ABSTRACT

This book looks at Eastern and Western monasticism’s continuous and intensive interactions with society in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Former Soviet Republics. It discusses the role monastics played in fostering national identities, as well as the potentiality of monasteries and religious orders to be vehicles of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue within and beyond national boundaries. Using a country-specific analysis, the book highlights the monastic tradition and monastic establishments. It addresses gaps in the academic study of religion in Eastern European and Russian historiography and looks at the role of monasticism as a cultural and national identity forming determinant in the region.

part |246 pages

Monasticism in Eastern–Central Europe

chapter |20 pages

Croatian monasticism and Glagolitic tradition

Glagolitic letters at home and abroad

chapter |24 pages

Catholic monasticism, orders, and societies in Hungary

Centuries of expansion, disaster, and revival

chapter |22 pages

Mount Athos

Relations between the Holy Mountain and Eastern Europe

chapter |21 pages

Roman Catholic monasticism in Poland

A brief overview of selected issues

chapter |17 pages

Orthodox monasticism and the development of the modern Romanian state

From Dora d'Istria's criticism (1855) to cyclical reevaluation of monastic spirituality in contemporary Romania

chapter |28 pages

Monasticism in Serbia in the modern period

Development, influence, importance

chapter |22 pages

Between East and West

Albania's monastic mosaic

part |134 pages

Monasticism in Russia and the Former Soviet Republics

chapter |23 pages

Monasticism in Russia's far north in the pre-Petrine era

Social, cultural, and economic interaction 1

chapter |22 pages

Archimandrites and antiquities

The creation of Orthodox-based Russian national identity at Resurrection “New Jerusalem” Monastery in the nineteenth century

chapter |25 pages

Greco-Catholic monasticism in Ukraine

Between mission and contemplation