What did the Slavs celebrate instead of baptism? Vedic Orthodoxy as a systemic worldview and the basis of Slavic spirituality

The Russian state in the 10th century was young, there were fewer cities than in Byzantium or in the German lands. The Slavs of the 10th century lived in close contact with nature, so it is not surprising that they deified natural phenomena and tried to control them with the help of rituals.

How do scientists learn about Slavic beliefs?

Nicholas Roerich. Idols. Pagan Rus' (fragment). 1910

There is little accurate information about the deities and rituals of the Slavs: writing appeared in Rus' only in the 9th century and did not spread immediately. So far, not a single ancient Russian document of that time has been found that would describe the beliefs of the ancient Slavs. Most of the ancient birch bark letters are dedicated to trade: these are private letters, bills; Church texts and folklore works are much less common. Almost all the conclusions of historians are based on the testimony of the Byzantines, Germans and other “guests” of Rus', as well as on a number of chronicle sources, which sometimes mention rituals. During archaeological excavations, idols and ritual objects are often found, but how to decipher them without textual descriptions? Scientists can only make cautious assumptions.

The generally accepted point of view about the religion of the Slavs

Ivan Sokolov. The night before Ivan Kupala (fragment). 1856

The pantheon of Slavic deities was numerous and complex. In addition to a huge number of supernatural creatures of a lower order (werewolves, ghouls, spirits), the Slavs believed in higher gods who ruled the universe. The supreme deity was Perun - the god of thunder, patron of warriors. The god of cattle breeding and the afterlife Veles, the god of heaven Stribog, the female deity Mokosh and others were also revered. The pagan Slavs most likely did not have temples (although wooden buildings may not have survived), and rituals were carried out in the open air, in the forest, at so-called temples. It is difficult to reconstruct these rituals, but pagan customs that have survived to this day help with this.

Slavic customs in modern culture

Zbruch idol. 10th century

Over the centuries-long history of coexistence, Slavic pagan rituals were closely intertwined with Christian rites, although the state fought against the pagans. Some customs have survived to this day: celebrating Maslenitsa, Christmas fortune-telling, offering food to the graves of the dead. On the days of the equinoxes and solstices, the souls of the dead could visit the homes of their descendants. The dead could walk on the earth on another famous holiday - the night of Ivan Kupala, which was celebrated until the beginning of the twentieth century.

The illustration shows the Zbruch Idol, one of the most mysterious monuments of Slavic culture. The three tiers of the idol probably depict the three worlds: underground, human and divine. Krakow Archaeological Museum.

We often follow national traditions without even thinking about their meaning and origin. One of them, according to many Russians, is the custom of baptizing newborns. The sacrament of baptism is a rite of joining the church, and in a good way, such a choice should be made by everyone independently. However, today this procedure is perceived by parents as an integral part of the process of nurturing and raising a new person.

In modern Russia, the mass fashion for christenings arose immediately after the dismantling of the socialist system, when the whole country suddenly rushed into the “bosom of their native church” to atone for what they had done during the years of atheism. Yesterday's members of the Communist Party, destroyers of churches and critics of religion, taking off their caps and hats, lined up at the icons with candles in their hands. As if having broken free from a chain, the citizens of our country began to be baptized and introduce their children to religion in the same way. As a result of this, the vast majority of modern youth were baptized at an unconscious age, without asking their own opinion. It would seem that parents often make choices for their child, for example, what language to speak, what vaccinations to get, and what kindergarten to go to, but here, in my opinion, there is a very important difference: choosing vital necessities is one thing, and another is voluntarily accepted.

In most cases, the main ideologists of the baptism of newborns are people of the older generation. Their main and, as a rule, the only argument “FOR” is the assertion that this ritual is part of Russian traditions. However, if we recall the history of the emergence of Christianity in Rus', it becomes clear that it is rather alien than close to the Russian people. After all, the baptism of Rus', according to official data, was carried out “with fire and sword”, because the indigenous people were very opposed to the imposition of a new foreign religion. During the “Christianization” of the Slavs, about 80% of the country’s population (~9 out of 12 million) were destroyed!!! That is, the “reformers” were forced to slaughter the entire conscious adult part of the citizens and leave alive only “youths who do not remember their fathers and grandfathers.” During the introduction of the Christian religion, the ancient shrines of the Slavs were destroyed: temples, cultural monuments, pagan idols and temples were burned. And all these are historical facts studied as part of the school curriculum.

