Shinto, Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan. Based on the animistic beliefs of the ancient Japanese, the objects of worship are numerous deities and spirits of the dead. The complex process of cultural synthesis of local tribes with newcomers laid the foundations of Japanese culture proper, the religious and cult aspect of which was called Shintoism. Shinto ("the way of the spirits") is a designation of the supernatural world, gods and spirits (kami), which have been revered by the Japanese since ancient times. The origins of Shintoism go back to ancient times and include all forms of beliefs and cults inherent in primitive peoples - totemism, animism, magic, the cult of the dead, the cult of leaders, etc. The ancient Japanese, like other peoples, spiritualized the natural phenomena around them, plants and animals, deceased ancestors, treated with reverence the intermediaries who communicated with the world of spirits - magicians, sorcerers, shamans. Later, having already experienced the influence of Buddhism and borrowed much from it, the primitive Shinto shamans turned into priests who performed rituals in honor of various deities and spirits in specially constructed temples.
The basis of Shinto is the deification of natural forces and phenomena and their worship. It is believed that everything on Earth is to one degree or another animate, deified, even those things that we are used to considering inanimate - for example, a stone or a tree. Each thing has its own spirit, deity - kami. Some kami are the spirits of the area, others personify natural phenomena, are the patrons of families and clans. Other kami represent global natural phenomena such as Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess.
The main principle of Shinto is life in harmony with nature and people. According to Shinto ideas, the world is a single natural environment, where kami, people, souls of the dead live side by side. Life is a natural and eternal cycle of birth and death, through which everything in the world is constantly renewed. Therefore, people do not need to seek salvation in another world, they should achieve harmony with the kami in this life.
Shinto, as a religious philosophy, is the development of the animistic beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of the Japanese islands. There are several versions of the emergence of Shinto: the export of this religion at the dawn of our era from the continental states (ancient China and Korea), the emergence of Shinto directly on the Japanese islands from the time of Jomon, etc. It can be noted that animistic beliefs are typical of all known cultures at a certain stage of development , but of all any large and civilized states only in Japan, they were not forgotten over time, but became, only partially modified, the basis of the state religion.
The emergence of Shinto as a national and state religion of the Japanese is attributed to the period of the 7th - 8th centuries A.D. e., when the country was unified under the rule of the rulers of the central region of Yamato. In the process of unification of Shinto, the system of mythology was canonized, in which the sun goddess Amaterasu, who was declared the ancestor of the ruling imperial dynasty, was at the top of the hierarchy, and the local and clan gods took a subordinate position. The Taihoryo Code of Laws, which appeared in 701, approved this provision and established the Jingikan, the main administrative body, which was in charge of all matters related to religious beliefs and ceremonies. An official list of state religious holidays was established.
Empress Gemmei ordered to compile a collection of myths of all peoples living on the Japanese islands. By this order, in 712, the chronicle "Records of the deeds of antiquity" was created, and in 720 - "Annals of Japan". These mythological vaults became the main texts in Shinto, some semblance of scripture. When compiling them, mythology was somewhat corrected in the spirit of national unification of all Japanese and justification of the power of the ruling dynasty. In 947, the "Engisiki" ("Code of Rituals of the Engi period") code appeared, containing a detailed description of the ritual part of the state Shinto - the order of rituals, the accessories necessary for them, lists of gods for each temple, the texts of prayers. Finally, in 1087, an official list of state temples supported by the imperial house was approved. State temples were divided into three groups: the first included seven sanctuaries directly related to the gods of the imperial dynasty, the second - seven temples that are of the greatest importance from the point of view of history and mythology, the third - eight temples of the most influential clan and local gods ...
Intellectually, from the point of view of a philosophical understanding of the world, theoretical abstract constructions, Shintoism, like religious Taoism in China, was insufficient for a vigorously developing society. It is not surprising, therefore, that Buddhism, which penetrated from the mainland to Japan, quickly took a leading position in the spiritual culture of the country.
From the VI century. the widespread introduction of Buddhism into all spheres of public life began, which led at first to a rivalry between Shinto and Buddhism for the right to be the spiritual basis of Japanese statehood. The result of this process was the folding by the VIII century. syncretic Shinto - Buddhist forms of collective consciousness, when the religious systems of Shinto and Buddhism served the different needs of society and the individual.
The most accurate functional "division of labor" between Buddhism and Shinto in the 6th-7th centuries. defined by the American scientist R. Miller: “Buddhism served the spiritual and aesthetic needs of the era, and traditional mythological ideas and ideas about ancestors served as a support for the social structure, as well as a means of determining status differences within this structure” 11 Sila-Novitskaya T.G. The Cult of the Emperor in Japan: Myths, History, Doctrines, Politics. - M .: Science. Main edition of oriental literature, 1990, p. 4.
