“Orthodoxies and Politics” presents an interconnected view of the Early Modern religious reforms, the fault lines of which are visible in contemporary debates. In the seventeenth century, following similar developments in Western and Central Europe, the wind of religious change swept throughout Orthodox Christianity with unparalleled intensity. While a consensus has been reached on the pivotal role of the Reforms of Nikon, named after the controversial Patriarch of Moscow (†1681), its causes and far-reaching consequences remain a matter of debate, fuelled by the emergence of new sources and, at times, polemical reassessments.

Our first aim is to broaden the scope of research by examining unpublished texts held in repositories from Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Ukraine, to mention the most important ones. Based on this data, read against published materials, we will argue that the reformist thrust covered wider areas and aspects than hitherto assumed, affecting even the Orthodox communities of the Ottoman Empire. Focusing on the vital interplay between the religious and political spheres, we will show that Nikon was part of a larger dynamics of religious reforms promoted by such diverse and disputed figures as the “Calvinist” Patriarch of Constantinople Kyrillos Loukaris (†1638), the “Westernizer” Metropolitan of Kiev Peter Mohyla (†1647) and the “Orthodox” Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheos (†1707).

Given the phenomenon’s multi-layered nature, we propose a model of analysis that highlights the specificities, antagonisms and connections between Muscovite, Ruthenian, Wallachian and Greek reforming currents by combining historical, theological and linguistic research tools. Our research compares, contextualizes and transgresses boundaries artificially imposed by nationalistic historiographies, while it tackles key topics in Early Modern religious, institutional and cultural history: confessionalization, factional (political) shaping of the “Right Faith” (seen as cultural system) and tension between tradition and innovation.

Advisory Board

For the entire duration of the project, an advisory board of leading scholars provides feedback, helps the team mitigate the risks, and thus contributes to the quality of the results. It is composed of Nikolaos A. Chrissidis (Southern Connecticut State University), Bernard Heyberger (EHESS, Paris), Vassa Kontouma (EPHE, Paris), Tijana Krstić (CEU, Vienna), Vasilios N. Makrides (University of Erfurt), and Konrad Petrovszky (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna).

Visiting Scholars

ORTHPOL tackles critical topics in Early Modern religious, institutional, and cultural history. However, due to pragmatic limitations, the project cannot cover a number of aspects of potential relevance to the topic, such as the impact of mid-seventeenth century religious reforms on the Christian communities of the Middle East; their reflection in visual arts; the potential similarities with the Islamic Kadızadeli puritans, as well as with the Jewish messianic movement of Sabbatai Sevi; their echo in Western Europe. To assess both the limits and perspectives of ORTHPOL, scholars with expertise in the abovementioned will consecutively join the team for short term periods.

The first invitation was extended to Radu G. Păun (CNRS, Paris), who dedicated seminal studies to the post-Byzantine archons and to the “fight for the true faith” in Eastern Europe, with a focus on the Synodikon of Orthodoxy.

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 950287).