The Image of a Muslim Judge (Kadi) in the Slavic Hagiography  of the 16th Century

The paper deals with the image of a Muslim judge (kadi) in the Slavic vitae of the 16^th century. Unlike most other Muslims, kadi is rarely portrayed in an unambiguously negative way. Following the law, he almost always protects the saint from enraged ordinary Muslims, instead he tries to convince the martyr to convert to Islam and promises him all sorts of riches and honors. In some cases, he even considers a Christian to be innocent and tries to save his life, although in the end, under pressure from other Muslims, he sends the saint to execution. The article suggests that these features in the image of a kadi can be explained by the purpose of the authors of the hagiographic texts to show the innocence and righteousness of the saint, even from the point of view of the «infidel» judge.

Keywords

Ottoman empire, Slavic vitae of the 16th century, Christian martyrs, Muslim judge (kadi), St. George the New of Sofia, St. Nicholas the New of Sofia, St. Anthony of Suprasl, St. John of Serres, St. George the Newest of Sofia.

Received

08.07.2022

Publication date

26.09.2022

Number of characters

24342

Cite

GOST	Evstafyev N. The Image of a Muslim Judge (Kadi) in the Slavic Hagiography of the 16th Century // Slavianovedenie – 2022. – Number 4 C. 56-66 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://slav.jes.su/S0869544X0021052-0-1 (circulation date: 25.03.2025). DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0021052-0
MLA	Evstafyev, Nikita "The Image of a Muslim Judge (Kadi) in the Slavic Hagiography of the 16th Century." Slavianovedenie 4 (2022):56-66. DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0021052-0
APA	Evstafyev N. (2022). The Image of a Muslim Judge (Kadi) in the Slavic Hagiography of the 16th Century. Slavianovedenie (4), pp.56-66 DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0021052-0

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