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Russian (Russia) 
2023
«Holiness, state, nation: the place of the cults of saints in Russian socio-political discourse from the Middle Ages to the 20th century» — the final seminar of the project «Saints and Heroes: From Christianization to Nationalism. Symbol, Image, Memory (North-Western Russia, the Baltic countries and Northern Europe» took place on December 8, 2023. The participants of the event were hosted by the State Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg. At the meetings a presentation was made of the results of the project and its main scientific results.
On July 21-31. The seminar «Saints and Shrines in the Sacred Geography of the North-West» was held at the Solovetsky Monastery Museum-Reserve on July 21-31, 2023 The seminar was aimed at identifying the main ways of sacralization of the landscape of North-Western Rus’ in the Middle Ages and Modern times. The sacralization of landscapes around monasteries, due to the appearance of local shrines (churches, chapels, memorial crosses, relics), was accompanied by active economic activity, laying the foundation for the future development of territories in a unique balance of spiritual and material impulses.
On June 13, 2023, a scientific seminar «Saints and Heroes of the Baltic Sea from the Middle Ages to the 20th century: symbols, images, memory», organized jointly with the Baltic Federal University, was held at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad). The seminar was attended by employees of St. Petersburg State University, IKBFU, museums of the Kaliningrad region, dealing with the history of the German Order, German knightly castles and churches, and Prussian «places of memory».
In the seventh episode of the podcast, Alexander Filyushkin, Head of the Department of Slavic and Balkan History at SPbU, talks about the Livonian War, analyses its development as a holy war between Catholics and Protestants, between the Western and Orthodox worlds, its significance for Poles, Russians and Livonia as such.
The sixth episode of The Cult Biography podcast series focuses on the image of Alexander Nevsky. Analysing the script of Sergei Eisenstein’s film Alexander Nevsky, Roman Sokolov talks about the transformation of the image of this historical figure from a saint to a hero. The scholar explains why the director chose Alexander Nevsky rather than, for example, Dmitry Donskoy, how the Soviet authorities used this image in ideological propaganda, why Alexander Nevsky appears on the screen as a «superhero» rather than a saint, what images helped Eisenstein in working on the film. Roman Sokolov is Doctor of History, Senior Research Associate at St Petersburg State University, Director of the Institute of History and Social Studies at Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University. In the project, he studies the development of saints’ cult in the North-West of Rus.
On January 12, in the fifth episode of the «Cult Biography» podcast, Natalia Turygina, PhD in History, tells Irina Smirnova about the holy relic that has been the patron saint of Vilnius for centuries — the icon of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. Kept in the Old Town chapel, the icon is venerated by Christians of all confessions: Catholics, Orthodox and Uniates. Moreover, adherents of other religions also pay respect to it, making Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn a symbol of unity and strength of all people. The podcast guest discusses the mystery of the icon’s appearance, the special attitude towards it and how the image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn transformed from the symbol of Polishness into the symbol of Lithuanian national identity.
Listen to the episode
2022
In the new podcast launched on December 12, Andrey Prokopiev, Advanced Doctor of History, discusses the saints of Europe’s most influential dynasty — the House of Habsburg, focusing on the cult of the Virgin Mary in the hereditary lands of this dynasty.
On December 1–2, 2022, St. Petersburg State University hosted the international online seminar «Two seas — two sanctities? A comparative view of the history of the saints 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 13th—16th 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 20th century. Read more
Press brief
Seminar proceedings
On November 13, in the «Cult Biography» podcast, Irina Smirnova and Marianna Shakhnovich, Advanced Doctor of Philosophy, discuss one of the key confrontations in Soviet antireligious policy. Who were the «kulturniki» and «antireligionsists»? What was the essence of their confrontation? Why did museums of religion helped preserve religious values rather than destroy them, as is commonly believed? Who stood behind the respect for the religious heritage during the Soviet period, and what happened to those forgotten heroes? Listen to the podcast
Two interviews with the participants in the project «Saints and Heroes: Symbol, Image, Memory» were published on October 30.
