Who are pagans and what is paganism. The true meaning of these words. About the name 'paganism'

a set of popular ideas about supernatural forces that rule the world and people. On their way to the true God, the Russian people steadfastly rejected the cruel cults and rituals of ancient beliefs, choosing among them only that which was close to their soul. In striving for light and good, the Russian people, even before the adoption of Christianity, came to the idea of ​​monotheism.

The first rudiments of national consciousness and philosophical understanding of the world (see: Philosophy) carry the idea that man is good by nature, and evil in the world is a deviation from the norm. In ancient Russian views, the idea of ​​improving, transforming the human soul on the basis of good and evil is clearly breaking through. In the ancient pagan cults of the Russians, the moral side (the principle of goodness) prevailed over the magic. The moral, poetic view of our ancient ancestors on nature was noted by A.N. Afanasyev. The pagan gods personified the moral foundations of life. For our ancestors, paganism is more of a spiritual and moral culture than a religion. At the heart of worship are the all-creating forces of nature, which for the Russian people are good, good and beauty. Everything that is associated with kindness and goodness is deified.

The Russian person felt a blood connection with pagan deities, personifying good. He considered them to be his ancestors. As A.N. Afanasyev: "With the light, white deities, the Slav felt his kinship, for from them gifts of fertility are sent down, which support the existence of all life on earth ..." The Word of Igor's Regiment speaks of the Slavs as the grandchildren of the Sun - Dazhbog. Representatives of creativity and life , the gods of light, were personified by fantasy in beautiful and mostly young images; they were associated with ideas about the highest justice and goodness. "

The largest specialist in paganism B.A. Rybakov believes that initially the Slavs "laid treasures for the ghouls and bereines," who personified two opposite principles - evil and good, hostile to man and protecting man.

Later, in the minds of the ancient Russian people, the highest (in fact, moral) forces were expressed in the idea of ​​the Kin. It was not just God, but rather the idea of ​​the Universe, which included all the highest and vital important concepts the existence of the Russian man. B.A. Rybakov notes that a wide range of concepts and words is associated with the name of the Rod, in which the root is "genus":

Clan (family, tribe, dynasty) Nature People Give birth, give birth Motherland Harvest

Thus, in the popular consciousness, the family, people, homeland, nature, harvest are embodied in a single symbol. The concept of the Genus and its veneration persisted for many centuries after the adoption of Christianity. It was only in vain that the Church persecuted its children when they filled their cups in honor of Rod. This was not the worship of a pagan deity, but the traditional veneration of the moral principle of the universe, which embodied the concept of Rod.

Having deciphered the reliefs of the ancient monument of Russian pagan culture of the Zbruch idol (X century), B.A. Rybakov represents the world of pagan beliefs of the Russian people this way:

CELESTIAL SPHERE

Dazhbog is the deity of light, the Sun, the giver of blessings, the mythical ancestor of the Russian people - "even God's grandchildren."

Perun is the god of thunder and lightning, the patron saint of warriors. Earthly space.

Mokosh is the "mother of the harvest", the mistress of the symbolic cornucopia. One of two women in labor.

Lada is the second woman in labor, the patroness of spring ardent vegetative strength and marriages.

People - a round dance of men and women, placed at the foot of the deities.

UNDERWORLD

Veles (Volos) is the benevolent god of the Earth, in which the ancestors rest. Gently holds on his shoulders the plane of earthly space with people on it.

Considering the world of beliefs of pre-Christian Russia, one should once again emphasize its moral rather than religious character. The gods are ancestors who exercise constant moral tutelage over the living and demand the fulfillment of their behests. Deities are a reflection of the good principles of life, which should be worshiped. The cult of goodness and the cult of ancestors are the main content of ancient Russian beliefs.

The oldest layer of beliefs in Russia after the period of "ghouls and berein" clearly gravitates towards monotheism. The pagan idea of ​​the Kin as the creator of the universe, the creator of the entire visible and invisible world comes close to the Christian concept of the God of Sabaoth - God the Father, the Creator of all that exists. Slavs, wrote in ser. VI century Procopius of Caesarea, believe that "only God, the creator of lightning, is the ruler over all." There is a struggle between Light and Dark, Good and Evil in the world. The main attributes of God are Light and Good. The being closest to God is Light. It is symbolized by the Sun. The Light Being appeared on earth and incarnated in the Russian people, which, according to ancient beliefs, comes from the Sun. B.A. Rybakov gives a very convincing diagram of the manifestations of the solar cult in Ancient Rus and its connection with the fate and worldview of the Russian people.

