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Popular Orthodoxy in Late Imperial Rural Russia
25.03.2008 15:20
Shevzov, Vera, ph.d./ Yale university 1994
"Popular Orthodoxy in Late Imperial Rural Russia" is a grassroots study of Orthodox Christianity as it was practiced primarily in the northern province of Vologda.
The dissertation seeks to define the contours of Orthodox Christianity in terms of an entire ecclesial community, constituted by clergy and laity. Accordingly, it explores those forms of rural religious life that were "popular" or common among rural believers, yet at the same time were traditionally accepted as belonging to mainstream Orthodox Christianity. One of the aims of the description of rural Orthodox piety is to elucidate various aspects of the lay ecclesial understanding of the time.
Chapter One establishes the context provided by the parish in rural Vologda. It examines the means by which a parish was established and the efforts exerted by the local believers in the construction and renovation of their parish churches. It also describes the various means of lay participation in parish life and discusses the difficulties which the historian faces in assessing the extent of that participation.
Chapter Two moves from the contextual to the relational in its discussion of the local parish, and examines the complex interrelationships between the pastor and the flock, and between the parish community and the rural village community, in the day-to-day matters of parish life.
Chapters Three, Four, and Five explore the other "arena" in which rural believers gathered in worship in Vologda's rural areas - namely the local village setting. They consider the events that motivated these gatherings, such as natural disasters, specially revered icons, perceived holy places such as springs or wells, and the construction of chapels.
Chapter Six examines the issue of "self-willed" religious behavior associated with lay spiritual authority figures - figures who identified with the local ecclesial community and the official Orthodox Church, yet who took upon themselves tasks and activities which, from the perspective of Orthodox ecclesiastical authorities at the time, were considered to be the proper domain of pastors. The chapter focuses primarily on the features of lay behavior that evoked clerical concern and transformed what otherwise might have been individual displays of piety into broader, group phenomena".
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