Sean Griffin | University of Notre Dame (original) (raw)
Books by Sean Griffin
Cambridge University Press, 2019
The chroniclers of medieval Rus were monks, who celebrated the divine services of the Byzantine c... more The chroniclers of medieval Rus were monks, who celebrated the divine services of the Byzantine church throughout every day. This study is the first to analyze how these rituals shaped their writing of the Rus Primary Chronicle, the first written history of the East Slavs. During the eleventh century, chroniclers in Kiev learned about the conversion of the Roman Empire by celebrating a series of distinctively Byzantine liturgical feasts. When the services concluded, and the clerics sought to compose a native history for their own people, they instinctively drew on the sacred stories that they sang at church. The result was a myth of Christian origins for Rus - a myth promulgated even today by the Russian government - which reproduced the Christian origins myth of the Byzantine Empire. The book uncovers this ritual subtext and reconstructs the intricate web of liturgical narratives that underlie this foundational text of pre-modern Slavic civilization.
Peer Reviewed Articles by Sean Griffin
The Russian Review, 2024
In mid-2020, Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev) consecrated a new church known as the Main Cathedral of ... more In mid-2020, Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev) consecrated a new church known as the Main Cathedral of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The cathedral was dedicated to the Soviet Union’s “Great Victory” over Nazi Germany, and its interior was covered with grandiose mosaics depicting Soviet glory on the battlefields of World War II. In this version of the past, however, Soviet soldiers were shown to have supernatural help from Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. This merging of Orthodoxy and Communism shocked many observers, who viewed the two ideologies as bitter enemies, dating back the Russian Civil War. Yet on the walls of the new military shrine, the lions and the lambs had laid down together. Angels shielded Orthodox Whites and atheist Reds alike, and the Virgin gazed down on both tsars and commissars. Two implacable foes, on different sides of the greatest rupture in Russian history, had been sutured together into a single and uncontradictory version of the past. But where had this sacred synthesis come from? Who was responsible for the politics of memory preached on the walls of the Main Cathedral? And what role did these sacred memory politics later play in the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
The Russian Review, 2021
Every year on July 28, citizens in contemporary Russia turn on the television news and hear exten... more Every year on July 28, citizens in contemporary Russia turn on the television news and hear extensive reports about a federal holiday known as “The Day of the Baptism of Rus.” Viewers watch as Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow stand side-by-side and repeat an ancient story about the Conversion in 988 and the sacred bonds which even today unite the nations of “Holy Rus”: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. But what, exactly, is the political and ecclesiastical backstory behind the staging of these yearly media spectacles? Why and when had the Day of the Baptism of Rus begun to play such a visible role in post-Soviet politics? In the study, Griffin reconstructs the development of this propaganda campaign, in the years between 1991 and 2018. Special attention is given, above all, to the events that unfolded in Ukraine following the Orange Revolution, when the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church began to fear that they were in danger of losing their traditional status as the only canonical Orthodox church in Ukraine. Ultimately, Griffin argues that the contemporary commemorations of the Day of the Baptism of Rus have less to do with the Vladimir who ruled in the late tenth century than they do with the Vladimir who currently rules in the twenty first.
Studies in Medievalism XXIX, 2020
Вестник Санкт-Петербургского Университета. История., 2020
Древняя Русь. Вопросы медиевистики, 2020
Аки деньица предъ слн ҃ цмь»: литургический образ княгини Ольги в Повести временных лет 95 УДК 80... more Аки деньица предъ слн ҃ цмь»: литургический образ княгини Ольги в Повести временных лет 95 УДК 80 ББК 63.3(2)41 Шон Гриффин Дартмутский колледж, Нью-Гэмпшир, США. sean.d.griffin@dartmouth.edu «АКИ ДЕНЬИЦА ПРЕДЪ СЛН ҃ ЦМЬ»: ЛИТУРГИЧЕСКИЙ ОБРАЗ КНЯГИНИ ОЛЬГИ В ПОВЕСТИ ВРЕМЕННЫХ ЛЕТ 1
Ruthenica, v. 15, 2019
Повести временных лет 1 Ясное летнее утро, Константинополь, Х в. Ромеи со всей столицы стекаются ... more Повести временных лет 1 Ясное летнее утро, Константинополь, Х в. Ромеи со всей столицы стекаются к Великой церкви, Святой Софии, где они будут отмечать праздник основателя города, давшего ему своё имя -святого Константина Великого и его матери святой Елены. Внутри массивного собора на алтаре курятся благовония, пред иконами святых мерцают свечи. Стихи пятидесятого псалма эхом разносятся под куполом огромного храма 2 . Пение завершается и хор почти в двести голосов начинает праздничный тропарь 3 :
Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, 2018
Leading writer, publicist, literary critic and philosopher in late nineteenth and early twentieth... more Leading writer, publicist, literary critic and philosopher in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russia. Born in Vetluga, Russia in 1856, Rozanov remained in the provinces as a secondary school teacher until 1893, when he gained a civil service post in St.
