Subversive Marriage
摘要
This chapter argues that two important early modern Russian Orthodox hagiographies, The Tale of the Life of Petr and Fevroniia and The Tale of Iulianiia of Lazarevo, presented contrasting visions of marriage that can both be read as subversive, and queer, in their own ways. On the one hand, Petr and Fevroniia’s marriage can be read as unchaste in the context of broader early modern Russian Orthodox ideas about sexual morality. On the other, Iulianiia’s marriage ends up becoming celibate, blurring important cultural distinctions between marriage and monasticism.