What is paganism briefly? Pagans - who are they? Gods of the pagans

Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation

Vladimir State University

Department of Philosophy and Psychology

Paganism of ancient Rus'.

Performed:

Vladimir 2002

Introduction. 3

Funeral rites. 3

Animal deities. 6

Household deities. 7

Deities are monsters. 8

Ancient sanctuaries. 9

Gods of the era. 10

Paganism in urban life of the 11th-13th centuries. 13

Pagan rituals and festivals of the 11th – 13th centuries. 14

Historical development of Slavic-Russian paganism. 16

Conclusion. 18

Bibliography. 19

Introduction.

In Slavic fairy tales there are many magical characters - sometimes terrible and formidable, sometimes mysterious and incomprehensible, sometimes kind and ready to help. To modern people they seem like a bizarre fiction, but in the old days in Rus' they firmly believed that Baba Yaga’s hut stood in the thicket of the forest, that a snake abducting beauties lived in the harsh stone mountains, they believed that a girl could marry a bear, and a horse could speak in a human voice .

This faith was called paganism, i.e. "folk faith"

The pagan Slavs worshiped the elements, believed in the kinship of people with various animals, and made sacrifices to the deities that inhabited everything around them. Each Slavic tribe prayed to its own gods. There were never common ideas about gods for the entire Slavic world: since the Slavic tribes in pre-Christian times did not have a single state, they were not united in beliefs. Therefore, the Slavic gods are not related, although some of them are very similar to each other.

Due to the fragmentation of pagan beliefs, which never reached their peak, very little information about paganism has been preserved, and even then it is rather meager. Actually, Slavic mythological texts have not survived: the religious-mythological integrity of paganism was destroyed during the period of Christianization of the Slavs.

The main source of information on early Slavic mythology is medieval chronicles, annals written by outside observers in German or Latin and Slavic authors (mythology of Polish and Czech tribes), teachings against paganism ("Words") and chronicles. Valuable information is contained in the works of Byzantine writers and geographical descriptions of medieval Arab and European authors.

All these data relate mainly to the eras that followed the Proto-Slavic era, and contain only individual fragments of pan-Slavic mythology. Archeological data on rituals, sanctuaries, individual images (Zbruch idol, etc.) coincide chronologically with the pre-Slavic period.

Funeral rites.

The stages of development of the pagan worldview of the ancient Slavs were largely determined by the Middle Dnieper historical center. The people of the Middle Dnieper laid “sacred paths” to Greek cities and placed stone idols with a cornucopia on these paths. Somewhere on the Dnieper there must have been the main sanctuary of all the Skolots - farmers, in which the sacred heavenly plow was kept. In the religious history of Kievan Rus, much will be clarified thanks to an appeal to the ancestors of Rus.

The evolution of funeral rites and different forms of funeral rites mark significant changes in the understanding of the world.

A turning point in the views of the ancient Slav occurred back in pre-Slavic times, when the burial of crumpled corpses in the ground began to be replaced by the burning of the dead and the burial of burnt ashes in urns.

The crouched burials imitated the position of an embryo in the mother's womb; crouching was achieved by artificially tying up the corpse. The relatives prepared the deceased for his second birth on earth, for his reincarnation into one of the living beings. The idea of reincarnation was based on the idea of a special life force that exists separately from a person: the same physical appearance belongs to a living person and a dead one.

The crouched position of corpses persists until the turn of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The crouched position is replaced by a new form of burial: the dead are buried in an extended position. But the most striking change in funeral rites is associated with the advent of cremation, the complete burning of corpses.

In real archaeological traces of funeral rites, the coexistence of both forms is constantly observed - ancient inhumation, burial of the dead in the ground.

During the burning of corpses, a new idea of the souls of ancestors, which should be somewhere in the middle sky, and, obviously, contribute to all heavenly operations (rain, snow, fog) for the benefit of the descendants remaining on earth, appears quite clearly. Having carried out the burning, sending the soul of the deceased to the host of other souls of his ancestors, the ancient Slav then repeated everything that was done thousands of years ago: he buried the ashes of the deceased in the ground and thereby provided himself with all those magical benefits that were inherent in simple inhumation .

The elements of the funeral rite include: burial mounds, a funeral structure in the form of a human dwelling, and the burial of the ashes of the deceased in an ordinary food pot.

Pots and bowls with food are the most common things in Slavic pagan burial mounds. A pot for preparing food from the first fruits was often considered a sacred object. The pot, as a symbol of goodness and satiety, dates back, in all likelihood, to very ancient times, approximately to the agricultural Neolithic, when agriculture and pottery first appeared.

The closest thing to the relationship between the sacred pot for the first fruits and the urn for burying ashes are anthropomorphic stove-vessels. Vessel-stoves are a small pot of a simplified shape, to which is attached a cylindrical or truncated-conical tray-stove with several round smoke holes and a large arched opening at the bottom for burning with wood chips or coals.

The connecting link between the god of the sky, the god of fruitful clouds and the cremated ancestors, whose souls are no longer embodied in living beings on earth, but remain in the sky, was the pot in which for many hundreds of years primitive farmers boiled the first fruits and thanked the god of the sky with a special festival .

The ritual of corpse burning appears almost simultaneously with the separation of the Proto-Slavs from the general Indo-European massif in the 15th century. BC. and existed among the Slavs for 27 centuries until the era of Vladimir Monomakh. The burial process is imagined as follows: a funeral pyre was laid, a dead man was “laid” on it, and this funeral was accompanied by a religious and decorative structure - a geometrically precise circle was drawn around the pyre, a deep but narrow ditch was dug in a circle and a light fence was built like a fence made of twigs, to which a considerable amount of straw was applied. When the fire was lit, the flaming fence, with its flame and smoke, blocked the process of burning the corpse inside the fence from the ceremony participants. It is possible that it was precisely this combination of the funeral “mass of firewood” with the regular circumference of the ritual fence that separated the world of the living from the world of dead ancestors that was called “theft.”

Among the Eastern Slavs, from the point of view of pagan beliefs, the burning of animals, both domestic and wild, along with the deceased is of great interest.

The custom of burying in domovinas, or more precisely, erecting domovinas over Christian graves, survived in the land of the ancient Vyatichi until the beginning of the 20th century.

Animal deities.