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Fourth edition. Andrew Louth (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022
Ecrire et reécrire l'histoire russe, d'Ivan Terrible à V.O Kliuchevskii. Pierre Gonneau (ed.). Paris: Institut d'études slaves, 2013, pp. 159-168.
Web Publications by Sean Griffin
Awards by Sean Griffin
Reviews of 'The Liturgical Past' by Sean Griffin
Los Angeles Review of Books, 2021
Medieval Encounters, 2021
Canadian American Slavic Studiers, 2022
Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Revue des études de l'Orient chrétien Журнал східнь... more Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Revue des études de l'Orient chrétien Журнал східньохристиянських студій First series (Logos: Periodicum Theologiae Trimestre) founded by Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk, CSsR, published by the Yorkton Province of the Ukrainian Redemptorists 1950-1983. Second series (Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies) founded by Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, published by the Sheptytsky Institute since 1993.
A number of aspects of the presentation in this book present obstacles for the reader. The first ... more A number of aspects of the presentation in this book present obstacles for the reader. The first is the repetitive and wordy style. Of Hraban Maur's set of acrostic poems already mentioned, for example, Kitzinger writes that 'Hrabanus's work greatly helps to clarify the category of cross images whose explicit invocation of materiality is coupled with indices of utility.' I take this to mean that the pictures of a cross and the text of Hraban's poem and commentary remind viewers and readers of the original wooden cross on which Christ was crucified. All the notes, moreover, are printed at the end of the book (pp. -), in a two-column format in small print. The notes themselves, more or less without exception, are lengthy and discursive, containing essential explanatory as well as tangential material in addition to the references. It is difficult to read these notes in conjunction with the main text; it becomes even more cumbersome in the e-version of the book. The bibliographical references in the notes, however, are not included in the bibliography; the latter lists 'additional key sources for the study' not cited in the notes. Another problem is the illustration. It is wonderful to have so many figures in colour, the actual quality and resolution is mostly very good, and the author is meticulous about providing the dimensions of her artworks the first time they are illustrated. Nevertheless, the relative scale of the examples needs to be registered when a book like the Lorsch Gospels ( x . cm) is reproduced in little more than postage-stamp format. And the ambo from Romainmoutier (. x cm) is reproduced in exactly the same size of figure as the page opposite from the Rule of Benedict in Clm ( × cm). This is certainly an exposition full of astute and subtle nuances of observation, with detailed commentary on the remarkable variety of representations of the cross in an interesting selection of Carolingian books. The discussions of the imagery in the Gellone Sacramentary (BnF, Paris, MS lat. ) from Meaux and the late Carolingian 'Angers Gospels' (Bibliothèque Municipale, Angers, MS ) from Brittany are particularly enlightening. Kitzinger's overall claim is that such images of the physical object and all it stood for were formative in shaping the understanding of art and its function and status beyond the merely decorative, or in her words 'used as a sign of the immanence, utility and materiality of other works of art', but this aspect of her argument remains a possibility rather than being established. ROSAMOND MCKITTERICK SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE The liturgical past in Byzantium and early Rus. By Sean Griffin. (Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth Series.) Pp. x + . Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press, . £. JEH () ; doi:./S The Povest' vremennykh let or the Rus Primary Chronicle, as Griffin refers to it in his book, has probably received more attention than any other text attributed to early Rus, certainly more so than any other chronicle of Rus. Its initial sections, in particular, continue to capture the imagination of medievalists because of their varied narrative elements. Folk tales, administrative documents, hagiographies, Byzantine chronicle excerpts and annals combine to recount the emergence of Rus via a multi-layered narrative, one that elevates the ascendant ruling group (the so-called
Cambridge University Press, 2019
The chroniclers of medieval Rus were monks, who celebrated the divine services of the Byzantine c... more The chroniclers of medieval Rus were monks, who celebrated the divine services of the Byzantine church throughout every day. This study is the first to analyze how these rituals shaped their writing of the Rus Primary Chronicle, the first written history of the East Slavs. During the eleventh century, chroniclers in Kiev learned about the conversion of the Roman Empire by celebrating a series of distinctively Byzantine liturgical feasts. When the services concluded, and the clerics sought to compose a native history for their own people, they instinctively drew on the sacred stories that they sang at church. The result was a myth of Christian origins for Rus - a myth promulgated even today by the Russian government - which reproduced the Christian origins myth of the Byzantine Empire. The book uncovers this ritual subtext and reconstructs the intricate web of liturgical narratives that underlie this foundational text of pre-modern Slavic civilization.