The unification of Shintoism into a single national religion took place under the strong influence of Buddhism, which penetrated Japan in the 6th-7th centuries. Since Buddhism was very popular among the Japanese aristocracy, everything was done to prevent inter-religious conflicts. At first, the kami were declared patrons of Buddhism, later some kami were associated with Buddhist saints. Ultimately, the idea was that kami, like humans, may need salvation, which is achieved in accordance with Buddhist canons.
Buddhism spread in Japan in the form of Mahayana and did a lot to establish and consolidate a developed culture and statehood there. Bringing with him not only Indian philosophical thought and Buddhist metaphysics, but also the traditions of Chinese civilization (Buddhism came mainly through China), the Buddha's teachings contributed to the formation in Japan of an administrative and bureaucratic hierarchy and some fundamental foundations of the system of ethics and law. It is noteworthy that in this area there was no emphasis, as it was in China, on the unconditional authority of the wisdom of the ancients and on the insignificance of the individual before the opinion and tradition of the collective as a whole. On the contrary, already in the “Law of 17 Articles”, published in 604, the tenth article was contained, from which it was clear that each person can have their own opinions and beliefs, ideas about the right and the wise, although this should still be done, in accordance with the will of the majority. In this article, as if in embryo, one can see important differences that predetermined - along with a number of other factors - a different internal structure and different political destinies of Japan in comparison with China, to whose civilization it owes so much 11 Vasiliev L.S. History of the religions of the East Moscow "Higher school" 1983, p. 328.
In other words, within the framework of ancient Japanese civilization, Buddhist norms, even those subjected to Sinification and Confucianization, turned out to be stronger, and they played a significant role in the formation of the foundations of Japanese culture. Already from the VIII century. the influence of Buddhism became decisive in the political life of the country, which was facilitated by the institution of the Inca, according to which the emperor, during his lifetime, was obliged to abdicate in favor of the heir and, becoming a monk, to rule the country as regent. The number of Buddhist temples grew rapidly: in 623 they became, according to the Nihonga Chronicle, 46. At the end of the 7th century. a special decree was issued on the installation of altars and images of Buddhas in all official institutions. In the middle of the VIII century. It was decided to build a giant Todaiji temple in the capital of Nara, with the 16-meter figure of Vairochana Buddha taking center stage in the temple, gold for which was collected throughout Japan. Buddhist temples began to number in the thousands. In Japan, many schools-sects of Buddhism found their second home, including those that did not survive or fell into decay on the mainland.
The most famous new sect of Japanese Buddhism was Zen. Zen Buddhism is the same Japanese reaction to Indian Buddhism and the manifestation of the Japanese national spirit in Buddhism, as its prototype, Ch'an Buddhism is the personification of everything Chinese in Buddhism. Zen entered Japan from China at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. in both of its modifications, northern and southern. However, the most developed was the southern school, a passionate preacher of the ideas of which, Dogen, made some significant changes in its principles. Thus, Dogen, in contrast to the Chinese tradition of the southern branch of Ch'an, respected the authority of the Buddha, the sutras and his teacher.
This innovation of Dogen played an important role in the further destinies of the Zen sect in Japan. It remained esoteric, like Ch'an in China. However, its possibilities and influence in Japan turned out to be immeasurably wider. First, the recognition of the authority of the teacher contributed to the consolidation of certain traditions. The Inca institution was strengthened, which meant the recognition by the master-teacher that the student had attained enlightenment, satori. Thus, the master, as it were, authorized the student's right to inherit the authority of the teacher, the traditions of his school. Secondly, Zen monastery schools have become very popular. The severity and cruelty of upbringing, stick discipline, psychotechnics and self-control, the desire to teach a person to persistently achieve a goal and be ready for everything for it - this in the Zen education system impressed the samurai estate with its cult of the sword and readiness to die for the master. Naturally, therefore, that Zen Buddhism was eagerly patronized by the shoguns.
Zen Buddhism, with its principles and norms, largely determined the code of samurai honor, the "way of the warrior" (bushido). Courage and loyalty, a heightened sense of dignity and honor (not the “face” of an educated Chinese Confucian, but precisely the honor of a warrior-knight, the insult of which can only be washed off with blood), the cult of suicide in the name of honor and duty (not only boys in schools, but also girls from samurai families were specially trained in this art: boys - to do hara-kiri, girls - to be stabbed with a dagger), the philosophy of fatalism combined with fanatical devotion to the patron, as well as the confidence that the glorious name of the valiantly fallen will shine and be revered by generations in the centuries - all this together taken, included in the concept of "bushido" and had a huge impact on the Japanese national character, was largely brought up by Japanese Zen Buddhism.
