Rite

The dictionary interpretation of the term ritual has changed significantly over time.

The rite is a folk play, full of secret meaning, filled with great power, systematically repeated, interesting in general, as it best illustrates the content of popular consciousness. Here the old merges with the new, the religious with the folk, and the sad with the merry.

- Zabylin M. Russian people, - M. , 1880, S. 532

In the Russian Empire

• The article “Rites” of the “ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary ” referred the reader to the articles “ Ritual ” and “ Folklore ” ^[8] . In turn, the ritual was identified with the church rite ^[9] , and the folk rite was part of the folk traditions ^[10] . The church rite was interpreted as “the outward expression of human beliefs”, the subject of which, God , is “supremely spiritual and infinitely elevated above the visible nature”; the reason for the appearance of the rite was thought to be the inability of a person to imagine God and establish a relationship with Him “without any visible means” ^[7] . Thus “by means of” (instrument, instrument) the rite is called to serve.

In the USSR

• According to the 3rd edition of TSB , the ritual is “a ritual, ceremony, ceremonial, a combination of conventional, traditional actions devoid of immediate practical expediency,” which should not be confused with the custom , “meaning not only symbolic , but also all kinds of repeating and established by tradition actions " ^[3] . This definition emphasizes that the ritual is inherent in 1) traditionality, 2) the absence of practical expediency and 3) symbolic meaning, and the undesirableness of the rite is implied (due to inappropriateness).
• The Atheistic Dictionary, published in 1986, emphasized the presence of, along with religious, civil ceremonies ^[11] .

In modern Russia

• “The Dictionary of Cultural Studies” (1996) gives a different definition: rite - “traditional actions that accompany important moments of life and the production activity of the human collective” ^[5] . Such a definition (based only on the existence of tradition) brings the rite closer to custom.
• Sociologists give a slightly different definition: a rite - “a set of symbolic stereotypical collective actions that embody certain social ideas, ideas, norms and values ​​and cause certain collective feelings” ^[2] .
• The church rite is now defined as "an external expression of the internal content of worship, a sacred action performed according to a certain order, that is, an order led by a clergyman and having a visible and spiritual-symbolic content." Church rites (at least some of them) externally express the performance of church sacraments and are necessary insofar as "human nature needs visible symbolic actions to help feel the action of Divine grace" ^[12] .

According to the “ Great Soviet Encyclopedia ”, in the early stages of the development of society “the indifference of household, industrial and religious rites is characteristic”, subsequently 1) church rituals are distinguished, 2) “rituals and ceremonies associated with social and public-political life,” however at the same time “traditional household rituals continue to exist, especially long preserved in the peasant environment”: production rituals and family rituals ^[3] .

The first group includes “ceremonies related to agriculture, for example, harvesting ( burning , burning ), animal husbandry (ceremonies dedicated to spring cattle pasture), fishing, hunting, building new dwellings, digging wells, etc.” Annual the repetition of chores in the peasant farm gives a different name for this group — calendar rites ^[3] (see, for example, Russian Months ).

The connection of the rite with myth has long been noted by researchers. The rite can be called a staging of a myth, and the myth acts as an explanation or justification of the performed rite. Such a connection “myth - rite” is especially clearly manifested in the so-called cult myths. But about what is primary and what is secondary - there are different points of view. Representatives of mythological and evolutionist schools recognized the primacy of myth (or belief) over the rite. But in the 1880s. the opposite point of view appeared and soon became prevailing ^[13] .

J. Fraser collected from fragments and reconstructed (in the Golden Branch ) the integral fabric of ancient agrarian mythology. Despite a wide variety of beliefs, prohibitions, ceremonies, customs, he showed a single picture of the ancient agrarian religion. It includes magical acts of influence on the land that brings crops, prayers to the deities - the patrons of agriculture and very abundant and diverse mythological narratives of these deities ^[14] .

In the ancient Church

“At the beginning of the II century, a special developed order of church marriage did not exist yet, Christians got married as was customary in the society of that time.” Tertullian mentioned the participation of Christians in the betrothal and marriage of the Roman ancient ceremony. “By the 4th century, the celebration of the liturgy in connection with marriage became a common practice.” Church ranks began to take shape at the same time. “The basis of these ranks is made up of Christian elements, primarily the Eucharist and the priestly blessing, but rituals inherited from the Old Testament and ancient times are also used,” which include “giving the bride marriage gifts, joining the right hands of the bride and groom, and wearing the bride’s special clothes or bedspreads, putting on wreaths on the bride and groom, a wedding feast, a procession of the bride and groom in their house, singing hymns during the procession and upon arrival at the house. ” The donning of wreaths was also reported by Tertullian, who did not approve of this rite as borrowed from the Gentiles ^[15] .