The Russian Review, 2024
In mid-2020, Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev) consecrated a new church known as the Main Cathedral of ... more In mid-2020, Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev) consecrated a new church known as the Main Cathedral of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The cathedral was dedicated to the Soviet Union’s “Great Victory” over Nazi Germany, and its interior was covered with grandiose mosaics depicting Soviet glory on the battlefields of World War II. In this version of the past, however, Soviet soldiers were shown to have supernatural help from Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. This merging of Orthodoxy and Communism shocked many observers, who viewed the two ideologies as bitter enemies, dating back the Russian Civil War. Yet on the walls of the new military shrine, the lions and the lambs had laid down together. Angels shielded Orthodox Whites and atheist Reds alike, and the Virgin gazed down on both tsars and commissars. Two implacable foes, on different sides of the greatest rupture in Russian history, had been sutured together into a single and uncontradictory version of the past. But where had this sacred synthesis come from? Who was responsible for the politics of memory preached on the walls of the Main Cathedral? And what role did these sacred memory politics later play in the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
The Russian Review, 2021
Every year on July 28, citizens in contemporary Russia turn on the television news and hear exten... more Every year on July 28, citizens in contemporary Russia turn on the television news and hear extensive reports about a federal holiday known as “The Day of the Baptism of Rus.” Viewers watch as Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow stand side-by-side and repeat an ancient story about the Conversion in 988 and the sacred bonds which even today unite the nations of “Holy Rus”: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. But what, exactly, is the political and ecclesiastical backstory behind the staging of these yearly media spectacles? Why and when had the Day of the Baptism of Rus begun to play such a visible role in post-Soviet politics? In the study, Griffin reconstructs the development of this propaganda campaign, in the years between 1991 and 2018. Special attention is given, above all, to the events that unfolded in Ukraine following the Orange Revolution, when the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church began to fear that they were in danger of losing their traditional status as the only canonical Orthodox church in Ukraine. Ultimately, Griffin argues that the contemporary commemorations of the Day of the Baptism of Rus have less to do with the Vladimir who ruled in the late tenth century than they do with the Vladimir who currently rules in the twenty first.
Studies in Medievalism XXIX, 2020
Вестник Санкт-Петербургского Университета. История., 2020
Древняя Русь. Вопросы медиевистики, 2020
Аки деньица предъ слн ҃ цмь»: литургический образ княгини Ольги в Повести временных лет 95 УДК 80... more Аки деньица предъ слн ҃ цмь»: литургический образ княгини Ольги в Повести временных лет 95 УДК 80 ББК 63.3(2)41 Шон Гриффин Дартмутский колледж, Нью-Гэмпшир, США. sean.d.griffin@dartmouth.edu «АКИ ДЕНЬИЦА ПРЕДЪ СЛН ҃ ЦМЬ»: ЛИТУРГИЧЕСКИЙ ОБРАЗ КНЯГИНИ ОЛЬГИ В ПОВЕСТИ ВРЕМЕННЫХ ЛЕТ 1
Ruthenica, v. 15, 2019
Повести временных лет 1 Ясное летнее утро, Константинополь, Х в. Ромеи со всей столицы стекаются ... more Повести временных лет 1 Ясное летнее утро, Константинополь, Х в. Ромеи со всей столицы стекаются к Великой церкви, Святой Софии, где они будут отмечать праздник основателя города, давшего ему своё имя -святого Константина Великого и его матери святой Елены. Внутри массивного собора на алтаре курятся благовония, пред иконами святых мерцают свечи. Стихи пятидесятого псалма эхом разносятся под куполом огромного храма 2 . Пение завершается и хор почти в двести голосов начинает праздничный тропарь 3 :
Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, 2018
Leading writer, publicist, literary critic and philosopher in late nineteenth and early twentieth... more Leading writer, publicist, literary critic and philosopher in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russia. Born in Vetluga, Russia in 1856, Rozanov remained in the provinces as a secondary school teacher until 1893, when he gained a civil service post in St.
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Fourth edition. Andrew Louth (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022
Ecrire et reécrire l'histoire russe, d'Ivan Terrible à V.O Kliuchevskii. Pierre Gonneau (ed.). Paris: Institut d'études slaves, 2013, pp. 159-168.
Los Angeles Review of Books, 2021
Medieval Encounters, 2021
Canadian American Slavic Studiers, 2022
Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Revue des études de l'Orient chrétien Журнал східнь... more Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Revue des études de l'Orient chrétien Журнал східньохристиянських студій First series (Logos: Periodicum Theologiae Trimestre) founded by Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk, CSsR, published by the Yorkton Province of the Ukrainian Redemptorists 1950-1983. Second series (Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies) founded by Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, published by the Sheptytsky Institute since 1993.
