Cult Activities Research Articles

Roles of Christian campus fellowships in the fight against cultism in Nigerian universities

Cultism is prevalent in most tertiary institutions in Africa. There is no gainsay that this vice is generally unacceptable from both socio-cultural and religious viewpoints. Unfortunately, despite the detrimental tendencies associated with it, some students actively engage in it. Hence, various governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have risen to campaign against cultism in tertiary institutions. The thrust of this research, therefore, is to investigate the roles of Christian campus fellowships in the fight against cultism amongst students of Nigerian universities, with reference to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). It also explores the challenges which the activities of cult groups pose to the university community. Utilising the descriptive method of data analysis, this work discovered that Christian campus fellowships are both a significant and a veritable tool in the fight against cultism in the UNN. As part of her primary and social responsibilities, Christian campus fellowships preach and teach against cult activities in tertiary institutions. They also intervene through some philanthropic gestures and other ecclesiastical activities which are primarily geared towards inculcating right values and godly characters in students, encouraging students who are members of cult groups to denounce their membership and also discouraging students from joining cult groups. The data for this research were drawn from both primary (personal communication) and secondary sources (books, journals and internet materials). The major finding of this article reveals that Christian campus fellowships in the UNN, have made remarkable strides in the campaign against the involvement of students in cultism.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article explicitly lays bare the contributions of Christian campus fellowships in order to bring cult practices to a barest minimum amongst students of the UNN. The study contributes to modern discourses on juvenile delinquency with respect to disciplines such as religion, sociology, social work and psychology.

The Canaanite and Judean Cities of Lachish, Israel: Preliminary Report of the Fourth Expedition, 2013–2017

Ancient Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir) in southern Israel is a key site for understanding the Canaanite cultures of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and the Kingdom of Judah in the Iron Age of the Levant. It has been intensively excavated since 1932 by a number of entities. This article presents the excavation results by the Fourth Expedition to Lachish in 2013-2017. Fieldwork focused on the site's northeastern corner, a neglected area believed to have been uninhabited in some periods. Excavation in the area, however, uncovered remains of successive fortifications and evidence of cultic activities. The new discoveries highlight the strong connection of the Bronze and Iron Age cities to the nearby valley, which supplied Lachish with water, mud, fertilized land, and a major road.

Pigs in rites, rights in pigs: porcine values in the Papua New Guinea Highlands

This paper discusses the place of pigs in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, particularly in the Was valley of the Southern Highlands Province. After a brief introduction to the pigs of the region and their herding arrangements, it gives an ethnographic account of their use in various rites, notably those that feature curing, sorcery and cult activities. They prompt consideration of the relevance of concepts used to understand these ritual activities, whether they are offerings or sacrifices or something else particular to pigs in rites. The cults also include large pig kill festivals that have notable socio-political implications. These relate to rights in pigs and their ownership, which are complex issues that impinge on all of the foregoing activities.

Jerusalem before the Reform: Memory, Nostalgia, and Antiquarian Interest in 2 Kings 23:7–13

Abstract The description of Josiah’s reform in Jerusalem in 2 Kgs 23:7–13 contains an unusual cluster of topographical indications. The article analyzes this cluster from critical and literary-ideological perspectives. The analysis proves that at least some of the topographical indications are late glosses. It also reveals the antiquarian interest which prompted the accumulation of such indications in this short section. That interest, shared by different authors and editors who were involved in the textual development of 2 Kgs 23:7–13, attests to a perception of Jerusalem’s landscape as a changing space and of Josiah’s reform as an act of space transformation by a monarch. Finally, the article suggests that a nostalgic sentiment towards the cultic activities which Josiah uprooted is reflected in this cluster of topographical indications.

Animating Idolatry: Making Ancestral Kin and Personhood in Ancient Peru

Historical and archaeological records help shed light on the production, ritual practices, and personhood of cult objects characterizing the central Peruvian highlands after ca. AD 200. Colonial accounts indicate that descendant groups made and venerated stone images of esteemed forebears as part of small-scale local funerary cults. Prayers and supplications help illuminate how different artifact forms were seen as honored family members (forebears, elders, parents, siblings). Archaeology, meanwhile, shows the close associations between carved monoliths, tomb repositories, and restricted cult spaces. The converging lines of evidence are consistent with the hypothesis that production of stone images was the purview of family/lineage groups. As the cynosures of cult activity and devotion, the physical forms of ancestor effigies enabled continued physical engagements, which vitalized both the idol and descendant group.

