Book by Iulia Nitescu
PhD Thesis - Political and Religious Myths and Symbols of the Russian State, University of Buchar... more PhD Thesis - Political and Religious Myths and Symbols of the Russian State, University of Bucharest Press, 2018
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Articles and Book Chapters by Iulia Nitescu
Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes, 2024
This article discusses the shifting perception of Metropolitan Kiprian's image in Muscovy. My ana... more This article discusses the shifting perception of Metropolitan Kiprian's image in Muscovy. My analysis focuses on three aspects: Kiprian as a "pro-Lithuanian" actor and the complicated succession of Metropolitan Aleksii in Moscow, Kiprian as a legitimate metropolitan in the accounts and iconographical representations of the 1395 miracle of the icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir, defending Moscow from the Tatar attack, and Kiprian as a rightful member of a legitimate, Moscow-based ecclesiastical succession, after the 1472 discovery of the relics of all metropolitans buried in the Dormition Cathedral. I argue that the initially contested metropolitan became a saintly protector beginning with the second half of the 15 th century, due to the emergent Muscovite ideology of power, aiming to illustrate a political and ecclesiastical unity of Rus' polities under Muscovite rule. In Kiprian's case, this culminated with his portrait as an ideal (and legitimate) spiritual father in the 16 th-century Nikon chronicle, and with some minor attempts to include him among the local saintly protectors of the city.
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Russian History, 2024
This article discusses the veneration of Metropolitan Petr of Kyiv and all Rus’ in 14th–16th cent... more This article discusses the veneration of Metropolitan Petr of Kyiv and all Rus’ in 14th–16th century Moscow. It focuses on the shifting roles attributed to his tomb in the Dormition Cathedral, from locally developed veneration, to a source of ecclesiastical legitimacy. In the first section, I trace the cult’s development from the earliest hagiographical writings to posthumous miracles included in chronicle writing and artistic representations of Petr’s activity as an icon painter. The second section examines a possible attempt at ritual building for local appointments of metropolitans, after 1448, revolving around Petr’s tomb. I argue that Petr’s saintly image was purposely shaped over two centuries from a wonderworking saint to also a military protector of the city and a prototype of the legitimate metropolitan of all Rus’. Although his tomb did not receive a permanent place in enthronement ceremonies, in the 16th century it became synonymous with the seat of the metropolitan, and played a major role in the subsequent veneration of a correct line of ecclesiastical successors buried in its proximity.
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Foreigners in Muscovy. Western Immigrants in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Russia, eds. Simon Dreher, Wolfgang Mueller, Routledge, 2023
This chapter addresses the religious life of “Latins” in Moscow in the late fifteenth century and... more This chapter addresses the religious life of “Latins” in Moscow in the late fifteenth century and the sixteenth century. It provides an overview of the strategies used by Roman Catholics to integrate themselves into the Muscovite society based on cases of everyday interaction, rather than Church polemics. The Latins arriving in Moscow from the second half of the fifteenth century – Western specialists as well as merchants and clergymen – found themselves in an Orthodox society with their public lives strictly controlled by the authorities. Focusing on accounts of foreign travellers and Muscovite chronicles, the chapter discusses how Latins adapted to Muscovite society, including their identification as “others” based on appearance or customs, cases of conversion and rebaptism, and later attempts to obtain some religious freedom for the emergent Latin community.
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New Europe College Yearbook, "Ștefan Odobleja" Program 2021/ 2022, 2022
This paper addresses the public Orthodox identity of the Muscovite ruling family during the late ... more This paper addresses the public Orthodox identity of the Muscovite ruling family during the late 15th century, by focusing on the case of Elena Ivanovna (1474/6–1513), daughter of Ivan III of Moscow and wife of Alexander Jagiellon of Lithuania. Through an analysis of the diplomatic correspondence between the grand prince of Moscow and his daughter, it discusses the implications Elena’s religious identity had both on an individual level and for the image of the Muscovite dynastic identity.
