Dr Nick Mayhew
- Lecturer in Russian (School of Modern Languages & Cultures)
Biography
Before joining the University of Glasgow, I was a Fixed-Term Lecturer in Russian at the University of Oxford and an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Stanford University. I received my PhD in Slavonic Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Research interests
My research explores how gender, sexuality and religion interact historically, with a focus on Orthodox Christianity in Russia and Ukraine. I am interested in how religious traditions shape cultural understandings and lived experiences of gender and sexuality, and how gender and sexual identities influence religious thought and practice. Underpinning my research is a drive to challenge interpretations of religion that foster injustice.
My first book project, Queerness in the Early Modern Russian Orthodox Church, shows that patriarchal traditions paradoxically create queer possibilities. It argues against the scholarly consensus that Orthodoxy and queerness are historically incompatible, documenting the Church’s past disinterest in policing homosexuality, along with its surprising consecration of same-sex unions and veneration of transmasculinity.
I am now developing a new project, Visions of Justice: Sexual Violence and Christianity in Early Rus. Focusing on religious literature from medieval Rus, it explores what forms of harm were acknowledged in the context of sexual violence and the diverse visions of justice that emerged in response. It asks what medieval materials might contribute to contemporary discussions of gender-based violence in Orthodox Christianity.
Publications
2026
Mayhew, Nick (2026) Hagiography for mass consumption: Orthodox saints and neotraditionalism in Putin's Russia. Mediæval Journal, (Accepted for Publication)
Mayhew, Nick (2026) История русского православия говорит: ЛГБТ-люди не прокляты = Russian Orthodox history says: LGBT folk aren't damned. [Website]
Mayhew, Nick (2026) Hanna Filipova. Male Same-Sex Relations and the Court of Peter I: Turning Muscovite. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. 134 pp., $44.99 (cloth), $34.99 (e-book). Slavic and East European Journal, [Book Review] (Accepted for Publication)
2025
Mayhew, Nick 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2025)
Queerness in the Early Modern Russian Orthodox Church.
Series: Genders and sexualities in history.
Palgrave Macmillan: Cham.
ISBN 9783032036780
(doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-03679-7)
2024
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2024)
Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ soldiers call for more rights – as Russia forces minorities into active service. Conversation, Sept 30.
[Website]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2024)
Vladimir Putin’s history war where truth is the first casualty. Conversation, Feb 15.
[Website]
2023
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
European ideas about homosexuality in Muscovy and the Russian Empire, sixteenth-eighteenth centuries.
In: Flier, Michael S., Kollmann, Nancy, Rowland, Daniel and Monahan, Erika (eds.)
Muscovy and the World: An Empire and Its Limits.
Slavica Publishers, pp. 185-200.
ISBN 9780893575212
(doi: 10.52500/IWVR3580)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Petri, Olga. Places of Tenderness and Heat: The Queer Milieu of Fin-de-Siècle St. Petersburg. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY and London, 2022. xx + 254 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $48.95; $31.99 (e-book).
Slavonic and East European Review, 101(3),
pp. 574-575.
(doi: 10.1353/see.2023.a912482)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Russian Style: Performing Gender, Power, and Putinism by Julie A. Cassiday, Madison, WI, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2023, 255 pp., $79.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-299-34670-6.
Slavonica, 28(2),
pp. 122-124.
(doi: 10.1080/13617427.2024.2377890)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Contemplating the divine: How Andrey Rublev revolutionized icon painting.
Times Literary Supplement(6274),
[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Holy foolishness and gender transgression in Russian hagiography from the Middle Ages to Modernity.
In: Torres Prieto, Susana and Franklin, Andrei (eds.)
Medieval Rus' and Early Modern Russia: Texts and Contexts.
Routledge, pp. 49-66.
ISBN 9781032187853
2022
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Petr and Fevroniia’s unorthodox marriage.
Slavonic and East European Review, 100(4),
pp. 654-673.
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Medieval and Trans Ways of Being.
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 9(2),
pp. 293-296.