In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting, and not agriculture, they believed that wild animals were their ancestors. The Slavs considered them powerful deities who should be worshiped. Each tribe had its own totem, i.e. a sacred animal that the tribe worshiped. Several tribes considered the Wolf to be their ancestor and revered him as a deity. The name of this beast was sacred, it was forbidden to say it out loud.

The owner of the pagan forest was the bear - the most powerful animal. He was considered a protector from all evil and a patron of fertility - it was with the spring awakening of the bear that the ancient Slavs associated the onset of spring. Until the twentieth century. many peasants kept a bear's paw in their houses as a talisman-amulet, which was supposed to protect its owner from disease, witchcraft and all kinds of troubles. The Slavs believed that the bear was endowed with great wisdom, almost omniscience: they swore by the name of the beast, and the hunter who broke the oath was doomed to death in the forest .

Of the herbivores in the hunting era, the most revered was Deer (Moose), the ancient Slavic goddess of fertility, sky and sunlight. In contrast to real deer, the goddess was thought to be horned; her horns were a symbol of the sun's rays. Therefore, deer antlers were considered a powerful amulet against all night evil spirits and were attached either above the entrance to the hut or inside the dwelling.

The heavenly goddesses - the Reindeer - sent newborn fawns to earth, which fell like rain from the clouds.

Among domestic animals, the Slavs most revered the Horse, because once upon a time the ancestors of most peoples of Eurasia led a nomadic lifestyle, and they imagined the sun in the guise of a golden horse running across the sky. Later, a myth arose about the sun god riding across the sky in a chariot.

Household deities.

Spirits inhabited not only forests and waters. There are many known household deities - well-wishers and well-wishers, at the head of which is the table of the brownie, who lived either in the oven or in a bast shoe hung for him on the stove.

The brownie patronized the household: if the owners were diligent, he added good to the good, and punished laziness with misfortune. It was believed that the brownie paid special attention to the cattle: at night he combed the manes and tails of horses (and if he was angry, then on the contrary he tangled the animals’ hair into tangles), he could take away milk from cows, and he could make the milk yield abundant, he had power over life and the health of newborn pets. That’s why they tried to appease the brownie. When moving to a new house, on the eve of the move, take 2 pounds of white flour, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 0.5 pounds of butter, 2 pinches of salt. They kneaded the dough and took it to the new home. They baked bread from this dough. If the bread is good, then life is good; if it’s bad, then you’ll have to move soon. On the 3rd day, guests were invited and dinner was served, and an extra device was placed for the brownie. They poured wine and clinked glasses with the brownie. They cut the bread and treated everyone. One hump was wrapped in a rag and stored forever. The second one was salted 3 times, a piece of silver money was stuck in edgewise and placed under the stove. We leaned on this stove 3 times on 3 sides. They took the cat and brought it to the stove as a gift to the brownie: “I give you the brownie, father, a shaggy animal for a rich yard.” After 3 days we looked to see if the wine had been drunk; if it had been drunk, it was topped up again. If the wine was not drunk, then they asked for 9 days 9 times to taste the treat. Treats for the brownie were given every 1st day of the month.

Belief in the brownie was closely intertwined with the belief that dead relatives help the living. In people's minds, this is confirmed by the connection between the brownie and the stove. In ancient times, many believed that it was through the chimney that the soul of a newborn came into the family and that the spirit of the deceased also left through the chimney.

Images of brownies were carved from wood and represented a bearded man in a hat. Such figures were called churs and at the same time symbolized deceased ancestors.

In some northern Russian villages, there were beliefs that in addition to the brownie, the housekeeper, the cattleman and the Kutnoy god also took care of the household (these good-timers lived in the barn and looked after the cattle, they were left with some bread and cottage cheese in the corner of the barn), as well as the guardian ovinnik grain and hay reserves.

Completely different deities lived in the bathhouse, which in pagan times was considered an unclean place. Bannik was an evil spirit that scared people. To appease the bannik, after washing, people left him a broom, soap and water, and sacrificed a black chicken to the bannik.

The cult of “small” deities did not disappear with the advent of Christianity. The beliefs persisted for two reasons. Firstly, the veneration of “minor” deities was less obvious than the cult of the gods of sky, earth and thunder. Shrines were not built for “minor” deities; rituals in their honor were performed at home, with family. Secondly, people believed that small deities live nearby and people communicate with them every day, therefore, despite church prohibitions, they continued to venerate good and evil spirits, thereby ensuring their well-being and safety.

Deities are monsters.

The ruler of the underground and underwater world, the Serpent, was considered the most formidable. The serpent, a powerful and hostile monster, is found in the mythology of almost every nation. The ancient ideas of the Slavs about the Snake were preserved in fairy tales.

The Northern Slavs worshiped the Serpent - the lord of underground waters - and called him the Lizard. The Lizard's sanctuary was located in swamps, the banks of lakes and rivers. The coastal sanctuaries of the Lizard had a perfectly round shape - as a symbol of perfection and order, it was opposed to the destructive power of this god. As victims, the Lizard was thrown into the swamp with black chickens, as well as young girls, which was reflected in many beliefs.

All Slavic tribes who worshiped the Lizard considered him the absorber of the sun.

With the transition to agriculture, many myths and religious ideas of the hunting era were modified or forgotten, the rigidity of ancient rituals was softened: human sacrifice was replaced by horse sacrifice, and later stuffed animals. The Slavic gods of the agricultural era are brighter and kinder to people.

Ancient sanctuaries.

The complex system of pagan beliefs of the Slavs corresponded to an equally complex system of cults. The “minor” deities had neither priests nor sanctuaries; they were prayed to either individually, or as a family, or by a village or tribe. To venerate the high gods, several tribes gathered, for this purpose temple complexes were created, and a priestly class was formed.

Since ancient times, mountains, especially “bald” ones, have been the place for communal prayers. with a treeless top. At the top of the hill there was a “temple” - a place where a cap - an idol - stood. Around the temple there was a horseshoe-shaped embankment, on top of which kradas - sacred bonfires - burned. The second rampart was the outer boundary of the sanctuary. The space between the two shafts was called the trebishche - there they “consumed”, i.e. ate sacrificial food. At ritual feasts, people became, as it were, table companions with the gods. The feast could take place in the open air and in special buildings standing on that treasure - mansions (temples), originally intended exclusively for ritual feasts.

Very few Slavic idols have survived. This is explained not so much by the persecution of paganism, but by the fact that the idols, for the most part, were wooden. The use of wood, rather than stone, to depict the gods was explained not by the high cost of the stone, but by the belief in the magical power of the tree - the idol, thus, combined the sacred power of the tree and the deity.

