Abstract: The subject of this research is the social activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA in 1867-1917.
The goal of the article is to study the activity of the North American Orthodox diocese, which can be viewed as a tool of "soft power" employed by the Russian Empire. Since the above mentioned body of the Church was traditionally focused on close work with government authorities, and during the viewed chronological period the Most Holy Synod was an official part of the government apparatus, it seems only logical that the usage of the Church's resources as a conduit for Russian interests in foreign policies had great potential. Using the historical, genetic, comparative-historic and the institutional methods, the author analyzes the social activities of the Orthodox diocese in the USA and the broadening of its public functions. Despite the fact that numerous studies dealing with the history of the Orthodox church in the USA, the aspects of the possible role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA between the XIX-XXth centuries have not been sufficiently studied from the "soft power" point of view. The key conclusion of the article is that the social activity of the Russian Orthodix Church had the potential to positively affect the perception of the Russian Empire among the American parishioners.