ScriptoriaSlavica

Medieval Slavic Manuscripts and Culture

Category: Conferences (page 3 of 5)

Conference: “SS. Cyril and Methodius and the Bulgarian Golden Age,” Preslav and Shumen, Bulgaria, 1-3 November 2013

BishopKonstantinPreslavski

Bishop Konstantin Preslavski logo

 

The Research Center for the Preslav Literary School at the “Bishop Konstantin Preslav” Shumen University is organizing an international symposium “SS. Cyril and Methodius and the Bulgarian Golden Age,” which is dedicated to the 1150th anniversary of the creation of the Slavic alphabet and the 1120th anniversary of the establishment of Preslav as the capital of Bulgaria, on November 1-3, 2013, in Shumen, Bulgaria. The symposium is co-sponsored by the Institute of Literature of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Department of Old Bulgarian Literature, and under the patronage of the President of Bulgaria.

Preslavska Knizhovna Shkola11

Preslavska Knizhovna Shkola vol. 11

 

Scholars are asked to prepare a 15-minute presentation for the symposium. The paper submitted for publication, however, must be no more than 20 standard pages, submitted in Word 2007 by email or CD with an accompanying PDF document (to preserve the various fonts needed) no later than September 3, 2013. The proceedings will be published in volume 14 of the journal Преслав книжовна школа (‘Preslav Literary School’).

 

 

News of ASEC 2013 Conference Participants

 

The Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture (ASEC) held its fifth biennial conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, on March 89, 2013.

Eve Levin (University of Kansas), chair of the panel “Orthodoxy Amidst the ‘Other,'” included in her introduction to Matthew Lee Miller’s presentation that his book, The American YMCA and Russian Culture: The Preservation and Expansion of Orthodox Christianity, 1900-1940, had just been released by Lexington Books.

Roland Clark (Eastern Connecticut University), who presented at ASEC on “Prophecy, Miracles, and Pilgrimage in Interwar Romania,” has just had a book review published in the latest issue of Balkanistica 26 (2013): 265-267, which is published for The South East European Studies Association. He reviews Antonio Momoc’s Capcanele politice ale sociologiei interbelice: Şcoala Gustiană între carlism şi legionarism ‘The Political Snares of Interwar Sociology The Gusti School Between Carlism and Legionarism.’

In the same issue of Balkanistica, Lucien J. Frary (Rider University) has a review article in which he critiques three recent titles related to “Health, Society and the Family in the 20th Century Balkans” (241-254).

The latest issue of Russian History has been released – and it contains selected papers from the ASEC’s second conference, “Centers and Peripheries: Interaction and Exchange in the Social, Cultural, Historical, and Regional Situations of Eastern Christianity, which was held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, October 5–6, 2007.

Guest editors J. Eugene Clay and Barbara J. Skinner also presented at the 2013 ASEC conference.

Russian History 40.1 (2013): Centers and Peripheries in Eastern Christianity–Part 1.

Guest editors: J. Eugene Clay, Russell E. Martin, Barbara J. Skinner

Section 1. Text and Interpretation

Alice Whealey, “Muslim Motives for Conquering the Byzantine Empire 634-720: The Evidence from Eastern Christian Sources”

Enrique Santos Marinas, “Reassessment, Unification, and Enlargement of the Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion”

Donald Ostrowski, “Dressing a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Toward Understanding the Composition of the Life of
Alexander Nevskii”

Martha M. F. Kelly, “Cultural Transformation as Transdisfiguration in Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago”

Section 2. Mission: Expanding the Periphery

Jesse D. Murray, “Together and Apart: The Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Empire, and Orthodox Missionaries in Alaska, 1794-1917”

Mara Kozelsky, “A Borderland Mission: The Russian Orthodox Church in the Black Sea Region”

Lucien J. Frary, “Russian Missions to the Orthodox East: Antonin Kapustin (1817-1894) and his World”

 

Source of the Russian History 40.1 table of contents: Lawrence Langer (University of Connecticut) via the Early Slavic Studies listserv.