MEDITERRANEAN SILVER PRODUCTION AND THE SITE OF ANTAS, SARDINIA

SummaryThe article traces the development of Mediterranean silver production from the Iron Age to the time of Rome, focusing on the site of Antas, Sardinia. Antas is located in a rich metalliferous area, which served as a source of lead and silver beyond the regional level. The article takes data on the exploitation of metal resources as a gauge for Mediterranean developments, especially state formation and the rise in maritime connectivity. Sardinian Bronze Age chiefdoms seem not to have mined the local argentiferous ore. But studies of lead isotopes suggest that Iron Age chiefdoms began to do so in response to Phoenician demand. Metal extraction intensified under Carthaginian rule, reaching a peak under the Roman Empire. In addition, at Antas the Carthaginians initiated religious practices, which the Romans continued. This cult activity is hypothesized to result from the cross‐culturally well attested connection between metallurgy and the world of the divine.

The Effect of The Implementation of Cultural Implementation on Student Learning Motivation at Mts N 2 Cirebon City

Cultural activities indirectly teach students to dare to appear in public, so that when in the community they are accustomed to speaking in public with their lectures. The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation of cultural habituation at MTs N 2 Cirebon City, to find out how much student motivation in MTs N 2 Cirebon City and how much influence the implementation of cultural habituation on student learning motivation. This research is quantitative. Held at MTs N 2 Cirebon City Jl. Kedung Menjangan Kalijaga, Harjamukti District, Cirebon City. Researchers took a sample of 32 students from a total population of 256 students to facilitate data collection in the field. The results of this research are the cult activities at MTs N 2 Cirebon City since 1982 until now these activities are still running. With cult activities, students can be motivated in learning, because the content in cult activities is not only about religion but also leads to learning motivation. Based on the research data obtained through the test with SPSS, the two variables in the study have a significant value (Sig.) Of 0.001 smaller than the 0.05 probability, so it can be concluded that H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted, which means that there is an influence of habituation. cult of student learning motivation at MTs N 2 Cirebon..

The Effect of The Implementation of Cultural Implementation on Student Learning Motivation at Mts N 2 Cirebon City

Cultural activities indirectly teach students to dare to appear in public, so that when in the community they are accustomed to speaking in public with their lectures. The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation of cultural habituation at MTs N 2 Cirebon City, to find out how much student motivation in MTs N 2 Cirebon City and how much influence the implementation of cultural habituation on student learning motivation. This research is quantitative. Held at MTs N 2 Cirebon City Jl. Kedung Menjangan Kalijaga, Harjamukti District, Cirebon City. Researchers took a sample of 32 students from a total population of 256 students to facilitate data collection in the field. The results of this research are the cult activities at MTs N 2 Cirebon City since 1982 until now these activities are still running. With cult activities, students can be motivated in learning, because the content in cult activities is not only about religion but also leads to learning motivation. Based on the research data obtained through the test with SPSS, the two variables in the study have a significant value (Sig.) Of 0.001 smaller than the 0.05 probability, so it can be concluded that H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted, which means that there is an influence of habituation. cult of student learning motivation at MTs N 2 Cirebon..