In addition, it turns out that even the very concept of “Russian Orthodox Church" - not legitimate, because Scientifically, this “organization” is called the “Roman Canonical Church of the Byzantine sense.”

Christian "holy scripture" was created from Jewish texts. " Old Testament“The Bible - an abbreviated edition of the Torah (the main book of the Jewish religion), is simply teeming with a mass of facts of genocide and other brutal crimes committed both by the characters themselves and by the Deity they worship (referred to as Yahweh, Jehovah, Sabbaoth, Elohim). Take, for example, the act of Noah - the great “righteous man” - the only one who, according to God, was worthy of salvation during the Great Flood. This “man” did not find anything better than to burn at the stake a good half of the living creatures he saved in gratitude to the “All-Good”!!!

The second part of the Bible, the so-called. " New Testament”, consists of 4 gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John), written after the death of Christ. There are more than a dozen apocryphal gospels (from Peter, Mary, Nicodemus, Philip, etc.), which, however, were not included in the canonical code by the repeatedly held Ecumenical Councils (meetings of representatives christian church). There are quite a lot of discrepancies in these texts with the canonical versions. For example, in the “Gospel of Judas” (this also exists, but its authenticity is questioned by the official church), the fact of betrayal is presented as the initiative of Christ himself, necessary for him to fulfill the mission with which he was sent to Earth.

And in general, don’t you think it’s strange to join the Russian tradition of belief in the Jewish God?

If we talk about church rituals and customs, then they, for the most part, are of pagan origin and were integrated into the Christian cult to speed up the process of replacing previous beliefs among enslaved peoples.

For example, the tradition of celebrating Easter was taken from the cult of Osiris. According to Egyptian myth, the goddess Isis, after his tragic death, was able to collect all the pieces of her betrothed’s body scattered throughout Egypt, with the exception of one very intimate part. Then she sculpted this organ herself, but its functioning required regular sacrifice, which was later replaced by the exchange of eggs and cylindrical cakes with a white top.

Ask any believer - does he know what he is celebrating? Most likely, in response you will hear a denial and an indication that this, they say, is also a “good tradition.”

But here is another opinion about the same custom, it is taken from the well-known Internet encyclopedia:
“The arrival of spring was considered the second big holiday among the Tengrians. According to a tradition whose roots go back to India, it was celebrated on March 25th. It is known that the Tengrians baked Easter cakes for this day. Kulich personified the masculine principle. In India and many other countries, its symbol was the phallus. The Tengrian Easter cake was given the appropriate shape, and two colored eggs were placed next to it. This already shows a connection with the phallistic agricultural cults of India, but the connection of this custom with the Easter traditions of Christianity is just as obvious. Only Tengri customs are more ancient.” A similar pagan holiday of welcoming spring is characteristic of almost all pagan beliefs known to science: March 25 was celebrated by the Egyptians as the day of the goddess Isis (the Babylonians - Ishtar, the Greeks - Cybele, the Canaanites - Astart) and her beloved Adonis, Attis. The fact of the pagan basis of the holiday is not denied even by the Orthodox.”

The rite of baptism is not a tradition even from a theological point of view, because There are no instructions or instructions from God for people on this topic in the Bible. If you really follow religious customs, then it is necessary to undergo circumcision, because... it is this operation, according to the text of scripture, that is a mandatory covenant for all Christians.

The Christian God commanded circumcision to Abraham to all his male household members with the words:

“This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and you and your descendants after you [in their generations]: All your males shall be circumcised; circumcise your foreskin: and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Every male child among you throughout your generations shall be circumcised eight days from birth, and My covenant shall be an everlasting covenant upon your body. But the uncircumcised male who does not circumcise his foreskin [on the eighth day], that soul shall be cut off from among his people, for he has broken My covenant.”

(Genesis 17:10-14)

But this custom is also taken from paganism, only there it has a completely different purpose. Among some ancient peoples, circumcision served as a religious rite, “a tribute to a cruel and evil deity, to whom it is necessary to sacrifice a part in order to save the whole, to circumcise a child in order to save his life.” Thus, it is possible that circumcision was originally intended to replace the pagan rite of human sacrifice.

But let's get back to baptism...