In the Russian Empire

Church and Popular Rites

As shown above , in the pre-revolutionary "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron" rites were divided, first of all, into church and folk . This contrast is not accidental and reflects the struggle of different traditions, which results in the appearance of a phenomenon that is described in terms of " dual faith " or "popular Christianity."

Popular Christianity

Popular Christianity is a worldview system that combines elements of the Christian canonical, apocryphal, and folklore traditions; includes cosmogonic , cosmological , eschatological representations, religious and ethno-confessional representations, a set of ethical standards, the most important components of which are the concepts of good and evil, sin and miracle, which determine the harmony and balance of the world, the Creator’s relationship with his creations, and human community norms. Christian folk ideas are closely related to the folk calendar , folk demonology , folk medicine , as well as the cult of ancestors ^[16] .

The term "double faith" means the presence in the religious worldview of elements of other beliefs. The situation of dual faith is not unique to Russia. A similar phenomenon (with its own characteristics) is characteristic of different times, places, ethnic communities and religious groups. “In the history of Russian literature there are many essays describing and exposing the remnants of paganism in the life of the people, that which falls under the concept of dual faith, but without using the term itself” ^[17] .

In the 20th century, the terms “folk religion” and “folk Orthodoxy” also appeared in Russian scientific literature as a designation of what the people really believe. These terms are often used synonymously with the term “dual faith”.

However, in theology, religious studies, historical science, there was no clear definition of the concept of dual faith; characterized by the absence of the word "dual faith" in most dictionaries of the Russian language.

- Kolyvanov G. E. ^[17]

“A positive assessment of the phenomenon of dual faith ... was given by academician B. A. Rybakov” ^[17] .

Academician Dmitry Likhachev talked about "the impossibility of a mechanical combination of Christianity and paganism, and therefore, the impossibility of dual faith in a purely religious sense" ^[17] :

... elements of paganism began to come into conjunction with Christian beliefs only when they ceased to be recognized among the people as opposed to Christianity. Paganism as a belief system, which is hostile to Christianity, should have disappeared before dualism could appear ... The pagan rite not only in the XII century, but much later continues to live among the people, regardless of paganism itself: it acquires a playful, entertaining, aesthetic function; ritual song becomes a fact of aesthetic consciousness to a greater extent than religious.

- “The Word of Igor’s Regiment” is a heroic prologue of Russian literature. - L., 1967. p. 78-79

In the popular religion, there is a “non-Christian" interpretation of rituals, sacred texts, and characters in biblical history. Thus, this is a dynamic form of religion in which Christian doctrine and elements of pre-Christian pagan beliefs coexist in syncretic unity , archetypal mythopoetic ideas and Christian canons are combined ^[18] .

Church politics regarding the phenomenon

The church reacted to the phenomenon described above (whatever it is called) in various ways and, on the one hand, struggled with the presence of remnants of paganism:

• “The history of the Church testifies to the presence of remnants of paganism in the life of Christians of different times and countries; the latter has always strictly condemned and tirelessly struggled with this phenomenon ” ^[17] .
• “Saint Tikhon Zadonsky was an eyewitness and a zealous denouncer of a pagan holiday in honor of Yarila in the middle of the 18th century in Voronezh” ^[17] .
• “A constant subject of conviction was the widely practiced Christmas fortune-telling, dancing, games, carols, youth games and so on” ^[19] .

However, "there was another strategy of behavior, when priests not only did not fight customs that were not related to Orthodoxy, but also participated in them", and, according to some reports, "cases of this kind occurred everywhere" ^[20] .

In the USSR

In Soviet times, the key distinction was made in a different way: ceremonies were divided into religious and so-called civil , the latter were to replace the former ^[21] :

Indeed, in the framework of the fight against religion, attempts were made to “construct” and introduce new rites ^[22] :

The Octobrins, called to replace the sacrament of baptism , have another name - stars . However, the attempt failed: “Just like the Komsomol Christmas or the Komsomol Easter , they could not be widely used” ^[22] . The poet Okudzhava was “oktyabrili” (“oktyabrineli”) in the workshop of the Trekhgornaya manufactory , however “Bulat Shalvovich never met a man who was octabrenized like him” ^[23] .

