The article investigates the influence of life in the conditions of the Far Eastern frontier on religious ideas and rituals of Russian settlers who professed spiritual Christianity in the second half of the 19th century. The study is theoretically based on publications that reveal topics topics such as religious landscape and sacred geography, as well as works by E.M. Glavatskaya, P.K. Dashkovsky, S.G. Safronov, D.V. Gromov, A.P. Zabiyako, etc.), It also uses the works of A.P Zabiyako, who set out conceptual propositions revealing the meanings of frontier and borderland concepts. The source base is comprised of ethnographic and religious studies publications by the first Amur region specialist A.V. Kirillov. The main idea of the article is to show how the religious concepts of settlers were changed under the influence of living in the Far East. Ideas about the structure of the world, about the Messiah were processed considering regional features. New legends were formed, reflecting real or fictional situations of life in the Amur region. Changing mythology considered the geographical location, and local toponyms were used. Blagoveshchensk city was perceived as the New Jerusalem and Zion. The local river Zeya was seen as an analogue to the Red Sea, which waters could miraculously part due to prayers. Representatives of rival religious groups were demonized. Transformation of mythological plots can be explained by the need for Russian settlers to adapt culturally in a new place and preserve their ethnoreligious identity. According to A.V. Kirillov's descriptions, religious actions by settlers were not subject to much change. People on the Far Eastern frontier continued practicing rituals inherited from previous generations in situations when rational behavior did not help. Participation in religious rituals helped to maintain connections with co-religionists in the motherland, supported the idea of the integrity of a large community, and contributed to the preservation of a unique ethnic and religious identity.
Key words: Far Eastern frontier, religious landscape, sacred landscape, topography of the sacred, spiritual Christians, jumpers, A.V. Kirillov, Kamchatka Diocesan Gazette, identity
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662-2024-4-114-123
About the author
 |
Olga V. Pelevina – PhD (Philosophy), Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, Amur State University; |