Politics, orthodoxy and arts: Serbian-Russian cultural relations in the 18th century

Abstract

The complicated political and cultural position of the Serbs who migrated to the Habsburg Monarchy in the early eighteenth century caused the rise of popularity of Russian rulers, who were recognized as protectors of the Orthodox against religious persecution. Political ties were accompanied by a strong Russification of Serbian culture, which was carried out through the mass procurement of Russian liturgical books and the arrival of many Russian teachers to Serbian schools. Ukrainian painters who came to the Metropolitanate of Karlovci brought new forms of baroque religious painting and introduced changes in the structure of the iconostasis. The cult of the Romanov dynasty among Orthodox Serbs in Hungary was amplified by their numerous portraits and engravings.