The article studies folk Orthodox faith of the settlers from Little Russia and the Tambov province to the Amur region in the second half of the 19th century. The article bases on the materials of an Orthodox priest V. Venchaev, published in several issues of the journal “Kamchatka Diocesan Gazette” for 1896 and 1897. The traditions and customs of the settlers, described by the priest V. Venchaev, are compared with modern theoretical materials that reveal the principles of folk religiosity; with materials of specialists who studied Russian rituals; as well as with ethnographic and religious studies of the Russian Far East. As a result, the author comes to the following conclusions. The notes of the Orthodox priest are systematic and present an attempt to analyze the origins and causes of the religious behavior of the settlers. They are a valuable source for the reconstruction of the religious ideas of the colonists. In 1890, in the conditions of life in the Russian Far East, settlers kept adherence to syncretic folk religiosity, the foundations of which were laid in their small homeland and developed under the influence of contacts with the Chinese, Koreans and other Far Eastern peoples. In the new natural, climatic and ethnic conditions, the settlers adopted from the local residents the ways of providing medical care common in the region. A significant role in the life of the settlers was occupied by practices of a magical nature, aimed at maintaining the vital forces.
Keywords: Russian Orthodoxy, folk religiosity, non-institutional religiosity, religious syncretism, magic, calendar rituals, traditions, Kamchatka Diocesan Gazette
DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2022_2_30
About the author
 |
Olga V. Pelevina – PhD (Philosophy), Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, |