Pagans of Darkness, Cruel Lutherans: images of religious ‘others’ in the historical accounts concerning the Russion Orthodox Valaam monastery 1
Textual descriptions of ‘others’ tend to reflect perceptions, values and social identities of the group within which they are produced. Popular historical accounts concerning the past of the Russian Orthodox monastery of Valaam, located in the borderland area nowadays known as Russian Karelia, reveal two main lines in producing images of religious otherness from the 16th to the 19th century. The first one is based on the stereotypic medieval idea of the monastery as a missionary centre and a ‘torch of light’ in a wilderness inhabited by pagans. The other one emerges in the 19th century, bringing Western neighbours – first Catholics, then Lutheran Swedes – in the spotlight. The descriptions, getting more detailed and violent during the last decades of the century, were a historiographical reflection of the contemporary issues in the air, such as the contradictions between the Russian and Finnish nationalistic ideas and goals.