1. Khors ("round") - the deity of the Sun as luminaries. In the "Lay of Igor's Regiment" he is called "Great Horse". In all likelihood, a very ancient deity, ideas about which preceded the idea of ​​a luminiferous heavenly god like Apollo. The cult of the Sun-luminary was clearly manifested among the farmers of the Eneolithic, and already in bronze age there was an idea of ​​the night sun, making its underground path through the "sea of ​​darkness". The name of Khors has been preserved in the ritual vocabulary of the 19th century. ("round dance", "good", "good").

2. Kolaksay - the mythical king of the Skolotov - Proto-Slavs. Interpreted as the Sun-king (from "kolo" - circle, sun).

3. Chipped-off - the Dnieper Proto-Slavs plowmen, named after their king Kolaksai. The self-designation is based on the same root "kolo" - the sun, which is also in the name of the king. The legend recorded by Herodotus makes it possible to translate the word "chipped" as "descendants of the Sun".

4. Dazhbog. Divine mythical king, sometimes called the Sun. God is the giver of blessings. The change in the name reflected the expansion of ideas about the solar deity.

5. "Dazh's grandson", i.e. "The grandson of the Sun" is the name of the Russian prince from the Dnieper region, which makes it possible to bring together the echoes of pagan myths that have survived until the 12th century. n. e., with ancient myths about the descendants of the Sun, which existed in the same places in the 5th century. BC.

In 980 kn. Vladimir, having come to power, made a kind of reform of paganism and ordered to arrange a new pantheon of the main pagan deities in Kiev. It included Perun, Khors, Dazhbog, Stribog, Semaragl, Mokosh. B.A. Rybakov, who compared the composition of Vladimir's pantheon and the lists of gods from other sources, found that the discrepancy between them concerns part of the Rod and Svarog. In his opinion, these are not different deities, but only different names of one deity. The heavenly deity of the pagans could be called Rod (the creative, giving birth principle prevails), and Svarog ("heavenly"), and Stribog (heavenly god-father). Perun, the god of thunder, was also a heavenly deity.

The high moral character of the pagan views of the Russian people inspired their life, creating the beginnings of a high spiritual culture. Myths and legends about gods and goddesses brought up an artistic, poetic, imaginative view of the world. In the cultural sense, the ancient Russian pagan mythology was in no way inferior to the ancient Greek pagan mythology, and in the spiritual and moral sense it was superior to it. In myths Ancient Greece the main emphasis was placed on the worship of power, the sexual side of life, the equality of good and evil. In the myths of Ancient Russia, the accents were placed differently - the worship of light and good, the condemnation of evil, the cult of the productive force as a function of fertility and procreation, rather than erotic savoring of sensual details.

Worship to one God in the image of the sun, symbolizing light and good, Rod, Dazhboga - inspired the entire life of the ancestors of the Russian people. The motives of this worship can be traced back to the Skolot period, even in the very name “Chive” - the descendants of the Sun. Each week began on Sunday, which is ancient times was called the day of the Sun, and later the Day of God. In relation to God (Rod, Dazhbog), all other deities were derived from him and, perhaps, even were his different names and incarnations. At a time when the Russian people considered themselves Dazhbozh's grandchildren, Thursday was dedicated to Perun, and Friday - Mokoshi, Saturday - Veles and the ancestors who rest in the ground.

The annual circle of pagan rituals correlated with the solar calendar, and the most significant ritual actions were performed on the days of the winter and summer solstice - at the junction of January and December and in June.

On December 26, the god Rod, the creator of all things, and accompanying women in labor were celebrated. For almost two weeks, until Veles' day (January 6), merry festivities, the so-called Christmas carols, or winter mermaids, took place. For ritual purposes, they dressed a sheaf or straw doll, calling them Kolyada. It embodied a baby sun, a newborn young sun, i.e. the sun of the next year. The image of Kolyada, apparently, meant the annually renewed god Rod and the inevitability of the victory of the light and good principle over the evil one. The evil deity of this time was considered Karachun, whose name the ancient Slavs called the day of the winter solstice. According to ancient beliefs, severe frosts and the revelry of evil spirits and witches can be overcome with fun festivities and joyful spells in honor of sun god... On winter carols was the greatest Friday in honor of the goddess Mokoshi, to whom the women prayed especially. On January 6, pagans turned to the god of cattle and wealth, Veles, asking him for fertility, good harvest and prosperity.

In early February, the ancient Russian pagans celebrated Gromnitsa - a holiday in honor of the god Perun and the veneration of fire. On February 11, they turned to the god of cattle and wealth, Veles, begging him to keep pets in the last winter month. Together with Veles (Volos), Volosyn was celebrated on the same day, apparently his wives, who were presented to the Russians in the form of the Pleiades constellation. They performed a special ritual of calling out to the stars. There is information that it was on this day that a woman suspected of evil intentions and intercourse with evil spirits, buried in the ground.

