The Christian culture of Rus

The Christian culture of Rus (the medieval precursor of modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) is sometimes presented either as a reflection of an indigenous spirituality wrapped in borrowed (Byzantine) forms or, by contrast, as merely a provincial version of its Byzantine original. The essays in this volume start from the premise that neither view is adequate.

The history of culture - even of a self-consciously imitative culture - involves a continual process of inevitable mistranslation, as the imported models are reshaped and reinterpreted according to local resources, circumstances and preconceptions.

These essays explore aspects of the translation of culture on several levels: from the semantic processes of the actual translation of written texts from Greek into Slavonic, through to larger issues of ideology and identity. They consider both the initial stages of such translation (from Byzantium to Rus) and some of the subsequent retranslations of the Byzantine heritage in the culture of Rus and - eventually - of Russia.