In the first episode, Irina Smirnova talks with Alexander Filyushkin, head of the Slavic and Balkan History Department at St Petersburg State University and editor-in-chief of the international journal of historical Slavistics Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana.
Alexander reveals the «technology» of creating national heroes and saints and tells how the «institute of sainthood» has developed from Old Rus to the present day. Listen to the podcast In the second episode, Irina Smirnova and the project participant Viktor Koronevsky discuss the amazing historical geography of the cult of St Euphrosyne of Polotsk — the main saint of the present-day Belarus.
The project participants prepared a series of podcasts where they discuss the meaning of saints and heroes’ cults for the national identity, their influence on our ancestors and the impact they have on us today, their reflection in culture and the world around us. The conversations are hosted by the project participant Irina Smirnova; the materials will be posted on the «Cult Biography» resource.
On October 27 Natalia Turygina spoke on «‘Knight-King’: King Alexander I Karadjordjević on the protection of the Russian emigration in the 1920s and 1930s» at the international conference in Belgrad University (Serbia) «(Un)-fit to rule: themes of acceptance and rejection of rulers throughout history».
On October 18 Alexander Filyushkin took part in the all-Russian academic conference «Three Romes of Sophia Palaiologina (To the 550th anniversary of her arrival in Moscow)» (Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) with the presentation «What did Rus of the 15th—16th centuries adopt from the ancient historical models and political ideas?»
Sub-forum «Do the saints create the future? Paradigms of confessional identity in the West and the East» was organised and held on October 15 in the context of the 2nd St Petersburg Historical Forum. Moderated by project authors A. Yu. Prokopyev and R. A. Sokolov.
More information on the presentations is available here
On September 23, at the conference «From Empire to Union: Wars, Revolutions, Nations, Culture. 1905–1922» (European University at St Petersburg), Viktor Koronevsky presented a paper «Ceremonies dedicated to local Orthodox saints as a tool of legitimizing the monarch’s authority in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century (as illustrated by the canonization of St Anna of Kashin in 1909 and the transfer of relics of St Euphrosyne of Polotsk in 1910».
At the Digital History Festival in Moscow on September 17–18, Alexander Filyushkin spoke on «Kurbsky vs Grozny». The historian told about the confrontation between Ivan the Terrible and Andrei Kurbsky, addressing the problem of the famous correspondence between the monarch and the dissident and explaining who eventually won this verbal battle.
On 16 September 2022, Alexander Filyushkin made a presentation «Our anchor in the world»: the transfer of saints and migration processes in Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages to the Modern Time«. International conference / Међународна Научна Конференција «Сеобе од Антике до Данас Прометеј: Од Агона до Прогона» at Novy Sad University, Serbia.
On August 22, the Kizhi Museum-Reserve hosted the workshop «Peter the Great and the churches of North-West Russia: symbols, images, historical memory» (on the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great).
Presentations given:
- Ye. V. Khodakovsky. Wooden church building in the times of Peter the Great: important problematic perspectives
- O. A. Lyubeznikov. Peter the Great’s image in the interior of St Isaac’s Cathedral and in the narratives about it
- A. I. Filyushkin. «Places of memory» related to Peter the Great in the Russian Empire’s census of historical monuments (1901–1903) and the USSR code of historical and cultural monuments: a comparative analysis.
More information about the workshop
On July 18, SPbU Professor Alexander I. Filyushkin took part in the Digital History programme. In the episode «Oprichnina. What was it?» the historian talked about the historical events of Ivan the Terrible’s time, the speculations and myths associated with it, the different concepts suggested by historians who studied the oprichnina, and the questions that remain unresolved.
On 5 July 2022, Alexander Filyushkin took part in the international round table «The creator of new Russia» (Moscow State University, Moscow). The round table was devoted to the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great and attended by public officials, politicians and social activists, as well as leading national and foreign historians. The participants discussed the reforms of the Russian statehood and socio-economic system in the early 18th century, cultural and civilizational guidelines set out by Peter the Great for Russia’s development, the ways to approach the study of documentary heritage of this outstanding emperor, the reflection of his image in art and artefacts, and foreign historians’ perception of the changes he made.