(doi: 10.1215/23289252-9612977)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Regulating Homosexuality in Soviet Russia,
1956–1991: a different history
by Rustam Alexander, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2021, x +
248 pp., £80.00 (hardback), ISBN: 978-1-5261-5576-4.
Social History, 47(1),
pp. 115-116.
(doi: 10.1080/03071022.2022.2009703)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Мужеложство и современные представления о русской традиции гомофобии.
Критика феміністична, 5,
pp. 92-98.
2021
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2021)
Moscow: The Third Rome.
In:
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.
Oxford University Press.
(doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1243)
2020
Bulgakovsky, Dmitry and Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2020)
Xenia the Servant of God, or Andrey Fyodorovich the Holy Fool.
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 7(1),
pp. 114-120.
(doi: 10.1215/23289252-7914570)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2020)
Queering sodomy: a challenge to “traditional” sexual relations in Russia.
In: Wiedlack, Katharina, Shoshanova, Saltanat and Godovannaya, Masha (eds.)
Queering Paradigms VIII: Queer-Feminist Solidarity and the East/West Divide.
Series: Queering paradigms (10).
Peter Lang.
ISBN 9781788746793
2018
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2018)
Eunuchs and ascetic masculinity in Kievan Rus.
Medieval History Journal, 21(1),
pp. 100-116.
(doi: 10.1177/0971945818760119)
2017
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2017)
Banning spiritual brotherhoods and establishing marital chastity in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Muscovy and Ruthenia.
Palaeoslavica, 25(2),
pp. 80-108.
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2017)
Reading the body: Hesychasm in the life of Saint Stephen, Bishop of Perm.
Rossica Antiqua, 2017(2),
pp. 63-78.
Articles
Mayhew, Nick (2026) Hagiography for mass consumption: Orthodox saints and neotraditionalism in Putin's Russia. Mediæval Journal, (Accepted for Publication)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Petr and Fevroniia’s unorthodox marriage.
Slavonic and East European Review, 100(4),
pp. 654-673.
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Мужеложство и современные представления о русской традиции гомофобии.
Критика феміністична, 5,
pp. 92-98.
Bulgakovsky, Dmitry and Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2020)
Xenia the Servant of God, or Andrey Fyodorovich the Holy Fool.
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 7(1),
pp. 114-120.
(doi: 10.1215/23289252-7914570)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2018)
Eunuchs and ascetic masculinity in Kievan Rus.
Medieval History Journal, 21(1),
pp. 100-116.
(doi: 10.1177/0971945818760119)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2017)
Banning spiritual brotherhoods and establishing marital chastity in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Muscovy and Ruthenia.
Palaeoslavica, 25(2),
pp. 80-108.
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2017)
Reading the body: Hesychasm in the life of Saint Stephen, Bishop of Perm.
Rossica Antiqua, 2017(2),
pp. 63-78.
Books
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2025)
Queerness in the Early Modern Russian Orthodox Church.
Series: Genders and sexualities in history.
Palgrave Macmillan: Cham.
ISBN 9783032036780
(doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-03679-7)
Book Sections
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
European ideas about homosexuality in Muscovy and the Russian Empire, sixteenth-eighteenth centuries.
In: Flier, Michael S., Kollmann, Nancy, Rowland, Daniel and Monahan, Erika (eds.)
Muscovy and the World: An Empire and Its Limits.
Slavica Publishers, pp. 185-200.
ISBN 9780893575212
(doi: 10.52500/IWVR3580)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Holy foolishness and gender transgression in Russian hagiography from the Middle Ages to Modernity.
In: Torres Prieto, Susana and Franklin, Andrei (eds.)
Medieval Rus' and Early Modern Russia: Texts and Contexts.
Routledge, pp. 49-66.
ISBN 9781032187853
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2021)
Moscow: The Third Rome.
In:
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.
Oxford University Press.
(doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1243)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2020)
Queering sodomy: a challenge to “traditional” sexual relations in Russia.
In: Wiedlack, Katharina, Shoshanova, Saltanat and Godovannaya, Masha (eds.)
Queering Paradigms VIII: Queer-Feminist Solidarity and the East/West Divide.
Series: Queering paradigms (10).