V pagan Rus the year began on March 1. On this day, Avsenya, the deity of the change of seasons, prosperity, fertility, and also Pozvizda, the deity of winds, storms and bad weather, were celebrated.

In March, the so-called. Dead Carols. To overcome the dead forces of winter and call out spring, they baked larks from dough, climbed with them on trees and roofs and asked for early warm weather. Twice this month, on March 9 and 25, the goddess of love Lada was celebrated. From the day of the vernal equinox (March 25), Komoeditsy was celebrated - a bear holiday (in christian times called Shrovetide). They performed a rite of worship for Perun. We lit bonfires, jumped over the fire to cleanse ourselves of evil spirits, thanked Perun for the beginning of spring. At the end of the holiday, a straw doll was burned at the stake, symbolizing evil and death.

In April, pagans worshiped deities associated with love, procreation and family life, - Lada, Yarila and Lelyu. On April 22, everyone got up before dawn and climbed high hills to see the sunrise from there. It was one of the rituals of the Dazhbog cult.

On May 1 and 2, the pagans again glorified the goddess of love Lada. On May 10, they prayed for the fertility of the Earth, considering that on this day the Earth is the birthday girl. On May 11, Perun was worshiped - Tsar-Fire, Tsar-Thunder, Tsar-Grad. On this day, as a rule, there were the first May thunderstorms.

In June, after the completion of heavy agricultural work, the Russian pagans prayed to their deities for the preservation of seeds and crops, oh warm rains and a good harvest. The fertility of the earth and the continuation of the human race in their minds were connected in a single image of a ritual character, and possibly even a deity, Yarila, personifying fertility and sexual power. The rituals associated with Yarila began on June 4 and were repeated two more times this month. On June 19-24, there was a Russian week, the culmination of which was the holiday of Kupala, the deity of summer, patron saint field fruits and summer flowers. Bonfires were burned in the fields, round dances with singing were arranged around them. To cleanse themselves of evil spirits, they jumped over fires, and then drove their cattle between them. On June 29, the holiday of the Sun was celebrated - they worshiped Dazhbog, Svarog, Khors and Lada. Before the holiday of Kupala (June 24), they performed the Mokoshi rituals.

The pagan rituals of July and August were mainly associated with prayers for rain, and after the beginning of the harvest (July 24) - with prayers for an end to the rains. After the end of the harvest, August 7 is the feast of the first fruits and harvest. On July 19, Mokosh was celebrated, and the next day - Perun himself. After the end of the harvest, a small piece of unharvested bread was left on the field - "Veles on the goatee".

Seeing off the summer in September began with ceremonies dedicated to Belbog, the deity of light, goodness, luck and happiness. On September 8, Rod and women in labor were honored. On September 14, according to ancient beliefs, the pagans believed that birds and snakes went to Irya, a warm paradise country where eternal summer reigns and a world tree grows.

October in pagan rituals was dedicated to Mokoshi (Mother of Cheese Earth), the deity of fertility, fate, feminine... With the onset of cold weather in November, Russian pagans turned to the god of fire Perun and the goddess Mokoshi, begging them to warm and preserve them, and on November 26 they performed rituals to the lord of light and goodness - Dazhbog, at the same time praying to the evil god Karachun to save them from death and loss of cattle.

The baptism of Rus in 988 transformed the Russian people. Philosophy, spiritual and moral values, which our ancestors worshiped since ancient times, have found an ideal embodiment in Russian Orthodoxy. Only in Christianity did the Russian people receive a real religious consciousness. In turn, Russian saints and ascetics raised Christianity to tremendous spiritual heights. No other country in the world has had such a number of saints and ascetics who have confirmed the triumph of Orthodoxy with their lives. While in the West faith was dying, in Russia there was a religious upsurge, in the XX century. crowned with a crown of thorns of millions of martyrs for Orthodoxy. Against the background of all this, the assertions about the allegedly existing dual faith in Russia - the simultaneous confession of Christianity and paganism - are absurd. In fact, of the ancient pagan rites, the Russian people have retained only the musical song and dance element - round dances, songs, games. The rituals performed were not of a religious nature, but were only a continuation of the folk aesthetic tradition. The names of most of the pagan gods were forgotten, and the rest - Kupala, Lada, Yarilo - were perceived as playable characters in folk rituals.

Some of the former pagan deities and evil spirits in the popular mind acquired the character of evil spirits and quite organically blended into Christian demonology, being considered as the embodiment of Satan. Communicating with the world of demons was considered by the Russian people a terrible crime. Witches and sorcerers caught in this were destroyed, peasants lynched them or drowned them in water.