Priests.

Pagan priests - the Magi - performed rituals in sanctuaries, made idols and sacred objects, using magic spells, they asked the gods for a bountiful harvest. The Slavs for a long time kept faith in cloud-busting wolves, who turned into wolves, in this guise they rose to the sky and called for rain or dispersed clouds. Another magical effect on the weather was “sorcery” - spells with a charm (bowl) filled with water. Water from these vessels was sprinkled on crops to increase the yield.

The Magi also made amulets - female and male jewelry covered with spell symbols.

Gods of the era.

With the transition of the Slavs to agriculture, solar gods began to play an important role in their beliefs. Much in the cult of the Slavs was borrowed from the neighboring eastern nomadic tribes; the names of the deities also have Scythian roots.

For several centuries, one of the most revered in Rus' was Dazh-bog (Dazhdbog) - the god of sunlight, warmth, harvest time, fertility, God of summer and happiness. Also known as - The Generous God. Symbol - Solar disk. Dazhdbog is located in a golden palace on the land of eternal summer. Sitting on a throne of gold and purple, he is not afraid of shadows, cold or misfortune. Dazhdbog flies across the sky in a golden chariot trimmed with diamonds, pulled by a dozen white horses with golden manes breathing fire. Dazhdbog is married to the Month. A beautiful young maiden appears at the beginning of summer, grows older every day and leaves Dazhdbog in winter. They say that earthquakes are a sign of a couple's bad mood.

Dazhdbog is served by four maidens of exceptional beauty. Zorya Utrennyaya opens the palace gates in the morning. Zorya Vechernyaya closes them in the evening. The Evening Star and the Star Dennitsa, the Morning Star, guard the wonderful horses of Dazhdbog.

Dazhbog was the god of sunlight, but by no means the luminary itself. The Sun God was Khors. Horse, whose name means “sun”, “circle”, embodied a luminary moving across the sky. This is a very ancient deity who did not have a human form and was represented simply by a golden disk. The cult of Khorsa was associated with a ritual spring dance - round dance (movement in a circle), the custom of baking pancakes on Maslenitsa, resembling the shape of a solar disk, and rolling lighted wheels, also symbolizing the luminary.

The companion of the gods of the sun and fertility was Semargl (Simorg) - a winged dog, guardian of crops, god of roots, seeds, sprouts. Symbol – World tree. Its animal appearance speaks of its antiquity; The idea of Semargl, the protector of crops, as a wonderful dog is easily explained: real dogs protected fields from wild roe deer and goats.

Khors and Semargl are deities of Scythian origin, their cult came from the eastern nomads, therefore both of these gods were widely revered only in Southern Rus', bordering the Steppe.

The female deities of fertility, prosperity, and the blossoming of life in spring were Lada and Lelya.

Lada is the goddess of marriage, abundance, and the time of harvest ripening. Her cult can be traced among the Poles until the 15th century; in ancient times it was common among all Slavs, as well as the Balts. The goddess was approached with prayers in late spring and during the summer, and a white rooster was sacrificed (the white color symbolized goodness).

Lada was called “Mother Leleva.” Lelya is the goddess of unmarried girls, the goddess of spring and the first greenery. Her name is found in words associated with childhood: “lyalya”, “lyalka” - a doll and an address to a girl; "cradle"; “leleko” – a stork bringing children; “cherish” - take care of a small child. Young girls especially revered Lelya, celebrating the spring holiday Lyalnik in her honor: they chose the most beautiful of her friends, put a wreath on her head, sat her on a turf bench (a symbol of sprouting young greenery), danced round dances around her and sang songs glorifying Lelya, then the girl “Lelya” presented her friends with wreaths prepared in advance.

The common Slavic veneration of Makosha (Moksha) - the goddess of the earth, harvest, female destiny, the great mother of all living things - goes back to the ancient agricultural cult of Mother Earth. Makosh, as the goddess of fertility, is closely connected with Semargl and griffins, with mermaids irrigating fields, with water in general - Mokosh was worshiped at springs, and girls threw yarn into wells for her as a sacrifice.

The male fertility deity associated with the lower world was Veles (Volos). God of trade and animals. Also known as the Guardian of the Herds. Symbol: A sheaf of grain or grain tied into a knot. Sacred animals and plants: Ox, grain, wheat, corn. Volos is a benevolent god who regulates trade and makes sure promises are kept. Oaths and covenants are sworn in his name. When Perun became the greatest god of war, he recognized that, unlike Svarozhich, he needed a cool head to advise. Due to this, he recruited Volos to be his right-hand man and advisor.

The hair also has another side. He is the protection of all tamed animals. Volos appears in the guise of a bearded shepherd. Volos is the patron god of armor.

Among the common Slavic gods of fertility, a special place is occupied by the warlike gods to whom bloody sacrifices were made - Yarilo and Perun. Despite the great antiquity and, therefore, wide popularity of these gods, they were little revered by most Slavic tribes because of their warlike appearance.

Yarilo is the god of spring and fun. The symbol is a garland or crown of wild flowers. Sacred animals and plants - wheat, grain. Merry Yarilo is the patron saint of spring plants.

The Slavic thunderer was Perun. The symbol is a crossed ax and hammer. His cult is one of the most ancient and dates back to the 3rd millennium BC, when warlike shepherds on war chariots, possessing bronze weapons, subjugated neighboring tribes. The main myth of Perun tells about the battle of God with the Serpent, the kidnapper of cattle, waters, sometimes luminaries and the wife of the Thunderer.

Perun, a snake fighter, owner of a lightning hammer, is closely associated with the image of a magical blacksmith. Blacksmithing was perceived as magic. The name of the legendary founder of the city of Kyiv, Kiy, means hammer. Perun was called the “prince’s god” because he was the patron of princes and symbolized their power.

Svantovit is the god of prosperity and war, also known as the Strong. The symbol is a cornucopia. Svantovit is worshiped in richly decorated temples guarded by warriors. There is a priest's white horse kept there, always ready to ride into battle.

Svarozhich is the god of strength and honor. Also known as scorching. Symbol: Black buffalo head or double-sided axe.

Svarozhich is the son of Svarog, and the fact that he controls the pantheon together with Dazhdbog is the intention of Svarozhich’s father. Svarog's gift - lightning - was entrusted to him. He is the god of the hearth and home and is known for his faithful advice and prophetic power. He is the god of a simple warrior who values peace.

