Premises of success -- Quest for the past -- "The oldest in Russia" -- ideas about the monastery's origins -- "The Holy pair": the founder cult of Sergei and German of Valaam -- "Spiritual heroes": saintly pantheon of Valaam -- "The dishonoured ones": encounters with the West
Summary
Contributing, for instance, to the fields of nationality and borderland studies, this book offers a fascinating study of the process of "writing a worthy past" for the Russian Orthodox monastery of Valaam during the 18th and 19th centuries
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 282-293) and index