Blood accusation and Orthodox liturgy in the Russian Empire before and after the Beilis Case

Abstract

Although Gavriil died in 1690, he became the object of cult veneration in late imperial Russia at the end of the 19th century. This period, the golden age of what Eric Hobsbawm called “the invention of tradition”, was also a time of rising anti-Semitism and blood accusation in the Russian empire. The 1908 service (Small Vespers, Great Vespers, Matins) composed in Gavriil’s honor contains numerous quotations and reworkings of the anti-Jewish texts from Byzantine Passion Week, Great Friday in particular. The imagery from Byzantine liturgy provided a familiar and resonant template that allowed it to spark associations in the Russian empire between the revolutions of 1905 and 1917. The Gavriil service prompts the question of whether liturgical texts can be held responsible for Christian religious antisemitism. It provides context for anxieties focusing on the Jews in late imperial Russia and as a possible background for the 1911–1913 Beilis blood accusation case. Most historians argue that by the early 20th century, the theological underpinnings of antisemitism were replaced by a backlash against the ideologies of liberalism and Marxism, and—in the Russian empire—the greater integration of Jews into society as a result of the Great Reforms of Alexander II. The service to Gavriil and the persistent tensions during Holy Week, however, shows the enduring importance of the religious context in ritual murder trials and accusations, particularly in the Pale of Settlement (present-day Belarus and Ukraine). The veneration of Gavriil in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods in Poland, Belarus, and beyond, reflects different tensions.