Alexander Filyushkin made a presentation «Constructing the memory: The 1901–1903 Russian Empire’s census of historical monuments and the memory of Peter the Great».
Listen to the presentations given at the round table and Alexander Filyushkin’s talk
On 29–30 June 2022, Gatchina hosted the All-Russian conference «Reviving memory. Cultural values and war: search, restoration, memorialisation» (St Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Gatchina Museum-Reserve). On June 30, Oleg A. Lyubeznikov made a presentation «Architect Udalenkov’s Sofia of Veliky Novgorod: restoration and interpretation of the cathedral before and after the Great Patriotic War»
On June 10, Roman A. Sokolov spoke on «The naval fleet theme in the transfer of the relics of Alexander Nevsky to St Petersburg in 1724» at the round table «Peter the Great and the Russian navy» at the Maritime Assembly.
On June 4, Alexander I. Filiushkin took part in the International conference «The Old Russian town and its neighbourhood through the prism of sources and historiography» (St Petersburg Spiritual Academy, St Petersburg).
The historian gave a presentation entitled «An Old Russian town as a „place of memory“ in Russian national history (based on the materials from the Russian Empire’s census of historical monuments)».
May 25–26, the 6th International conference «Problems of church art preservation». Irina N. Smirnova made a presentation «Treasure of the Republic: How in the first months of the Soviet power People’s Commissariat for the Property of the Republic planned to fund the court cathedrals in Moscow and Petrograd as the most valuable monuments of Russian art (based on the materials of Fund 29 of the St Petersburg Central State Literature and Arts Archive)».
On May 19–20, Marianna M. Shakhnovich took part in the conference «Religion and Power» organized by the State Museum of the History of Religion (St Petersburg) with the presentation «Rumors about church relics in the Russian village in the early 1920s.»
May 4. As part of the Digital History project, Alexander Filyushkin talked with Yegor Yakovlev about ‘flyers’ — the propaganda tool of Ivan the Terrible’s times, and the tsar’s first biography written by Paul Oderborn.
Watch the program «Ivan the Terrible’s Black PR» at the link
Doctor Science in History Alexander Filyushkin took part in the project «Digital History». He spoke about one of the most mysterious figures of Russian history — Ivan the Terrible — in the program «Ivan the Terrible: myths and mysteries»
On April 16, Evgeny Khodakovsky spoke at the conference «Wooden Architecture. Investigation and preservation of monuments». His presentation «Distinctive characteristics of the 17th—19th century wooden church architecture of Kargopol » was made at the conference organized by the ANO «Traditsia» and the Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Ministry of Construction of Russia, Moscow.
On April 15–16, Viktor Koronevsky spoke on «The Ancient Polotsk Utopia: Images of 10th—12th century Rus in the 19th — early 20th century hagiographies of St Euphrosyne of Polotsk» at the international conference «Usable Pasts» (HSE University, St Petersburg).
Viktor Koronevsky took part in the international conference «State, Society, Church in the history of the 20th—21st century Russia». His report focused on the attempts to construct a more pious and closer to the people image of the imperial family members by comparing them to venerated saints.
Follow the link to read the paper based on the report (Koronevsky V. I. Drawing analogy between the imperial family members and Orthodox saints as a way to legitimize the monarchial power in the late Russian Empire (illustrated by the cult of St Euphrosyne of Polotsk) // State, Society, Church in the history of the 20th—21st century Russia: materials of the 21st International conference, Ivanovo, 30–31 March 2022. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 2022. P. 77–82)
On 3–4 February 2022, the International conference «Empires, territorial states and local communities in the ethnic and national dimension» took place (St Petersburg State University, HSE University), where Viktor Koronevsky presented a paper «In search of imperial „staples“: The construction of the cult of a national saint on the outskirts of the empire (the case of Euphrosyne of Polotsk)».