Triglav is the god of plague and war. Also known as the Triple God. The symbol is a snake curved in the shape of a triangle.

Triglav appears as a three-headed man wearing a golden veil over each of his faces. His heads represent the sky, earth and lower regions, and he rides on a black horse in wrestling.

Chernobog is the god of Evil. Also known as - Black God. Symbol: Black figurine. It brings failure and misfortune; she is the cause of all disasters. Darkness, night and death are associated with her. Chernobog is in all respects the opposite of Belbog.

Paganism in urban life of the 11th-13th centuries.

The adoption of Christianity as the state religion did not mean a complete and rapid change in the way of thinking and way of life. Dioceses were established, churches were built, public services in pagan sanctuaries were replaced by services in Christian churches, but there was no serious change in views, a complete rejection of the beliefs of our great-grandfathers and everyday superstitions.

Paganism was reproached for polytheism, and Christianity was given credit for the invention of monotheism. Among the Slavs, the creator of the world and all living nature was Rod - Svyatovit.

Russian people isolated Jesus Christ from the Trinity and built churches of the Savior, replacing the pagan Dazhbog.

Christianity also reflected primitive dualism. The head of all the forces of evil was Satanail, undefeated by God, with his numerous and extensive army, against which God and his angels were powerless. Almighty God could not destroy not only Satan himself, but also the smallest of his servants. A person himself had to “drive away demons” with the righteousness of his life and magical actions.

Such an important section of primitive religion as the magical influence on higher powers through a ritual action, a spell, a prayer song, was at one time absorbed by Christianity and remained an integral part of church ritual. Religious support for statehood at the time of the progressive development of feudalism, the prohibition of blood sacrifices, a wide flow of literature heading to Rus' from Byzantium and Bulgaria - these consequences of the baptism of Rus' had progressive significance.

An outbreak of sympathy for ancestral paganism occurs in the second half of the 12th century. and, perhaps, is connected both with the disappointment of the social elite in the behavior of the Orthodox clergy, and with the new political form, which brought closer in the 12th century. local princely dynasties to the land, to the zemstvo boyars, and partly to the population of their principalities in general. One might think that the priestly class improved its ideas about the magical connection between the macrocosm and the microcosm of personal clothing, about the possibility of influencing life phenomena through incantatory symbolism and pagan apotropaia. Dual faith was not just a mechanical combination of old habits and beliefs with new, Greek ones; in some cases it was a thoughtful system in which ancient ideas were quite consciously preserved. An excellent example of Christian-pagan dual faith are the famous amulets - serpentines, worn on the chest over clothing.

Dual faith was not just the result of the church’s tolerance for pagan superstitions, it was an indicator of the further historical life of aristocratic paganism, which, even after the adoption of Christianity, developed, improved, and developed new subtle methods of competition with religion imposed from outside.

Pagan rituals and festivals of the 11th–13th centuries.

The annual cycle of ancient Russian festivals consisted of different, but equally archaic elements, dating back to the Indo-European unity of the first farmers or to the Middle Eastern agricultural cults adopted by early Christianity.

One of the elements was the solar phases: winter solstice, spring equinox and summer solstice. The autumnal equinox is very weakly noted in ethnographic records.

The second element was a cycle of prayers for rain and the effect of vegetative force on the crop. The third element was the cycle of harvest festivals. The fourth element was the days of remembrance of ancestors (rainbow). The fifth could be carols, holidays on the first days of each month. The sixth element was Christian holidays, some of which also celebrated solar phases, and some were associated with the agricultural cycle of the southern regions of the Mediterranean, which had different calendar dates than the agricultural cycle of the ancient Slavs.

As a result, a very complex and multi-basic system of Russian folk holidays was gradually created.

One of the main elements of Christmas rituals was dressing up in animal-like clothes and dancing in “mashkers”. Ritual masks were depicted on silver bracelets.

Masquerades continued throughout the winter holidays, acquiring a special revelry in their second half - from January 1 to January 6, on the “terrible” Veles days.

After the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, there was a calendar contact between ancient pagan holidays and new, church-state holidays, obligatory for the ruling elite. In a number of cases, Christian holidays, which, like the Slavic ones, arose on a primitive astronomical basis, on solar phases, coincided in timing (Nativity of Christ, Annunciation), and often they diverged.

Rusal incantation rituals and dances were the initial stage of a pagan festival, which ended with an obligatory ritual feast with the obligatory consumption of sacrificial meat: pork, beef, chickens and eggs.

Since many pagan holidays coincided or calendared with Orthodox ones, outwardly decency was almost observed: the feast was held, for example, not on the occasion of the feast of women in labor, but on the occasion of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, but it continued the next day as a “lawless second meal” .

Historical development of Slavic-Russian paganism.

“Paganism” is an extremely vague term that arose in the church environment to designate everything non-Christian, pre-Christian.

The Slavic-Russian part of the vast pagan massif cannot in any case be understood as a separate, independent and unique variant of religious primitive ideas inherent only to the Slavs.

The main determining material for the study of paganism is ethnographic: rituals, round dances, songs, children's games into which archaic rituals degenerated, fairy tales that preserved fragments of ancient mythology and epic.

As primitive society developed, the complexity of its social structure was increasingly based on religious ideas: the identification of leaders and priests, the consolidation of tribes and tribal cults, external relations, wars.

Speaking about evolution, it should be noted that deities that arose in certain conditions can acquire new functions over time, and their place in the pantheon can change.

The world of the then pagans consisted of four parts: earth, two heavens and an underground water zone. This was not a specific feature of Slavic paganism, but was the result of a universal human stage-convergent development of ideas that varied in detail, but were mainly determined by this scheme. The most difficult thing is to unravel the ancient ideas about the earth, about a large expanse of land filled with rivers, forests, fields, animals and human dwellings. For many peoples, the earth was depicted as a rounded plane surrounded by water. Water was concretized either as the sea or in the form of two rivers washing the earth, which may be more archaic and local - wherever a person was, he was always between any two rivers or rivulets limiting his immediate land space.

Medieval people, regardless of whether they were baptized or not, continued to believe in their great-grandfather’s dualistic scheme of the forces governing the world, and with all archaic measures they tried to protect themselves, their homes and property from the action of vampires and “navi” (alien and hostile dead).