The fanaticism and readiness for self-sacrifice, brought up in the samurai by Zen Buddhism, differed from the fanaticism of the warriors of Islam, who went to their death in the name of faith, expecting a reward for it in the next world. Neither in Shintoism, nor in Buddhism, the concept of eternal bliss in the next world did not exist. And in general, the spiritual orientation of Japanese culture, like that of Chinese, which had a considerable influence on it in this sense, was this-sided. The samurai who went to death dreamed not about the afterlife bliss and life after death, but about a worthy death and a high place in the memory of the living. This attitude to death as a natural end, as the natural fate of everyone, to the normal change of one state to another (with the prospect of returning to the old state of life, but already in a new birth) was to a large extent stimulated by Buddhism, including Zen Buddhism 11 Vasiliev L .WITH. History of the religions of the East Moscow "Higher school" 1983, p. 332-333.
Shinto absorbs many of the ideas of Buddhism. On the territory of Shinto temple complexes, Buddhist temples began to be placed, where the corresponding rituals were held, Buddhist sutras were read directly in Shinto shrines. Especially the influence of Buddhism began to manifest itself since the 9th century, when Buddhism became the state religion of Japan. During this time, many elements of the cult from Buddhism were transferred to Shinto. Images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas began to appear in Shinto shrines, new holidays began to be celebrated, details of rituals, ritual objects, and architectural features of temples were borrowed. Mixed Shinto-Buddhist teachings, such as Sanno-Shinto and Ryobu-Shinto, appeared, considering the kami as manifestations of the Buddhist Vairochana - "the Buddha that pervades the entire universe."
A very interesting synthesis emerges from the fusion of Shintoism with Buddhism, which penetrated Japan in 538 and received the support of the authorities in the 8th century. At first, the Kami were identified with the Buddhist gods (maiden); later they were raised to a higher level, and they became avatars - the embodiment of Bodhisattvas. In both cults, there is an active exchange between images of Buddhas and Kami. During the shogunate of the Kamakura dynasty (1185-1333), marked by the extraordinary fruitfulness of the thinkers of Japanese Buddhism, Tendai Shinto and Tantric Shintoism (Shingon) appeared. The following centuries will give rise to an opposite trend, striving to purify Shinto (Watarai and Yoshida Shinto) of Buddhist influence. In the Edo period (Tokyo, 1603-1867), Shintoism and Confucianism (Suika Shinto) merged. Although during the Renaissance (Fukko), Motoori Norinaga (17th century) set out to restore Shinto to its original purity and criticized its fusion with Buddhism and Confucianism, ultimately this movement will embrace the Catholic concept of the Trinity and Jesuit theology. If in the Tokugawa era (Edo, 1603-1867) Shinto Buddhism was recognized as the state religion, then in the subsequent Meiji era (after 1868) Shintoism in its pure form becomes the official religion 11 Eliade M., Culiano I. Dictionary of religions, rituals and beliefs. M .: "Rudomino", St. Petersburg: "University book", 1997, p. 111.
Thus, a kind of syncretism of religions developed in Japan - the majority of Japanese considered themselves adherents of both Shintoism and Buddhism, and in religious ideas and rituals it was difficult to separate one religion from another. In conclusion, I will add that in modern Japan, the share of the population simultaneously professing two religions - Buddhism and Shinto, is 84%.
One more important factor should be noted - Confucianism also had a certain impact on the religion of Japan. Japanese culture differs from Sino-Confucian culture in one more aspect. If in China conformism almost absolutely prevailed, having only weak outlets in the form of Taoism and Buddhism, then in Japan it was much weaker. The individual was supposed to have the right to decide, determine and be loyal to the idea and the patron that he himself had chosen. True, the choice was usually made only once - this was followed by the practice of loyalty to the grave and the willingness to die for an idea or a master. But the right to choose (albeit one-time, not for everyone and not always!), In principle, still existed.
Closer to the Sino-Confucian Japanese tradition in the sphere of the cult of ancestors and the family tree. Of course, Japan did not know the depth of this cult, which was in China. However, the valor and dignity cultivated among the samurai were largely associated with their origin (a trait that brings samurai closer to European chivalry than to the Chinese norms of the cult of ancestors), and this, in turn, required maintaining the family tree and veneration in accordance with the norms Shintoism of deceased ancestors. And here, of course, the Chinese Confucian tradition made its impact.
This, as well as the general trend of cultural borrowing from China, played a role in the fact that Confucianism developed over time in Japan. But this did not happen immediately.
The history of Confucianism in Japan (as well as Taoism) dates back to the early stage of development of Japanese civilization and statehood. Migrants from the mainland, Chinese and Koreans, brought with them not only Confucian texts, but also the corresponding norms of Confucian morality and way of life. But Buddhism that prevailed in Japan was rather wary of Confucianism. Confucianism in Japan, however, waited for better times.