When performing the ceremony, not only parents, but also witnesses, called “godparents,” must be present. All four must be the guarantors of the future Christian education of the child. Isn't it true that the procedure is almost the same as in Sberbank when receiving a loan?

Of course, one could accept baptism as, for example, a family tradition, if it at least did not harm the child. But let's take a closer look at the occult and esoteric sides of this action.

During the ceremony, the person being baptized undergoes a symbolic procedure of death and rebirth in the Christian faith with a new name. It is believed that in this way he repeats the earthly path of Christ, dying and resurrecting already cleansed of sins. It is no secret that a name carries a certain program for a person, leaving a certain imprint on his entire life.

What names does the Russian Orthodox Church assign to Russian people during baptism?

Basically these are the names of biblical heroes and canonized saints. About the moral qualities of the participants biblical history not written alone critical book, I will personally add - if an Orthodox believer had thoughtfully read and analyzed the “holy” scripture (the Bible), he would have become not only an atheist, but an ardent opponent of this cult. My opinion is that almost none of his characters are worthy of the title of worthy representative of the human race.

Whom does the church canonize?

For the most part, these are great martyrs and hermits or people who died a tragic death for the ideas of Christianity.
Answer yourself this question: would normal parents want to identify their child’s future with such destinies in some way?
I'm sure not.

So, during the baptism ceremony, the human soul goes through a symbolic death, then, through a special set of actions, the child’s essence is erased from the program that was laid down by the name given to him initially, and a new one is assigned, corresponding to that assigned by the representative of the church.

At the same time, the likelihood that during baptism the child will be given a Slavic name is extremely low. The vast majority of names allowed by the Russian Orthodox Church are Jewish or Greek.

This, apparently, should also emphasize the “Dgevnaya Hussian tradition”?
In addition, it has been scientifically proven that water is a powerful carrier of information and energy. What energy will be accumulated in the font (i.e., the vat into which children are dipped) by the time the child is immersed in it - only God knows. It’s not even worth mentioning about hygiene and temperature shock, which certainly occurs in a newborn’s body, which does not yet have normal thermoregulation, when immersed in cold, albeit blessed, water.

The fact that at the end of the procedure, a lock of hair from the person being baptized in a special way (in the form of a cross) is cut off, but hair is also an excellent carrier of human vital energy, which is often used in dubious magical rituals. There is an opinion that in this way certain channels of energy and information interaction with the outside world are blocked in the newborn.

One can, of course, not take seriously the esoteric aspects of the sacrament in question, but if a believer admits the existence of the divine, then why not assume the probability of such phenomena?
One way or another, the choice always remains with the parents themselves.

Baptism ceremony

Almost all rituals that take place in the church are based on magic. It's important to understand this.

Take for example the ritual of communion: a person is given a loaf of bread - the flesh of Christ and red wine - his blood. And what matters is not what a person drinks and eats. The important thing is that he consciously sets himself up to eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood.

In Voodoo magic - the most terrible of magic - this is the blackest rite: to eat the flesh of your defeated enemy and drink his blood in order to make his essence your slave forever.

The rite of communion uses the principle of identification. Identification means the transfer of astral-mental properties from one entity to another. That is, a person, identifying himself with Christ, takes on the properties of an already deceased person, thereby joining the world of the dead.

Baptism is a rite of blocking the development of a person’s essence, a rite of connecting the next donor to the egregor of the Orthodox Church.

This is a way to make a person blind so that he never understands what is happening in his life and in the world around him.

What is baptism?

Let's turn to the brochure “On the Sacrament of Baptism,” published by the Orthodox publishing house “Blagovest” in 2001 and analyze some aspects of this rite.

“...man is naturally born a sinner and guilty before the justice of God.”

The main task of the church is to awaken a sense of guilt in a person, make him pray and repent, and keep him in fear.

If this is successful, a person becomes a “servant of God” (remember: “The servant of God is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit...”), a “slain sheep” and joins the “flock” of Christ’s sheep, and becomes ideologically controlled. Added to this is the energy dependence that is placed on a person during the rite of baptism.

“If a newborn baby must be baptized, then the priest reads a special prayer over his mother on the fortieth day.”

From this, I think, it is already clear that in the rite of baptism there is a connection with the energy of death.

When anointing is done, a person receives the “gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Otherwise, these gifts are called “seals of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” These seals are placed crosswise on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, arms and legs.

