ABSTRACT
Historical and theological in its dimensions, the notion of tradition in Eastern Orthodoxy encompasses a broad range of topics, including scripture, patristic literature, the ecumenical councils, and canon law. Insofar as it is lived and understood to involve personal encounter with “the holy,” tradition also incorporates liturgy and sacraments, hymnody and prayer, and the veneration of icons and saints. In this sense, the Russian tradition historically has been as dynamic and changing as it has been preoccupied with preservation and continuity. Although for all practical purposes tradition is an insider’s project, not all insiders to the Russian tradition have historically been unanimous with regard to that tradition’s definition, meaning, and function. While in any given period Orthodox believers in Russia might have agreed upon the main components of tradition, they did not always agree on the principles of interpretation or on the essential features of its authentic expression. Consequently, while to outsiders the Russian tradition has often appeared conservative, unchanging, and even backward, on closer investigation, that tradition as lived and practiced, experienced and contemplated, has often proven creative, variable, and semantically nuanced.
