Author: Maria Fragopoulou

3rd RICONTRANS Workshop
Athens, 5 March 2024
Russian Religious Art in Bulgaria

The 3rd RICONTRANS Workshop on “Russian Religious Art in Bulgaria” took place in Athens on Tuesday, 5 March 2024, at the Historical Archive of the University of Athens, Skoufa 45, at 9:30-14:00.

The workshop was open for online participation.

Series of Public Lectures in Belgrade

The Sekulić Icon Collection
Museum of the City of Belgrade

The first public lecture, in the context of the RICONTRANS Project, was given by Professor Nenad Makuljević of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, on Wednesday, December 6 at 5 p.m. at the Sekulić Icon Collection, at the Museum of the City of Belgrade.

The public lecture by Professor Nenad Makuljević “Russian icons in Serbian church culture of the new century: contexts and functions,” was dedicated to the transfer of Russian sacred visual culture to Serbian Orthodox churches.

During the new century, numerous icons, books and numerous religious objects were brought from the territory of the Russian Empire. The ideals of Orthodoxy were found in Russian icon-painting, which led to the intensive import of icons, the arrival of Russian painters and the training of Serbian painters in Russian icon-painting schools. In addition to religious, Russian sacral culture also had a political character. Gifts of icons and iconostases from Russia simultaneously denoted Russian support for the Serbian people.

The second public lecture was given on Thursday, December 14 at 5 p.m. at the Sekulić Icon Collection by Associate Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Dr. Ana Kostić.

The title of the lecture was: “The memorial church in Gornji Adrovac as a symbol of political, cultural and artistic ties between Serbia and Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century”

During the Serbian-Turkish wars (1876–1877/1878), a Russian volunteer, Colonel Nikolai Nikolayevich Rajevsky, died in the battle on Goli Brdo, a place near the village of Gornji Adrovac, near Aleksinac. In his honor, a memorial church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was built at the place of his death at the beginning of the 20th century. The processes of memorializing the figure of Nikolay Nikolajevic Rajevsky and the construction and decoration of the memorial church in Gornji Adrovac will be viewed in the light of political circumstances and national ties between Russia and Serbia during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. As the visual shaping of the temple was carried out according to plans and sketches sent from Russia, and the iconostasis itself was imported from there, the temple in Gornji Adrovac represents a kind of transfer of contemporary Russian church art to Serbian soil, which also achieved the aesthetic ideal in the church art of that time.

RICONTRANS Workshop: Routes of Icons – routes of people in the Orthodox space from Russia to the Balkans (16th – 20th c.)

Athens, Benaki Museum, Pireos 138, January 25, 2023

The workshop Routes of Icons – routes of people in the Orthodox space from Russia to the Balkans (16th – 20th c.) took place in Athens, at the Benaki Museum, Pireos 138, on January 25, 2023, 10:00-17:00.

The workshop organized by the Benaki Museum (second beneficiary of the RICONTRANS Project) was in conjunction with the Benaki Museum exhibition: “Routes of Icons 17th-20th century”

Talk by Dr. Yuliana Boycheva at the
13th International Congress of Cretan Studies

Dr. Yuliana Boycheva, Principal Investigator of the RICONTRANS Project gave a talk on “Russian ecclesiastical vestments in Crete: from imperial donations to the vast circulation of mass-produced vestments” during the 13th International Congress of Cretan Studies, organised by the Society of Cretan Historical Studies.

The 13th International Congress of Cretan Studies was hosted this year in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, at the Wyndham Grand Crete Mirabello Bay Hotel. Dr. Yuliana’s talk was given in room ZEUS/Γ (C. Modern and Contemporary Period) on Friday, 7 October, 2022, on 19:00.

It is possible to watch it online here.

Lecture by Dr. Lora Gerd: “Russian support for the church institutions of Greece: tradition, ideology and politics in the 19th century”
Panteion University (KENI-Research Centre for Modern History) October 13, 2022, 7:30 PM

Lecture by Dr. Lora Gerd, Foreign correspondent of the CéSoR (Centre d’ études en sciences sociales et religieux) at EHESS, Paris, with the topic of “Russian support for the church institutions of Greece: tradition, ideology and politics in the 19th century”

October 13, 2022, 7:30 PM

Panteion University (KENI-Research Centre for Modern History),
Saki Karagiorga II amphiteatre

On Thursday, 13 October, 2022, 7:30 PM, at Panteion University (KENI-Research Centre for Modern History), Saki Karageorga II amphiteatre, Dr. Lora Gerd gave a lecture on “Russian support for the church institutions of Greece: tradition, ideology and politics in the 19th century”

ABSTRACT:

In the churches and monasteries of the Balkans one can find vessels, garments, icons and decor brought from Russia during the 19th century. What is the history of these donations? Were they made occasionally or according to a certain plan? The archival documents help us to answer these questions.

The Russian support for the Orthodox Greek population of the Ottoman Empire started already in the 16th century, and steadily increased during the 17th century. Beginning with the 1830s, the contacts between Russia and the Greek world were related to the so called Eastern question. Continuing its support to the Orthodox Patriarchates of the East, the Russian government aimed at strengthening its influence among the Orthodox population. In the 1850s a new period of ecclesiastical and cultural relations with the church of Greece started: both the Russian and the Greek Synods were interested in matters of canon law and liturgical practices, attitude to non-Orthodox Christians, etc. The ideas of the church politicians of that period were about creating a big “Orthodox home”, where different nations could learn the traditions, carry out educational projects and reform their church life. 