Peter Lang.
ISBN 9781788746793
Book Reviews
Mayhew, Nick (2026) Hanna Filipova. Male Same-Sex Relations and the Court of Peter I: Turning Muscovite. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. 134 pp., $44.99 (cloth), $34.99 (e-book). Slavic and East European Journal, [Book Review] (Accepted for Publication)
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Petri, Olga. Places of Tenderness and Heat: The Queer Milieu of Fin-de-Siècle St. Petersburg. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY and London, 2022. xx + 254 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $48.95; $31.99 (e-book).
Slavonic and East European Review, 101(3),
pp. 574-575.
(doi: 10.1353/see.2023.a912482)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Russian Style: Performing Gender, Power, and Putinism by Julie A. Cassiday, Madison, WI, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2023, 255 pp., $79.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-299-34670-6.
Slavonica, 28(2),
pp. 122-124.
(doi: 10.1080/13617427.2024.2377890)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2023)
Contemplating the divine: How Andrey Rublev revolutionized icon painting.
Times Literary Supplement(6274),
[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Medieval and Trans Ways of Being.
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 9(2),
pp. 293-296.
(doi: 10.1215/23289252-9612977)[Book Review]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2022)
Regulating Homosexuality in Soviet Russia,
1956–1991: a different history
by Rustam Alexander, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2021, x +
248 pp., £80.00 (hardback), ISBN: 978-1-5261-5576-4.
Social History, 47(1),
pp. 115-116.
(doi: 10.1080/03071022.2022.2009703)[Book Review]
Website
Mayhew, Nick (2026) История русского православия говорит: ЛГБТ-люди не прокляты = Russian Orthodox history says: LGBT folk aren't damned. [Website]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2024)
Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ soldiers call for more rights – as Russia forces minorities into active service. Conversation, Sept 30.
[Website]
Mayhew, Nick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0278-3323
(2024)
Vladimir Putin’s history war where truth is the first casualty. Conversation, Feb 15.
[Website]
Grants
AWARDS & HONOURS
2026
Finalist, Corporate Champion Award, Proud Scotland Awards
2025
Student Teaching Award for the Best Teacher in the College of Arts & Humanities, University of Glasgow
2024
Early Slavic Studies Association Best Article Prize Honourable Mention
2018
Early Slavic Studies Association Best Article Prize
RESEARCH FUNDING
2024
British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies grant for “Queer Creativity: Bringing Eastern European and Central Asian LGBTQ+ Research to Life” conference (University of Oxford)
2023
British Academy Early Career Research Network grant for “Global Queer and Trans Histories Beyond Academia” workshop (University of Glasgow)
2022
British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies grant for “Queer(ing) Russia: Academia & Activism in Dialogue” conference (University of Oxford)
2021
Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship (not taken up)
2018
Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellowship (Stanford University)
2018
Research fellowship at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University (not taken up)
2018
Hilandar Research Library grant to undertake archival training
2018
Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies grant to hold workshop on Queer Russian Studies at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge
2016
UK Arts & Humanities Research Council award for fieldwork trip to Ukraine
2015
Cambridge Arts & Humanities grant for “Limits in the Medieval World” conference
Supervision
I would be glad to supervise graduate students interested in:
- Religion and gender/sexuality
- Religion and violence/trauma
- LGBTQ+ history
- Gender and sexuality in Russophone contexts
- Gender and sexuality in the pre-modern world
- Pre-modern East Slavic history and culture
- Medievalism
Teaching
- Censorship in Western Culture (MODLANG4013)
- Classic European Cinema (COMPLIT4028)
- Heroes (Heroic Men) (COMPLIT1001)
- Literary Translation Studies (MODLANG5006)
- Queerness in Russophone Cultures (RUSSIAN4042)
- Russian Culture and State Power (RUSSIAN4038)
- Russian Culture 2 (RUSSIAN2011)
- Russian Language 2 (RUSSIAN2012)
- Russian Junior Honours (RUSSIAN4033)
- Russian Senior Honours (RUSSIAN4034)
- Transnational Constructions of Gender (MODLANG5009)
