the website through its comprehensive categorization system or utilizing the powerful search engine. Additional resources include the Orthodox full-text search system iskomoe.ru, which enables users to search within all websites listed in the catalog.
Site Requirements and Eligibility
Sites seeking inclusion in Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru must adhere to clearly defined criteria. The site must be thematically relevant to Orthodox Christianity and represent one of the recognized Orthodox churches. Prohibited content includes inappropriate advertising, occult materials, calls for schism, and incomplete or abandoned websites. Each submission is subject to moderation before being approved.
Popular Versions and Categories
The Russian-language version of the website is the most popular, followed by English, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek, German, and Romanian. The most popular categories among users are "Orthodox Dating" and "Monasteries." Other frequently visited sections include "Orthodox Calendar," "Prayers," "Music," "Icons," and "Electronic Libraries."
Forum and Community
The forum associated with the catalog was established 2.5 years ago and now boasts over 1000 members. Despite the presence of restricted sections, the forum remains highly active, with over 25,000 messages posted since its inception.
Site Statistics
The Russian-language version of the catalog receives between 1000 and 2000 daily visitors, while the English, Serbian, and other versions receive significantly fewer. In total, the website attracts approximately 3000 to 4000 visitors daily from around the world, with roughly half of them residing in Russia.
Registered Users and Benefits
The catalog currently features over 5000 links to websites, of which more than 3000 are Russian-language Orthodox sites. Registered website authors gain access to the Orthodox website rating system, inclusion in the iskomoe.ru search engine index, and participation in the forum for Orthodox web developers. Additionally, the catalog's automated RSS feed aggregator extracts news from participating sites and organizes it by topic for display on the catalog's pages.
Visitor Profile
Typical visitors to Pravoslavnoe Hristianstvo.Ru are young men and women seeking a wide range of Orthodox Christian content. The site attracts users primarily through banners on partner websites and search engine results.
Communication and Feedback
The catalog receives numerous emails daily, ranging from inquiries and technical issues from website authors to offers of assistance and new website submissions.
Future Plans
The team aims to expand the services available to participating websites by enhancing the directory and RSS feed aggregator. Additionally, they plan to develop new functionalities that will further enrich the user experience.
