All mid-seventeenth-century religious reforms in Eastern and Southeastern Europe were particularly attentive to the subtleties of language. The “correction” of holy books, based on “incorrupt” models, was a crucial aspect of any reform project and was fervently contested by opponents. Yet images played a major role as well. Their status and function were debated; they were used to convince and deter, and they played an active community-building role. Consequently, ORTHPOL pays particular attention to the visual dimension of the Early Modern reforming currents, studying “icons-in-between” and illuminated liturgical manuscripts of Eastern Christianity.