Thus, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th energy centers, which are responsible for the integrity of the will, clairvoyance, creativity and human feelings, are closed), and the organs of information perception are also blocked.

Myrrh, by the way, is also used to anoint the dead.

Tonsuring.

Small strands are cut crosswise on the back of the head, at the forehead, on the right and left sides of the head. Then the hair is rolled up in a piece of wax and thrown into the font.

In magic this is called envolting to death!

With the help of this ritual, a person becomes completely attached to the Christian egregor, and at the same time to the egregor of magic.

Churching.

The priest reads the prayer: “Now dost thou let thy servant go, O Master, according to thy word in peace: for my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all men, a light for the revelation of tongues, and the glory of thy people Israel” - everything is clear, comments are unnecessary.

On early stages the rite of baptism had no biblical basis.

Adolf Harnack, a famous theologian, writes about this:

"It is impossible to directly prove that Jesus instituted baptism, since the words quoted by Matthew (28:19) are not the saying of God."

It is also interesting to note that baptism is carried out in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, which was not in any of the early manuscripts.

Adolf Harnack points out that “this trinitarian formula is alien to the mouth of Jesus and did not have the authority in the apostolic era that it should have had if it had come from Jesus himself.”

Another point is the inconstancy of the sacrament of baptism in general Christian theology.

Baptism, as it is now understood, means that the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, enters a person and takes away his sins. If we accept this, then it is not clear how, at a later stage in the life of the same person, Satan drives the Holy Spirit out of him and leads the person into sin through temptation.

The question arises: can the devil tempt a person filled and guarded by the Holy Spirit?

Thus, it is quite clear that baptism is not based at all on the teachings of Jesus.

And let's listen to what eniologists say about the rite of baptism.

Anastasia NATALICH, eniocorrector at the Scientific Research Center "ENIO":

“It is believed that a baptized child is protected by divine power, while an unbaptized one is more vulnerable. The natural desire of parents - to protect their child from all sorts of harm - obliges them to follow traditions. Everyone does this, which means it is “right.”

Suddenly something happens, the thought immediately arises: “Maybe because I’m not baptized, and therefore not protected?” You need to understand that the best protection for a child is the parents. This is how nature works.

Conflicts, misunderstandings, and troubles between father and mother are reflected in the child.

As for the ritual, firstly, to carry it out at an unconscious age is a violation of a person’s will.

Christ was baptized at the age of 33. A person must decide for himself whether he needs it or not.

Secondly, water is involved in the baptismal ritual - a universal information carrier that ideally preserves and structures information. What information does church water carry is another question...

It is not uncommon for a person to be given a middle name at baptism. During correction, eniologists, as a rule, see exactly the child’s middle name.

Another parallel channel opens in a person, giving a serious energy load to fate. The same burden arises if a person is named after someone else.

If a child has two names, he begins to live with two streamers, and the passage of fate is somewhat more complicated."

Any ritual introduces a person into an altered state of awareness. Hypnosis, meditation, breathing exercises, contemplation, defocusing attention, prayer, etc. have the same effects.

But in an altered state of consciousness, a person cannot fully analyze what is happening and there is a very high probability of an alien influence on his consciousness, in other words - zombification.

The cross as a symbol of death

Since the existence of the cross as a symbol in Western culture is directly related to Christianity, let us begin by considering the Christian understanding of this symbol. According to Christians, Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, died on the cross. Moreover, as Christians themselves say, “he is truly dead.” Moreover, he died with great suffering.

Execution on the cross, a common procedure in the Roman Empire, was used as the ultimate punishment. It was considered a shameful execution, and was used against especially dangerous and malicious criminals - Christian evangelists tell us about this. We especially note that according to the same Christian sources, Jesus only died on the cross. Resurrected, i.e. He came to life “in the flesh” in a completely different place, three days later.
It is not difficult to guess that the cross for Christians, as in general for the contemporary inhabitants of the Roman Empire, clearly symbolized death. A shameful, painful death.

In this, and in no other sense, the cross entered the symbolism of Christianity. This fit very well with the spiritual and philosophical foundations of Christianity, for which the main meaning is what will happen to a person after death, which gave Christians the “opportunity” to treat with contempt human life"in the flesh" and led to such monstrous practices as "mortification of the flesh."