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The word pagan is a translation of the Latin word and means literally: provincial, country dweller. In the beginning, when the gospel was received in the cities, the word paganus, i.e. a villager, began to denote any person who is alien ... ... Dictionary of biblical names

pagans- language people are not all Jews, all worshiping untrue gods (Ps. 105:35; Matthew 18:17; 1 Pet. 2:12). But God is also God and the Gentiles (Rom. 3:29) and they were also granted salvation (Isa. 11:10. Acts. 28:28) ... Complete and detailed Bible Dictionary to the Russian canonical Bible

pagans- see peoples ... The Bible: Thematic Dictionary

Pagans, paganism- - under the name of pagans we mean peoples who do not believe in one God and adhere to polytheism. The word pagan, pagans, the Hebrew Goy, means, in fact, each individual nation and all nations. In the Holy. Scripture means: 1) sometimes ... ... Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary

Virgil. A fresco from the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. Virtuous pagans represent in Christian theology, according to which some of the pagans who did not know ... Wikipedia

The pagans, who, after circumcision and special washing (see Baptism, 1,1), were accepted into the community of Israel (Acts 2:10; 13:43). From the later Hebrews. letter. sources, two groups of proselytes are known: proselytes of the gate, who observed only the so-called. seven laws ... ... Brockhaus Bible Encyclopedia

Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia of arch. Nicephorus.

The pagans, hearing [this], rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed to eternal life … Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia of arch. Nicephorus.

Bust of Germanicus with traces of Christian vandalism. Persecution of pagans in the Christian Roman Empire policy towards supporters of traditional polytheistic r ... Wikipedia

Books

• Pagans, Sergey Drugal. The capture of basilisks is announced ... as well as other rare animals, including deer, bears, lions, dragons. If alien race shows hostility to you, take your time to snatch ...
• The pagans answer,. Brochure No. 5 "The Gentiles Answer" appeared in 1999 as a collection of answers to questions of their time. More than ten years have passed since then, but the relevance of the issues raised has only increased. ...

In which paganism meant peoples or "languages" opposed to the early Christian communities.

As a rule, scientists avoid using the term "paganism" because of the ambiguity and variety of meanings, preferring more precise terms such as polytheism, shamanism, totemism, animism. Currently, the Church Slavonic word "paganism" in scientific literature is being replaced by the term "ethnic religion".

Meaning

There is no unambiguous generally accepted definition of paganism, the term can mean:

1. Religious representations, rituals and holidays of primitive tribes (animism, ancestor cult, magic, therotheism, totemism, fetishism, shamanism, etc.), as well as the religious systems of civilized peoples the ancient world: Indo-Iranians, Egyptians, Assyro-Babylonians, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Scandinavians, Turks, Slavs and so on.
2. From the point of view of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) - all the rest, not Abrahamic religions. ...
3. Polytheistic religions in general.
4. Religion of a certain kind, people, tribe, ethnos - as opposed to the world religion, whose adherents may belong to different peoples and cultures. In this sense, Judaism can also be called paganism.
5. Idolatry, worship of the creation (creation), and not the Creator (Creator), that is, worship of someone or something other than one God. If we consider the veneration of images of God as worship, in this sense, for example, from the point of view of Islam, Christianity can also be called pagan (see iconoclasm).
6. New religious movements of the neo-pagan persuasion (Rodnoverie, Romuva, Asatru, Wicca, Seid), reconstructing beliefs and reviving rituals different nations that existed with them before the spread of world monotheistic confessions.
7. Innocence [ unknown term], including "monotheistic".

Etymology

The Slavic term comes from church-slavs. ꙗ҆ language, that is, "people", "tribe", which in the Slavic translation of the Bible translated Hebrew terms goy(גוי) and nohri(נָכְרִי). The latter correspond in the Greek translation to the word ἔθνος (ethnos), and in the Vulgate - lat. gentilis... From the point of view of the etymologist Vasmer, the Church Slavonic term is a copy of the Greek.

Most European languages ​​use terms derived from lat. paganismus... This word comes from paganus, which originally meant "rural" or "provincial" (from pagus "district"), later received the meaning of "commoner", "redneck", due to the fact that Christianity in the Roman Empire first spread to large cities, places of stay of bishops. The derogatory meaning of "ignorant infidelity" appears in vulgar Latin: in the period up to the 4th century, Christians called paganism religia pagana, that is, "village faith". The Latin word was also borrowed into Church Slavonic literature in the form filthy"Pagan", which eventually acquired the meaning of "unclean, filthy".

Pagan religions

Neopaganism

New teachings and spiritual practices (Romuva, Asatru, Wicca) or reconstructed ancient pagan teachings (Rodnoverie, Diyevturiba). Neopaganism must be distinguished from continuous pagan traditions such as shamanism.

Ideologists and followers of interethnic neo-paganism, as a rule, do not hide the syncretic nature of their teachings, although they build their foundations to traditions, the roots of which go back to antiquity.

