The Magician, the Magical Creature, and the Priest: The Division of Labour Between Magical Beings and the Church in Kievan Rus’ and Muscovy

Abstract

This thesis explores how magicians and magical creatures worked with the church and Christianity in Kievan Rus’ and Muscovy from the tenth to seventeenth centuries. By using folk tales, chronicles, statutes, household manuals, and lexicographical dictionaries, an examination is presented of the ways in which magicians and magical creatures were believed to provide services to people that were not fulfilled – or not fulfilled completely – by the church and orthodox religion.