 

Conference: “The Fairest Meadows in the World” – Crusades and Crusaders in the Balkans

 

Papers are invited for the conference, “‘The Fairest Meadows in the World’: Crusades and Crusaders in the Balkans,” to be held at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tŭrnovo, Bulgaria, November 7-9, 2013.

Papers dealing specifically with Crusader-Balkan relations after 1204 are especially encouraged. Interested graduate students and faculty should send an abstract of no more than 300 words, together with name, title, institutional affiliation, and CV to Thomas Lecaque (tlecaque@utk.edu) and Jake Ransohoff (jransohoff@uchicago.edu), by no later than April 15, 2013.

The presence of the Crusades and Crusaders in the Balkans, from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, introduced a vast and disparate array of foreign elements into the complex world of Medieval Southeastern Europe and served as a flashpoint for a number of substantial changes in the political, social, religious,and economic fabric of the region. Yet while some important military dimensions of the Crusades in the Balkans can be described in detail, our knowledge remains incomplete in many crucial areas. Let us ask the questions: How did the presence of Crusaders in the Balkans influence the ideas and concepts through which Latins, Byzantines, and Slavs alike described, or attempted to describe, themselves? Why did certain aspects of exchange among Latin and Orthodox polities prove more resilient than others? These are complex, causal questions which have rarely been addressed in Balkan-Crusader history.

This conference sets out to ask structural questions in order todevelop a richer context in which to place the phenomenon of Crusades and Crusaders in the Balkans. With this goal in mind, we hope to engage in discussion across a wide range of subjects and encourage scholars from different national backgrounds with different expertise, perspectives, and priorities, to reach across their respective fields and work towards a more nuanced and holistic understanding of this critical but understudied theatre of Crusader history. We welcome papers concerning any aspect of the social, economic, artistic, religious, cultural, political, and diplomatic interactions between Latins, Byzantines, Turks, and Slavs in the Balkan Peninsula between roughly 1096 and 1444. Any and all topics are welcome, but we are particularly receptive to papers concerning:

  • The reception of Latin political culture in the Balkans, and its impact on state structure, methods of government, and ideologies of legitimacy.
  • Commercial activity among Crusaders, Byzantines, and Balkan polities, and the role of trade in generating cultural exchange.
  • Changing definitions of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy among both Latin and Orthodox populations in the Balkans.
  • Artistic expressions and material culture as a means of cultural, political, and religious transmission between Slavs, Latins, and Byzantines.
  • The role of language and literature in facilitating cultural exchange and ideological transfer between Balkan and Crusader polities.
  • The application of border theory to the Crusade-era Balkans and cultural/religious hybridization in the “borderlands” between Slavs, Latins, and Byzantines.

Source:  BSANA forward from Thomas Lecaque, University of Tennessee-Knoxville via Anthony Kaldellis, OSU.

 

ASEC Conference, Day 2: March 9, 2013

 

The Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture (ASEC) held its fifth biennial conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, on March 8-9, 2013.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Session 5: Vladimir Solov’ev and Russian Orthodoxy (Philosophy and the Church)

Chair/Discussant: Patrick Michelson, Indiana University

Papers:

  1. “Humanity, Divinity, and All-Unity in Vladimir Solov’ev’s Critique of Abstract Principles” – Randall A. Poole, College of St. Scholastica
  2. “Does Philosophic Orthodoxy Have a Future?” – Paul Valliere, Butler University
  3. “The Russian Orthodox Church in Italy Today: A Kaleidoscope Clarifying Itself”  – Valeria Z. Nollan, Rhodes College

Session 6: Christianity in the World

Chair/Discussant: Christine Worobec, Northern Illinois University

Papers:

  1. The Contemplation of Nature in Eastern Christianity: Greek Patristic Foundations” – Joshua Lollar, University of Kansas
  2. “Slaves of the Sultan: Russian Reactions to Christian Captives during the Greek Revolution (1821–1830)” – Lucien J. Frary, Rider University
  3. “Lived Christianity in the Donbass: The Activities of Donetsk’s Transfiguration Brotherhood in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century” – Dezeree Hodish, University of Kansas
  4. “Orthodox and Protestant Alcohol Rehabilitation Programs in the Former Soviet Union” – Mark R. Elliott, Asbury University