In June 1998 in Lithuania, at the initiative of delegates from 16 different countries Europe, Asia and America founded the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER).

The Russian Orthodox Church has a sharply negative attitude towards neopaganism. At the opening of the Council of Bishops in 2004, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in his speech called the spread of neo-paganism one of the main threats of the 21st century, putting it on a par with terrorism and "other destructive phenomena of our time." In this regard, the Circle of Pagan Traditions sent an open letter to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was transmitted on October 18, 2004 to the DECR of the Moscow Patriarchate. This open letter spoke of the inadmissibility of statements that offend the honor and dignity of modern pagans and violate the laws "On freedom of conscience and on religious associations" and "On countering extremist activities."

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Literature

• Zelinsky F.F.,.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Nigel Pennick, Prudence Jones. History of pagan Europe = A History of Pagan Europe... - SPb. : Eurasia, 2000 .-- 448 p. - ISBN 5-8071-0051-4.
• Fasmer M.// Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. Per. with him. and add. ON Trubachev / ed. and with a foreword. B. A. Larina. - M .: Progress, 1987. - T. 3 (Muse - Syat). - S. 294.
• Fasmer M.// Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. Per. with him. and add. ON Trubachev / ed. and with a foreword. B. A. Larina. - M .: Progress, 1987. - T. 4 (T - FMD). - S. 551.
• Chernykh, P. Ya.... - 3rd ed., Stereotype. - M .: Rus. language, 1999. - T. 2: Shell - FMD. - S. 468 .-- 624 p. - ISBN 5-200-02685-7.

Links

Christian theology

• A. I. Osipov

Excerpt from Paganism

The sent officer met Denisov on the road with the news that Dolokhov would come himself now and that everything was all right on his side.
Denisov suddenly cheered up and called Petya to him.
“Well, tell me about yourself,” he said.

