Country residences played an important role in the religious, political and cultural life of Russia in the early modern period. Court life in country residences was organized in the form of various ceremonies associated with the celebration of the name day of members of the royal family, local churches feasts and other events. In the last quarter of the 17th century, the religious and ceremonial culture of the Russian court has undergone significant changes. From the middle of the century, palace’s churches appeared in the tsars’ country residences. They were used not only for divine services, but also for sermons and recitations that was addressed to members of the tsar’s family and became a component of the church synthesis of arts. Another innovation was the celebration of the birthdays of members of the tsar’s family, which were celebrated in accordance with the traditional ceremonial adopted for celebrating name days. Thus, during the period under review, these court ceremonies saved their religious character. The development of religious and ceremonial culture in country residences was carried out primarily due to the transfer of ceremonies from Moscow to country residences. On the example of the celebration of the Origin (Wearing out) of the Honest Trees of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, we can observe that the transfer of the ceremony to country residences allowed the tsars to constantly make certain changes and additions to it. As a result, the religious and ceremonial culture in the country residences of the last quarter of the 17th century was more dynamic than in Moscow.
Keywords: Muscovy, Romanovs, Peter the Great, country residences, Kolomenskoye, Izmailovo, Preobrazhenskoye, ceremonial, ritual, palace church
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2020.4.28-36
About the author
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Andrey V. Topychkanov – PhD (History), Senior Researcher at the Department of History and Theory of Politics, Lomonosov Moscow State University; |