Russian monastic culture
Subtitle: "Josephism" and the Iosifo-Volokolamsk Monastery, 1479-1607
By: Tom E. Dykstra.
Series: Slavistische Beiträge -- Bd. 450
Publisher: Otto Sagner
Published: 2006
Place of publication: München
Language: eng
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9783876909806
Subjects: Iosifo-Volokolamskiĭ monastyrʹ -- History; Monasticism and religious orders -- Russia (Federation)
Description: Many  historians  believe medieval  Russian monks were  predominantly  peasants meekly  obeying upper class abbots, while others assert monastery brotherhoods were elitist, composed primarily of former  landlords. Nearly all accept  the proposition  that monastic political culture was  fundamentally absolutist, and some attribute Russian secular political absolutism to monastic influence. This book examines these questions in depth, applying statistical analyses for the first time to questions of social history which have until now been addressed only with anecdotal evidence. By means of a detailed examination of  the entire monastic brotherhood of  the  leading monastery of  the sixteenth 
century, the author presents evidence that contradicts both the predominantly-peasant and the predominantly-landowner theses.  In  their place, this book presents a graphic demonstration of  the complex relationship between social status outside and inside the monastery. In addition, an examination of the monastic Rule of Iosif of Volokolamsk 
and its impact on the monastery’s history provides a new view of “Josephism.”  Iosif did not found a new “movement” or “party,” and his  influence on monastic culture was  to push  it  in a direction directly opposed  to what  is usually attributed  to him – away  from absolutism and  toward participatory and consensus-based politics. 

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Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-264).
Table of contents: pagenum: 9
class: chapter
title: Introduction; pagenum: 39
class: chapter
title: Historical Context (Byzantium, The West, Russia:  Non-Soviet Literature, Russia:  Soviet Literature); pagenum: 71
class: chapter
title: Sources	(Documentary Sources, Prescriptive Texts, Epistolary and Narrative Sources,	Genealogical and Reference Resources); pagenum: 83
title: Methodology and Terminology (Identifying Individuals, Determining Monastic Rank, Determining Social Status, A Case Study); pagenum: 119
title: Social Provenance and Mobility (The Brotherhood as a Whole, Igumens and Council Members, the Rank and File, Disciples, Master, and Hierarchs, Social Status versus Monastic Status); pagenum: 149
title: Some Aspects of Josephite Social Culture (Collective Identity, Non-Posession and Humility Ideals versus Reality, A Sense of Community); pagenum: 195
title: Some Aspects of Josephite Political Culture (The Igumen versus the Council of Elders, Misail Beznin, Institutional Charity)