Historical Books: Joshua–2 Kings

Historical BooksJoshua–2 Kings Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, J. Edward Owens, John M. Halligan, Rhiannon Graybill, Jeremy Corley, and Thomas Hieke 404. [Dtr] Sang-wan Lee, "Der Umgang mit der Kulteinheitforderung in sekundären Einschreibungen im Deuteronomistichen Geschichtswerk," Eigensinn und Entstehung, 331-38 [see #789]. In Dtr, the requirements for worship of Yhwh alone (Kultreinheit) and worship of Yhwh at a single designated sanctuary (Kulteinheit) are repeatedly alluded to. Some scholars posit that the two requirements derive from different Deuteronomistic hands, but L., following E. Blum, argues that both requirements were elements of the original Deuteronomist's presentation of the history of Israel and Judah. At the same time, there are, L. further argues, a variety of secondary elements within Dtr containing allusions to the above double requirement, these including mentions of cultic places and cultic activities that take place outside of and/or prior to the Jerusalem Temple. A particularly noteworthy case in point is the account of Elijah's altar on Mount Carmel in 1 Kgs 18:30ff., which postdates the construction of the Temple but which nonetheless is (apparently) legitimated by the presence of a Yhwh prophet and Yhwh's own sending fire to consume the sacrifice on Elijah's altar. According to L., all the secondary texts identified by him, while they do derive from secondary Deuteronomistic hands, do not stand in contradiction with the primary Deuteronomist's combined requirement of worship of Yhwh and worship of him at one central sanctuary; in fact, the focus of many of these secondary texts is on concerns other than Dtr's double cultic requirement (e.g., in Josh 24:26, the center of attention is not on the "great stone" erected by Joshua at Shechem, but rather on the "book of the law" that he is said to have deposited there).—C.T.B. 405. [Dtr; Jeroboam I; "High Places"] Kristin Weingart, "Jerobeam und seine Kulthöhen. Geschichte als Argument in religiösen Diskurs der Perserzeit," Eigensinn und Entstehung, 315-30 [see #789]. The Deuteronomistic History (Dtr) features recurrent references to the "sins of Jeroboam" which resulted in the eventual overthrow of the Northern Kingdom. What were those "sins" exactly? In the extant text of 1 Kgs 12:26-32, one finds juxtaposed two categories of such sins: Jeroboam's erection of the bull-images in Bethel and Dan on the one hand and his establishment of "houses" for worship on the high places and the inauguration of a non-Levitical priesthood to service these sites on the other. In her article, W. identifies the latter set of "sins of Jeroboam" as deriving from a Persian-period redaction of Dtr, found in 1 Kgs 12:31-32; 13:31-33; 2 Kgs 17:24-30; and 23:16-20, which, in contrast to the original Dtr stratum, in 1 Kgs 12:26-30, as well as the story of the "man of God at Bethel of 1 Kgs 13:1-30 (for which 1 Kgs 12:31-32 and 13:31-32 function as a redactional frame), is directed not against the Bethel cult and its bull image but rather against the cult of the Samaritans of the Persian era with its central Yahwistic sanctuary on Mount Gerizim, which, from the Judean perspective, was viewed as an offense against the sole legitimacy of the Jerusalem sanctuary.—C.T.B. [End Page 135] 406. [Joshua–Judges; Divine and Human Kingship] Sarah Dalrymple, "Ephraim or Judah? Divine Sovereignty and the Potential for Kingship in Joshua–Judges," The Seed of Promise, 50-74 [see #797]. From which of the twelve tribes would God's promised messiah come? One place where we might begin to look is in the story of Joseph (Genesis 37–50). The narrative of Joseph and his brothers is suffused with themes of divine sovereignty, wise leadership, and royal power. Or we might follow a thread that runs through the story of Joshua, from the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua was the warrior and shepherd-leader chosen to follow Moses. How about Caleb, who was from the tribe of Judah? Joshua and Caleb were eager to settle in the Promised...

A Cartography of Kinship: Domestic Space, Tomb Cult, and the Re-Mapping of Ephesus in the Acts of John

Scholars have long dismissed the apocryphal Acts of John as insignificant for reconstructing Christian origins in Ephesus, despite the fact that this city serves as the primary locale for John's activities in the text's (extant) narrative. This is due in large part to the Acts's historical inaccuracies, especially its claim that the apostle John destroyed the Artemision a full two centuries before the famous temple would actually experience wholesale destruction. This article, by contrast, puts aside the issue of historical accuracy in favor of examining the Acts's inventive dimensions, namely, how and to what effect the Acts imaginatively reconfigures cultic space within (and outside) the city of Ephesus. I argue that the Acts privileges domestic and extra-urban spaces, such as the home and the tomb, as significant sites for Christian cultic activities at the expense of public polytheistic sites such as the temple of Artemis. In doing so, the Acts constructs a "counter-cartography" that places emphasis on the importance of cultic activities (e.g., domestic cult, burial rites), which underscore ties of kinship within nascent Christian communities. The article concludes by demonstrating important ties between the Acts's constructions of Christian space and the subsequent history of Christian Ephesus in late antiquity, thus underscoring how, despite its reputation for historical irrelevance, the Acts's "cartography of kinship" had important ramifications for the succeeding realities of Christian thought and practice in the ancient Mediterranean world.