Since the 17th century, when the shoguns from the Tokugawa clan (1603-1867) managed to suppress the decentralizing tendencies of the Japanese feudal lords and with an iron hand re-unite the country under their rule, when the Buddhist church led by them turned into a lower administrative base for keeping the population in obedience, a favorable situation developed for the intensive penetration of Confucianism into Japan. The shoguns hoped that the reformed Zhu Xi neo-Confucianism would be able to give them an additional opportunity to strengthen their power. The Confucian ideals of loyalty to those in power, respect for the elders, and unwavering maintenance of the status quo seemed appropriate. Through the efforts of a number of preachers, Zhuxian neo-Confucianism began to spread rapidly in Japan. The methods of some of the preachers are noteworthy. Interesting in this regard, for example, Yamazaki Ansai (1618-1682). He preached the ideas of Confucianism, trying to combine the commandments of Confucius and Mencius with the spirit of samurai patriotism and with the norms of ancient Shintoism. Yamazaki Ansai, like other Japanese Confucians, strove to combine Confucian principles with Shinto norms. He put forward a theory according to which whether neo-Confucian (is it not old Confucius, that is, ceremonies, ritual, but otherwise, neo-Confucian - a great principle, universal order) - this is the divine power of nature, which manifests itself through all traditional " eight million ”Shinto kami led by the great Amaterasu. The impetus towards the rapprochement of neo-Confucianism with Shintoism was in the conditions of the 18th-19th centuries. considerable political meaning. The cult of antiquity and the great ideals of the past, the study of the history of Japan, the origins of its culture contributed to a kind of revival of Shintoism, the strengthening of its norms in all classes, and above all in samurai with its penchant for the ideas of the greatness of ancestors and devotion to the master. Gradually, this cult, reworked through the prism of the Confucian attitude to the ruler, to the sovereign, increasingly began to relate specifically to the Japanese emperor - the direct descendant of the great Amaterasu, the only legitimate ruler of Japan 11 Vasiliev L.S. History of the religions of the East Moscow "Higher school" 1983, p. 335-338.
japan middle ages political art
Syncretism is a very broad concept, the definition of which can be found in various fields of science. In a general sense, syncretism means fusion, confusion, eclecticism. It is better to define this concept in accordance with the specific area in which it is applied. In art, syncretism manifests itself in the fusion of incomparable various images, initial components into some kind of phenomenon.
In philosophy, syncretism means a combination of several dissimilar conflicting theories and principles into one system, but without combining them, this is a kind of eclecticism that ignores differences in heterogeneous principles.
In religion, syncretism is fusion of completely different religious trends, creeds and cult trends.
Syncretism in linguistics denotes the unification in a single form of several designations, distributed between different forms in relation to the earlier stages of the history of the development of the language, these forms are polysemantic, multifunctional. There is also the concept of cumulation of grammatical meanings, which is used in the same sense with the concept of syncretism in linguistics and expresses several grammes of different grammatical categories for one indivisible indicator.
Syncretism in Psychology denotes the indivisibility of mental processes in the early period of the child's development. It is manifested by the tendency of children's thinking to combine various phenomena with each other, without sufficient grounds for this. Many researchers have noted this phenomenon in the psychology of a child, in particular, his perception in the inseparability of the sensory image of an object, without isolating and correlating internal connections and elements. The child, who takes the connection of impressions for the connection of objects, unconsciously transfers the meaning of the word to only externally connected things. By selecting syncretic connections in subsequent practice that will correspond to reality, the child restores the real meaning of words for himself.
Syncretism in cultural studies means the absence of differences in cultural phenomena.
Syncretism of primitive culture characterized by the fusion of art, cognitive activity, magic. Also syncretism in cultural studies is an external mixing of the diversity of cultural components, which is characterized by a high level of eclecticism and manifestation in different planes of culture.
Syncretism of primitive culture is defined in three directions. First, syncretism, as the unity of man and nature. Secondly, it manifests itself as the indivisibility of the spiritual, material and artistic systems of culture. Third, the manifestation of the primitive syncretism of culture is an artistic activity inextricably intertwined with material and production processes.
Syncretism in philosophy
In philosophy, syncretism is an essential characteristic that combines various philosophical trends in one system, but without combining them, and this differs from eclecticism. Although the concept of syncretism is close to it, eclecticism, with the help of criticism, separates the basic principles from different systems and connects them into a single totality.
Syncretism, unlike eclecticism, connects heterogeneous principles, but their true unification never happens, because there is no need to connect them in internal unity with contradictions to each other.
Syncretism was most clearly expressed in Alexandrian philosophy, in particular Philo of the Jews and among other philosophers, no less, who were engaged in trying to connect Greek philosophy and Eastern philosophical trends. The same trend was present in the adherents of Gnosticism.
