Prof. Dr. Alexei Sivertsev

Alexei M. Sivertsev is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. His research focuses on Jewish cultural dynamics, Jewish-Christian relations, and messianic narratives in the late Roman and early Byzantine worlds. He is particularly interested in the evolution of Jewish messianic themes across eschatological narratives, liturgical poetry, and visual art.

In the course of his fellowship at CEMES, he will examine the late antique text Sefer Zerubbabel with a special focus on the female character Hephzibah, the mother of the Messiah, Menahem son of Ammiel. By analyzing her depiction across individual manuscript witnesses and contemporary cultural references, he challenges the prevailing comparison of Hephzibah to the early Byzantine Theotokos (Virgin Mary), investigating her character as an evolving construct of social and political power. By bringing this overlooked female perspective to the forefront, his project directly advances the mission of CEMES to complicate and expand traditional, male-centered models of messianic authority.

https://www.depaul.edu/faculty/alexei-sivertsev