Neither the Avesta, nor the Rig Veda, nor the Bhagavad-gita, nor other ancient sources say anything about the pagans. For the first time we meet the word “pagan” in the texts translated from the Hebrew Bible - Tanakh. If we take the whole cumulative idea of the word "pagan", then it seems that at first this word the ancient Jews called any peoples of another faith. Then, the word "pagan" in the New Testament means any people of another faith and plus Christians. As for the meaning of this word at the time of early Christianity, you need to understand that such a religion - "paganism" - did not and did not exist.
We will be closer to the truth if by our old Russian paganism we mean pre-Christian customs, worldviews and way of life of the Slavic people in Russia, its “circle of Gods” - “Yya-zik” with round dances, braces, purification by fire (jumping over the fire), traditions and holidays. And worship of many gods - this cannot be considered a sign of paganism. There is enough historical evidence that the pagans had a clear idea of a single Deity even in those days when Moses, not to mention Christ and Muhammad, was not even in the project. But at that time there was no religion where only one and only God figured. Everyone who is prayed to (not "for what", but to whom) is considered a deity. Christians have a whole list: God the Father, God the Spirit, God the Son, the Mother of God, Nicholas the Pleasant, Saints Peter and Paul, a list of the apostles, etc. And they pray for everyone. Is it so fundamentally different from some ancient city with the temples of the Virgin Athena, Ares, Hercules and Olympian Zeus? So the Christian teaching is a continuation of the old religious ideas. Pagan views and rituals persisted for a long time in the Russian people. Sometimes it came to parody situations. So, for example, back in the 18th century, many Orthodox priests did not have the slightest idea about Jesus Christ and considered Nicholas-God the supreme god. The first printed book in Russia was exactly "Apostle". And the Gospel that we now know was translated from Greek into Russian a little over a hundred years ago, I think, in 1882. And forty years earlier (in 1843), the abbot of the Optina monastery, Archimandrite Macarius, translated from Hebrew into Russian the most ancient part of the Bible - the Old Testament. So,“Paganism” with its rituals (carols, etc.), Ivan Kupala (John the Baptist) and naked bathing of young men and women is nothing more than early Christianity, which had not yet freed itself from post-catastrophic phallic rituals, and the ancient idol (the subject of early Christian worship) is nothing more than a stylized phallus, a symbol of the Life Beginning. In the Slavic religious beliefs, there was a hierarchy characteristic of many peoples who worshiped several gods. The ancient Slavs also had a peculiar pantheon of gods. In the Slavic religious beliefs, there was a hierarchy characteristic of many peoples who worshiped several gods. The ancient Slavs also had a peculiar pantheon of gods. In the Slavic religious beliefs, there was a hierarchy characteristic of many peoples who worshiped several gods. The ancient Slavs also had a peculiar pantheon of gods.
All Slavic gods who were part of the ancient pagan pantheon were divided into solar gods and functional gods.
Rod was the supreme deity of the Slavs.
There were four solar gods: Hors, Yarilo, Dazhdbog and Svarog.
Functional gods: Perun - patron saint of lightning and warriors; Semargl - the god of death, the image of the sacred heavenly fire; Veles - black god, lord of the dead, wisdom and magic; Stribog is the god of the wind.
Since ancient times, the Slavs celebrated the change of seasons and the change of the phases of the sun. Therefore, for each season (spring, summer, autumn and winter), his own god was responsible - Khors, Yarilo, Dazhdbog and Svarog, especially revered throughout the season.
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In the 17th century, Patriarch Filaret decided that it was enough for Russia to remain pagan, it would be time to get used to Christianity. He issued a decree prohibiting Muscovites from organizing pagan orgies. On December 24, the great Sovereign, His Holiness Filaret Nikitich, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, indicated: “Clicking privet through the rows, and along the streets, and along the settlements, and in hundreds, so that they do not go with filly and the worldly people do not go to the games, so There was no confusion for the Orthodox peasants, and the carols and oats and plows did not click. And who will learn this sovereign by the decree of the disobedient, and those people will be in disgrace from the sovereign Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, and from the great sovereign, the Holy One Filaret Mikitich, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, into prohibition and spiritual punishment. " Please note that filly are animal masks, Christians are also called in the old manner - peasants,and Russia is consistently called Rusia. The Greek name "Russia" will appear only after Patriarch Nikon. Then the concept of resurrection will begin to take root. In the Decree of March 17, 1647, the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich laid down: “According to the rule of the saints, the apostle and saints father on Sunday is by no means befitting for anyone, lord and mistress, the male and female sex is neither a slave nor a free one, but exercise and come to the church of God for prayer. "but exercise and come to the church of God for prayer. "but exercise and come to the church of God for prayer."
They actively taught the Russian people to processions of the cross, but to no avail. The first religious procession will take place only in 1733 under Anna Ioannovna. And finally, modern Christianity will triumph in Russia only long after the reign of Peter I in the 18th century. With the growth of the Earth's population, the meaning of the previous rituals was forgotten, and they began to talk with God about another and in another language. Although you can still find the cult of the phallus on earth, for example, in Africa, India, Japan.