On January 13, Alexander Filyushkin presented a paper «How did the saints come to Northwestern Russia?» at the online seminar «Saints in the Slavic Christian world (900–1400): Assessing culture, power, religion and language in Slavic hagiographies and religious literature». Hosted jointly by Lund University, Ghent University and the Balkan History Association (Sweden).
2021
On 9–11 December 2021, Alyoshin readings «Metaphysics of evil» took place in Moscow (hosted by the RSUH, Faculty of Philosophy). A. I. Filyushkin made a presentation «The anti-hero is born: Ivan the Terrible as a symbol of absolute evil in the perception of him in the 16th—17th century Europe».
On 26 November 2021, Alexander Filyushkin and Viktor Koronevsky took part in the International conference «The future of our past-7: Historical memory and commemorative practices» (Moscow, RSUH).
Alexander Filyushkin presented the paper «Saints and heroes: Transformation of symbolic figures in the history of Veliky Novgorod and Pskov from the Late Middle Ages to the modern times»; Viktor Koronevsky spoke on «Andrei Bobolya and Euphrosyne of Polotsk: the struggle around local saints as an element of confrontation between Catholicism and Orthodoxy on the western outskirts of the Russian Empire (the case of Polotsk)»
October 18-19, 2021 University of Greifswald and St. Petersburg State University has held Conference «Remembering a pre-modern past in a modern world: Medieval saints and heroes as realms of memory in 19th and 20th Century Central, Eastern and Northern Europe». The conference is organised by the project «Saints and Heroes from Christianization to Nationalism: Symbol, Image, Memory (Nord-West Russia, Baltic and Nordic countries)».
On 18 November 2021, the workshop «Saints cults in Northern and Central-Eastern Europe: Instruments of socialization, cultural codes and historical memory» took place in the framework of the 5th Congress of Russian religion scholars (St Petersburg, State Museum of the History of Religion), focusing on the subject of the Russian Science Foundation Project No. 21-48-04402 «Saints and heroes: From Christianization to nationalism. Symbol, Image, Memory (Northwest Russia, the countries of the Baltics and Northern Europe)», moderated by A. I. Filyushkin and R. A. Sokolov.
Presentations: Sokolov R. A. The cult of Alexander Nevsky: From saint to hero or from hero to saint?; Filiushkin A. I. «For Saint Sophia!». The cult of saints and the patterns of local loyalty (North-West medieval Russia, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Livonia); Veber D. I. Christianisation of the Baltics and the first saints. Comparing Prussia and Livonia; Shakhnovich M. M. The cult of saints in historical studies and anti-religious propaganda of the 1920s in the USSR; Smirnova I. N. «What will remain of Russian sainthood?» Protection of church property after the October Revolution of 1917 (new documents).
Follow the link to read the presentations
The Russkiy Mir journal published an interview with Alexander Filyushkin
«On 2 November 1721, in St Petersburg Trinity Cathedral, Russia was proclaimed the Empire and Peter the Great took the title of Emperor. Half a century later, Catherine the Great declared, «Russia is a European power». Strange as it may seem, the debate as to whether Russia belongs to Europe is ongoing, and relations with Western partners are still full of controversy. Alexander Filyushkin, Professor of St Petersburg University, Doctor of History, tells the Russkiy Mir.ru magazine how these relations have developed and why Europe and Russia have not found a common ground. Interviewed by Lada Klokova.
Read the interview with A. I. Filiushkin «The red line of Russian history»
The online academic journal «History» published an article by Dmitri Veber entitled «The dedication of churches to saints in medieval Prussian towns» (2021. Volume 12. Issue 9 (107)).
