Lucien Frary

P r o f e s s o r S t a v r o u h a s b e e n a v e r i t a b l e i n s t i t u t i o n i n t h e Un i t e d S t a t e s f o r mo r e t h a n f o r t y y e a r s. Hi s wo r k s a r e c i t e d b r o a d l y a n d h i s r e s e a r c h h a s mo r e o f t e n b e e n c o n f i r me d t h a n c h a l l e n g e d o v e r h i s c a r e e r —s o me t h i n g o t h e r s c o u l d o n l y wi s h f o r t h e ms e l v e s. P r o f e s s o r S t a v r o u h a s a l s o b e e n t h e a c a d e mi c a d v i s o r o f s e v e r a l g e n e r a t i o n s o f o f s c h o l a r s i n No r t h Ame r i c a a n d E u r o p e , a n d h i s i d e a s h a v e i n f l u e n c e d e v e n y o u n g s c h o l a r s wh o we r e n o t e v e r f o r ma l l y h i s s t u d e n t s. Hi s g e n e r o s i t y a n d b r e a d t h o f k n o wl e d g e h a s b e e n a n d c o n t i n u e s t o b e t a p p e d b y s c h o l a r s a r o u n d t h e wo r l d , y e t h e r e ma i n s mo d e s t a b o u t h i s o wn a c c o mp l i s h me n t s a n d p l a c e i n t h e f i e l d (s) h e h a s p u r s u e d. De s p i t e t h a t mo d e s t y , t h i s v o l u me c o n v i n c i n g l y d e mo n s t r a t e s t h a t n o o n e h a s e a r n e d t h e h o n o r o f a F e s t s c h r i f t mo r e t h a n h e h a s. t h a n h e h a s. R u s s e l l E. Ma r t i n P r o f e s s o r o f Hi s t o r y We s t mi n s t e r Co l l e g e T h i s v o l u me i s a t r i b u t e t o T h e o f a n i s G. S t a v r o u , P r o f e s s o r o f R u s s i a n a n d Ne a r E a s t e r n Hi s t o r y a n d Di r e c t o r o f Mo d e r n Gr e e k S t u d i e s a t t h e Un i v e r s i t y o f Mi n n e s o t a. A g e n e r o u s a n d p e n e t r a t i n g s c h o l a r , a s we l l a s a n a wa r d-wi n n i n g t e a c h e r a n d me n t o r , P r o f e s s o r S t a v r o u i s we l l k n o wn f o r h i s i n f e c t i o u s e n t h u s i a s m f o r c o l l a b o r a t i v e s c h o l a r s h i p a n d wi d e-r a n g i n g e x p e r t i s e i n R u s s i a n h i s t o r y a n d c u l t u r e , E a s t e r n Or t h o d o x Ch u r c h h i s t o r y , Mo d e r n Gr e e k l i t e r a t u r e , a n d a n d o t h e r f i e l d s. T h e f o r t y-f o u r c o n t r i b u t o r s t o t h i s c o l l e c t i o n a r e a d i v e r s e g r o u p o f ma i n l y s e n i o r Ame r i c a n s c h o l a r s wh o h a v e p u b l i s h e d e r u d i t e mo n o g r a p h s r e l a t e d t o t h e f i e l d s o f S l a v i c , E u r o p e a n , Me d i t e r r a n e a n , a n d E a s t e r n Or t h o d o x s t u d i e s .

How do the Greeks of today relate to their Classical and Byzantine past? What role does religion play in Greek social and political life? How did the outside world contribute to the making of modern Greece? These are some of the questions raised in this book on Russia and the making of modern Greece. Based on a wide range of unpublished Russian archival documents and Greek historical sources, the book illuminates the connection between religion, politics, and the past in the formation of Greek nationhood during the first decades of the nineteenth century. It also probes the development of Russian foreign policy in the Balkans during this era, when the ideas of nationalism first began to circulate among the Balkan elite as well as among the paragons of Russian culture.

An innovative and ambitious reassessment of one of the most dominant political concerns of the nineteenth century: What to do about a declining Ottoman Empire?

During the nineteenth century—as violence, population dislocations, and rebellions unfolded in the borderlands between the Russian and Ottoman Empires—European and Russian diplomats debated the “Eastern Question,” or, “What should be done about the Ottoman Empire?” Russian-Ottoman Borderlands brings together an international group of scholars to show that the Eastern Question was not just one but many questions that varied tremendously from one historical actor and moment to the next. The Eastern Question (or, from the Ottoman perspective, the Western Question) became the predominant subject of international affairs until the end of the First World War. Its legacy continues to resonate in the Balkans, the Black Sea region, and the Caucasus today.

The contributors address ethnicity, religion, popular attitudes, violence, dislocation and mass migration, economic rivalry, and great-power diplomacy. Through a variety of fresh approaches, they examine the consequences of the Eastern Question in the lives of those peoples it most affected, the millions living in the Russian and Ottoman Empires and the borderlands in between.

The Russian Company of Steam Navigation and Trade (Русское общество пароходства и торговли, or ROPiT) during the second half of the nineteenth century was more closely connected with national politics than any other merchant marine in the world. Politically, ROPiT enabled the Russian state to penetrate the tangled web of rivalry and prejudice that epitomized this era of European imperialism. Commercially, ROPiT improved the empire's international trade and communications, while providing a foundation for the training of sailors. ROPiT also performed crucial postal services and yielded a useful fleet of transport vessels for public and private use. Based on company records and passengers' reports, this paper focuses on the functioning of ROPiT as an aspect of the upsurge of pilgrimages to the sacred places of the Orthodox East during the late imperial period. It argues that ROPiT helped assert Russian influence and generate a sense of community within the Orthodox realm, from the Neva to the Nile.