Coleman, Heather J. (ed.) Orthodox Christianity in Imperial Russia: A Source Book on Lived Religion (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 369 Baltic History is not only an exciting read, but an inspiring contribution to Baltic studies, pointing out new directions and novel attempts for historians of the Baltic States. UCL SSEES and Johan Skytte Institute of Paris Pin-Yu Chen Political Science, University of Tartu Coleman, Heather J. (ed.). Orthodox Christianity in Imperial Russia: A Source Book on Lived Religion. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 2014. xi + 333 pp. Maps. Notes. Glossary. Further reading. Index. $35.00 £22.99 (paperback). Heather Coleman has done a great service to the fields of Slavonic and East European Studies, history and religious studies by publishing Orthodox ChristianityinImperialRussia:ASourceBookonLivedReligion.Acollaborative effort, Coleman’s edited volume features translations of a wide variety of primary sources (whole and excerpted). Each is accompanied by an informative introduction from a scholar of imperial Russian lived religion who has worked with the type of source being showcased, along with footnotes, including the explanatory kind that may benefit those less familiar with the historiography or the type of source, and a list of suggested works for further reading. I can imagine no more convenient gateway into the history and historiography of imperial Russian lived Christianity, a subfield that has attracted some of the best contemporary minds in Slavonic and East European Studies and that has blossomed in recent decades, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the worldwide resurgence of religion have captured scholars’ attention. How to approach Orthodox Christianity itself presents certain challenges for Western readers more familiar with Protestantism and Catholicism, but Coleman argues in her introduction that, ‘With its incarnational and experiential spirituality, Orthodoxy by its nature lends itself to the material culture and “lived religion” approaches that have emerged in the study of western Christianity in the 1980s’ (p. 11), and her assertion that ‘Everyday life in imperial Russia comes alive’ (p. 1) in the primary sources selected for the volume strikes this reader as entirely justified. For those who prefer history with people in it (as opposed to only institutions or social forces), there is a particular pleasure in reading the kinds of sources that bring us very close to individuals with whom we might in some respects identify — sources such as the letters to Russian monastic elders (startsy) introduced by Irina Paert, the sometimes very intimate written confessions to Father John of Kronstadt introduced by Nadieszda Kizenko, or the letters and diocesan reports SEER, 95, 2, APRIL 2017 370 showing concern among Vladimir Diocese clergy over secularizing tendencies introduced by Gregory Freeze, whose pioneering and ongoing scholarly efforts continue to exert enormous influence on the field. The volume helps to shore up one of Professor Freeze’s key insights — one that among others his student Scott Kenworthy, who introduces selections from the diary of Archimandrite Toviia (Tsymbal) of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for the volume in question, has continued to emphasize — namely that despite the imperial Russian Orthodox church’s challenges and limitations, the church was not a moribund institution. These serious challenges ranged from state bureaucratic oversight, to a lack of sufficient infrastructure for the space to be overseen (on which the missionary reports from Siberia introduced by Aileen Friesen are particularly striking), to the dependence of priests on fees from their parishioners. Despite this, not only were clergy active in a wide variety of ways, but the laity, too, found meaning in active religious life, even if their interpretation of Orthodoxy might at times put them at loggerheads with official church structures, as shown, for example, in the petitions to the Holy Synod regarding miracle-working icons introduced by Vera Shevzov. The volume also highlights the importance of healing miracles and pilgrimage to ordinary believers, for example in the documents related to the case of the mute peasant Sergei Ivanov who reportedly miraculously recovered the ability to speak in the presence of the relics of St Sergius, introduced by Christine Worobec. The sources selected for the book help to illustrate other broad nineteenthand early twentieth-century developments in Russian history as well, giving us a window onto Russia’s uneasy modernization. For instance, Coleman includes sources that touch on attitudes toward Ukraine among Russians and Ukrainians. She also highlights late...