Petya, leaving Moscow, leaving his relatives, joined his regiment and soon after that he was taken by an orderly to the general in command of a large detachment. From the time of his promotion to an officer, and especially from entering the active army, where he took part in the Battle of Vyazemsk, Petya was in a constantly happily excited state of joy that he was big, and in a constantly enthusiastic haste not to miss some case of real heroism ... He was very happy with what he saw and experienced in the army, but at the same time it seemed to him that where he was not, there now the most real, heroic is happening. And he was in a hurry to get there where he was not.
When on October 21 his general expressed a desire to send someone to Denisov's detachment, Petya asked so pitifully to send him that the general could not refuse. But, sending him, the general, remembering Petya's insane act in the Vyazemsky battle, where Petya, instead of going by road to where he was sent, galloped into a chain under French fire and fired there twice from his pistol - sending him, the general it was he who forbade Petya to participate in any actions of Denisov. Because of this, Petya blushed and confused when Denisov asked if he could stay. Before leaving for the edge of the forest, Petya thought that he ought, strictly fulfilling his duty, to return immediately. But when he saw the French, saw Tikhon, learned that in the night they would certainly attack, he, with the rapidity of the transitions of young people from one glance to another, decided with himself that his general, whom he still respected very much, was rubbish, German, that Denisov is a hero, and Esaul is a hero, and that Tikhon is a hero, and that he would be ashamed to leave them at a difficult moment.
It was already getting dark when Denisov with Petya and the esaul drove up to the guardhouse. In the semi-darkness one could see horses in saddles, Cossacks, hussars, fixing huts in the clearing and (so that the French would not see the smoke) lighting a blushing fire in a forest ravine. In the entryway of a small hut, a Cossack rolled up his sleeves and chopped mutton. In the hut itself there were three officers from Denisov's party, arranging a table from the door. Petya took off, giving it to dry, his wet dress and immediately began to assist the officers in arranging the dining table.
In ten minutes the table was ready, covered with a napkin. On the table was vodka, rum in a flask, white bread, and fried lamb with salt.
Sitting at the table with the officers and tearing fat, fragrant lamb with his hands, through which lard was flowing, Petya was in an ecstatic childhood state of tender love for all people and, as a result, confidence in the same love of other people for himself.
- So what do you think, Vasily Fedorovich, - he turned to Denisov, - is it okay that I stay with you for a day? - And, without waiting for an answer, he answered himself: - After all, I have been ordered to find out, well, here I will find out ... Only you will let me into the very ... in the main one. I don't need awards ... But I want to ... - Petya gritted his teeth and looked around, twitching his raised head up and waving his hand.
- In the most important ... - repeated Denisov, smiling.
- Only, please, give me a command at all, so that I am in command, - continued Petya, - well, what does it cost you? Oh, you have a knife? - he turned to the officer who wanted to cut off the mutton. And he held out his jackknife.
The officer praised the knife.
- Take, please, yourself. I have a lot of them ... - Petya said, blushing. - Fathers! I completely forgot, ”he suddenly cried out. - I have wonderful raisins, you know, such, without seeds. We have a new token - and such wonderful things. I bought ten pounds. I'm used to something sweet. Do you want? .. - And Petya ran into the passage to his Cossack, brought bags, in which there were five pounds of raisins. - Eat, gentlemen, eat.
- Do you need a coffee pot? - he turned to the esaul. - I bought it from our storekeeper, wonderful! He has wonderful things. And he is very honest. This is the main thing. I will send it to you without fail. And maybe more, flints came out, covered with flints - after all, it happens. I took with me, I have it here ... - he pointed to the bag, - a hundred flints. I bought it very cheaply. Take, please, as much as you need, or even that's all ... - And suddenly, frightened that he was lying, Petya stopped and blushed.
He began to remember if he had done any other stupid things. And, sorting through the memories of the present day, the memory of the French drummer presented itself to him. “It’s fine for us, but how does he feel? Where did you take it? Did you feed him? Have you offended? " He thought. But when he noticed that he was lying about flints, he was now afraid.
“One could ask,” he thought, “but they will say: he himself felt sorry for the boy. I'll show them tomorrow what kind of boy I am! Will you be ashamed if I ask? - Petya thought. "Well, it doesn't matter!" - and immediately, blushing and looking fearfully at the officers, if there would be mockery in their faces, he said:
- Can I call this boy who was taken prisoner? give him something to eat ... maybe ...
- Yes, a pitiful boy, - said Denisov, apparently not finding anything ashamed in this reminder. - Call him here. Vincent Bosse is his name. Call.
- I'll call, - said Petya.
- Call, call. A pitiful boy, ”Denisov repeated.
Petya was standing at the door when Denisov said this. Petya climbed between the officers and came close to Denisov.
“Let me kiss you, my dear,” he said. - Oh, how great! how good! - And, having kissed Denisov, he ran into the yard.
- Bosse! Vincent! - Petya shouted, stopping at the door.
- Whom do you want, sir? Said a voice from the darkness. Petya replied that the boy was a Frenchman whom they had taken today.
- A! Spring? - said the Cossack.
His name Vincent has already been changed: the Cossacks - into Spring, and the men and soldiers - into Visenya. In both versions, this reminder of spring matched the idea of ​​a young boy.
- He warmed himself there by the fire. Hey, Visenya! Visenya! Spring! - were heard in the darkness transmitted voices and laughter.
- And the boy is smart, - said the hussar, who was standing next to Petya. - We fed him just now. Passion was hungry!
In the darkness, footsteps were heard and, plopping his bare feet in the mud, the drummer approached the door.
“Ah, c" est vous! "Said Petya." Voulez vous manger? N "ayez pas peur, on ne vous fera pas de mal," he added, timidly and affectionately touching his hand. - Entrez, entrez. [Oh, it's you! Do you want to eat? Do not be afraid, they will not do anything to you. Come in, come in.]
- Merci, monsieur, [Thank you, sir.] - the drummer answered in a trembling, almost childish voice and began to wipe his dirty feet... Petya wanted to say a lot to the drummer, but he did not dare. He, shifting, stood beside him in the entryway. Then in the dark he took his hand and shook it.
“Entrez, entrez,” he repeated only in a gentle whisper.
"Oh, what could I do to him!" - Petya said to himself and, opening the door, let the boy pass by him.
When the drummer entered the hut, Petya sat away from him, considering it humiliating for himself to pay attention to him. He only felt the money in his pocket and was in doubt whether he would not be ashamed to give it to the drummer.

From the drummer, who, on Denisov's orders, was given vodka, mutton and whom Denisov ordered to dress in a Russian caftan, so that, without sending him out with the prisoners, he would be left with the party, Petya's attention was diverted by the arrival of Dolokhov. Petya in the army heard many stories about Dolokhov's extraordinary courage and cruelty with the French, and therefore since Dolokhov entered the hut, Petya, without taking his eyes off, looked at him and was more and more encouraged, twitching his raised head so as not to be unworthy even of such a society as Dolokhov.
Dolokhov's appearance strangely struck Petya with its simplicity.
Denisov dressed in chekmen, wore a beard and on his chest the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker, and in his manner of speaking, in all his receptions, showed the peculiarity of his position. Dolokhov, on the contrary, before, in Moscow, who wore a Persian suit, now had the appearance of the most prim guards officer. His face was clean-shaven, he was dressed in a guards' quilted coat with Georgy in his buttonhole and in a simple cap, which he was wearing straight. He took off his wet cloak in the corner and, going up to Denisov, without greeting anyone, immediately began to inquire about the case. Denisov told him about the plans that large detachments had for their transport, and about sending Petya, and about how he responded to both generals. Then Denisov told everything he knew about the position of the French detachment.
“This is so, but you need to know what and how many troops,” said Dolokhov, “you will have to go. Without knowing exactly how many of them there are, you can't get into business. I like to do things neatly. Now, if any of the gentlemen would like to go with me to their camp. I have my uniforms with me.
- I, I… I will go with you! - Petya cried out.
“You don’t need to go at all,” said Denisov, turning to Dolokhov, “and I’ll never let him in.”
- That's great! - Petya cried out, - why shouldn't I go? ..
- Yes, because there is no need.
“Well, excuse me, because… because… I'm going, that's all. Will you take me? - he turned to Dolokhov.
- Why ... - Dolokhov answered absentmindedly, peering into the face of the French drummer.
- How long have you had this young fellow? - he asked Denisov.
- Today they have taken it, but they know nothing. I left him pg "and myself.

