Memory and Orthodoxy: Tradition(s) in Muscovite Religious Reforms

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

This panel will explore the roles of tradition in the interplay between local, Ruthenian and universal Eastern Christian practices in 16th and 17th century Muscovite attempts to enforce ecclesiastical norms. Presenters will address tradition in the contexts of the 1551 Stoglav Church Council and “Nikonian” reforms in the mid-1600s, evident in the works of Iosif Volotskii, Patriarch Nikon, Sergii Shelonin and Afanasii of Kholmogory. The Muscovite clergy’s understanding of the relation between universal canons and decisions arising from local needs in the case of the Volotskii’s contributions to the Stoglav show how “tradition” could be and had been altered. Nikon’s letter to Patriarch Paisios of Constantinople (1654) on irregularities found in liturgical books, intentions to correct them according to Greek tradition and the difficulties encountered reveal divergent ways in which “true faith,” tradition and custom were conceived by different members of the Orthodox Christian communities of the time. The Synod of 1666-1667 headed by two “Greek” patriarchs which enshrined the Nikonian reforms and propelled Ruthenian cultural influence supply the contexts for comprehending the corpus of Shelonin’s writings and as well appeals to tradition in the Afanasii’s defense of the Nikonian reforms in his Spiritual Exhortation (1682). The roundtable format is justified because, rather than simply reporting on research findings, panelist will develop a structured discussion on the theme of tradition in Muscovite Orthodox Church reform in a forum designed promote engagement with the conference theme of “memory” in terms of “tradition” and lively exchanges among the presenters and the attendees.

Sub Unit

• Early Slavic Studies

Chair

• Cornelia Soldat, U of Cologne (Germany)

Roundtable Speakers

• David Goldfrank, Georgetown U

• Kevin Michael Kain, U of Wisconsin-Green Bay

• Iulia Nitescu, U of Bucharest (Romania)

• Ovidiu Olar, Austrian Academy of Sciences (Austria)