Abstract
The article deals with the revival of fasting in Russia after a long period of its nearly full neglect. On the basis of electronic sources, such as web forums, question-and-answer services, streaming video channels, and other publications the author shows how the clergy and the laity together discuss, collectively test and evaluate diverse fasting practices. The discourse on fasting practices in Russia is polyphonic and highly personalized; even the clergy has no single authoritative position. It remains unclear, who should be responsible for fasting mitigation in case of illness, pregnancy, or other circumstances; people are exposed to many different opinions, what results in confusion and anxiety. The article shows that contemporary believers—including the clergy—are not ready to follow tradition blindly. The discussants are roughly divided into two groups: those supporting traditional rules (fasting from animal products), and those inventing their own practices (fasting from sweets, or switching to cheaper foods). Both groups are interested in rational, mundane arguments in support of their choice: the traditionalists emphasize that fasting from meat is “healthy”, or that Lenten food is “tastier”; their opponents point out that fish and seafood are more expensive than dairy products and poultry; therefore, no money can be saved for the destitute.
Highlights
A statistically significant number of individual conversions provoked a debate about the return of religion into Russia; but religion definitely returned to a landscape that had been shaped by the processes of Soviet secularization, which allows scholars to envision Russia as a postsecular society (Uzlaner 2013)
I am constantly afraid to eat something what is not allowed” (Rozhdestvenskii Post 2008). This is a question asked via Foma.ru: “My mother and I started Great Lent for the first time; we found the information what to eat and what not to eat on the Internet; but, it is all written differently in different places there” (Efanov 2018b)
Fr Andrei “Cyberpriest” Fedosov, answering someone’s question emphasizes that there is no such a rule: “it is welcome, it is pious if one does like this; but it is not obligatory” (Fedosov 2017). This argument sounds rational for contemporary believers who observe the social activism of Christian organizations outside of Russia, which seems—especially for people born in a socialist paternalist state—more important than prayer and/or fasting
Summary
Orthodox Christianity is not just “doxa”, or a set of beliefs shared by believers; it implies “ortho-praxis”—practices of pious living either for individual followers, or for religious communities. A statistically significant number of individual conversions provoked a debate about the return of religion into Russia (see: Furman and Kaariainen 2000); but religion definitely returned to a landscape that had been shaped by the processes of Soviet secularization, which allows scholars to envision Russia as a postsecular society (Uzlaner 2013) This situation has, at least, three important consequences: First, regular believers (or, even clerics), born in average non-religious Soviet families (not in the families of the clergy or of religious dissidents) learned no domestic tradition of fasting. They have to acquire their knowledge about religious practices from books, or other diverse, and sometimes controversial, sources. This paper intends to demonstrate how in the situation of mass neophytism this polyphony may be confusing and even discouraging
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