Saint-Making and Institutional Consolidation: the Veneration of Metropolitans in 14th-16th Century Muscovy

Iulia Nițescu (PI) received a PhD in Russian Philology in 2017 from the University of Bucharest, with a thesis on the religious symbolism used to legitimize the Muscovite political power. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bucharest (2019-2020) and the New Europe College (2021-2022). Her main research interests are religious identities, Church-State relations in 15^th to 16^th century Muscovy, and the history of the Russian Church.  She gave talks on these topics at international conferences in the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Austria.

Latest publications:

“From Individual Destinies to an Emergent Community: Latins in sixteenth century Moscow”, in Foreigners in Muscovy. Western Immigrants in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Russia, eds. Simon Dreher, Wolfgang Mueller, London: Routledge, 2023, 27-41.

“Late-Fifteenth-Century Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Emergence of a Muscovite Dynastic Consciousness”, Slavonic and East European Review, 99 (3), 2021: 464-483.

“Marrying an Orthodox Tsarevna from Rome: Sofiia Palaiologina’s Religious Identity in Moscow”, Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 55 (1), 2021: 1-23.

 

Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie (Scientific Mentor)

 

Strategies of Sainthood. Local Saints in Premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe

MOSCULT & ORTHPOL WORKSHOP

VIENNA, 10-11 MAY 2024

CONVENORS: Iulia NIȚESCU / Ovidiu OLAR

VENUE: ÖAW, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, Vienna

Full Programme availabe here 

The veneration of local saints has been a fundamental component of incorporating newly baptized territories into the Eastern Christian world. Byzantine liturgical practice, hagiography, and iconography provided a rich basis for developing a cult of local saints in pre-modern Eastern and South Eastern Europe. However, most of these components were blended into local strategies for asserting sainthood, specifically tailored to local needs. This workshop will focus on (but not be restricted to) saint-making, ritual, and cult development, veneration and transfer of relics, the establishment of local shines, pilgrimages, transfer of knowledge and practices, and ecclesiastical and political uses of locally defined sainthood. We aim to discuss the dynamic process of saint-making and the veneration of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe through an integrated approach drawing from historical, literary studies and art history.

This event is jointly organized by: The “MOSCULT – Saint-Making and Institutional Consolidation: The Veneration of Metropolitans in 14^th–16^th Century Muscovy” project, funded by The Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS – UEFISCDI (project code PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2021-0234). MOSCULT is hosted by the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest and addresses the emergence of the local cult of the Moscow-based metropolitans of all Rus’ from the 14th to mid-16th century.

And the The “ORTHPOL – Orthodoxies and Politics: The Religious Reforms of Mid-17th Century in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe” project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 950287).

More information also available here

 

Publications:

1. “Metropolitans of all Rus’, protectors of Moscow: the veneration of Metropolitan Petr (14^th – 16^th century)” Russian History, 51 (1), 2024, 28–55.
2. “From a Contested Metropolitan to a Saintly Protector: Shaping Metropolitan Kiprian’s Image in 15^th – 16^th Century Muscovy” Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes, LXII (2024), 205-221.
3. “Canon Law and Local Practice: The Resolutions of the 1551 Stoglav (Hundred Chapters) Church Council” forthcoming
4. “Biblical and Patristic References in the Lives of Muscovite Saints (14-15^th Century)”, Receptarea Sfintei Scripturi: între filologie, hermeneutică şi traductologie, 12 (1), 2023: 235-248.
5. Review of Endre Sashalmi, Russian Notions of Power and State in a European Perspective, 1462-1725: Assessing the Significance of Peter’s Reign, Academic Studies Press, Boston, 2022, p. 518, in Studii şi Materiale de Istorie Medie, XLI/2023, 370-374.

 

International workshop co-organized, Strategies of Sainthood. Local Saints in Premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 10-11 May 2024

Talks:

1. „Minuni ale sfinților mitropoliți moscoviți în Cronica Ilustrată a lui Ivan cel Groaznic (a doua jumătate a secolului al XVI-lea)”[Miracles of holy metropolitans of Moscow in the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible (second half of the 16th century)] Colocviile Putnei, ediția a XXX-a, 10-13 July 2024.
2. “Sainthood and Ecclesiastical Succession: Metropolitans as Saintly Protectors in 15th-16th Century Moscow”, Strategies of Sainthood. Local Saints in Premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 10-11 May 2024.
3. „Mitropolit contestat sau sfânt protector? Evoluția imaginii mitropolitului Ciprian în Moscova secolelor XV-XVI” [Contested Metropolitan or Saintly Protector? Shaping Metropolitan Kiprian’s Image in 15^th – 16^th Century Muscovy], Institute for South East European Studies, Romanian Academy, 13 February 2024.
4. “Orthodoxies and Politics”: Religious Reforms in Mid-17th Century Eastern and Southeastern Europe”, roundtable member, 55th Annual Convention of the ASEEES, Philadelphia, USA, 30 November – 3 December 2023
5. “Metropolitans of all Rus’, Protectors of Moscow: The Legitimizing Role of Metropolitan Petr’s Tomb (Late 15th Century)”, 55th Annual Convention of the ASEEES, Virtual Convention, 19-20 October 2023.
6. „Referințe biblice și patristice în Viețile mitropoliților din Moscova (secolele XIV-XVI)” [Biblical and patristic references in the Lives of Moscow-based metropolitans, 14^th-16^th century], Exploration in the Romanian and European Biblical Tradition, 12^th edition, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 18-22 May 2023.
7. „Rugăciuni la mormintele sfinților mitropoliți: cultul mitropolitului Petru (1308–1326) și succesiunea ecleziastică în Moscova secolului al XV-lea”  [Prayers at the Tombs of Holy Metropolitans: The Cult of Metropolitan Petr (1308–1326) and Ecclesiastical Succession in 15^th Century Muscovy], “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History, Romanian Academy, 14 March 2023.
8. “Forging the idea of unity: metropolitan Petr of all Rus’ (1308–1326) as the Muscovite metropolitan-saint prototype”, at the international conference The Soul’s Encounter with God in Medieval Western and Byzantine Christianity: Theology, Philosophy, Literature, Art, University of Bucharest, 11-12 November 2022.
9. „Rolul cultului mitropoliților în dezvoltarea Bisericii Ortodoxe Ruse (secolele XIV-XVI)” [The role of the cult of the metropolitans in the development of the Russian Church, 14^th-16^th century], at the international conference Romanian Slavic Studies and the Dialogue of Cultures 2022, University of Bucharest, 21-23 October 2022.

 

Reaserch trips: Austrian Academy of Sciences; Cambridge University Library; Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; Saint Vladimir’s Theological Seminary, New York; Library of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.