Ambrose's funeral sermons on the emperors Valentinian and Theodosius have been analysed as texts borrowing from classical rhetorical traditions, and as repositories of detail about contemporary politics. However, the crucial context for these texts was ecclesiastical; they were sermons, preached in church in services during which lessons were read from the Bible. This article shows that a consideration of this particular historical and liturgical context helps to elucidate Ambrose's ‘levelling’ political thought, and that identifying the biblical cadences of the sermons, far from being obfuscatory, is the key to understanding them.

This article examines the canonisation process of Clare of Assisi and seeks to contextualise it within the currents of early Franciscan history. It refutes recent scholarship on Clare that has focused upon her place in the history of medieval women and draws on Italian scholarship to argue for a more nuanced reading of the texts surrounding Clare that takes into account the deep-set divisions between the papacy and the friars about the role of women in the Franciscan order and compares the post-mortem treatment of Clare to that of Francis.

This examination of John Wesley's emendation and elaboration of John Foxe's Acts and monuments, shows how Wesley constructed Foxe's text and himself within a tradition of learned English ministry. Offering an expanded vision of the role and function of the popularly styled Book of Martyrs, this article combines readings of Wesley's journals and secondary analyses to permit insights into Wesley's relationship with the established Church of England, his intentions in taking up Foxe's text and his conceptions of hierarchy, pastoral duty and ministry. It contradicts scholarly expectation of anti-Catholic impulses behind Foxeian publications and their effects, and encourages a more nuanced appreciation of the contemporary application of the terms ‘Catholic’ and ‘papist’.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Orthodox Church and the Russian government have sought to restore monasteries, viewing them as key institutions in the regeneration of religion. Novodevichy Monastery in Moscow has historically been one of Russia's most important religious centres and its most famous monastery for women. Returned to the Church in 1994, Novodevichy was administered by Mother Serafima, a remarkable woman whose life covered most of the twentieth century. In reconstructing monastic life, she placed charity at the centre of her endeavours. In her struggles and her efforts to rebuild the ‘sacred canopy’ at Novodevichy is depicted, in microcosmic form, Russia's own quest to recover its heritage and redefine its identity.