Under princes Igor, Svyatoslav and Vladimir, paganism became the state religion of Rus', the religion of princes and warriors. Paganism strengthened and revived ancient rituals that had begun to die out. The young state's commitment to ancestral paganism was a form and means of preserving state political independence. Updated paganism of the 10th century. was formed in conditions of competition with Christianity, which was reflected not only in the arrangement of magnificent princely funeral pyres, not only in the persecution of Christians and the destruction of Orthodox churches by Svyatoslav, but also in a more subtle form of contrasting Russian pagan theology with Greek Christian.

The adoption of Christianity to a very small extent changed the religious life of the Russian village in the 10th–12th centuries. The only innovation was the cessation of corpse burnings. Based on a number of secondary signs, one can think that the Christian teaching about a blissful posthumous existence “in the next world,” as a reward for patience in this world, spread in the village after the Tatar invasion and as a result of initial ideas about the inescapability of the foreign yoke. Pagan beliefs, rituals, conspiracies, formed over millennia, could not disappear without a trace immediately after the adoption of a new faith.

The decline in the authority of the church reduced the strength of church teachings against paganism, and in the 11th–13th centuries. did not fade away in all layers of Russian society, but passed into a semi-legal position, as church and secular authorities applied harsh measures to the pagan Magi, including a public auto-da-fe.

In the second half of the 12th century. There is a revival of paganism in the cities and in princely-boyar circles. An explanation for the revival of paganism can be the crystallization of one and a half dozen large principalities-kingdoms that took shape since the 1130s with their own stable dynasties, the increased role of the local boyars and the more subordinate position of the episcopate, which found itself dependent on the prince. The renewal of paganism was reflected in the emergence of a new doctrine about an inscrutable light, different from the sun, in the cult of a female deity, and in the appearance of sculptural images of the deity of light.

As a result of a number of complex phenomena in Rus', by the beginning of the 13th century. a kind of dual faith was created both in the village and in the city, in which the village simply continued its religious ancestral life, being listed as baptized, and the city and princely-boyar circles, having accepted much from the church sphere and widely using the social side of Christianity, not only did not forget their paganism with its rich mythology, deep-rooted rituals and cheerful carnivals with their dances, but also raised their ancient religion, persecuted by the church, to a higher level, corresponding to the heyday of Russian lands in the 12th century.

Conclusion.

Despite the thousand-year dominance of the state Orthodox Church, pagan views were the people's faith until the 20th century. manifested themselves in rituals, round dance games, songs, fairy tales and folk art.

The religious essence of rituals and games has long faded away, the symbolic sound of the ornament has been forgotten, fairy tales have lost their mythological meaning, but even the forms of archaic pagan creativity unconsciously repeated by descendants are of great interest, firstly, as a bright component of later peasant culture, and secondly, as an invaluable treasury of information about the millennia-long journey of understanding the world by our distant ancestors.

Bibliography.

1. Rybakov B.A. Paganism of ancient Rus'. Moscow "SCIENCE" 1988

2. Famintsyn A.S. Deities of the ancient Slavs. St. Petersburg 1995

3. Popovich M.V. Worldview of the ancient Slavs. Kyiv 1985

4. Chmykhov N.A. The origins of paganism in Rus'. Kyiv 1990

In Slavic fairy tales there are many magical characters - sometimes terrible and formidable, sometimes mysterious and incomprehensible, sometimes kind and ready to help. To modern people they seem like fanciful fiction. but in the old days in Rus' they firmly believed that Baba Yaga’s hut stood deep in the forest, that a serpent abducting beauties lived in the harsh stone mountains, they believed that a girl could marry a bear, and a horse could speak with a human voice.

This faith was called paganism, i.e. “folk faith.”

The main source of information on early Slavic mythology is medieval chronicles, annals written by outside observers in German or Latin and Slavic authors (mythology of Polish and Czech tribes), teachings against paganism (“Words”) and chronicles. Valuable information is contained in the works of Byzantine writers and geographical descriptions of medieval Arab and European authors.

All these data relate mainly to the eras that followed the Proto-Slavic era, and contain only individual fragments of pan-Slavic mythology. Archeological data on rituals, sanctuaries, and individual images (Zbruch idol, etc.) coincide chronologically with the pre-Slavic period.

Funeral rites.

The evolution of funeral rites and different forms of funeral rites mark significant changes in the understanding of the world.

In real archaeological traces of funeral rites, the coexistence of both forms is constantly observed - ancient inhumation, burial of the dead in the ground.

The elements of the funeral rite include: burial mounds, a funeral structure in the form of a human dwelling, and the burial of the ashes of the deceased in an ordinary food pot.

The ritual of corpse burning appears almost simultaneously with the separation of the Proto-Slavs from the general Indo-European massif in the 15th century. BC e. and existed among the Slavs for 27 centuries until the era of Vladimir Monomakh. The burial process is imagined as follows: a funeral pyre was laid, a dead man was “laid” on it, and this funeral was accompanied by a religious and decorative structure - a geometrically precise circle was drawn around the pyre, a deep but narrow ditch was dug in a circle and a light fence was built like a fence made of twigs, to which a considerable amount of straw was applied. When the fire was lit, the flaming fence, with its flame and smoke, blocked the process of burning the corpse inside the fence from the ceremony participants. It is possible that it was precisely this combination of the funeral “mass of firewood” with the regular circumference of the ritual fence that separated the world of the living from the world of dead ancestors that was called “theft.”

Among the Eastern Slavs, from the point of view of pagan beliefs, the burning of animals, both domestic and wild, along with the deceased is of great interest.

The custom of burying in domovinas, or more precisely, erecting domovinas over Christian graves, survived in the land of the ancient Vyatichi until the beginning of the 20th century.

Animal deities.

In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting. rather than agriculture, they believed that wild animals were their ancestors. The Slavs considered them powerful deities who should be worshiped. Each tribe had its own totem, that is, a sacred animal that the tribe worshiped. Several tribes considered the Wolf to be their ancestor and revered him as a deity. The name of this beast was sacred, it was forbidden to say it out loud.

The heavenly goddesses - the Reindeer - sent newborn fawns to earth, which fell like rain from the clouds.

Household deities.

Images of brownies were carved from wood and represented a bearded man in a hat. Such figures were called churs and at the same time symbolized deceased ancestors.

Deities are monsters.

All Slavic tribes who worshiped the Lizard considered him the absorber of the sun.

