Orthodox Icons and Cosmonaut Exemplars

This book offers a fascinating ethnography of Russian Orthodox people and things in outer space, and of outer space in Russian Orthodoxy. It considers how the Russian Orthodox participate in cosmonautics on Earth and in outer space, and how they relate with humans venturing off Earth in their religious practices on Earth. The book’s central ethnographic concern is the practice of sending icons to the International Space Station. Building on existing anthropological theory of Orthodox material culture, the author argues that icons are model objects that instruct the Orthodox in how to grasp God in all created things around them and, accordingly, how to orient themselves in the creation towards communion with God. Whatever one does for a living, including technoscientific research and flying to outer space, icons serve as a constant reminder for the Orthodox to always seek communion with God. Drawing on ethnographic data collected in Russian Orthodox parishes with links to the technoscientific industry of cosmonautics, the volume describes how living cosmonauts practice Orthodoxy and how deceased cosmonauts are remembered as Orthodox exemplars. It is especially relevant to scholars of the anthropology of religion and those interested in the social study of outer space, as well as others working on Orthodox Christianity, material culture, science and technology studies, and Russian and post-Soviet studies.