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This book traces the evolution of religious attitudes in an important transitional period in Russian history. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Russia saw the gradual decline of monastic spirituality, the rise of miracle cults, and ultimately the birth of a more personal and private faith that stressed morality instead of public rituals. Bushkovitch not only skillfully reconstructs these rapid and fundamental changes in the Russian religious experience, but also shows how they were influenced by European religious ideas and how they foreshadowed the secularization of Russian society usually credited to Peter the Great.
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REliGION AND SOCIETY IN RUSSIA This page intentionally left blank RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN RUSSIA The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Paul Bushkovitch New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS '992 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1992 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bushkovitch, Paul. Religion and society in Russia : the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries / Paul Bushkovitch. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISB -19-506946-3 l. Russk pravoslavn erkov'—History—i6th century. '2. Russka pravoslavn erkov' — History—i7th century. 3. Soviet Union—Church history. 4. Soviet Union—Church history—lyth century. I. Title. 8X489.B87 1992 281-9'47'09O31—dcao 91-11540 CIP 2468 9753 ' Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Acknowledgmentss This book has been a long while in the making, and over the years I have acquired many debts both to institutions and to persons. The International Research and Exchange Board of Princeton, New Jersey, was the primary support of the project from its inception. Yale University's A. Whitney Griswold Fund and its Center for International and Area Studies provided support for travel to West European libraries to supplement Soviet holdings. In the Soviet Union the staff of the State Historical Museum (Moscow), the Moscow University Library, the Central Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (Kiev), the Lenin Library (Moscow), and the Central State Archive of Ancient Documents (Moscow) were particularly helpful. Moscow University was my host for most of my time in Moscow, and I am grateful both for the ties forged there and for V. V, Shul'gin's kind and helpful advice. The kafedra of feudalism of Moscow University's history faculty and the sector of Old Russian literature at the Gor'kii Institute of World Literature provided a forum for an early discussion of some of my principal conclusions. A. N. Robinson let a novice in the world of seventeenth-century Russian culture know at an early stage that his work had some value where it mattered most. My debts to others are also very great. Michael McGerr took precious time from his dissertation to teach me how to use a computer. Over the years I have benefitted greatly from the knowledge and opinions of many colleagues, primarily John Boswell, Robert Crummey, D. M. Bulanin, B. L. Fonkich, Robert Harding, Nancy Kollman, Fairy von Lilienfeld, Keith Luria, George Majeska, Edgar H. Melton, Hugh Olmstead, Marc Raeff, and ma