Ancient sanctuaries.

Since ancient times, mountains, especially “bald” ones, that is, with a treeless peak, have been the place for communal prayers. At the top of the hill there was a “temple” - a place where a cap - an idol - stood. Around the temple there was a horseshoe-shaped embankment, on top of which kradas - sacred bonfires - burned. The second rampart was the outer boundary of the sanctuary. The space between the two shafts was called the treasury - there they “consumed”, that is, ate, sacrificial food. At ritual feasts, people became, as it were, table companions with the gods. The feast could take place in the open air and in special buildings standing on that temple - mansions (temples), originally intended exclusively for ritual feasts.

Priests.

The Magi also made amulets - female and male jewelry covered with spell symbols.

Gods of the era.

For several centuries, one of the most revered in Rus' was Dazh-bog (Dazhdbog) - the god of sunlight, warmth, harvest time, fertility, God of summer and happiness. Also known as the Generous God. Symbol: Solar disk. Dazhdbog is located in a golden palace on the land of eternal summer. Sitting on a throne of gold and purple, he is not afraid of shadows, cold or misfortune. Dazhdbog flies across the sky in a golden chariot trimmed with diamonds, pulled by a dozen white horses with golden manes breathing fire. Dazhdbog is married to the Month. A beautiful young maiden appears at the beginning of summer, grows older every day and leaves Dazhdbog in winter. They say that earthquakes are a sign of a couple's bad mood.

Khors and Semargl are deities of Scythian origin, their cult came from the eastern nomads, therefore both of these gods were widely revered only in Southern Rus', bordering the Steppe.

The female deities of fertility, prosperity, and the blossoming of life in spring were Lada and Lelya.

Lada is the goddess of marriage. abundance. time of harvest ripening. Her cult can be traced among the Poles until the 15th century; in ancient times it was common among all Slavs, as well as the Balts. The goddess was approached with prayers in late spring and during the summer, and a white rooster was sacrificed (the white color symbolized goodness).

The male fertility deity associated with the lower world was Veles (Volos). God of trade and animals. Also known as the Guardian of the Herds. Symbol - A sheaf of grain or grain tied into a knot. Sacred animals and plants: Ox, grain, wheat, corn. Volos is a benevolent god who regulates trade and makes sure promises are kept. Oaths and covenants are sworn in his name. When Perun became the greatest god of war, he recognized that, unlike Svarozhich, he needed a cool head to advise. Due to this, he recruited Volos to be his right-hand man and advisor.

The hair also has another side. He is the protection of all tamed animals. Volos appears in the guise of a bearded shepherd. Volos is the patron god of armor.

Yarilo is the god of spring and fun. The symbol is a garland or crown of wild flowers. Sacred animals and plants - wheat, grain. Merry Yarilo is the patron saint of spring plants.

The Slavic thunderer was Perun. The symbol is a crossed ax and hammer. His cult is one of the oldest and dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. when warlike shepherds on war chariots, possessing bronze weapons, subjugated neighboring tribes. The main myth of Perun tells about the battle of God with the Serpent - the kidnapper of cattle, waters, sometimes luminaries and the wife of the Thunderer.

Perun is a snake fighter, owner of a lightning hammer, closely associated with the image of a magical blacksmith. Blacksmithing was perceived as magic. The name of the legendary founder of the city of Kyiv, Kiy, means hammer. Perun was called the “prince’s god” because he was the patron of princes and symbolized their power.

Svarozhich is the god of strength and honor. Also known as scorching. Symbol: Black buffalo head or double-sided axe.

Triglav is the god of plague and war. Also known as the Triple God. The symbol is a snake curved in the shape of a triangle.

Triglav appears as a three-headed man wearing a golden veil over each of his faces. His heads represent the sky, earth and lower regions, and he rides on a black horse in wrestling.

Chernobog is the god of Evil. Also known as the Black God. Symbol: Black figurine. It brings failure and misfortune; she is the cause of all disasters. Darkness, night and death are associated with her. Chernobog is in all respects the opposite of Belbog.

Paganism in urban life of the 11th-13th centuries.

Paganism was reproached for polytheism, and Christianity was given credit for the invention of monotheism. Among the Slavs, the creator of the world and all living nature was Rod - Svyatovit.

Russian people isolated Jesus Christ from the Trinity and built churches of the Savior, replacing the pagan Dazhbog.

Pagan rituals and festivals of the 11th – 13th centuries.

One of the elements was the solar phases: winter solstice, spring equinox and summer solstice. The autumnal equinox is very weakly noted in ethnographic records.

As a result, a very complex and multi-basic system of Russian folk holidays was gradually created.

One of the main elements of Christmas rituals was dressing up in animal-like clothes and dancing in “mashkers”. Ritual masks were depicted on silver bracelets.

Masquerades continued throughout the winter holidays, acquiring a special revelry in their second half - from January 1 to January 6, on the “terrible” Veles days.

Historical development of Slavic-Russian paganism.

“Paganism” is an extremely vague term that arose in the church environment to designate everything non-Christian, pre-Christian.

The Slavic-Russian part of the vast pagan massif cannot in any case be understood as a separate, independent and unique variant of religious primitive ideas inherent only to the Slavs.

Speaking about evolution, it should be noted that deities that arose in certain conditions can acquire new functions over time, and their place in the pantheon can change.

The adoption of Christianity to a very small extent changed the religious life of the Russian village in the 10th – 12th centuries. The only innovation was the cessation of corpse burnings. Based on a number of secondary signs, one can think that the Christian teaching about a blissful posthumous existence “in the next world,” as a reward for patience in this world, spread in the village after the Tatar invasion and as a result of initial ideas about the inescapability of the foreign yoke. Pagan beliefs, rituals, conspiracies, formed over millennia, could not disappear without a trace immediately after the adoption of a new faith.

The decline in the authority of the church reduced the strength of church teachings against paganism, and in the 11th – 13th centuries. did not fade away in all layers of Russian society, but passed into a semi-legal position, as church and secular authorities applied harsh measures to the pagan Magi, including a public auto-da-fe.

Conclusion

There have always been different religions and beliefs in the world. Which, by the way, never completely disappeared, even if they became irrelevant. In this article I would like to talk about the pagans: their rituals, faith and various interesting nuances.

