Russian Orthodoxy in the context of "Russian True Orthodox Church (Lazar Zhurbenko)"

The Russian Orthodox Cross (or just the Orthodox Cross by some Russian Orthodox traditions) is a variation of the Christian cross since the 16th century in Russia, although it bears some similarity to a cross with a bottom crossbeam slanted the other way (upwards) found since the 6th century in the Byzantine Empire. The Russian Orthodox cross has three horizontal crossbeams, with the lowest one slanted downwards. Today it is a symbol of the Russian Orthodox Church and a distinctive feature of the cultural landscape of Russia. Other names for the symbol include the Russian cross, and Slavonic or Suppedaneum cross.

The earliest cross with a slanted footstool (pointing upwards, unlike the Russian cross) was introduced in the 6th century before the break between Catholic and Orthodox churches, and was used in Byzantine frescoes, arts, and crafts. In 1551 during the canonical isolation of the Russian Orthodox Church, Ivan the Terrible, Grand Prince of Moscow, first used this cross, with the footstool tilted the other way, on the domes of churches. From this time, it started to be depicted on the Russian state coat of arms and military banners. In the second half of the 19th century, this cross was promoted by the Russian Empire in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a symbol of its Russification policy.

Sophiology (Russian: Софиология; by detractors also called Sophianism(Софианство) or Sophism (Софизм)) is a controversial school of thought in the Russian Orthodox tradition of Eastern Orthodox Christianity that holds that Divine Wisdom (or Sophia—Greek: σοφία; literally translatable to "wisdom") is to be identified with God's essence, and that this Divine Wisdom is in some way expressed in the world as 'creaturely' wisdom. This notion has often been characterized as introducing a feminine "fourth hypostasis" into the Trinity.

The Irons (East Ossetian: Ирон Iron, pl.: Ир Ir, Ирӕттӕ Irættæ; West Ossetian: Ирон Iron, pl.: Ирӕ Irӕ, Ирӕнттӕ Irænttæ) are a subgroup of the Ossetians. They speak the Iron dialect of the Eastern Iranian Ossetian language. The majority of Irons profess Russian Orthodoxy and a small minority profess Sunni Islam mainly in the lowland villages of North Ossetia, while the Uatsdin faith has also been preserved by a minority of Irons.