The Ancient Near East: History, Texts, etc

The Ancient Near East:History, Texts, etc Christopher T. Begg Christopher T. Begg Catholic University of America 1783. [1st Millennium b.c. Babylonian Temple Rituals] Claus Ambos, "Babylonian Temple Rituals of the 1st Millennium BC," Cult, Temple, Sacred Spaces, 71-80 [see #2530]. My article deals with Babylonian temple rituals from the 1st millennium b.c. In it, I discuss the conception that the sanctuary, along with the cult image and the related rituals, had been created at the beginning of time by the gods themselves. I deal as well with the topic of the care and feeding of the gods in the temples by their human attendants. I likewise address the question of how human access to the divine abode was regulated and provide a short overview of the rituals of the cultic calendar in the above period. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] Google Scholar 1784. [Burial Rites for Neo-Assyrian Kings] Fabrice De Backer, "Le Roi est mort: Vive le Roi. Une base de réflexion pour le ritual funéraire royal néo-assyrien," RANT 17 (2020) 43-74. My paper presents a proposed reconstruction of the funeral rituals employed in the burial of Neo-Assyrian kings. In developing this reconstruction I make use of textual, visual, architectural, and material data in identifying and analyzing the various steps and actions involved, whether directly or indirectly in the burial process as well as the various sites where the king's corpse was prepared for burial. I likewise draw on ethnographical comparisons and the expertise of contemporary undertakers in formulating my hypothesis, which I hope may be of use to archaeologists who are looking forward to returning to the one-time territory of Assyria and resuming excavations there. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] Google Scholar 1785. [The Mortuary Chapel of the High Priest Hapuseneb (TT 67)] Tamás A. Bács, "A Theban Tomb-Temple: The Mortuary Chapel of the High Priest Hapuseneb (TT 67)," Discourse between Tomb and Temple, 11-39 [see #2523]. Hapuseneb was high pirest of the god Amun at Thebes during the reign of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty (see #1793), to whose inner circle of advisers and administrators he belonged. During his tenure, Hapuseneb oversaw the construction of his [End Page 670] own mortuary chapel (TT 67) which was left unfinished at his death and subsequently suffered much damage due both to human depredations and natural attrition. From the surviving remains of the structure's inscriptions and iconography, one feature stands out in particular, i.e., Hapuseneb's underscoring of his close association with and loyalty to Hatshepsut and his utilization of features of various Middle Kingdom temples and tombs, the latter feature serving to call attention to the high antiquity of the office exercised by him.—C.T.B. Google Scholar 1786. [Hittite Nocturnal New Moon Rites] Francesco G. Barsacchi, "'The King Goes Up to the Roof': Hittite Nocturnal Rites Performed during the New Moon," Cult, Temple, Sacred Spaces, 345-62 [see #2530]. On particular occasions, Hittite ritual practices might take place on the flat roof of sacred or profane buildings, which were perceived as the ideal setting for the carrying out of rites directed to celestial or astral deities. My paper analyzes selected examples of cultic activities taking place on a roof, before focusing on a particular group of texts describing a sequence of ritual actions performed by the Hittite king during the night in connection with the first appearance of the new moon. Many fragments of this group of texts are currently filed under the rubric CTH 645. Besides providing a general description of the above text corpus, my paper also addresses the debated issue of the possible relationship of these rites with the great monthly state festival. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] Google Scholar 1787. [Ostracon Deir el-Bahari Inv. No. F. 8941] Miroslaw Barwik, "Building the Temple 'To the North of the Royal Tomb'—Ostracon Deir-el-Bahari Inv. No. F. 8941," Discourse between Tomb and Temple, 41-54 [see #2523]. The partially preserved ostracon of B.'s title was...

The diversity of Pompeii’s domestic cult activity

The diversity of Pompeii’s domestic cult activity

Идеальная религия для идеального государства

All of us have an idea of the ideal conditions in which we would like to live. They will vary according to the degree of ambition and level of education. However, people have common wishes since we don’t live in isolation (perhaps with rare exceptions) and we require guarantees from other people that they are willing to accept certain rules and conditions for the best possible coexistence. Plato was the first to look for such general or even necessary requirements to create an ideal social structure. He considers different aspects of social reality – the division of society into classes, the specifics of upbringing and education, even the physical structure of the city and its religion. The article is devoted to the consideration of religious practices, associated cult activities and holidays. In ancient Greece, religion permeated all areas of human life. It would be more correct to say that religion simply did not exist separately from everyday life. Of course, we can distinguish major religious events in the form of solemn organised processions marking the change of seasons, dedicated to the harvest or some other memorable dates. But more often, religious practices were tightly woven into people’s lives, so that even political and military actions were accompanied by an offering to the gods or consultation with the oracle. Understanding the role that religious activity plays in educating citizens, Plato does not seek to create an entirely new popular religion, but as a philosopher interested in the common good, he begins to interpret the images of traditional Greek gods differently. He focuses most of his attention on Zeus, Dionysus and Aphrodite. By comparing traditional notions of the gods with the way Plato portrays them, we conclude that the philosopher has done serious work to rationalise their images. Zeus ceases to be a famous womanizer and head of Olympus, and acquires the traits of a creator, the only good god who is incapable of any evil or injustice. The raucous fun, dancing and intoxication that used to be the cause of many misfortunes and associated with Dionysus are now being declared useful in terms of testing strength and honesty on the one hand, and, on the other, are understood as a necessary means of getting rid of negative energy and bringing people together. The uncontrolled erotic desire sent by Aphrodite is seen by Plato as behavior that is unacceptable in the citizens of an ideal state, and so he develops the doctrine of the two Aphrodites, heavenly and vulgar, in which the heavenly Aphrodite is declared to be a certain stimulus that leads the soul to the supreme good.

