More Russia (online resources were used for this)

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Russia--History:
Tradition says the Viking Rurik came to Russia in 862 and founded the first Russian dynasty in Novgorod. Kiev was a stronghold throughout the 11th and 12th centuries until invasion by the Mongols in the 1230's shifted the balance of power. The Mongols of the Golden Horde, commonly called Tatars, were finally expelled from Russia by Daniil Aleksandrovich, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, who had founded the principality of Moscow (known as Muscovy).

In the ensuing years, the grand princes of the various sectors went on gathering Russian lands to increase the population and wealth under their rule. The most successful practitioner of this process was Ivan III with his accumulation of territory for the principality of Moscow. By the 16th century, the rulers of Moscow considered the entire Russian territory their collective property. Ivan III forced the lesser princes to acknowledge the grand prince of Moscow and his descendants as unquestioned rulers with control over military, judicial, and foreign affairs. Gradually, the Russian ruler emerged as a powerful, autocratic ruler, a tsar.

The first Russian ruler to officially crown himself "Tsar" was Ivan IV. In February, 1613, a national assembly, composed of representatives from fifty cities and even some peasants, elected Michael Romanov, the young son of Patriarch Filaret, to the throne. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia until 1917.

With the rise to power of Lenin in 1918 and the subsequent revolution, the history of Russia between 1922 and 1991 is essentially the history of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia embarked on a totally new journey--capitalism.

Russia--Geography:
Russia is, in area, by far the largest country in the world, covering more than an eighth of the Earth’s land area. With 142 million people, it is the ninth largest by population. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 11 time zones, and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources, and is considered an energy superpower. It has the world's largest forest reserves, and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's unfrozen fresh water.

Russia--Government:
According to the Constitution, which was adopted in 1993, Russia is a federation and formally a semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly.

The president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term but constitutionally barred for a third consecutive term); elections were last held 2 March 2008.

Russia--Religion:
The ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world and second only to the Roman Catholic Church among Christian churches, numbering over 135 million members world wide and growing numerically since late 1980s. Up to 65% of ethnic Russians and a significant number of Belarusians and Ukrainians identify themselves as "Orthodox".

The ROC should not be confused with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (also known as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, or ROCOR), headquartered in New York. The ROCOR was instituted in the 1920s by Russian communities outside then-Communist Russia who refused to recognize the authority of the Moscow Patriarchy headed by Metropolitan Sergiy Stragorodsky. The two Churches reconciled on May 17, 2007; the ROCOR is now a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Most Russian Orthodox churches have an iconostasis, which separates the nave from the holy altar, and signifies the Heavenly Kingdom. Covered with icons, the iconostasis is intended to stop physical sight, and allow the worshipers to achieve spiritual sight.

There are no pews. Worshippers stand for services. No instrumental music is used, vocal music is by choir (male), and women must cover their head and shoulders along with skirts or slacks. Most churches are lit with candles rather than electric light. Virtually all churches have multiple votive candle stands in front of the icons. It is customary for worshippers to purchase candles in church stores, light them, and place them on the stands. This ritual signifies a person's prayer to God, the Holy Mother, or to the saints or angels asking for help on the difficult path to salvation and to freedom from sin.

Sometimes the bottoms of crosses found in Russian Orthodox churches will be adorned with a crescent. The common misconception attributes these to the fact that in 1552, Tsar Ivan the Terrible conquered the city of Kazan which had been under the rule of Muslim Tatars, and in remembrance of this, he decreed that from henceforth the Islamic crescent be placed at the bottom of the crosses to signify the victory of the cross (Christianity) over the crescent (Islam). In fact, crescents on crosses were widespread during the pre-Mongolian period of Russian history and have no relation to the Islamic symbol. The crescent symbol actually is meant to resemble an anchor, which symbolizes the hope for salvation.