Imperial saint

by Gary Marker

"Historian Gary Marker traces the Russian veneration of St. Catherine of Alexandria from its beginnings in Kievan times through the onset of female rulership in the 18th century. Two narratives emerge. The first focuses on St. Catherine within Christendom and, specifically, within Russia. The second shifts attention to the second wife of Peter the Great, Catherine I, who became Russia's first crowned female ruler. Marker then explores the evolution of divine queenship and the Catherine cult through the reigns of Elizabeth and Catherine the Great. Russia's cult of St. Catherine diverged from the veneration of Catherine in Western Christendom in several ways, particularly in the evolution of the Bride of Christ theme. Also, while St. Catherine became a figure of personal intercession in the West, her persona in Russia took a different path, one that valorized her regal and masculine qualities--attributes that supported her emerging role as a patron saint of the women of the ruling family