On 18 November 2021, Dmitri Veber presented his paper «Fortress as a Marker of Transformation in the Religious Landscape. Case of Teutonic Order’s Castles in Prussia» in an international colloquium «FORTIFICATION AND SOVEREIGN POWERS. Fortified architecture and territorial control in the 13th century» (Carcassonne, France)
On 11 October 2021, Alexander Filyushkin gave a talk «Hierarchy of historical roles: How the 1901–1903 census of historical monuments presented regional contributions to the history of the Russian Empire» at the conference «Territorial hierarchy: Regional status and its dynamics in the 18th — 20th century Russia» (Higher School of Economics, Moscow). Photo from the website of the Higher School of Economics
Dmitry Veber took part in the international forum «Point of contact: East and West» (29–30 September 2021, Chernyakhovsk, Russia).
Follow the link Academic forum «Point of contact: East and West». Day two to listen to Veber’s presentation «St Barbara — the Christian saint and her veneration in the Teutonic Order» (5:09:53–5:36:40)
Marianna Shakhnovich published the paper in the Journal of Religious Studies titled «Local Orthodox saints in Russia in the late 1920s — early 1930s (based on ethnographic expeditions)» (Religiovedenie: Nauchno-teoreticheskiy zhurnal. 2021. No. 3. P. 5-14. DOI 10.22250/2072-8662.2021.3.5-14).
The paper looks at the study of the veneration of local saints carried out by Soviet ethnographers in the late 1920s — early 1930s. The expeditions were organised by the Anthropology and Ethnography Museum, the Ethnography Department of the Russian Museum, the State Academy for the History of Material Culture, the Local History Society and the League of Militant Atheists.
More information
Tatiana Medvedeva and Svetlana Abuzina took part in the conference «Hanseatic League: from origins to revival» organised by the Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University (23–24 September 2021, Veliky Novgorod).
Follow the link «Hanseatic League: from origin to revival. Veliky Novgorod. 23 September 2021» to listen to Medvedeva on «Christianisation of Hanseatic space in the early modern chronicles as illustrated by Livonia’s case» and Abuzina on «“Brother Nigel’s (Nikolai’s) chronicle of Danish kings” as a historical record of relations between Danish, German and Russian cities in the Middle Ages», and other contributions.
On 22 September 2021 Tatiana Medvedeva participated remotely in the international conference «Ordines Militares. Colloquia Torunensia Historica» in Torun, Poland. The researcher presented the paper «Das Marienbild in der frühneuzeitliche livländische Geschichtsschreibung. Kontinuität oder Veränderung».
On 16 September 2021 Alexander Filyushkin spoke about dedicating churches and local identities in the parishes of Northwest Rus at the conference «Languages of describing the “social” in the Middle Ages and the early modern period», which took place on September 16–17 at the Higher School of Economics National Research University (St Petersburg).
The paper examined the role of church parishes in the formation of social and religious identities in the Novgorod and Pskov lands. Analysing the terminology of narrative and legal sources, the historian compared endo- and exo-identities (the terms used in Livonia, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, etc. to refer to Northwest Rus) and defined the role of parishes in creating the «terminology of identities» in the 12th —16th centuries.
On August 30—September 3, 2021, the 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions «RESILIENT RELIGION» was held in Italy (University of Pisa). Marianna Shakhnovich gave an online talk on «Veneration of “living saints” in the 1930s in the Soviet Russia».
In January—July 2021, the participants of the Russian Science Foundation project took part in more than ten academic conferences and seminars. The results of their research received approval in Moscow, St Petersburg, Perm and Voronezh.
On 30 July 2021, Roman Sokolov gave a presentation on «Opening Alexander Nevsky’s relics in 1922: examination results» at the meeting of the Voronezh Club of the Golden Horde Research Association dedicated to the 800th anniversary of Alexander Nevsky (Kostenki village, Khokholsky district, Voronezh Oblast).
On 25–27 May 2021, the international conference «Alexander Nevsky: Personality, Epoch, Historical Memory: Towards the 800th Anniversary of the Birth» took place in Moscow. The conference featured reports by R. A. Sokolov «The transfer of Alexander Nevsky’s relics in 1723―1724: the Schlisselburg stop» and A. I. Filyushkin «St Sophia and Alexander Nevsky: On the origins of the idea “Where St Sophia is, there is Novgorod”».