It was this symbol, due to its deadly meaning, that was chosen by the soldiers of the Crusades. The presence of a cross on their clothes symbolized the death they brought to all “infidels.” This directly led to the fact that for non-Christian peoples, in particular for Muslims, the cross acquired the same meaning - it became a symbol of death.
For new Russian history, the cross became even more deadly in its meaning during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War, when the symbol of the cross, we note - the same as that of the crusaders, was carried by the most ferocious invaders that Russia has ever encountered.

Another function of the cross, based on its symbolic meaning - the meaning of death, is firmly entrenched in folk life. This is planting a cross on human graves. As you can see, this function directly stems from the meaning of the cross, which in these circumstances symbolizes death here, a dead person lies here.

Now let's look at how, in light of this meaning of the cross, many rituals and ways of using the cross as a symbol look.

In addition to cemeteries, crosses are now installed on Christian temples and churches. A characteristic property of many Christian churches, as you probably know, is the presence in them of human remains - relics. In this sense, a Christian church is a grave, a burial place, which is already enough to place a cross over it - a symbol of death. But there are also living people in the temple. What are they doing there? They are preparing for death. They are trying to atone for sins in order to receive some benefits after death. Even if they do not master the technique of mortification, they attach special importance to the moment of death, since it is a special moment for them - the beginning of existence after death. In a sense, we can say that they are already half dead, and the temple crowned with a cross is for them a kind of common grave that has grown out of the ground - a transition bridge from this world to the next.

Now think about what happens when a person “signs himself with a cross,” or worse, puts this symbol of painful and shameful death on himself. By this, a person shows other people that he is, as it were, dead or striving to die, since earthly life for him is generally an insignificant phenomenon in comparison with the eternity that lies ahead after death, “deadly eternity.”

Think about what happens when a priest baptizes your child, placing a symbol of death on him.

Buildings and people bearing the symbol of the cross, with the help of this symbol, show that they no longer belong to the world of the living, but belong to the world of the dead. In addition, it becomes clear that a religion that has chosen the cross as its main symbol is a cult of death, a religion of the dead, a “dead” religion. Looks beautiful, but rotten inside. Death for a Christian is a meeting with his Jewish god.

Well, he who loves the cross loves the very process of killing and tormenting his god. Only those who do not think about the subject of their faith can wear such crosses. But almost all Christians wear this cross. They wear it and don’t even think about what they are wearing. They don't think about it. Weaned! And you start telling them, they snap back. Faith sits so strongly in their stupid and irresponsible brains. In paganism, by the way, they did not carry dead gods on themselves. In paganism, carrying around images of dead gods was generally unimaginable idiocy. But that's what Christians do. "Wild" paganism received a "worthy" replacement. The priests can interpret this obscurantism with the cross as they please. It comes to the point that Christ dying on the cross is called a “symbol eternal life". Christians will swallow everything that is told or written to them. They will not even ask questions. Interpretation is a way to fool their heads. After all, naive fools will swallow it and will not even think about it.

Despite my purely physical rejection of everything connected with Christianity, I cannot help but admire the iconoclast Christians. This movement arose in the 8th century. They rejected the cross as an instrument of torture and execution. The Paulicans were especially active. They were simply taken and killed by order of Empress Theodora. For Christians, murder is the most universal way of proving one’s rightness in internal Christian disputes.

One can also recall John Wicklier (1320-1388), who, being a Christian, rejected icons and the cult of saints. Followers of John Wiklier called the cross a rotten pillar, worthy of veneration no more than trees in the forest - at least those that are alive. Well, very logical conclusions.

And if Christ were strangled with an iron collar in the East, then all Christians would wear small iron collars around their necks. If Christ were burned in Rome on the gridiron, Christians would wear small bars on chains. If Christ were wheeled somewhere in Italy, then all Christians would wear small wheels. If they cut off his head on a guillotine in France, Christians would wear small guillotines. If they had impaled him in Romania, Christians would have carried small pegs with a “savior” strung on them. Don't doubt it - you would wear it and not think twice about it.

The Christian cross is an instrument of execution. This should never be forgotten. After all, even if you think about it, purely aesthetically: what is so beautiful about the Christian cross? Why do Christians wear this around their necks? scary symbol with a dead person or with a person in his death throes? Think about this, and everything will become crystal clear.