Religious-philosophical syncretism combines occult, mystical, spiritualistic and other trends that are unlike traditional religious trends. Such concepts combine components arising from different religions along with extra-scientific and scientific knowledge. Such a religious-philosophical syncretism can be observed in such directions as Gnosticism, Alexandrian philosophy, theosophy, in particular Blavatsky's theosophy, the anthroposophy of the Agni-Yoga of the Roerichs or Rudolf Steiner. Based on syncretic religious-philosophical teachings, religious movements began to appear. For example, based on Blavatsky's theosophy, more than a hundred esoteric religious movements have emerged.
Syncretism is a principle by which it is determined how a person relates to the world around him, to himself, how he relates to reproduced activity. It is an essential characteristic of the non-fragmentation of modalities, it lacks an understanding of how the world differs, various phenomena from logical dual-directed oppositions in a simultaneous complete disorder (that is, the absence of logical prohibitions) in defining phenomena, correlating them with some of the opposition poles based on on principle everything and in everything.
At first glance, this idea seems quite absurd. Because, in fact, how can an arbitrary division of the world into categories of good and evil, for example, be possible, and at the same time assume that such a difference is characteristic of the real world? But such nonsense is possible under one circumstance: if, according to such logic, every phenomenon in the world is a werewolf, that is, it is not what it is, it has the ability to turn into something completely different from what it really is.
This phenomenon occurs when a person thinks according to inversion logic. For example, in various cultures there are such interpretations: a stone can be a totem, a bear - a brother, a living wolf can be killed by a person, a parrot - just a person, a worker - a pest, and so you can continue indefinitely.
Philosophical thinking allows people to think so, since there is a difference in culture, as the accumulated experience of mankind, the people and the experience of the personality itself and the visibility of phenomena. This allows each person every day to interpret every phenomenon that is significant for him in the ideas of culture, provided that such a phenomenon lends itself to comparison, correlation with a certain component of this culture, and its meaning is "played" by each pole of the opposition. The meaning of such a phenomenon is constantly twisted in the head, in a person's activities there is a stable constant awareness and rethinking.
If a person did not have this ability, he would not be a person with philosophical thinking.
Syncretism is an essential characteristic of a social, cultural, philosophically filled life, formed by the desire of a person to connect with the natural and social rhythms that are most important for him. It is not independent, separate from the social whole of human responsibility. It is typical for him to analyze each difference through the seriousness of the danger of excommunication, cutting off the connection with the cosmos, the world around him, with himself and his soul.
Syncretism is revealed as a cause of an uncomfortable feeling of a state, a stimulus for greater activity, focused on initiation and participation, joining a whole. Syncretism does not distinguish between the universal and the individual. A significant single phenomenon is a signal for a person, which evokes in consciousness separate undifferentiated general systems of considerations and ideas. It also understands the gravitation to return, to the past, mainly through the fear of separation from the whole, the orientation towards a return to the totem, the leader, the social order. This is precisely the basis of syncretic humanity, which, if it departed from the philosophy of syncretism, at least did not try, using its foundations, to return to a state based on a priestly-ideological orientation.
Religious syncretism
In religion, this phenomenon means mixing and inorganic combination of heterogeneous religious trends, cult positions and beliefs in the process of interaction of religions in historical development, for example, Shintoism.
Syncretism in religion is a link in combining heterogeneous religious teachings of an anthropological and cosmological nature.
The concept of religious syncretism with its limits of application in religious studies is a subject of discussion. There is a point of view according to which all religions exist as syncretic, because as a result of their development, influences from other religions were revealed. In order to somehow cope with the subject of this discussion, in order to solve it, differentiation is carried out within the concept itself according to various characteristics, taking into account the level of syncretism.
There is also a controversial question as to whether the term "religious syncretism" and the concept of "dual faith" (the combination of basic faith and components from other beliefs) are synonymous. In the modern world, this concept is treated both negatively and positively, depending on the direction in which it is spoken about in the religious or scientific tradition.
Orthodox theologians consider religious syncretism to be an external, artificial and inorganic combination of the unconnected, without a clear and precise description of spiritual grounds, they consider it inconsistent with respect to the content of the fragments involved.
Publicists sometimes use the term "religious syncretism" in the sense of religious omnivorousness.
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that it is necessary to make a distinction between the concept of religious syncretism and religious pluralism, which implies the calm coexistence or separation of areas of influence and influence between some separate confessions or several religions without merging them.
Throughout the long history of religion, there has been such a general cultural phenomenon as religious syncretism. From the most primitive era to the modern modern religious movements. It is expressed in the combination of heterogeneous doctrinal teachings and cult positions from various religious trends, defining the main provisions of the doctrines.
Historically, in the Hellenistic religions, syncretism was very widespread in the Inca state, while the incorporation of the gods in the conquered lands into their own religious worship was supported even at the level of public policy.
