ALTE ZEITEN, EBENSO VIELE GESCHICHTEN RUSSISCHE APOKRYPHEN UND GEISTLICHE VOLKSGESÄNGE AM SCHNITTPUNKT VON URALTEN KULTUREN
ANCIENT TIMES AND THEIR MANY STORIES. RUSSIAN APOCRYPHA AND RELIGIOUS FOLK SONGS AT THE INTERSECTION OF ANCIENT CULTURES

Summary/Abstract: Ancient Times and Their Many Stories. Russian Apocrypha and Religious Folk Songs at the Intersection of Ancient Cultures.The Kiev-centred Old Russian State converted to Christianity in 988– 989. The conversion of eastern Slavs did not happen in a moment however; rather it took place gradually and was the effect of a long and complex process of development. Christianity started to take root in Kiev Rus well before the 10th century. It is known that at the beginning of his reign Prince Vladimir Sviatoslavich I was dedicated to Pagan creed and even tried reforming it in order to consolidate the unity of his state. Christianization, the so called ‘state christening’ was confined to towns first, as testified in a 11th century report by Ilarion, the first Russian speaking Metropolitan of Kiev: ‘The sound of the apostolic trumpet and the Gospel filled all the towns…’ The population of villages became intrinsically and spiritually truly Christian only later, in the 15th–17th centuries. The Pagan-Christian religious syncretism of the period is often called ‘double faith’, which is not the best term to describe a spirit and consciousness in the process of Christianization. In the name of its elastic mission strategy the clergy had significant initiatives contributing to Pagan-Christian syncretism. This unique consciousness and spirituality created its own ideal of beauty and determined the characteristic features of the culture of Russia before the Mongol invasion.

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