The importance of the task of combating centuries-old traditions is indicated by the names of those who created the Soviet ritual ^[22] :

Decisions were made at the highest level - the level of the Central Committee of the party: "In 1923, the Central Committee of the Communist Party decided on anti-religious propaganda in the countryside" ^[22] , and it stated the following:

Special efforts should be directed against the religious tradition, the power of custom, the millenary forms of religious life in the form of ... distraction from the cult by organizing cultural entertainment, focusing on proletarian holidays and celebrations ... replacing religious items with forms of civilian life: somehow - religious celebrations - civil, industrial holidays (for example, the harvest festival , sowing, etc...), the sacraments - solemn departures civil acts involving (subject to the waiver from the church th ritual) kulturnoprosvetitelnyh institutions such as the civil funeral, mourning, marriage, naming names and taking the citizenship (post birth) and so on. n.

- Brudny, V.I. Rites yesterday and today. M., 1968, p. 67.

The struggle against former rites through the introduction of new ones was an important area of ​​atheistic work not only in the 1920s, but much later. For example, the third edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia notes ^[24] that the dissemination of “atheistic knowledge and a materialistic worldview among the population” ^[24] (the fight against religion) is carried out, in particular, by

In modern Russia

• Адоньева С. Б. Ритуал, он же — обряд. Разговор об определениях // Персонал-Микс. 2007. Вып.6.
• Байбурин А. К. Полярности в ритуале (Твердое и мягкое) // Полярность в культуре / Альманах «Канун». Vol. 2. — СПб., 1996, с. 157—165
• Байбурин А. К. Ритуал в традиционной культуре. — СПб., 1993
• Христианство народное / О. В. Белова // Славянские древности : Этнолингвистический словарь : в 5 т. / под общ. ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M .: Int. отношения , 2012. — Т. 5: С (Сказка) — Я (Ящерица). — С. 462–466. — ISBN 978-5-7133-1380-7 .
• Зубец И. З. Модели трансляции народных христианских представлений в деревянной резной и расписной утвари // Ярославский педагогический вестник. — Ярославль: Изд-во ЯГПУ , 2012. — Т. 1 (Гуманитарные науки) , № 3 . — С. 211—213 . — ISSN 1813–145Х .
• Ускользающий смысл ритуалов // Маслов А. А. Китай: колокольца в пыли. Странствия мага и интеллектуала. — М.: Алетейя , 2003, с. 64—70
• Лебедев В. Ю., Прилуцкий А. М. Семиозис и семиодинамика теологических и мифологических знаковых систем. — Тверь, 2010.
• Обряды и мифы / Токарев С. А. // Мифы народов мира : Энцикл. в 2 т. / гл. ed. С. А. Токарев . - 2nd ed. — М. : Советская энциклопедия , 1988. — Т. 2 : К—Я. — С. 235–237.
• Ритуал // Большая российская энциклопедия. — М. : Большая Российская энциклопедия , 2015. — Т. 28 Пустырник — Румчерод . — ISBN 978-5-85270-365-1 .

General information

• Обряды // Элементарные начала общей теории права. — 2003
• Обряды религиозные // Учебный словарь-минимум по религиоведению/ Под ред. профессора И. Н. Яблокова

Революционные обряды

• Звездины ( октябрины )

• Белобородова, Олеся , Что такое звездины, или за что советская власть «Муху-Цокотуху» запретила?
• Революционные обряды (видео)

• Комсомольская пасха

• Никифоров-Волгин, В. , Солнце играет, или комсомольская заутреня // портал Православие и мир
• О «Комсомольской пасхе»

• Комсомольское рождество

• Комсомольское Рождество в Москве: «Мы с тобой враги попам…»
• Касанов, Антон , Что такое «Комсомольское Рождество» и как его отмечали в нашей стране
• Комсомольское рождество
• Matukhno, Julia , “Komsomol Christmas” as an Element of Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda of the 1920s
• “You and I are enemies of the priests, we don’t need Christmas!” By the beginning of the Christmas Lent. A brief digression into the recent past ...
• Circular of the Crimean Regional Party Committee for Campaigning from January to December 1923
• Vozrozhdenie, Volume 3, Number 945, 3 January 1928

• Red funeral

• N. S. Polishchuk: “Rite as a social phenomenon on the example of red funerals”

A selection of archival documents on anti-religious work

• Case No. 12. Anti-religious work // Archives of the Kremlin. In 2 kn. / Book 1. Politburo and the church. 1922-1925 - M. - Novosibirsk, “Russian Political Encyclopedia”, “Siberian Chronograph”, 1997. - 594 p.

Other

• Jewish funeral and mourning
• Ridiculous rituals