Session 7: Icons and the Visual at the Center of Religious Controversy

Chair/Discussant: Valeria Z. Nollan, Rhodes College

Papers:

  1. “Framing the Miraculous: The Physical and Temporal Reordering of Image Oriented Lay Religious Devotions in Early Modern Greek-rite Catholicism” – Wojciech Bełtkiewicz, Kenyon College
  2. “Old Believers and Icons” – Evgeny Grishin, University of Kansas
  3. “Digitized Resources on Religious Debate: Rare and Unique Items from the Hilandar Research Library″ – M.A. Johnson, The Ohio State University

Session 8: Orthodoxy Amidst the “Other”

Chair/Discussant: Eve Levin, University of Kansas

Papers:

  1. “‘The Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem: A Documentary History” – Paul du Quenoy, American University of Beirut
  2. The American YMCA and the St. Sergius Theological Academy in Paris” – Matt Miller, Northwestern College
  3. “‘In the Shadow of the Orient’: Orthodox Christianity and Orientalism” – Christopher D.L. Johnson, College of the Bahamas
  4. “Prophecy, Miracles, and Pilgrimage in Interwar Romania” – Roland Clark, Eastern Connecticut State University

The conference was sponsored by ASEC, Inc.; Georgetown University’s Medieval Studies Program, Center for Eurasian, Russia and East European Studies, and the Departments of History and Theology; The Ohio State University’s Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (Columbus, OH); and the Department of History of Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, KY).

ASEC Conference, Day 1: March 8, 2013

 

The Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture (ASEC) held its fifth biennial conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, on March 8-9, 2013. The theme of the conference was “Antecedents and Subsequents of Iosif Volotsky: Exploring Eastern Christian Concerns.”

Over 40 participants and attendees congregated on Georgetown University’s historic campus for two days of intense historical, philosophical, and theological discourse during eight panels of scholarly presentations as well as a keynote lecture and numerous social gatherings.

Congratulations to the conference host David Goldfrank (Department of History, Georgetown University), his Medieval Studies associate Sandra Strachan-Vieira, and conference staff and assistants Carol Dockham and Alyssa Gomes, for arranging the on-site logistics of a highly successful conference.

Image of the front cover of the program for the 2013 ASEC conference

ASEC Conference Program 2013

 

Friday, March 8, 2013

Session 1: Iosif Volotskii

Chair/Discussant: J. Eugene Clay, Arizona State University

Papers:

  1. “Iosif Volotsky’s sui generis Ars Disputandi” – David Goldfrank, Georgetown University
  2. “An Imagined Disputation: The Prenie s Iosifom Volotskim” – Donald Ostrowski, Harvard University
  3. “What Was New about Commemoration in the Iosif Volotskii Monastery? A Reassessment”  – Ludwig Steindorff, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Session 2: Iosif Volotskii’s Legacy in the Russian Orthodox Church

Chair/Discussant: Scott Kenworthy, Miami University of Ohio

Papers:

  1. Metropolitan Macarius and Muscovite Politics during the Reign of Ivan IV” – Charles J. Halperin, Indiana University
  2. “Deacon Feodor Ivanov as a Follower of Iosif Volotsky or a Comparative Analysis of Feodor’s ‘Authentic Testimony’ about the Wolf and Predator and One-Marked-by-God Nikon who is Pastor in Sheep’s Skin and Forerunner of the Antichrist and Iosif’s Enlightener” – Kevin M. Kain, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
  3. “Defining Orthodoxy in Imperial Russia: The Heresiological Heirs of Iosif of Volokolamsk” – J. Eugene Clay, Arizona State University

Session 3: Tradition and Change in Monasticism through the Centuries

Chair/Discussant: Jennifer Spock, Eastern Kentucky University

Papers:

  1. “What is Late Antique Monasticism?” – Rod Stearn, University of Kentucky
  2. “From Ascetic Hermit to Communal Monk: The Changing Image of Saint Nil Stolbenskii in the Early Seventeenth Century” – Isolde Thyret, Kent State University
  3. “The Last Basilians in Russia: Conversion and Cultural Change in Russia’s Western Borderlands, 1820–1840” – Barbara Skinner, Indiana State University

Session 4: Theological Controversy in the Early Church

Chair/Discussant: Joshua Lollar, University of Kansas

Papers:

  1. “‘No one can doubt that the Father is greater’: Constantius II and the Council of Sirmium” – Edward Mason, University of Kentucky
  2. Canonical Fathers and the Creation of Authority in the Disputatio cum Pyrrho (PG 91, 287-353)” – Ryan W. Strickler, University of Kentucky
  3. “Schism, Unity, and Social Networks in Sixth-Century Byzantine-Papal Relations” – Joshua Powell, University of Kentucky

The conference was sponsored by ASEC, Inc.; Georgetown University’s Medieval Studies Program, Center for Eurasian, Russia and East European Studies, and the Departments of History and Theology; The Ohio State University’s Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (Columbus, OH); and the Department of History of Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, KY).

 

Last Call for Papers: Sixth International Hilandar Conference

 

The Sixth International Hilandar Conference will be held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, July 19-21, 2013. The conference theme is Medieval Slavic Text and Image in the Cultures of Orthodoxy. We invite abstracts (not to exceed 500 words in length) of proposed presentations to be sent as Word.doc attachments to hilandar@osu.edu prior to February 28, 2013.

Image of a page from the manuscript entitled the Illumniated Life and Lament of Joseph the Beautiful (manuscript SPEC.OSU.HRL.SMS.15)

For the latest information, see the 6th International Hilandar Conference page.

The conference will follow immediately after the conclusion of the 2013 Medieval Slavic Summer Institute (MSSI), which is scheduled for June 24-July 19. We look forward to introducing participants and guests to the recently renovated Thompson Library, the Jack and Jan Creighton Special Collections Reading Room, and the enhanced research, teaching, and preservation opportunities now at the disposal of the HRL.

 

Recent Acquisition: Byzantium without Borders

 

A recent acquisition comes as a donation from Svetlana Kuiumdzhieva, renown musicologist and vice-president of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. It is the most recent issue of Българско музикознание /Bulgarian Musicology 36.3-4 (2012), which contains the proceedings of “Byzantium Without Borders: Hymnography and Music in the Byzantine World,” the 22nd International Congress of Byzantine Studies that was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, August 22-27, 2011.BulgarskoMuzikoznanie3-4

The papers are divided into three sections: New Sources, New Approaches, and Distinguished Personalities.

“New Sources” includes articles by Svetlana Kuiumdzhieva on the Tropologion, Yuliya Artamonova on Znamennaia Notation, Gregory Myers on the ritual and music for the Dedication of a Church; Olga Grinchenko discussing Byzantine and Slavic Kontakaria, and musical manuscripts from Sozopolis (by Stefan Harkov) and in Ohrid and Tirana (by Asen Atanasov).

Christian Troelsgärd addresses a “new approach” in “The Construction and Dissemination of the Middle Byzantine Musical Notation,” Nina Zakharina considers “On the Reforms (‘Ispravlenie’) of Russian Liturgical Chant Books from the 11th to the 19th Century,” Galina Alekseeva and Denis Gordeev write on “Mechanisms for the Adaptation of Byzantine Culture in Russia: Chant, Church Service,” and Elena Toncheva‘s abstract alludes to discussion “About the Modal Characteristics during the Post-Byzantine Period: Based on Sources in Slavonic Church Music.”

Prominent figures in Byzantine and Slavic musicology discussed are: Gregory of Nyssa – by Anna Arevshatyan, Photios – by Silvia Tessari, Apostol Nikolaev-Strumski – by Stefka Venkova, and Hieronymus Tragodistes – by Christiana Demetriou.