During the early Middle Ages, the direction of Manichaeism became widespread, which subsequently exerted an influence on the widespread medieval syncretic heresy.
During the modern era, a mass of different syncretic religious trends began to appear. Of those that recently emerged and became widespread religious trends, which are characterized by religious syncretism.
Chinese religious syncretism has its origins in ancient history. The millennial war between the adherents of Confucianism, religious Taoism and Buddhism demonstrates that none of these teachings are capable of becoming the only one in order to oust the competitive directions from this specific sphere. And none of these currents at the same time were monotheistic directed religions, respectively, this implied the possibility of a compromise.
Thus, Chinese religious syncretism took shape around the end of the Tang era. This is a unique direction that unites all religious teachings, and in which sociology and political morality were proposed for Confucianism, for Taoism - everyday, everyday needs that excite people for Buddhism, which absorbed the heritage and experience from ancient Taoist philosophy, remained the doctrine of the meaning and issues of life, besides this, Buddhism was concerned with consoling the oppressed and justifying the world. Although the jurors of the three philosophical and religious movements continued to quarrel among themselves, in the minds of ordinary believers, all three got along quite freely with their pantheons. The same syncretic system of beliefs developed in other countries with a characteristic Chinese cultural sphere, only Taoism was replaced by local pagan beliefs, for example, in Japan - it was Shintoism.
borrowing by one religion of elements of other religions or a combination of components of different religions in a new religion. system. Borrowings from other cults and doctrinal systems are characteristic of all religions throughout the history of mankind. Mn. modern Researchers consider Christ to be a syncretic religion, a cut formed in the first centuries A.D. NS. in the Roman Empire, combining elements of Egyptian and Greek. mysteries and dialectical Hellenic philosophy in the interpretation of the Alexandrian school of the Neoplatonists, the esoteric teachings of the East, the principles of Jewish Messianic historicism and Jewish apocalypticism in the interpretation of the first Christ. schools of the 1st and 2nd centuries and Christ proper. mythology based on the allegorical interpretation of the Bible by Philo of Alexandria.
In Russia, Christianization has been going on for centuries under the sign of the preservation of elements of folk ("pagan") beliefs, cults and traditions. So, the abilities of Perun were transferred by the popular consciousness to the prophet Elijah, with whom the image of Ilya Muromets later merged; the female deity Makosh began to be called St. Paraskeva while maintaining their purpose; miraculous icons replaced the local patron gods.
Today S. p. in Russia can be divided into: 1) preserved to this day from the past and 2) new, which appeared in the USSR and in the Russian Federation.
1) Certain folk festivals in Russia were renamed to Christ. manners, keeping the previous meaning: "honey spas" (consecration of honey and cereals) has been preserved in its original meaning. Christ was superimposed on the "apple savior" while maintaining the ritual of consecration of apples, which symbolizes the transformation of nature. the image "Transfiguration of the God-Man". The feast of the "Protection of the Mother of God" supplanted the "Protection of the God Kryshen" (the girls sang: "Kryshen, Kryshen, cover the ground with snow, and me with a bridegroom!"), Which was celebrated on that day (October 1 st. Art.) In Russia. The significance of this holiday is associated with the idea of the patronage of Heaven throughout the Russian land. The popular celebration of the winter solstice Maslenitsa also survived without Christ. interpretations (with mummers' festivities and symbols of the sun god).
Attempts are now being made to revive certain syncretic cults and mythical images. So, for example, the image of a warrior slaying a dragon, and ascending to the cult of the Zoroastrian god Mithra, in Russia in the 14th century. was rethought: the image of the martyr George appeared in the arms of Moscow and Russia. Now the authorities are trying to introduce the image of St. George the Victorious into the public consciousness as a symbol of the "new Russia".
2) In the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, new forms of S. p. associated either with the desire of traditional religions to adapt to modern. sociocultural realities, or with the desire of new religions to preserve their influence at the expense of primordial traditions. Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church was forced to agree with the celebration of the New Year, despite the fact that it falls on the Nativity Fast. Under the conditions of the ban on the wide celebration of Easter, the revival of the pre-Christ of the people took place. the practice of “rejoicing” together with ancestors at the graves of relatives, which was strictly forbidden by Orthodoxy. the church (as a "compromise", the church began to celebrate a special holiday with the pagan name "Radonitsa" on the 9th day after Easter).
Since the XVI century. (with the creation of the Kazan diocese) the Christianization of the Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, Chuvash began, but it was slow and difficult, the population continued to worship pagan deities, the forced introduction of Orthodoxy aroused his protest. In the XVII century. only a few of the Mari were baptized, while most of them were forcibly baptized in the 18th century, and in order to avoid a return to traditional beliefs, special missionaries were sent to their places of residence, including representatives of the people.
