Nicolaus Bergius : A Historico-Theological Exercise on the Status of the Muscovite Church and Religion

This work is an edition of the first part of Nicolaus Bergius's dissertation Exercitatio Historico-Theologica de statu ecclesiae et religionis Moscoviticae, printed at Stockholm in 1704. The book secured Bergius a licenciate's degree at Uppsala University. The first part of his work consists of two sections: the first historical, comprising 20 chapters, the second dogmatic, comprising 33 chapters, in essence a comparison between the Lutheran catechism and the first part of Peter Mogila's Orthodox Confession. The historical section of Bergius's dissertation contains most of what was known about Russia in the West in terms of the people, language, alphabets, faith, Bible translations, printed books, printing houses, churches and monasteries, clergy, liturgy, feast days, schools, sects etc. Bergius shows a particular interest in the Old Believers, providing a broad survey of them. He has read almost everything, and constantly refers to what his different sources tell him about the matter under discussion, often choosing the version he finds most trustworthy. A separate listing of Bergius's 'reference library', comprising the books he cites, is given in the edition.