Throughout early and medieval Russian history, the Orthodox Church played an immense role in shaping society. The dissertation covers not only religion and culture, but also economics, politics, the military, and the penal system. In this way, a study of the Church proves to shed light on nearly every aspect of Russian life during the Time of Troubles. In addition, since "the Church" is a generic title for the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the approximately one thousand monasteries, and countless local parishes, this research provides the opportunity for multiple perspectives and thus a much fuller picture of the country as a whole.
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Isaiah J. Gruber, of Georgetown University, was a 2001-02 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) [8] fellow.
