E-mail: kirilla2011@gmail.com Tel.: +7 (495) 938-00-19
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Doctor in History, Leading researcher, Department of the Russian People, N. N. Miklukho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences
The article is published in accordance with the research plan of the N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
This article examines some controversial aspects of scholarly terminology concerning the phenomenon of so-called “folk” or “popular Orthodoxy”. Particular attention is paid to a comparative analysis of the superstitious, magical rituals of unchurched yet baptized society and traditional forms of church piety. The aim of the work is to consider the problem of Russian anti-Orthodox spirituality from an Orthodox point of view, although the harmfulness of the anti-Christian “spirituality” of extra-church mysticism and ritualism from the point of view of the church is discussed separately. The author comes to the conclusion that such terms as “folkloric, everyday, or folk Orthodoxy” presuppose not the people’s “dual faith,” but superstitious religious ideas that are outside of church life.
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