Cult Buildings on the Middle-Don Settlements of the Scythian Era

Introduction. As a result of many years of excavations on settlements of the Skiphian era in the basin of the Middle Don the area of about 50 thousand square meters has been opened. However, buildings of the cult purpose are still not known. Methods and materials. The search for such structures is difficult due to the absence of pronounced sacral markers. However, according to publications and archival sources, structures unusual in configuration, stratigraphy and a set of accompanying materials have been selected. It was possible to identify four buildings of the 4th – 3rd centuries BC, characterized by unusual shape and layout, concentration of bonfires, ceramic and osteological materials, presence of anthropological residues. Analysis. Two buildings were located on a hillfort in the city of Semiluki, which is known for mass burials of its inhabitants. One area of about 9 square meters contained the burial of a woman and two children. In its three-part filling three hearths and sacrificial offerings, including dog bones, a female skull, fragments of ceramics, were preserved. Another 33 square meter building contained skulls and other remains of at least 13 people mixed with animal bones. Of the two buildings on the 1st hillfort near the village of Voloshino, one area of about 100 square meters had three hearths, another seven were located around. There were found a large amount of debris of stony vessels and antique amphorae in the filling and in the layer next to this structure. Another building with an area of about 18 square meters had a hearth and a bonfire. Its filling was saturated with fragments of ceramics and animal bones. Results. The buildings in question are not similar to dwellings or household structures. They are distinguished by the unique configuration of pits and internal space, uneven and dug by pits bottom. The bonfires present in the premises were not remnants of heating devices. They, like the accompanying finds, were related to the cult activities of the local population.

The Way of the Livingness and Universal Medicine

Universal Medicine, founded by Serge Benhayon (b. 1964), is an Australian movement offering a distinct style of alternative therapies. It is supported by an esoteric worldview called The Way of the Livingness. Occult beliefs and practices are poorly understood in Western cultures such as Australia, and Benhayon has encountered sustained criticism on a range of issues commonly faced by other new religions. Public reaction betrays fears of secretive and inappropriate activities, which are amplified by the Australian media’s penchant for targeting cult activities. While Universal Medicine pursues practices that would pass without comment in other national contexts, its organization, visibility, and esoteric pursuits make it an easy target for polemics in Australia. This article explores key aspects of The Way of the Livingness and outlines Universal Medicine’s founding and organizational structure. The movement is further contextualized within the Theosophical tradition following Alice A. Bailey (1880–1849), ideas from the New Age, and Australian culture.

Book Review of Ιερά και Θρησκευτικές Τελετουργίες στην Ανακτορική και Μετανακτορική Μυκηναϊκή Περίοδο (Sanctuaries and Cult Practices in the Palatial and Postpalatial Mycenaean Period), by Dimitra Rousioti

Mycenaean religion has occupied a sizable part of the bibliography pertaining to the Bronze Age Aegean, as relevant scholarship has grown exponentially during the last 150 years. A boost to the field was afforded by the decipherment of Linear B in the mid 20th century and by its revelations regarding actual people’s roles in cult activities.

