Εισαγωγή, διακίνηση και πρόσληψη των ρωσικών ειδών εκκλησιαστικής τέχνης στην ύστερη οθωμανική Μακεδονία

Abstract

Exploring the goals, the channels and the modalities of the transfer of objects of ecclesiastic art from the Russian Empire to Ottoman Macedonia, an area situated at the border of the Slav and Greek-speaking world, this book focuses on the contradictory interplay between this transfer and the rival nation-building processes of that region during the long nineteenth century (i.e. to the outburst of the Balkan wars in 1912). Its four chapters investigate in turn the traditional patterns of this transfer before the age of nationalisms, its relation with the Slav-Bulgarian “revival” of the 19th century, the specific forms it took in the Athos monastic community during the mass influx of Russian monks (and subsequent clash between local adherents of Greek and Russian nationalism), as well as the various private channels which contributed to the dissemination of Russian religious artefacts in the Macedonian hinterland – from pilgrims to Jerusalem or the itinerant traders known as afenja to the officially-sanctioned alms-gathering missions (ziteia) to the Russian Empire.