Dr. Russell E. Martin, associate professor of history at Westminster College, delivered two lectures at the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Seminary Feb. 21&one in English and one in Russian.

"The first lecture was on the cultural and political ties between Byzantium and Musocovy, and was delivered in English," said Martin.  "The second lecture, delivered in Russian, was on monastic commemoration of the dead, and the belief in 17th-century Russia, as in modern Russia, that prayer for the dead benefits the living and the dead."

When Martin's not teaching at Westminster or lecturing around the country, he spends time writing chapters for reference books.  He has authored three articles for the Encyclopedia of Russian History, and is currently writing a chapter on Russian Royal Martyrs Nicholas II, Alexandra and their family.  In March, Martin will travel to Harvard's Davis Center for Russian Studies to participate in a conference of authors of a book on 17th-century Russian culture and society.  Martin's contribution to this book will include  several chapters on ritual and society.

Martin appeared on A&E Biography in a broadcast on Ivan the Terrible as an expert on the controversial ruler, and has been an expert witness in a Canadian civil trial about the Russian royal family.  He is the co-founder of the Muscovite Biographical Database, a Russian-American computerized register based in Moscow of early modern Russian notables.  The Neville Island, Pa. Native is not only fluent in Russian, but also reads Old Church Slavonic/Russian, French, German, Latin, and Polish.

Martin, who has been with Westminster College since 1996, earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and his master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

For more information, contact Martin at (724) 946-7246 or e-mail martinre@westminster.edu.