Ovidiu Olar

In early modern times, the winds of religious change swept throughout Eastern Europe with unrivalled intensity and noticeable connections to similar processes in other areas of the Euro-Mediterranean world. Their causes and consequences remain a matter of wide debate; still, a consensus has been reached on the key role played in the events by Nikon, patriarch of Moscow († 1681). The amount of literature on the topic is vast and fast-growing. As new sources emerge and hitherto underestimated texts are reconsidered, the overall context as well as the scientific tools of approaching still await to be critically reassessed. In contrast to prevailing interpretations, the momentous Reforms of Nikon were part of much more comprehensive dynamics of religious change that engaged Orthodox communities from the East Central Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean. Adopting an interconnected view of the early modern religious reforms, the fault lines of which are visible in contemporary debates, the case study addresses mid-seventeenth century East and South-East European religious reforms. The connections, peculiarities, and antagonisms between Muscovite, Ruthenian, Wallachian and Greek reformist currents will be approached by combining historical, theological and linguistic research tools. Transgressing boundaries imposed by nationalist historiographies, the study will tackle key topics in early modern religious, institutional and cultural history: confessionalisation, factional (political) shaping of the ‘Right Faith’ (seen as cultural system) and tension between tradition and innovation.