Political ideas and rituals

Michael Flier

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521812276.018

17 - Political ideas and rituals

from Part II - The Expansion, Consolidation and Crisis of Muscovy (1462–1613)

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Michael Flier

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Maureen Perrie

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Maureen Perrie: Affiliation:
University of Birmingham

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Summary

Shortly after the dedication of Moscow’s cathedral church in 1479, Grand Prince Ivan III accused Metropolitan Gerontii of contravening ritual tradition by leading the cross procession around the church counterclockwise (protiv solntsa) instead of clockwise (po solon’) during the dedication service. Perhaps Ivan was motivated by superstition, given the collapse of the previous reconstruction. Or perhaps he was influenced by the Catholic-orientated entourage around his second wife, Sophia Palaeologa, a former ward of the Pope. Whatever the cause, he forbade the consecration of any church in Moscow for three years while he investigated previous practice. Finding no conclusive protocols, he was obliged to recant in 1482 to prevent the metropolitan’s resignation. This rare personal episode involving ritual and political control reveals a connection that merits further enquiry.

Ritual, with its attendant symbols and actions, powerfully expresses the ways in which members of a society, especially its elites, see themselves and wish themselves to be seen. The present chapter seeks to describe and analyse the function of ritual in representing political ideas in Muscovy before the seventeenth century. Political ritual refers to that set of conventionalised events ruled by protocol and consisting of separate acts performed in public whose purpose is to confirmor restore links to a commonly held political concept or belief for the ritual’s participants and observers. The interlocking spheres of politics and religion inmedieval society presuppose the presentation of political ideology within a spiritual framework. Religious symbolism approximates the harmony of political structure with the providence of God.

Keywords

Dormition's rituals Cyclical rituals Contingent rituals Coronation ritual Muscovite rulership Muscovy political ideas Palm Sunday ritual

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Russia , pp. 387 - 408

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521812276.018 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2006

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