Аннотация: gThe subject of this research is the role of religion in determination of the meaning of life of the modern believers in Russia and Ukraine. Religion, and Christianity in particular, has always been (and should be) the source of the meaning of life for its followers. The realization of such sense-making and sense-transmitting function by religion is an important condition of social importance and impact of religion. In modern societies, the scales of the social role of religion are not evident and are subjected to discussion. A comprehensive analysis of involvement of religion into the social processes and public consciousness is necessary for a more precise understanding of functionality of religion for modern societies. One of the possible features of such analysis is the assessment of religion’s involvement into conceptual structures of mass consciousness. The conclusion is made that the ability of Orthodoxy to become a real alternative to the dominant in modern societies “Western” values is significantly limited, because the values transmitted by Orthodoxy (particularly the orientation towards connection of the life values with the transcendent source) do not find public response. It is demonstrated that for the majority of Russian and Ukrainian believers, the religion ceased to be the foundation of conceptual structure. This, in turn, alongside the low level of spirituality, familiarization with the Orthodox dogma and readiness to independently form the meanings of own religion and include the elements from other religions and secular ideologies into these meanings, extremely limits the orientation towards the meanings and values transmitted by the Church.