Prethodno priopćenje
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.57.13
Cyrillo-Methodiana as a Political Tool: Strossmayer’s Construction of Myth in the Service of Natiogenesis (Summary)
Ivan Jordan
; St. Anthony Croatian Catholic Church
Sažetak
This article analyzes Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer’s deployment of Cyrillo- Methodiana – the narrative complex surrounding Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Church Slavonic liturgical tradition – as political technology within the 19th century Croatian national movement. The central thesis posits that Strossmayer was not a passive guardian of tradition but rather a conscious architect of semiotic transformation who converted a liturgical practice – previously geographically limited and pastorally marginalized – into a national symbol.
Applying Hobsbawm’s concept of “invented tradition”, Barthes’s theory of myth, and Schmitt’s political theology, this study demonstrates how Strossmayer constructed a discourse positioning Church Slavonic liturgy as an apostolic heritage, not by inventing tradition ex nihilo, but by transforming its meaning and function. The analysis proceeds through several interconnected phases: the construction of myth through semiotic transformation; the institutionalization of this myth through infrastructure-building, including the establishment of the College of St. Jerome in Rome (1859) and coordination with the historian Franjo Rački; the appropriation of papal authority through sophisticated hermeneutic strategies following Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Grande munus (1880); and the militarization of the sacred through the construction of binary friend-enemy distinctions.
The key archival sources are the Promemoria to the Holy See (1859), reconstructed through the report of Fra Antonio da Rignano, and the Promemoria to the Russian Government (1876), which reveal the geopolitical dimension of the project – positioning Slavonic liturgy as a missionary tool for converting Orthodox Slavs and establishing Catholic influence in the Balkans. The article further demonstrates how Strossmayer’s self-positioning as the successor of St. Methodius on the ancient Sirmian episcopal see constitutes a performative act that secures his authority to interpret the very tradition he embodies.
Methodologically, the study combines discourse analysis, historical critique, and performance analysis, extending Hobsbawm’s theory beyond the construction of traditions ex nihilo to encompass semiotic transformation of authentic traditions. The question of Strossmayer’s theological sincerity ultimately misses the point: discourse functions politically regardless of motivation, and it is precisely the authenticity of the ecumenical vision that enables its political efficacy. The construction succeeded not through epistemological accuracy but through symbolic effectiveness – the capacity to stabilize discourse, mobilize masses, and naturalize political aspirations as transcendent truths.
Ključne riječi
Strossmayer; Rački; Cyrillo-Methodiana; invented tradition; Grande munus; Church Slavonic; Glagolitic script; political theology; natiogenesis
Hrčak ID:
352381
URI
Datum izdavanja:
21.12.2025.
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