“For Saint Sophia!” Cult of the Saints and Forms of Local Loyalty (North-West of Medieval Russia, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Livonia)

Abstract

The lands of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states saw various models of Christian missions carried out in the Middle Ages. In each case, the transfer of the saints and the construction of holiness according to different patterns played a special role. The article considers three scenarios: the transfer of the saints of Eastern Christianity, with the “production” of both state saints and local saints (North-West of Russia, Novgorod and Pskov land); the transfer of the saints of Eastern Christianity in combination with their late Catholicization and the borrowing of universal saints of the Catholic world with a minimal “production” of local saints (in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania); and the transfer of saints of the Catholic world from Scandinavia and German lands with a complete rejection of the “production” of their own holiness (Livonia). These scenarios were determined by the political context and the tasks faced by each particular country. Thus, political pragmatism and constructivism prevailed in religious strategies regarding saints.