NOVGORODIAN TRADITION

NOVGORODIAN TRADITION. The Christian period under consideration goes from approximately the mid-12th c. to 1471 when the city surrendered to Ivan III of Moscow, and represents an integral link from the nascent Christian culture of Kievan Rus’ to that of Muscovite tradition (qq.v.) later. In 1136 Novgorod set out on a unique democratic political course-with a culture, class structure, and form of government similar to that of Kiev-and within a short time (1156) claimed a certain religious independence by exercising its traditional ecclesiastical right to elect an archbishop. In the life of this new city-state the archbishop played an important political role in addition to his ecclesiastical duties: president of the Council of Notables, adviser and arbitrator for citizens, and occasionally traveling ambassador.

Novgorod defended itself and greater Russia from religious crusader-type invasions from the West dozens of times during these three centuries, epitomized in the life of Alexander Nevskii (q.v.). Defensive perimeters of the city utilized not only hydraulic works, but strategically placed monasteries, which served as forts. The city survived the Mongol invasions without being occupied, one of the few such cities to do so, by submitting to the khan and relying on the embassy skills of the same Nevskii. He was appointed grand prince of Russia (1252–63) by the great khan and thus became the archetypal representative of Novgorodian Christianity and the ideal Christian prince.

Religious development occurred during this period in the fields of church architecture and iconography (qq.v.), Novgorod setting a standard of comparison for later representations in these arts. Christian literature (q.v.) was not only preserved, but its corpus expanded, due to the literacy of the general population. This literature included the Church Fathers (q.v.), the Bible, historical chronicles, and pilgrimage travelogues. Not all the writings from the period were of equal spiritual value, witness the Questions of Kirik (q.v.). Contacts with the Byzantine world were maintained and the “Palaeologan Renaissance” took root in Russia as well. Even frontier settlers participated in the copying of books. The oldest surviving Church Slavic biblical manuscript, the illuminated Ostromirovo Gospel (1056–57), originated here, as did the Gennadievskii Bible (q.v.). The best-known theological debate took place in this context as well between Joseph of Volokolamsk (q.v.) and the Transvolgan Elders. The Josephites took the part of Church and state (q.v.) cooperation and the possession by monasteries of lands and goods, while Nilus of Sora and the Transvolgan Elders thought that monasteries should not own property and took a more eschatological view of the world and society (i.e., possessors vs. non-possessors).

It appears Novgorod established an intellectual and spiritual tradition that, when co-opted by Muscovy in the 16th c., provided the ideas which supported the rise of Moscow. For this reason many eminent Russian historians do not see the Novgorodian period as culturally separate, since no distinct interruption in creativity or direction of development occurred from Kievan Rus’ to Muscovy. For instance, the single great event, the Tartar Appanage, had a limited effect since the Mongols did not attempt to convert conquered peoples. After the looting and destruction, they observed religious tolerance and respect. In any case Novgorodian tradition became enshrined as the Russian example when a monk from Pskov, Filofei, wrote Tsar Vasilii (Basil) III describing Moscow as the “Third Rome” (ca. 1510), and Tsar Ivan IV and Metropolitan Makarii of Moscow at the Council of One Hundred Chapters (1551) made Novgorodian tradition the historical paradigm of culture for Moscovite tradition (q.v.) following the fall of Constantinople (1453).