Colonial Basis of Anomie in African Youth: Implications for Political Governance

The festering phenomenon of morally deregulated conditions among African youths such as curricular impropriety, cult activities, from examination malpractice, cultism, viciousness, computer-related crimes, and sexual decadences depicts what Emile Durkheim (1893) used anomie to describe. Durkheim posited anomie as the inevitable expectations when societies become more complex, or organic, leading to impersonal behaviours, the dearth of the social bond, and normlessness. Emile Durkheim was a French Sociologist who had mobilised the coinage ‘anomie’ to explain the phenomenon of deregulated societies where interaction rules and expectations were breaking down. The demographic bulge in favour of youth in Africa has raised the stakes for the exacerbation of the lingering governance crisis should the youth continue to flounder in the disintegration of shared norms that hold the morality of societies firm from moral decadence. Most research studies have bordered on documenting that a good number of African youth have become enmeshed in depravities, such as lawlessness, violence, sharp practices, and scams. The focus of this paper provides an improved perspective by examining the social-economic and political foundations of irrational behaviour among African youth and the implications they portend. The paper argued that the youth in the modern States (former colonies) of Africa are unfortunate victims of a loose governance history: a manifestation of colonial masters’ ‘scramble for Africa’ without a whiff of consideration for the fate of the youth and post-independent leaders, who simply continued in the same fashion. The modern-day political praxis in Africa of low participation of youth and lack of youth liberty and self-development is a carry-over of not only the over-utilisation of elders as colonial proxies despite much aspiring youth but also the suppression of agitation by the youth against the commissioned elders. This conditioned many of the attitudes, which dominated policy-making and political victimisation of the youth in contemporary Africa. Thus, it is that colonial past that provided (or failed to provide) the definition of morality spectrum capable of insulating the youths against the festering anomic spree. Keywords: Youth Anomie, Social Norms, Colonialism in Africa, Moral Decadence; Political Governance DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-7-05 Publication date: July 31 st 2020

Greek magic on the Atlantic? Homeric potions and mystic cults beyond the Pillars of Herakles. New comparanda and new interpretations

The article reviews the evidence for cultic activity at the Orientalizing settlement of Alcácer do Sal (Portugal). It offers new comparanda for the assemblage of cultic artefacts identified at two locations and then interprets it in the broader context of Mediterranean interconnections. It is suggested that a cult brought by Phocaean Greek merchants, perhaps from southern Iberia where such cults are archaeologically attested during the same period, may explain the evidence better than the hypotheses so far formulated.

THYMIATERIA AND THE CULT OF APHRODITE IN OLBIA PONTICA

This article publishes the terracotta thymiateria (incense burners) from Olbia Pontica which represent busts of Aphrodite with Erotes on her shoulders. They were used probably in activities related to Aphrodite's cult for diffusing incense and as votives. They derive from excavations at houses, a stoa and the bothroi (sacrificial pits) at the central and western temene; they date to the period between the late third and the first half of the second centuries bc. The publication of such items coincides with ongoing research into the southern sacral precinct in Olbia dedicated to Aphrodite. This article explores the significance of the iconography of these objects and their use in cult activity related to the cult of Aphrodite at Olbia.

THE MAIN ASPECTS OF CO-EXISTENCE OF CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM IN THE CONTEXT OF ANCIENT RUSSIAN SPIRITUAL CULTURE AND CULT PRACTICE

This article is devoted to the spiritual culture analysis. More specifically, it examines the mutual influence of Orthodox and pagan principles of the middle ages and subsequently modified into folk religious traditions. Research material is a multi-level system of the ancient Russian religious worldview which is reflected as in liturgical practice and polemic literature of Russian Orthodoxy as in peace and cult activities of the people who have preserved the principles of a pagan worldview. Initially, emphasis was placed on interpretation of the concept of “dual faith” as a simple linear connection of elements of Orthodox and pagan worldview into something one (E.E. Golubinsky, N.I. Barsov, A.P. Shchapov, M. Azbukin, G.A. Nosova, A.N. Ipatov, A.E. Musinetc.). Then “dual faith” is considered as synthesis of Orthodox and pagan views on the structure of the Universe (E.V. Anitchkov, N.M. Galskovsky etc.). It was found that the spiritual situation of Ancient Russia after the adoption of Christianity reflected the fact of the meeting of two religious trends: affirmation of faith in one God (Orthodoxy) and manifestation of religious syncretism (polytheism of Slavic paganism). The spiritual situation of Ancient Russian culture led to the emergence and cultivation of ideological struggle that does not deny elements of ideological symbiosis, Orthodox teaching and pagan beliefs. The main message of the controversy is reduction of paganism to demonology and treating it as a deification of the world (deification of nature and man created by God).The struggle (interaction) of the Orthodox and pagan principles in Russian spiritual culture of the middle ages is reduced to stating the following development vectors: the official canonical direction (government acts, the Kormchaya Kniga – religious code, etc.) and polemic direction requiring philosophical reflection and mastery of oratory (messages, teachings church sermon, etc.). “Interaction” of Orthodoxy and paganism involves processes of crowding out and replacing folk and Christian beliefs. Such processes create new spaces for spiritual creativity. This is the birth of Russian spiritual culture.