The spiritual revival of the westernmost and once most atheistic territory of Russia is associated with the rule of Archbishop Kirill. After becoming Patriarch in 2009, Kaliningrad has played a crucial role in the rhetoric and activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. First, the region has occupied a prominent place in the discourse of the ROC around the conflict between Russia and the West. Second, the region has been a focus of ROC and state institutions efforts to promote Russian culture, of which the Orthodox faith is an especially significant part. This paper, then, examines the discourse of the ROC on Kaliningrad between the collapse of the Soviet Union and the present day. I argue that the interplay between church-state relations, evidenced in the statements of Patriarch Kirill, illustrate a complex discourse when considering Russian peripheral regions. Though core-periphery relations are typically understood in economic terms, when considered through the perspective of colonialism, this case highlights the contestation of Russian identity and how that sense of Russian identity travels.