Paganism is a religion or complex of religions that are not Christian. However, they had nothing to do with Islam and Judaism. It's just that the term was suggested by Christians. Usually any polytheistic religion is called paganism. The very name "paganism" appeared much later. And the belief itself arose even before new era... Then a person did not have any knowledge, except for those that he could observe in nature. All the phenomena that took place were explained by divine forces. It is difficult to remember which nations were not pagans. Almost the entire population then lived through this stage of the development of beliefs, religious views... And only a few centuries after the beginning of the new era, paganism was replaced by modern world religions.

The question of whether paganism is a religion remains controversial and interesting. This is where opinions are divided. Someone considers paganism to be a combination of many polytheistic religions. Someone says that this is the first religion in the world. For the third, paganism includes not only the concept of religion, but also other aspects. human life... This point of view is closer to us. But for the sake of simplicity, we will say that paganism is a religion.

Paganism, having common features and basic concepts, differed among different peoples. Therefore, we are talking about Slavic paganism, about Roman, Scandinavian and other paganism. What did they have in common?

Paganism is the ancient religion of the Slavs. However, religion is too narrow a concept, as already mentioned. After all, paganism for our ancestors was a whole system of worldview, a kind of culture with its own characteristics. Religion Slavic paganism appeared and reached its development, independence at the dawn of the first millennium of the new era. Before that, there was a common religion for all Indo-European tribes.

Slavic religion (paganism) was a combination of the following main features:

Like all pagan religions, Slavic paganism was polytheistic. For whom the terms polytheism and paganism are one and the same, synonyms. However, this is not quite true. Paganism is a larger, more comprehensive concept. It is not only a belief in many gods.

But back to Slavic polytheism. Each of the "participants" in the pagan pantheon was responsible for a particular natural phenomenon or side of human life. For example, Perun is the god of thunder, Lada is the goddess of love, and so on. Each god was represented in a certain way, with its characteristic appearance and attributes.

What were the gods for the pagans? They, in fact, were a kind of representatives of nature, higher powers... Gods were not worshiped, gods were glorified. The Slavs did not ask for forgiveness from them. They were asked good harvest, health, success in war, in love. Moreover, it was necessary to ask the appropriate deity. For the most revered and important, pagan temples were built - temples, sanctuaries. There were similarities of divine services in them. But the mediators between the gods and people were the wise men, priests. They possessed extraordinary wisdom. Also sacrifices, or treasures, were brought to the gods. Do not think that the victims were human and bloody. Not at all. They brought food, grain, flowers as a gift to the gods. Holidays were held in honor of the gods.

The Slavs had a peculiar idea of ​​the existing world. God Rod was considered the only Creator. It was he who created the three worlds. Rule - Upper world, divine, the world of wisdom and laws. Nav is the world of the past, the world of foundations. Reality is the world in which people live, real, real, visible. All of them pursue the goal of procreation, constant improvement.

The disappearance of paganism

At the very beginning of the new era, when global land development was taking place, all the tribes of modern Europe and Asia were pagan. However, some time later (by about the eighth century), paganism began to gradually be supplanted. The peoples adjoined Christianity, Islam, Judaism.

Why was paganism supplanted by world religions? There were several reasons for this:

• It was becoming too primitive for developing nations. People began to understand many natural phenomena. That is, now it was impossible to explain the existence of the simplest natural phenomena by the fact that “God was angry” or “the spirits wanted to”. After all, the real physical substrates of all occurring phenomena became known and understood.
• Tribes began to form states. And in any state there is always some kind of social stratification. For paganism, all people were equal before nature. So there were contradictions between reality and religion.
• Paganism as a religion was not suitable for state power... It did not obey a single ruler, the monarch.
• A monotheistic religion was needed. And the worlds were just like that.