Main

First of all, we note that paganism is a very ancient religion that existed among the Slavs before the adoption of Christianity. It is safe to say that this is a whole universal system of views that fully gave the general picture of the world to the inhabitants of those times. Our ancestors had their own pantheon of gods, which was hierarchical. And the people themselves were confident in the close connection between the inhabitants of the parallel world and the ordinary one. The pagans believed that spirits always controlled them in everything, so not only the spiritual, but also the material part of life was subordinated to them.

A little history

At the end of the first millennium AD, at a time when Christianity was adopted in Rus', everything related to paganism was suppressed and eradicated. They burned and floated ancient idols on the water. They tried to completely get rid of these beliefs. However, we can say with confidence that this was done very poorly. Indeed, to this day, elements of pagan rituals have been preserved in the Orthodox faith, creating an amazing symbiosis of Byzantine culture and paganism. It must also be said that the first memories of these beliefs appeared in medieval manuscripts, when the papal curia actively attracted people to Catholicism. The pagans also fell under this action (who they are is known). The entries in the diaries of Catholics were mostly condemning. As for the Russian chroniclers, they did not want to talk about paganism at that time, emphasizing that it practically does not exist.

About the concept

Understanding the concept of “pagans” (who they are, what are the characteristics of their faith and worldview), you need to find out what it means. If you understand the etymology, you must say that the root here is the word “language”. However, it also meant “people, tribe.” We can conclude that the concept itself can be translated as “folk faith” or “tribal faith.” The Slavic term “paganism” can also be interpreted as “fortress of bonds.”

About faith

So, pagans: who were they, what did they believe? It is worth saying that their very system of beliefs was almost ideal and completely inseparable from nature. She was revered, worshiped and given generous gifts. For the Slavs, the center of the entire Universe was Mother Nature. It was understood as a kind of living organism that not only thinks, but also has a soul. Her powers and elements were deified and spiritualized. However, this is not surprising, because Nature is so natural that special wisdom can be traced here without any problems. Moreover, the pagans (who they are, we, in principle, considered) considered themselves children of nature and could not imagine their life without it, for the Vedic system of knowledge and beliefs assumed close interaction and coexistence in harmony with the surrounding world. What was the faith of our ancestors? The Slavs had three main cults: the Sun, Mother Earth and the veneration of the elements.

Cult of the Earth

The pagans believed that the Earth was the mother of everything. Here everything is explained quite simply, because, according to the ancient Slavs, it is the center of fertility: the Earth gives life not only to plants, but also to all animals. Why they called her Mother is also not difficult to explain. Our ancestors believed that it was the earth that gave birth to them, it gives them strength, you just have to bend down to it. Let us note that many of the rituals that exist today have come to us since those times. Let us recall, for example, the need to take a handful of one’s own land to a foreign land or to bow to the ground at a wedding for young parents.

Sun worship

The sun in the beliefs of the ancient Slavs acts as a symbol of all-conquering good. It must also be said that pagans were often called sun worshipers. People at that time lived according to the solar calendar, paying special attention to the dates of the winter and It was at this time that important holidays were celebrated, such as, for example, (end of June). It will also be interesting that the inhabitants of those times revered the sign of the swastika, which was called the solar Kolovrat. However, this symbolism did not carry any negativity at that time, but personified the victory of good over evil, light and purity. This sign of wisdom was also a talisman endowed with cleansing power. It was always applied to clothing, weapons, and household items.

Honoring the Elements

The pagan Slavs treated such elements as air, water and fire with the greatest respect. The last two were considered purifying, as powerful and life-giving as the earth itself. As for fire, it is, according to the Slavs, a powerful energy that establishes balance in the world and strives for justice. Fire purified not only the body, but also the soul (indicative in this regard are jumping over a blazing fire on Ivan Kupala). The flame was of great importance at funerals. At that time, bodies were burned, exposing not only the earthly shell of a person to the cleansing power of fire, but also his soul, which after this ritual easily went to the ancestors. In pagan times, water was highly revered. People considered her the only source of strength and energy. At the same time, they respected not only rivers and other bodies of water, but also the heavenly waters - rain, believing that in this way the gods would grant strength not only to the earth itself, but also to its inhabitants. People were purified with water, they were treated with it (“living” and “dead” water), they even used it to tell fortunes and predict the future.

Past

Russian pagans also treated their past, or rather, their ancestors, with great respect. They revered their grandfathers and great-grandfathers and often resorted to their help. It was believed that the souls of ancestors do not disappear anywhere, they protect their family, helping people from a parallel world. Twice a year the Slavs celebrated the day when they honored their dead relatives. It was called Radonitsa. At this time, relatives communicated with their ancestors at their graves, asking for the safety and health of the entire family. It was necessary to leave a small gift (this ritual still exists today - a funeral service at the cemetery, when people bring sweets and cookies with them).

Pantheon of Gods

First of all, I would like to say that the gods of the pagans represent one or another element or natural force. So, the most important gods were Rod (who created life on earth) and Rozhanitsy (goddesses of fertility, thanks to whom after winter the earth was reborn to new life; they also helped women give birth to children). One of the most important gods was also Svarog - the creator and ruler of the universe, the Father-Progenitor, who gave people not only earthly fire, but also heavenly fire (the Sun). Svarozhichi were such gods as Dazhdbog and Perun of lightning and thunder). The solar deities were Khors (a circle, hence the word “round dance”) and Yarilo (the god of the hottest and brightest summer sun). The Slavs also revered Veles, the god who was the patron of livestock. He was also the god of wealth, because previously one could become rich only thanks to livestock, which brought good profits. Among the goddesses, the most significant were Lada of youth, love, marriage and family), Makosh (giver of life to the harvest) and Morana of cold, winter). People in those days also revered brownies, goblins, water spirits - spirits that guarded everything that surrounded a person: house, water, forests, fields.

Rituals

Various pagan rituals were also important. As already mentioned, they could be cleansing for the body and soul (using water and fire). There were also security rituals that were carried out in order to protect a person or house from evil spirits. Sacrifice was no stranger to the Slavs. Thus, gifts to the gods could be both bloodless and bloody. The first ones were given as gifts to ancestors or beregins. Blood sacrifices were needed, for example, by Perun and Yarila. At the same time, birds and livestock were brought as gifts. All rituals had sacred meaning.

According to ancient sources, paganism appeared in the tenth millennium BC. Although, it is quite possible that it is even older. It existed everywhere, among all tribes.

