On Saturday, January 11, Dr. Sean Griffin presented “From Whence Came the Land of Rus? A Brief History of the Sources and Scholars of the Rus Primary Chronicle,” as a part of the Russian History Museum’s Second Saturday online lecture series.

The Rus Primary Chronicle is the earliest written history of the East Slavs, recounting the rise of the land of Rus from its origins to the early 12th century. In his lecture, Dr. Sean Griffin explains where these ancient stories come from and who allegedly compiled the chronicle.

In the Q&A session, Dr. Griffin discusses his book, speaks about modern methods in textology, and once again addresses the question of the chronicle’s authorship.

About the Speaker

Sean Griffin is an Associate Professor of Russian in the Department of German and Russian at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on the history of the Orthodox Church and its role in the sacralization of political power: from the liturgy and chronicles of medieval Kyiv to the arthouse cinema and wartime propaganda of Putin's Russia.

Griffin's first book, The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus, was published with Cambridge University Press. It was the winner of two international book awards: the W. Bruce Lincoln Book Prize and the Ecclesiastical History Society Book Prize. His newest book, Putin's Holy War: Sacred Memory and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, will be published with Cornell University Press.