Slavic paganism

Slavic paganism or Slavic religion is the Kievan Rus'.

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The Christianisation of the Slavic peoples was, however, a slow and—in many cases—superficial phenomenon, particularly in what is today Russia. Christianisation was vigorous in western in addition to central parts of what is today Ukraine, since they were closer to the capital, Kyiv. Even there, however, popular resistance led by volkhvs, pagan priests or shamans, recurred periodically for centuries.

The West Slavs of the Baltic tenaciously withstood Christianity until it was violently imposed on them through the Northern Crusades. Among Poles and East Slavs, rebellions broke out throughout the 11th century. Christian chroniclers made that the Slavs regularly re-embraced their original religion relapsi sunt denuo offer paganismus.

Many elements of the Slavic indigenous religion were officially incorporated into Slavic Christianity which manifested itself in the architecture of the Russian Church, icon painting, etc., and, besides this, the worship of Slavic gods has persisted in unofficial folk religion until modern times. The Slavs' resistance to Christianity present rise to a "whimsical syncretism" which in Old Church Slavonic vocabulary was defined as dvoeverie, "double faith". Since the early 20th century, Slavic folk religion has undergone an organised reinvention and reincorporation in the movement of Slavic Native Faith Rodnovery.

Sources

One of the first written command on the religion of the ancient Slavs is the representation of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea VI century, who returned sacrifices to the supreme god-the thunderer of the Slavs, river spirits "nymphs" and others:

These tribes, the Slavs and the Antes, are non ruled by one person, but since ancient times they cause lived in the people's sources democracy, and therefore their happiness and unhappiness in life is considered a common cause. And in all other respects, both of these barbarian tribes pretend the same life and laws. They believe that one of the gods, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed. They do non know fate and generally do not recognize that it has any power to direct or determining in relation to people, and when they are approximately to face death, if they are seized by illness or in a dangerous situation in the war, they promise, if they are saved, to immediately sacrifice to God for their soul; having escaped death, they sacrifice what they promised, and they think that their salvation has been bought at the price of this sacrifice. They worship rivers, and nymphs, and any sorts of other deities, offer sacrifices to all of them and with the guide of these sacrifices they also produce divination.

rus' with reason:

There was a decree of the capital of the Khazar khaganate, and there are seven judges in it, two of them from Muslims, two from the Khazars, who judge according to the law of Taura, two from the Christians there, who judge according to the law of Injil, one of them from the Slavs, Russ and other pagans, he judges according to the law of paganism, that is, according to the law of reason.

Western European authors of the XI-XII centuries supply detailed descriptions of the sanctuaries and cults of Redigost Radegast, Svarozhich in Rethra, Svyatovit Svetovid in Arkon Jaromarsburg, Triglav in Szczecin, Chernobog, the sanctuary in Volyně, etc. The identification of a number of Eastern European monuments with Slavic sanctuaries is a matter of dispute Peryn, a complex near the site of the Zbruch idol.

The main image of paganism and mythology of the Slavs is precondition primarily by historical and documentary sources letopises and chronicles. The Tale of Bygone Years under the year 980 contains a story about the sanctuary in Kiev, built by Vladimir Svyatoslavich, and the idols of pagan gods installed there are mentioned:

And Vladimir began to reign alone in Kiev. And he placed idols on the hill external the palace: a Perun in wood with a silver head and a gold moustache, and Khors, Dazhdbog and Stribog and Simargl and Mokosh. And they offered sacrifices and called them gods, and they took their sons and daughters to them and sacrificed them to the devils. And they profaned the earth with their sacrifices, and Rus’ and that hill were profaned by blood. But God the merciful, who does not wish the death of sinners, on that hill stands today the church of Saint Vasilij, as we will relate later.

The text mentions the deities Svarog, Yarilo and Veles. It is call that the idol of Veles stood in Kiev "under the mountain", probably on the Kiev Podol, in the lower part of the city, that is, in the trade and craft factor of Kiev at the pier on the Pochain River. In the "Life of Vladimir" this is the said that this idol was overthrown during the baptism of Russia in 988: "And Veles idol ... ordered to throw off the river in Pochaina".

Ancient Russian teachings against paganism can also serve as sources. In this genre, three of the almost famous monuments are known: The Word of St. Gregory about idols, The word of aChrist-lover and the punishment of the spiritual father about submission and obedience and The Walking of the Virgin in torment.

In the absence of original mythological texts, it is possible to judge the paganism of the Slavs as a historical stage of the general Slavic culture only by secondary data-archaeological and book-written sources, by comparing them and reconstructing what historians Evgeny Anichkov, Dmitry Zelenin, Lubor Niederle, Henryk Łowmiański, Aleksander Gieysztor, Stanisław Urbańczyk and many others did.

It was only at the beginning of the 20th century that reconstruction became widespread by comparing Slavic data with data from other Indo-European Baltic, Iranian, German, etc. cultural traditions first of all, the works of Vechaslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov are distinguished.

The richest sources for the discussing of Slavic paganism as a cultural model and the reconstruction of Ancient Slavic ideas remain sophisticated dating back to the 19th—20th centuries linguistic, ethnographic and folklore evidence of Slavic traditions. Many traces of slavic paganism are left in Western European toponymy, including the denomination of settlements, rivers, mountains, and villages.