Chiones and Judaizers: Typological Similarity or Genetic Connection?

This paper is a comparative study dealing with the two heterodox movements, namely, the sect of chiones in Byzantium and the heresy of the Judaizers in Russia. The aim of this paper is to trace genealogical connection between these two cases and to reveal their typological similarity. It attempts to define the ideas and factors that shaped them and investigates their origin. Albeit the heterodoxies originated from different branches of Judaism and are deprived of the genealogical connection, they illustrate the remarkable typological similarity and coincide in terms of logic of their contradiction with Christianity. The conversion to Judaism is explained not by proselytism, but rather by the agency of the converts. The results of the paper demonstrate an entangled system of the circulation of ideas in the medieval world as well as they raise the question of the phenomenon of apostasy in Orthodox culture.