All thick Christian treatises that reveal the “highest meaning” of the symbol of the Christian faith are a complete scam.

The pure cross itself, without any Christ, is a very ancient symbol. Of course, the priests didn’t invent it. It was known thousands of years before Jesus Christ. The cross as such is an ancient pagan symbol of fire and the Sun. The Old Slavonic word "Kres" means "Fire". Christianity only vulgarized and disfigured this symbol, hanging a corpse on it and attaching half of St. Andrew’s oblique cross down along with a sign at the top: “Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews.”

The funny thing is that Jesus Christ was crucified not on the traditional Christian cross, but on two crossbars in the shape of the letter “T”. For example, 6 thousand slaves were crucified on the same crosses along the road from Capua to Rome after the defeat of the army of Spartacus in 71 BC. X.

Vladimir Avdeev writes excellently about the Christian cross in his book “Overcoming Christianity,” chapter 9: “Researchers of Christianity deliberately avoid the fact that the helmets of Achilles and Sennacherib were decorated with crosses. At the head of the Roman legions they wore banners decorated with crosses. Crosses were discovered in the funerary graves of almost all peoples long before people of different continents and races first saw each other.

The Aztecs and Etruscans in different parts of the world, without even suspecting the existence of each other, even 1000 years before the birth of Christ, decorated their temples with them. The cross was a common decoration on the facade of ancient Phoenician cities. When missionaries from Europe first reached the island of Java, the first thing they saw in the native village was decorations in the form of crosses in the huts. And when Schliemann discovered the ruins of the legendary Troy, everywhere he turned his gaze, he saw a whole scattering of amulets with this sign. But these simple facts are completely silent.

The cross is a symbol of impeccable morality among Buddhist rulers. There were also crosses on the necks of the ambassadors who brought tribute to the Egyptian pharaoh 1500 years before the birth of Christ. It has now been established that the cross was sacred among the Germans, Indians, Celts, Persians, and Slavs, when they were all one people and spoke the same language.

During excavations in Punjab, a Buddhist medal was found with the image of the Great Deliverer, who also held a cross in his hand. The cross was used by the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, who were depicted only with this sign in their hands, and this meant that they were the saviors of Egypt. In general, throughout the pagan world, the cross served to designate symbols of victory and power.

Even those that are still well known to modern man pagan gods, like Bacchus and Serapis, were also designated by crosses, as a result of which things sometimes turned into funny oddities. Thus, hastily transforming a pagan temple into a Christian one, heated fanatics sometimes limited themselves to only breaking the “filthy idols” without changing anything else. The church fathers turned a blind eye to this. And in fact: what difference does it make to “true believers in Christ”, the hand of which master drew this cross, the main thing is that it exists, which means it is a symbol for the “flock of God” - a common denominator.

In Mexico, a thousand years later, the same thing happened: the natives enthusiastically surrounded the Christian missionary, willingly accepting the cross. The cross was just a tribal sign of the natives, who found the imported Christ very attractive, designated like their own idol. Hospitable, simple-minded people, they joyfully began to be baptized, offering prayers to their deity. This was naturally interpreted as the "all-pervading power of Christianity."

Everything was surprisingly similar in China, where the missionary Rhodes saw children with their foreheads decorated with a cross from birth, and also thought that everyone here was ready to accept Christianity. Analyzing the data of excavations in the Slavic steppes, it is not difficult for us to guess now why Andrew the First-Called also exclaimed in a state of passion: “The steppes of Scythia are ablaze with faith!”

In the Lama's domain, Buddhists also loved to wear crosses, and in Central Asia, in the gorges of the Himalayan mountains, warriors wore a tattoo of a cross on their faces and missionaries also easily converted them to Christianity. Even blacks in Senegal also decorated themselves with a cross. Vast areas of Asia, Africa and America, which had never heard of Christ, worshiped the cross from ancient times. In the Sahara, in Polynesia, in Patagonia - everywhere the missionaries saw the cross, and everywhere they inspired mass conversions to Christianity."

The pre-Epiphany period of Russian history was a big headache for Soviet historians and ideologists; it was easier to forget about it and not mention it. The problem was that in the late 20s and early 30s of the twentieth century, Soviet scientists in the humanities were able to more or less substantiate the natural “evolution” of the newly minted communist ideology of the “brilliant” Marx - Lenin, and divided the whole history into five known periods :

- from the primitive communal formation to the most progressive and evolutionary - communist.