That is why a choice was made between paganism and world religions in favor of the latter. Most widespread of course received Christianity. Of course, the transition from paganism to other religions took a long time, sometimes very difficult. Particularly interesting is the phenomenon of dual faith that existed at the beginning of the second millennium in Kievan Rus.

However, we cannot say that paganism has completely disappeared from our lives. This is by no means the case. Not many people know that even after the consolidation of the Christian religion in Russia, pagan traditions, customs, signs continue to exist today. Therefore, it is sometimes said that the world religions that replaced the pagan religions were forced to partially unite with them.

What is paganism? What does the Church warn us against? What did the ancient Slavs believe and what were the pagan gods like? We will tell you why you should not get carried away by faith in the “magical” power of church rituals, whether pagans always believe in several gods and what Scripture says about paganism.

Paganism: what is it?

In modern theology, any religion in which polytheism is professed can be called paganism. However, not all pagan beliefs are polytheistic (that is, they worship many gods). The pagan gods, correctly, are more human-like. This is due to the fact that a person came up with them, relying on own qualities... Many natural phenomena used to be explained by the anger or mercy of the pagan gods. Paganism is the most ancient "religion", most people became disillusioned with the beliefs of their ancestors, but pagans still exist.

The pagans deify the “created” world, that is, they worship what the Lord created. Idolatry and honoring stones, trees, water, forces of nature, fire and other elements belong to paganism.

Pagan religions

The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts and other peoples are in many ways similar, since with the help of divine intervention people tried to explain the phenomena of nature they did not understand or their own feelings. That is why there were gods of anger or gods of love. People attributed human qualities to supernatural beings to explain nature strong feelings that we couldn't handle.

In the modern sense, paganism is:

1. For Christians - any religion that has nothing to do with Christianity. From the point of view of a Christian, there is only one God - our Lord Jesus Christ and other “gods” do not exist, which means that you cannot worship them. The Biblical commandment also says about this.
2. All religions professing polytheism.
3. Ritualism - belief in the mystical power of church rituals, divorced from Holy Scripture... Unfortunately, paganism is also found among those who sincerely consider themselves Christians, but at the same time do not know the basics of the doctrine, giving meaning to external rituals - "light a candle", "read a prayer from corruption and for good luck." All this has nothing to do with Orthodoxy.

Paganism of the ancient Slavs

The word “paganism” comes from the word “language”, which used to mean “people”. Paganism is a folk belief and can be interpreted as a collection of ancient myths.

The gods of the Slavs are unsympathetic and vengeful characters. Fragments of Indo-European religions banded together to worship mostly evil Slavic gods... The gods common to all Slavic tribes are Perun and Mother-Cheese land. Perun is a formidable thunderer who commands the elements. Mother Earth is rather a positive image of the breadwinner and protector of people.

The Eastern and Western Slavs had different pantheons of gods. This is largely due to the peculiarities weather conditions on the territory and what exactly people did. So Stribog, the god of the wind, was in the pantheon of Prince Vladimir. Mokosh, the patroness of weaving, was also there. There was a blacksmith god Svarog.

Some deities belonged to calendar dates- Shrovetide and Kupala were considered more like “folk favorites” and were mythical playable characters.

The Western Slavs believed in Chernobog, who brought failure and sent misfortunes, in Svyatovit, the god of war, and I Live, a female deity guarding certain territories.

In addition, there were a huge number of spirits, brownies, forest dwellers and other mythical creatures:

• Mermaid
• Ghoul
• Volkolak
• Kikimora
• Water
• Goblin
• Baba Yaga

We know many of them as fairy-tale characters.

Neopaganism

After the Baptism of Rus, much has changed. Paganism was exterminated by Prince Vladimir by rather harsh methods. Nevertheless, new spiritual practices have appeared, based on shamanism, which also refer to paganism by theologians.

These teachings can be considered syncretic, formed under the influence of various beliefs and. based on a common philosophy. Russian Orthodox Church condemns paganism as a false belief. Patriarch Alexy II called neo-paganism “one of the main threats of the 21st century”, considering it as dangerous as terrorism and placing it on a par with “other destructive phenomena of our time”.

Many neo-pagans commit dangerous occult acts, are often aggressively disposed towards representatives of monotheistic religions, condemning Prince Vladimir for the sharp imposition of Christianity.

Despite the fact that the pagans strive to understand the essence of things and the phenomena surrounding them, they are moving on the wrong path, deifying what the True Lord created. About "pagan" rituals in Christianity says New Testament: “Not everyone who says to Me:“ Lord! God!" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven ”(Matt. 7:21).

Christians can pray for Gentiles to have faith in the Lord. Passion for magic, occultism and other pagan trends can be dangerous for the soul, and sometimes for human life and health.