A number of aspects of the presentation in this book present obstacles for the reader. The first ... more A number of aspects of the presentation in this book present obstacles for the reader. The first is the repetitive and wordy style. Of Hraban Maur's set of acrostic poems already mentioned, for example, Kitzinger writes that 'Hrabanus's work greatly helps to clarify the category of cross images whose explicit invocation of materiality is coupled with indices of utility.' I take this to mean that the pictures of a cross and the text of Hraban's poem and commentary remind viewers and readers of the original wooden cross on which Christ was crucified. All the notes, moreover, are printed at the end of the book (pp. -), in a two-column format in small print. The notes themselves, more or less without exception, are lengthy and discursive, containing essential explanatory as well as tangential material in addition to the references. It is difficult to read these notes in conjunction with the main text; it becomes even more cumbersome in the e-version of the book. The bibliographical references in the notes, however, are not included in the bibliography; the latter lists 'additional key sources for the study' not cited in the notes. Another problem is the illustration. It is wonderful to have so many figures in colour, the actual quality and resolution is mostly very good, and the author is meticulous about providing the dimensions of her artworks the first time they are illustrated. Nevertheless, the relative scale of the examples needs to be registered when a book like the Lorsch Gospels ( x . cm) is reproduced in little more than postage-stamp format. And the ambo from Romainmoutier (. x cm) is reproduced in exactly the same size of figure as the page opposite from the Rule of Benedict in Clm ( × cm). This is certainly an exposition full of astute and subtle nuances of observation, with detailed commentary on the remarkable variety of representations of the cross in an interesting selection of Carolingian books. The discussions of the imagery in the Gellone Sacramentary (BnF, Paris, MS lat. ) from Meaux and the late Carolingian 'Angers Gospels' (Bibliothèque Municipale, Angers, MS ) from Brittany are particularly enlightening. Kitzinger's overall claim is that such images of the physical object and all it stood for were formative in shaping the understanding of art and its function and status beyond the merely decorative, or in her words 'used as a sign of the immanence, utility and materiality of other works of art', but this aspect of her argument remains a possibility rather than being established. ROSAMOND MCKITTERICK SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE The liturgical past in Byzantium and early Rus. By Sean Griffin. (Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth Series.) Pp. x + . Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press, . £. JEH () ; doi:./S The Povest' vremennykh let or the Rus Primary Chronicle, as Griffin refers to it in his book, has probably received more attention than any other text attributed to early Rus, certainly more so than any other chronicle of Rus. Its initial sections, in particular, continue to capture the imagination of medievalists because of their varied narrative elements. Folk tales, administrative documents, hagiographies, Byzantine chronicle excerpts and annals combine to recount the emergence of Rus via a multi-layered narrative, one that elevates the ascendant ruling group (the so-called
Church History, 2021
Lifshitz felt compelled to add a long, semi-autobiographical discussion of her growing conviction... more Lifshitz felt compelled to add a long, semi-autobiographical discussion of her growing conviction that the very category "hagiography" is unhelpful. The articles in the third section, on how and why Normandy's relics (and even origin stories) ended up elsewhere are intriguing but very narrow and technical. In contrast, the two articles in the final section, labeled as "Women and Gender," are the lightest weight, being more on women than on gender. They consist of a brief discussion of Emma of Normandy's Encomium and a new article detailing the women who appeared in Dudo's work. Although the high price will probably reduce the book's sales to individual scholars, it is good to have all the articles together for easy reference. Lifshitz is an excellent and insightful historian, and her work deserves to be more widely known and cited.
A História da Igreja durante o período conhecido como "Idade Média" vem ao longo dos últimos anos... more A História da Igreja durante o período conhecido como "Idade Média" vem ao longo dos últimos anos passando por uma renovação mais que bem-vinda. Dentre suas autocríticas construtivas e múltiplos caminhos possíveis de abordagens temáticas, espaciais e
Книга The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus американского исследователя Шона Гриффина вы... more Книга The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus американского исследователя Шона Гриффина вышла в 2019 г. в издательстве Кембриджского университета и представляет собой переработанную версию его докторской диссертации, защищенной в Калифорнийском университете в Лос-Анджелесе 1. В книге поднимается вопрос о влиянии богослужебных текстов на «Повесть временных лет», который за редкими исключениями 2 прежде не привлекал внимания исследователей. Некоторые выводы автора уже были опубликованы в статьях 3 , а также были представлены в докладе на Славянском медиевистическом семинаре в Оксфордском университете в июне 2019 г. В прошлом году две главы из этой книги были опубликованы по-русски в виде статей 4. Как неоднократно отмечает сам Гриффин, несмотря на то что в последние десятилетия западные медиевисты проявляют все больше интереса к литургическим текстам, подобный анализ их