To attract the local population to Orthodoxy, the baptized were given certain privileges in paying taxes, they were exempted from recruiting, presented with clothes and shoes, and money. Part of the population, seduced by benefits and gifts, was baptized, but as soon as the priests and bailiffs left, the newly baptized took off their crosses and continued to pray to their gods.
Orthodox priests also resorted to physical measures of pressure on the pagans: rushing into the village with the soldiers, they arrested those who did not want to be baptized, held them in shackles, beat them, tied them to pillars, baptized them, and put crosses on their necks.
Islam began to spread and take root in the Volga region; some of the Chuvash and Mari adopted this religion in the 9th – 12th centuries. Orthodox preachers tried to convert the Muslim population to Orthodoxy. As a result, residents of entire villages who had converted to Orthodoxy returned to mosques after a while, participated in religious Islamic holidays, and even burned churches.
It took several centuries to convert former Muslims to Christianity; not only sermons were used, but also physical measures of influence, coercion, arson of mosques were not uncommon.
Representatives of the Orthodox Church persecuted everyday contacts of Russian baptized peasants with unbaptized Tatars and Mordovians, declaring them sinful. However, the most far-sighted ministers of the cult suggested encouraging the marriages of Mordovians, Mari, Chuvashes and other ethnic groups with Russians, in order to thus strengthen the process of converting to Orthodoxy. At the same time, the governors were advised not to allow mixed marriages with Muslims - Tatars and Bashkirs - but the prohibitions were often violated.
Despite the forced baptism, the Mari, for example, continued to observe traditional cults, and in the middle of the 19th century. unfolded their mass movement for a return to the old faith, covering many provinces. It was obvious that coercive measures were not effective enough in the Christianization of the peoples of the Volga region. Then the activity of missionaries began, one of the directions of which was the use of the native language of the local population in church missionary literature. In Kazan in 1867 a missionary society "The Brotherhood of Saint Guriy" was opened (Gury was the first missionary in the Volga region, XVI century), and a commission created under it under the leadership of N.I. literature for the Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts, Tatars. Primer books and other educational literature in the languages of the peoples of the region were created. But in the future, all teaching should have been conducted in Russian, while non-Russians should be used in schools, as the Minister of Public Education D.A. Tolstoy wrote, "as necessary, as a tool in the initial training and development of foreigners", since otherwise the peoples would insist on their own isolation. The ultimate goal of the school education of foreigners, the minister reasoned, should be their Russification; even if they forget about their nationality, there will be nothing wrong with that. True, the process of Russification was hampered by the small number of schools and literate people.
Under the influence of Christianity, the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region developed Orthodox-pagan syncretized ideas, i.e. the population, observing pagan cults, at the same time adhered to Orthodoxy. Icons began to appear at traditional sacrifices among the Mari, chapels were erected near places of prayer, Udmurts invited priests to prayers, i.e. variants of Orthodoxy appeared, adapted to local conditions and characteristics of peoples.
The syncretism of beliefs is especially evident among the Mordovians.
Christian Orthodox saints were mixed in this people with pre-Christian deities. For example, the deity of thunder and rains Purginepaz was identified with the Orthodox Elijah the prophet. Icons appeared in the huts, and prayers were timed to church or Russian folk holidays, which incorporated elements of pre-Christian rituals. So, one of the main Orthodox holidays - Easter (Inechi), the Mordovian peasants reduced to the commemoration of their ancestors and prayers for prosperity. On this day, they went to the cemetery and invited the spirits of their ancestors to take a steam bath, for which they prepared warm water and a broom, kvass, and made beds in the huts, lit candles. In prayers, they asked for abundance in the house, for a good harvest, for the safety and multiplication of livestock, for health for him and people, i.e. about the same thing that was said in the appeals to the pagan deities.
On Orthodox Peter's Day (July), a prayer was held in honor of St. Peter. At the festival, they sacrificed a bull, asked the gods for quiet rain, warm air, protection of bread from cold and hail, cattle from predatory animals, etc. As in pagan prayers, they ate meat, drank home brew and prayed to the east.
On the day of Saints Florus and Laurus (August), a "horse" holiday was celebrated, where they asked the breadwinner Florus-Laurus to save the horses from evil and recklessness, to ensure the harvest, etc. Then they turned to their ancestors with the same prayer, and then dined and drank honey kvass. The priests also came, took the offerings prepared for them and left, and then everything went as described.
As you can see, Russian Orthodoxy was refracted among different peoples in their own way, incorporating pre-Christian beliefs. At the same time, the population assimilated the basic canons of Christianity, observed church attributes: prayers in front of icons, baptism of children, wearing a cross, going to church, etc.
The Christianization of the region was accompanied by the opening of schools, where missionaries intensively taught the local population the Russian language, but the cause of enlightenment was progressing extremely slowly. Even at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. only one out of ten Mari possessed elementary literacy. The lack of scientific knowledge was made up for by mythology. Apparently, for this reason, the Mari today are the only people in Europe who have kept the traditional faith of their ancestors in purity and have not renounced their ancient gods.