On May 7, 2021, the first online seminar of the participants of the RSF-DFG project No. 21-48-04402 «Saints and Heroes: From Christianization to Nationalism. Symbol, Image, Memory (North-West Russia, Baltic and Northern European countries)».
The seminar was attended by members of the Russian and German scientific groups. The moderators were Alexander Filyushkin, the project manager from the Russian side, and Cordelia Hess, the project manager from the German side. The discussions were attended by M. M. Shakhnovich, D. I. Weber, R. A. Sokolov, I. N. Smirnova, V. I. Koronevsky, S. S. Abuzina, T. D. Medvedeva, invited experts A. Selart (University of Tartu, Estonia) and K. Parppey (University of Southern Finland, Joensuu); members of the German scientific group (project executor G. Streng, K. Burnett (University of Greifswald), etc.
Alexander Filyushkin and Roman Sokolov took part in the 33rd Pashuto readings «Eastern Europe in Antiquity and the Middle Ages» held online by the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
PROGRAMME
The materials are published in "Vostochnaya Evropa v drevnosti i srednevekovye: Chteniya pamyati chlena-korrespondenta AN SSSR Vladimira Terentyevicha Pashuto. Vol. XXXIII: Rol’ religii v formirovanii sociokul’turnykh praktik i predstavlenij. Moscow, 2021.
Sokolov R. A. The church hierarchy and the protests of 1262. P. 253–256;
Filyushkin A. I. New approaches to the study of saints’ cults in medieval Livonia and the prospects of their application to the study of Northwest Rus. P. 291–294.
On 23–24 April 2021, Victor Koronevsky spoke on «The transfer of St Euphrosyne’s relics from Kiev to Polotsk in 1910 and the problem of Belarusian national identity formation (in press and private sources) at the international conference «Current Problems of the Source Studies» (Vitebsk, Vitebsk State University)
Summary: Koronevsky V. I. Perenos moshchey sv. Evfrosinii Polockoj iz Kieva v Polock v 1910 g. i problema stanovleniya belorusskogo natsional’nogo samosoznaniya (po materialam pressy i istochnikov lichnogo proiskhozhdeniya) // Aktual’nye problemy istochnikovedeniya: Materialy VI Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferencii, Vitebsk, 23–24 aprelya 2021 g. Vitebsk, 2021. P. 260–262
Follow the link for the conference proceedings
On 14 April 2021, Viktor Koronevsky spoke at the conference of young academics «Lomonosov 2021» (Moscow State University, Moscow). His paper «Addressing historical and religious images of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Orthodox periodicals of the late 19th — early 20th centuries in the context of the Russian Empire’s policy in the Northwest region» was delivered online in the session «The history of the southern and western Slavs».
Irina Smirnova’s report «Materials for the study of the seizure of property, artistic and historical treasures from Petrograd home churches in 1918–1922 (based on TsGALI SPb documents)» was recognised as one of the best at the international conference of students and young academics «April Theses» at Perm State University (2–3 April 2021).
On 30 March 2021, Alexander Filyushkin delivered an online report «“Transfer of saints” models: Livonia and Northwest Rus» at the colloquium «Rus and Latin Europe in the Middle Ages: Contacts, Influences, Conflicts. New Studies» (Higher School of Economics National Research University, Moscow).
PROGRAMME
Follow the link to listen to the report
On 2–3 March 2021, the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia hosted the international academic seminar «Fathers and Children: Age and Power in Politics», where Roman Sokolov delivered the report «Political capital of a child ruler: Princes on the Novgorod throne. The case of Alexander Nevsky». PROGRAMME
On 5 February 2021 Alexander Filyushkin delivered the presentation " «For Saint Sofia!» The saints’ cult and local loyalty types (Northwest medieval Rus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Livonia)" at the international interdisciplinary academic conference «Loyalty, Nationality, Citizenship: Between Empire and Nation» (online).