«Two seas — two sanctities?» A comparative view of the history of saints in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions

On International online seminar, St Petersburg State University, 1–2 December 2022

In early December, scholars came together to discuss the shaping of sanctity ideas in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions. Historiographers believe that the ideas of sanctity and saints developed according to several models. The «aristocratic» or «royal model» of sanctity prevailed in northern Europe, in the Baltic and North Atlantic countries, where mainly kings, aristocrats and bishops were venerated as saints. The Mediterranean model was more democratic, with more holy men from lower and middle social strata: townspeople, monks, warriors. At the same time, these models did not exclude canonisation of kings in the Balkans (e. g., the hero of the Battle of Kosovo, Lazar Hrebeljanovic) and ordinary people in the Baltic (e. g., the Norwegian villager Hallvard Vebjornsson, who became the patron saint of Oslo).

The concepts of sanctity developed under the influence of the Catholic and/or Orthodox Churches, Rome and/or Byzantium. The Reformation played a huge role in Northern Europe, changing the views of and approaches to the concept of sanctity and saints, while in the south the fall of Byzantium and the Ottoman conquest redrew not only the political but also the ecclesiastical map. Orthodox Rus had a role to play in these processes, having taken the course to the emancipation from the Church of Constantinople and becoming autocephalous in 1448.

The participants discussed the following issues:

• models of sanctity in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions
• the features of the saints’ cults in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions (veneration, hagiography, relics, etc.)
• comparative analysis of the ideas of sanctity and saints in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions
• the church and saints’ cults in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions (church dedications, frescoes and iconography, canonisation, etc.)
• the role of the state and society in the formation of saints’ cults in the Baltic and Mediterranean regions

Historians from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Novi Sad (Serbia) and Belgorod (Serbia) discussed the shaping of sainthood ideas in the two regions, the formation of saint cults, their spread in Europe and their role in the development of new states and cultures. The seminar focused on Western and Central Europe, North-West Russia, Byzantium, and the Balkans — the countries of the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. Historians shared their research results and observations on the cult of saints in the colonizing activities of the German Order in the 13^th — 16^th centuries, the use of saints’ images in clerical services and as a tool in wars and struggle for the faith, and the role of the cult of saints in politics and culture. The lectures covered the period from the Middle Ages to the 20^th century.

Seminar programme

December 1st. 10:00–13:00

Session one. Saints on the Baltic coast

Moderator: Alexander Filyushkin

Dmitriev, Mikhail Vladimirovich (Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics). The saints’ cult and religious intolerance in the colonisation experience of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic in the 13^th – 15^th centuries   Listen to the presentation

Bessudnova, Marina Borisovna (Novgorod State University). Pious motivations for the behaviour of the brothers of the German Order at the turn of the 15^th – 16^th centuries in the light of the Order Rule and routine administration  Listen to the presentation

Sukina, Lyudmila Borisovna (Ailamazyan Institute for Software Systems of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Saints who came from across the sea: the «German» model of holy foolishness in medieval Rus   Listen to the presentation

Prokopyev, Andrey Yurievich (St Petersburg State University). At the service of the clergy and world: St Benno in Saxony’s fate  Listen to the presentation

Filyushkin, Alexander Ilyich (St Petersburg State University). «Translatio Sanctitatis» as an instrument of wars for the Baltic in the Middle Ages and early modern times

Kostoromin, Konstantin Alexandrovich (St Petersburg Theological Academy). Russian saints and the struggle against Roman Catholicism in the 15^th – 16^th centuries: Byzantium or the Baltic?  Listen to the presentation

December 1^st. 14:00–18:00

Session two. Saints of the Northwest of Russia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Moderator: Natalia Turygina

Romanova, Anastasia Anatolievna (Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg). Saints of the Novgorod Land in the «Book called the Description of Russian Saints»

Selin, Adrian Alexandrovich (Higher School of Economics National Research University, St Petersburg). On church dedications in the 16^th – 17^th centuries in the Novgorod Land  Listen to the presentation   

Medvedev, Kirill Maksimovich (St Petersburg State University). Josaphat Kuntsevych – the patron saint of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? On the political role of Josaphat Kuntsevych’s cult in the 17^th century Polish-Lithuanian state  Listen to the presentation

Khodakovsky, Evgeny Valentinovich (St Petersburg State University). «Two pieties»: wooden Catholic and Protestant churches of Eastern Europe after the Thirty Years’ War  Listen to the presentation

Sokolov, Roman Aleksandrovich (St Petersburg State University, Russian State Pedagogical University). St Alexander Nevsky’s cult and historical memory of heroes past in pre-Petrine times  Listen to the presentation

Turygina, Natalia Valerievna (St Petersburg State University). Alexander Nevsky’s churches abroad: Migration and transformation of the cult in the 19^th – 20^th centuries  Listen to the presentation

Koronevsky, Viktor Ilyich (St Petersburg State University). Revival of the cults of local Orthodox saints in the Western provinces of the Russian Empire in the 1830s – 1850s: A tool for legitimising the reunification of the Uniates?  Listen to the presentation

December 2^nd

10:00–14:00. Saints and sanctity in the Balkans

Moderator: Vladimir Vasilik

Smirnov-Brkić, Aleksandra (University of Novi Sad). The Holy Link: Survival of the Late Antique Cults of Saints in the Western Balkans   Listen to the presentation

Alimov, Denis Evgenyevich (St Petersburg State University). The cults of holy warriors and rulers in Croatia in the Middle Ages and early modern times: Social functions and cultural contexts  Listen to the presentation

Büyükçolak, Alihan (St Petersburg State University). The cult of Sari Saltik and Saltikname: The first Islamic missionary action or the first Turkish colonisation in the Balkans?  Listen to the presentation

Kršljanin, Nina (University of Belgrade). Death of St. Helen of Anjou / Angel and the Sabor (Assembly)

Khlopov, Serafim Mikhailovich (St Petersburg State University). The holy vine of Stefan Nemanja: The phenomenon of the Nemanjic family holiness  Listen to the presentation

Vasilik, Vladimir Vladimirovich (St Petersburg State University). Towards the typology of the martyr ruler. Saints Prince Lazar of Serbia and Tsar Claudius of Ethiopia: A comparative analysis of the hagiographical tradition   Listen to the presentation

Naydenova, Daria Vadimovna (St Petersburg State University). Relics of St Christopher and the features of his veneration in Byzantium and Rus: Myths and reality

Veselov, Fedor Nikitich (St Petersburg State University). Wise and righteous kings: The Prophet Solomon and Alexander the Great among the South and East Slavs  Listen to the presentation

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