Among the Bashkirs, Nogais, Tatars, the Islamic faith was entrenched, which largely determined the nature of the upbringing of children.
συγκρητισμός and denotes union, unification.
The concept "Religious syncretism" is used in relation to different forms of religious life, in the context of which it has different semantic shades. The term "syncretism" was first used by the ancient Greek historian Plutarch to characterize the behavior of the Cretans, who reconcile disagreements in a period of increasing external danger. In relation to archaic religion, religious syncretism means a weak differentiation of religious consciousness and cult practices, their fusion with other aspects of the spiritual and practical life of a person - labor, social structure, etc. At an early stage of history, the religious worldview represented a weakly divided integrity of magical, animistic, theistic and other concepts, which also included the rudiments of ethical, aesthetic, legal, scientific concepts and practical knowledge. Archaic religious practice combined magical manipulations and rudiments of fine, dance, musical art, and verbal creativity. As the components of this worldview and cult syncretic integrity develop, they acquire a qualitative definiteness and stand out for further existence either as part of a clearly structured religious system (for example, in the form of theology, demonology, anthropology) or as independent cultural phenomena (for example ., in the form of ethics, law, theatrical art, etc.). Outside of the religious archaic, religious syncretism means the combination of religiously alien elements into one whole. Such a combination - syncretization - is a typical process of development of almost all religions, which in the course of evolution integrated ideas and elements of rituals borrowed from coexisting beliefs and cults into their initial content. In the ancient world, religious syncretism was especially inherent, for example, in the religion of the Romans, within which syncretization (inclusion of other ethnic gods into the Roman pantheon, etc.) was part of the official religious policy. Although monotheistic religions strove to observe dogma and cult in an unalloyed state, however, neither Judaism, nor Christianity, nor Islam, already at the stage of formation, avoided the incorporation of religiously alien phenomena into their composition. The entire subsequent history of these religions was associated with the struggle of two opposite tendencies - the borrowing of foreign religious elements and attempts to free themselves from them. In Russia, religious syncretism was primarily a consequence of the interaction of Orthodoxy and the ancient religion of the Slavs. Russian Orthodoxy itself as a kind ethnoreligious type is largely the result of religious syncretism. In Russia, Christianization has been going on for centuries under the sign of the preservation of elements of folk (pagan) beliefs, cults and traditions. So, the abilities of Perun were transferred by the popular consciousness to the prophet Elijah, with whom the image of Ilya Muromets later merged; the female deity Makosh began to be called St. Paraskeva while maintaining their purpose; miraculous icons replaced the local patron gods. Some folk festivals in Russia were renamed in the Christian manner, retaining the previous meaning: "honey spas" (consecration of honey and cereals) has been preserved in its original meaning. The Christian image “The Transfiguration of the God-Man” was superimposed on the “apple savior” while preserving the ritual of consecration of apples, symbolizing the transformation of nature. The feast of the "Protection of the Mother of God" supplanted the "Protection of the God Kryshen" (the girls sang: "Kryshen, Kryshen, cover the ground with snow, and me with a bridegroom!"), Which was celebrated on that day (October 1 st. Art.) In Russia. The significance of this holiday is associated with the idea of the patronage of Heaven throughout the Russian land. The Slavic celebration of the winter solstice Maslenitsa has also survived without a Christian interpretation (with mummers' festivities and symbols of the sun god).
In the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, new forms of religious syncretism are associated either with the desire of traditional religions to adapt to modern sociocultural realities, or with the desire of new religions to preserve their influence at the expense of primordial traditions. Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church was forced to agree with the celebration of the New Year, despite the fact that it falls on the Nativity Fast. In the context of the ban on the wide celebration of Easter, the popular pre-Christian practice of “rejoicing” was revived together with the ancestors at the graves of relatives, which was categorically prohibited by the Orthodox Church (as a “compromise”, the church began to celebrate a special holiday with the pagan name “Radonitsa” on the 9th day after Easter).
At a later stage in history, in the 19th and 20th centuries, religious systems appeared, for which religious syncretism is the fundamental principle. These include, for example, Bahaism, Caodaism in which religious syncretism acts as a means of overcoming interfaith dissent and movement towards a universal religion.
Sources:
- Kravchuk L. A . Syncretic religious teachings: history and modernity // Religious studies. - 2002. - No. 4. - P. 141-145.
- Pocheptsov S.S. Ph.D. in Philosophy Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy and Theology, National Research University "BelSU" Russia, Belgorod, "Economy and Society" No4 (13) 2014.
- Eliade M. History of Faith and Religious Ideas: from Gautam Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity. M., 2008.512 p.