 

Call for Papers: Slavic Apocrypha, Oct. 3-5, 2013, Łódź, Poland

Deadline for submission of presentation topics is 31 January 2013.

The International conference Biblia Slavorum Apocryphorum III: Varia will be held October 3-5, 2013 at the University of Łódź Training and Conference Centre (Centrum Szkoleniowo-Konferencyjne Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego), Rogowska 26, 91-529 Łódź, Poland. This is the third in a series of conferences on Slavic apocrypha (see below for citations of published conference proceedings).

Proposed topic areas:

“The international conference Biblia Slavorum Apocryphorum. III. Varia will … be an opportunity to advance the discussion of the problems of pseudo-canonical Old, New and Inter-Testamental literature. At the same time, we hope to broaden the topic area of the two previous meetings to include the following issues:

  • pseudo-canonical Christian literature not directly connected with the Old and New Testament sacral history;
  • the relics of pagan cults in pseudo-canonical literature;
  • heretical literature (Manichaean, Paulician, Bogomil, Cathar etc.) and anti-heretical literature (treatises, council decisions etc.);
  • cultural communities, interreligious and interdenominational relations in the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe.

In view of the breadth of the topics covered, the discussion is to be organized around the following points:

  • pseudo-canonical literature: current state of research, available text editions, catalogues, thesauri; textual criticism (the original vs. translations, revisions, variants); the language of pseudo-canonical texts, the relations between originals and translations; Biblical text vs. pseudo-canonical text; issues in poetics (narration, composition etc.); the theology of pseudo-canonical texts;
  • the relation between literary texts and folklore texts (legends, songs, rituals); mythology vs. literature vs. folklore; folk Christianity and pseudo-canonical literature;
  • the relation between Old and New Testament pseudo-canonical texts and commentaries on post-biblical events;
  • the relation between pseudo-canonical and heretical texts; anti-heretical literature as a source of information about alternative religious movements in the Middle Ages;
  • iconography depicting broadly understood pseudo-canonical works.”

Deadline for submission of presentation topics is 31 January 2013. Please send via email to ceraneum@uni.lodz.pl or skowronek.malgo@gmail.com, with a note ‘conference – apocrypha.’

  • Confirmation of participation and abstract (in Polish, English or Russian, up to 1000 characters) to be submitted by 30 April 2013.
  • The conference languages are: Polish, English, Russian.
  • Presentation time is limited to 20 minutes.
  • The 250 PLN / 70 EUR conference fee (100 PLN for graduate students and other pre-Ph.D. level participants) is to be paid upon arrival at the conference. The fee is meant to cover part of the costs of the conference materials, the publication of the proceedings as well as a cocktail party.

The papers presented at the conference will be published (upon favorable review) in the subsequent volume of the yearly Studia Ceranea.

For more information see “Invitation” link at the bottom of the page http://ceraneum.uni.lodz.pl/archives/1599

Bibliography
Fundamenta Europaea 6-7, special issue (Gniezno 2007)
Południowosłowiańskie Zeszyty Naukowe 4 (Łódź 2007)
Biblia Slavorum Apocryphorum. Novum Testamentum (Łódź 2009)

HRL/RCMSS Webpage on OSUL Website

 

Check out the HRL/RCMSS webpage on the University Libraries’ website for updates on MSSI 2013 and the Sixth International Hilandar Conference (July 19-21, 2013). The website also lists contact information for the faculty and staff of the HRL/RCMSS, publications of the RCMSS, manuscript collection descriptions, how to request copies of materials in the HRL, and provides information on how to donate to the Hilandar Research Library.

HRL/RCMSS Website

 

Between Sessions at ASEEES 2012: the Sounds

 

The 44th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies was held in New Orleans, November 15-18, 2012. During the breaks from the scholarly panels and meetings, participants were close enough to historic French Quarter to stroll around and take in the sights and whatever sounds were around.

 

Royal St., New Orleans, Louisiana

 

 

“The Royal Js”

 

Listen to The Royal Js

on Royal Street

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to the bluegrass music

 

 

Older posts Newer posts