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Slavonic and East European Review, 2021
This article examines the role played by the disputes for ecclesiastical jurisdiction between the... more This article examines the role played by the disputes for ecclesiastical jurisdiction between the late 15th century Metropolitan Sees of Kiev and of Moscow in defining the Muscovite rhetoric of princely power. Based on previous temporary ecclesiastical separations and on the Moscow-based Metropolitans’ letters, it suggests that a possible acceptance of Grigorii of Kiev’s jurisdiction in Novgorod was perceived as a possible threat in Moscow. Thus, when describing the 1471 attack, the official Muscovite chronicles transformed the Novogorodian struggle for autonomy into ‘apostasy’. The result was a coherent narrative expressing an emergent dynastic consciousness, based on descent from Riurik, primogeniture and local symbols of Orthodoxy.
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Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 2021
This paper addresses the issue of Sofiia Palaiologina’s religious identity during her time in Mos... more This paper addresses the issue of Sofiia Palaiologina’s religious identity during her time in Moscow, by analyzing the Russian chronicles’ accounts of her marriage negotiations. It suggests that the official Muscovite account offered a carefully tailored narrative of a pious tsarevna as an attempt to explain why the grand prince negotiated the marriage with Rome, and to integrate Sofiia into the official Orthodox narrative of the dynasty. Although contradicted by her background and largely missing from other Russian accounts of the event, the Orthodox elements of Sofiia’s identity emphasized by the official chronicles have been interpreted as proof of the “Byzantine lineage” brought by her to Moscow. The local context, namely the opposition of metropolitan Filip and the current ecclesiastical debates, as well as Sofiia’s later image as “the Roman,” explain how this official narrative sought to appropriate Sofiia for Muscovite ideology.
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Organized Events by Iulia Nitescu
MOSCULT & ORTHPOL WORKSHOP
VIENNA, 10-11 MAY 2024
CONVENORS: Iulia NIȚESCU / Ovidiu OLAR
The ven... more MOSCULT & ORTHPOL WORKSHOP
VIENNA, 10-11 MAY 2024
CONVENORS: Iulia NIȚESCU / Ovidiu OLAR
The veneration of local saints has been a fundamental component of incorporating newly baptized territories into the Eastern Christian world. Byzantine liturgical practice, hagiography, and iconography provided a rich basis for developing a cult of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe. However, most of these components were blended into local strategies for asserting sainthood, specifically tailored to local needs.
This workshop will focus on (but not be restricted to) saint-making, ritual, and cult development, veneration and transfer of relics, the establishment of local shines, pilgrimages, transfer of knowledge and practices, and ecclesiastical and political uses of locally defined sainthood. We aim to discuss the dynamic process of saint-making and the veneration of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe through an integrated approach drawing from historical, literary studies and art history.
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Book by Iulia Nitescu
Articles and Book Chapters by Iulia Nitescu
Organized Events by Iulia Nitescu
VIENNA, 10-11 MAY 2024
CONVENORS: Iulia NIȚESCU / Ovidiu OLAR
The veneration of local saints has been a fundamental component of incorporating newly baptized territories into the Eastern Christian world. Byzantine liturgical practice, hagiography, and iconography provided a rich basis for developing a cult of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe. However, most of these components were blended into local strategies for asserting sainthood, specifically tailored to local needs.
This workshop will focus on (but not be restricted to) saint-making, ritual, and cult development, veneration and transfer of relics, the establishment of local shines, pilgrimages, transfer of knowledge and practices, and ecclesiastical and political uses of locally defined sainthood. We aim to discuss the dynamic process of saint-making and the veneration of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe through an integrated approach drawing from historical, literary studies and art history.
VIENNA, 10-11 MAY 2024
CONVENORS: Iulia NIȚESCU / Ovidiu OLAR
The veneration of local saints has been a fundamental component of incorporating newly baptized territories into the Eastern Christian world. Byzantine liturgical practice, hagiography, and iconography provided a rich basis for developing a cult of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe. However, most of these components were blended into local strategies for asserting sainthood, specifically tailored to local needs.
This workshop will focus on (but not be restricted to) saint-making, ritual, and cult development, veneration and transfer of relics, the establishment of local shines, pilgrimages, transfer of knowledge and practices, and ecclesiastical and political uses of locally defined sainthood. We aim to discuss the dynamic process of saint-making and the veneration of local saints in premodern Eastern and South Eastern Europe through an integrated approach drawing from historical, literary studies and art history.