Thanks to the activities of the priest of the Russian mission in Athens, Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin, the restοration of St. Trinity church was finished in 1855. Another small church in Athens, Agia Zone, was also restored by Antonin.

In the 1860s and 1890s along with donations to the Slavonic monasteries and churches of the Balkans, the Greek Orthodox institutions also enjoyed support from Russia. Special attention was paid to the region of Trebizond and the Theological school in Halki island, and to those which suffered from wars or earthquakes.

CV:

Dr. Lora Gerd graduated from St. Petersburg State University (Classics, 1992). Her PhD was on “Questions of Canon Law in the Tacticon of Nikon of Black Mount (XI-th Century)”. The title of her Dr. hab. Thesis was “Constantinople and Petersburg: Russian ecclesiastical policy in the Orthodox East (1878-1898)” (2006). She is a specialist in Russian policy in the Ottoman Empire and Greek-Russian relations in the 19th and early 20th century (Russian church policy in the Near East and the Balkans, history of Byzantine studies, confessional and cultural relations). She has participated in the projects: “Open Jerusalem”; “The church of England and its relations to the Orthodox East”; director of the project “Russia and Mount Athos in the 19th and 20th centuries”. A regular participant in international conferences and invited lecturer at EHESS (Paris), Cyprus University (Nicosia), Lund University (Sweden), Dr. Lora Gerd is foreign correspondent of the CéSoR (Centre d’ études en sciences sociales et religieux) at EHESS, Paris. During the last years she has been working on projects concerning the Russian policy in the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch (19th and 20th centuries). Dr. Lora Gerd was a member of the research team of RICONTRANS project [Visual Culture, Piety and Propaganda. Transfer and Reception of Russian Religious Art in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean (16th to early 20th century)] and her lecture is part of the project’s activities.

RICONTRANS has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 818791).

The lecture was in Greek.

Lecture by Dr. Lora Gerd: “Russian support for the church institutions of Greece: tradition, ideology and politics in the 19th century”
IMS-FORTH, October 11, 2022, 8:30 PM

Lecture by Dr. Lora Gerd, Foreign correspondent of the CéSoR (Centre d’ études en sciences sociales et religieux) at EHESS, Paris, with the topic of “Russian support for the church institutions of Greece: tradition, ideology and politics in the 19th century”

October 11, 2022, 8:30 PM

Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Rethymnon

On Tuesday, 11 October, 2022, 8:30 PM, at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (Melissinou and Nikiforou Foka 130, Rethymno), Dr. Lora Gerd gave a lecture on “Russian support for the church institutions of Greece: tradition, ideology and politics in the 19th century”

ABSTRACT:

In the churches and monasteries of the Balkans one can find vessels, garments, icons and decor brought from Russia during the 19th century. What is the history of these donations? Were they made occasionally or according to a certain plan? The archival documents help us to answer these questions.

The Russian support for the Orthodox Greek population of the Ottoman Empire started already in the 16th century, and steadily increased during the 17th century. Beginning with the 1830s, the contacts between Russia and the Greek world were related to the so called Eastern question. Continuing its support to the Orthodox Patriarchates of the East, the Russian government aimed at strengthening its influence among the Orthodox population. In the 1850s a new period of ecclesiastical and cultural relations with the church of Greece started: both the Russian and the Greek Synods were interested in matters of canon law and liturgical practices, attitude to non-Orthodox Christians, etc. The ideas of the church politicians of that period were about creating a big “Orthodox home”, where different nations could learn the traditions, carry out educational projects and reform their church life. 

Thanks to the activities of the priest of the Russian mission in Athens, Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin, the restοration of St. Trinity church was finished in 1855. Another small church in Athens, Agia Zone, was also restored by Antonin.

In the 1860s and 1890s along with donations to the Slavonic monasteries and churches of the Balkans, the Greek Orthodox institutions also enjoyed support from Russia. Special attention was paid to the region of Trebizond and the Theological school in Halki island, and to those which suffered from wars or earthquakes.

CV:

Dr. Lora Gerd graduated from St. Petersburg State University (Classics, 1992). Her PhD was on “Questions of Canon Law in the Tacticon of Nikon of Black Mount (XI-th Century)”. The title of her Dr. hab. Thesis was “Constantinople and Petersburg: Russian ecclesiastical policy in the Orthodox East (1878-1898)” (2006). She is a specialist in Russian policy in the Ottoman Empire and Greek-Russian relations in the 19th and early 20th century (Russian church policy in the Near East and the Balkans, history of Byzantine studies, confessional and cultural relations). She has participated in the projects: “Open Jerusalem”; “The church of England and its relations to the Orthodox East”; director of the project “Russia and Mount Athos in the 19th and 20th centuries”. A regular participant in international conferences and invited lecturer at EHESS (Paris), Cyprus University (Nicosia), Lund University (Sweden), Dr. Lora Gerd is foreign correspondent of the CéSoR (Centre d’ études en sciences sociales et religieux) at EHESS, Paris. During the last years she has been working on projects concerning the Russian policy in the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch (19th and 20th centuries). Dr. Lora Gerd was a member of the research team of RICONTRANS project [Visual Culture, Piety and Propaganda. Transfer and Reception of Russian Religious Art in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean (16th to early 20th century)] and her lecture is part of the project’s activities.

RICONTRANS has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 818791).

The lecture was given in Greek and it was possible to watch online via live streaming.