Queerness in the Early Modern Russian Orthodox Church

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-3-032-03678-0
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 227 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 431 g

Reihe: Genders and Sexualities in History

Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church today often frame queer genders and sexualities as perverse deviations from ‘tradition’. While historians often assume the Church has always condemned homosexuality, this book reassesses the supposed incompatibility of Russian Orthodoxy and queerness. Focusing on a range of primary sources from canonical texts to unpublished archival materials, it shows that the Russian Orthodox Church consistently permitted and celebrated non-normative genders and sexualities, including the veneration of transmasculinity in hagiography, the liturgical consecration of same-sex unions, and the Church’s broad lack of interest in policing homosexuality. Paradoxically, highlights how patriarchy breeds queerness.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mayhew, Nick

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction.- Part I. Questioning Tradition.- 2. Unstable Notions of Marriage.- 3. Conceiving and Raising Children.- Part II. Queer Traditions.- 4. Transgender Saints.- 5. Subversive Marriage.- 6. Spiritual Brotherhood Ceremonies.- 7. Gay Sex.- 8. Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Nick Mayhew is Lecturer in Russian at the University of Glasgow, UK. His research explores queerness in Russophone and Church Slavonic cultures, and his publications have appeared in academic journals including  and .