The emergence of paganism was quite natural. In ancient times, man had nothing but nature and its “magical” phenomena. For people, she was something divine, inexplicable. And gradually the cult of nature began to take shape, and with it the cult of the gods. Moreover, each of the gods was “responsible” for one or another element or phenomenon. And all this is the main characteristics of paganism: polytheism (polytheism) and spiritualization of nature. At the same time, what we call animism today also appears. The latter implies that all natural objects are living.

Another reason for the emergence of paganism was the need for protection. The man began to think that some invisible beings (gods, spirits) who were always with him, protected him and helped him. A little later, the cult of ancestors was formed. The souls of the latter, according to the ancient pagans, also constantly accompanied a person and gave advice.

Gradually, against the background of developed views in paganism, magic, belief in the power of conspiracies, witchcraft and other things, stands out. With the help of these simple techniques, the ancients wanted to improve their lives and attract good luck in hunting and farming. Then they began to make all kinds of attributes for rituals, including protective amulets and jewelry. One of the most important stages was the creation of idols that depicted pagan gods.

The history of the emergence of paganism still remains little studied. Of course, the process of formation of pagan beliefs itself took a very long time, over the course of centuries. From those times from which we have at least some reliable knowledge about man, he was already a pagan. And this worldview was formed under the influence of the environment. He had no knowledge other than his own observations, his own experiments. That is, paganism became a completely logical reflection of reality in the lifestyle and beliefs of ancient people.

God Kolyada and the ancient Slavic-Aryan Holiday in His honor.

Paganism of the Slavs in Rus'

Paganism is a religion based on the belief in several gods at the same time, and not in one creator God, which is characteristic, in particular, of Christianity.

The concept of paganism

The term “paganism” itself is not entirely accurate, since it includes several concepts, and not just one. Today, paganism is understood not only and not so much as a religion, but as a set of religious and cultural beliefs, and instead of paganism, belief in several gods is designated as “totemism,” “polytheism,” or “ethnic religion.”

The paganism of the ancient Slavs is a term that is used to designate a complex of religious and cultural views on the life of the ancient Slavic tribes before they adopted Christianity and converted to a new faith. There is an opinion that the term itself in relation to the ancient religious and ritual culture of the Slavs did not come from the concept of polytheism (many deities), but from the fact that the ancient tribes, although they lived separately, had one language. So Nestor the Chronicler in his notes speaks of these tribes as pagans, that is, having the same language and common roots. Later, this term gradually began to be attributed to Slavic religious views and generally used to designate religion.

The emergence and development of paganism in Rus'

Slavic paganism began to take shape around the 2nd-1st millennium BC under the influence of Indo-European culture, when the Slavs began to separate from it into independent tribes. Moving and occupying new territories, the Slavs became acquainted with the culture of their neighbors and adopted certain traits from them. Thus, it was the Indo-European culture that brought into Slavic mythology the images of the thunder god, the god of cattle and the image of mother earth. The Celts also had a significant influence on the Slavic tribes, who also enriched the Slavic pantheon and, in addition, brought the very concept of “god” to the Slavs, which had not previously been used. Slavic paganism has much in common with German-Scandinavian culture; from there the Slavs took the image of the world tree, dragons and many other deities, which were later transformed depending on living conditions and the characteristics of Slavic culture.

After the Slavic tribes formed and began to actively populate new territories, leave each other and separate, paganism also transformed, each tribe had its own special rituals, its own names for the gods and the deities themselves. Thus, by the 6th-7th century, the religion of the Eastern Slavs was quite noticeably different from the religion of the Western Slavs.

It should also be noted that very often the beliefs of the top of society were quite different from the beliefs of the lower strata, and what was believed in large cities and settlements did not always coincide with the view of paganism in small villages.

From the moment the Slavic tribes began to unite, they began to form single centralized state, external relations between the Slavs and Byzantium began to develop, gradually paganism began to be persecuted, old beliefs were increasingly questioned, and even teachings against paganism appeared. In the end, after Baptism of Rus' in 988, when Christianity became the official religion, the Slavs began to gradually move away from the old traditions, although the relationship between paganism and Christianity was not easy. According to some information, paganism still persists in many territories, and in Rus' it existed for quite a long time, until the 12th century.

The essence of Slavic paganism

Despite the fact that there are a sufficient number of sources by which one can judge the beliefs of the Slavs, it is difficult to form a unified picture of the world of the East Slavic pagans. It is generally accepted that the essence of Slavic paganism was faith in the forces of nature, which determined human life, controlled it and decided destinies - hence the gods-lords of the elements and natural phenomena, Mother Earth. In addition to the highest pantheon of gods, the Slavs also had smaller deities - brownies, mermaids and others. Minor deities and demons did not have a serious influence on human life, but actively participated in it. The Slavs believed in the existence of a human soul, in the heavenly and underground kingdoms, in life after death.

Slavic paganism has many rituals that are associated with the interaction of gods and people. They worshiped the gods, they asked for protection, they asked for protection, they made sacrifices to them - most often it was cattle. There is no exact information about the presence of human sacrifices among the pagan Slavs.

List of Slavic gods

Common Slavic gods:

Mother Cheese Earth is the main female image, the goddess of fertility, she was worshiped and asked for a good harvest, a good offspring;

Perun is the thunder god, the main god of the pantheon.

Other gods of the Eastern Slavs (also called Vladimir's pantheon):

Veles is the patron of storytellers and poetry;

Volos is the patron saint of livestock;

Dazhbog is a solar deity, considered the ancestor of all Russian people;

Mokosh is the patroness of spinning and weaving;

The clan and women in labor are deities personifying fate;

Svarog - god-blacksmith;

Svarozhich is the personification of fire;

Simargl is a messenger between heaven and earth;

Stribog is a deity associated with the winds;

Horse is the personification of the sun.

Also, the Slavic pagans had various images that personified certain natural phenomena, but were not deities. These include Maslenitsa, Kolyada, Kupala and others. Effigies of these images were burned during holidays and rituals.

Persecution of pagans and the end of paganism

The more Rus' united, the more it increased its political power and expanded contacts with other, more developed states, the more the pagans were persecuted by adherents of Christianity. After the Baptism of Rus' took place, Christianity became not just a new religion. But a new way of thinking began to have a huge political and social role. Pagans who did not want to accept the new religion (and there were many of them) entered into open confrontation with Christians, but the latter did everything to bring the “barbarians” to reason. Paganism survived until the 12th century, but then began to gradually fade away.