But the period of Russian history before the adoption of Christianity did not fit into any “standard” pattern - it was neither a primitive communal system, nor a slaveholding system, nor a feudal one. But it was more like a socialist one.

And this was the whole comicality of the situation, and the great desire not to pay scientific attention to this period. This was also the reason for the dissatisfaction with Froyanov and other Soviet scientists when they tried to understand this period of history.

In the period before the baptism of Rus', the Rus undoubtedly had their own state, and at the same time there was no class society, in particular feudal. And the inconvenience was that the “classical” Soviet ideology argued that the feudal class creates the state as an instrument of its political domination and suppression of the peasants. And then there was a problem...

Moreover, judging by the military victories of the Rus over their neighbors, and that itself “Queen of the World” Byzantium paid them tribute, then it turned out that the “original” way of society and state of our ancestors was more effective, harmonious and advantageous compared to other ways and structures of that period among other peoples.

“And here it should be noted that archaeological sites Eastern Slavs recreate society without any obvious traces of wealth stratification. The outstanding researcher of East Slavic antiquities I.I. Lyapushkin emphasized that among the dwellings known to us

“...in the most diverse regions of the forest-steppe zone, it is not possible to indicate those that, in their architectural appearance and in the content of household and household equipment found in them, would stand out for their wealth.

The internal structure of the dwellings and the inventory found in them do not yet allow us to divide the inhabitants of these latter only by occupation - landowners and artisans.”

Another well-known specialist in Slavic-Russian archeology V.V. Sedov writes:

“It is impossible to identify the emergence of economic inequality based on materials from settlements studied by archaeologists. It seems that there are no clear traces of property differentiation of Slavic society in the grave monuments of the 6th-8th centuries.”

All this requires a different understanding of archaeological material.”– notes I.Ya. Froyanov in his study.

That is, in this ancient Russian society, the meaning of life was not the accumulation of wealth and transferring it to children, this was not some kind of ideological or moral value, and this was clearly not welcomed and was contemptuously condemned.

What was valuable? This can be seen from what the Russians swore by, because they swore by the most valuable thing - for example, in the treaty with the Greeks of 907, the Russians swore not with gold, not with their mother and not with their children, but “with their weapons, and Perun, their God, and Volos, the cattle god " Svyatoslav also swore by Perun and Volos in the 971 treaty with Byzantium.

That is, they considered their connection with God, with the Gods, their veneration and their honor and freedom to be the most valuable. In one of the agreements with the Byzantine emperor there is such a fragment of Svetoslav’s oath in case of breaking the oath: “may we be golden like this gold” (golden tablet-stand of a Byzantine scribe - R.K.). Which once again shows the despicable attitude of the Russians towards the golden calf.

And now and then the Slavs, the Rus, stood out and stand out in their overwhelming majority for their goodwill, sincerity, tolerance for other views, what foreigners call “tolerance”.

A striking example of this is even before the baptism of Rus', at the beginning of the 10th century in Rus', when in the Christian world it was out of the question for pagan temples, shrines or idols (idols) to stand on “Christian territory” (with glorious Christian love for all , patience and mercy), - in Kyiv, half a century before the adoption of Christianity, the Cathedral Church was built and a Christian community existed around it.

It is only now that enemy ideologists and their journalists have falsely screamed about the non-existent xenophobia of the Russians, and with all their binoculars and microscopes they are trying to see this xenophobia of theirs, and even more so, to provoke it.

A researcher of Russian history, the German scientist B. Schubart wrote with admiration:

“The Russian person has Christian virtues as permanent national properties. Russians were Christians even before they converted to Christianity” (B. Schubart “Europe and the Soul of the East”).

The Russians did not have slavery in the usual sense, although they did have slaves from those captured as a result of battles, who, of course, had a different status. I.Ya. Froyanov wrote a book on this topic “Slavery and Tribute among the Eastern Slavs” (St. Petersburg, 1996), and in his last book he wrote:

“East Slavic society was familiar with slavery. Customary law prohibited turning one's fellow tribesmen into slaves. Therefore, captured foreigners became slaves. They were called servants. For Russian Slavs, servants are primarily a subject of trade...

The situation of slaves was not harsh, as, say, in the ancient world. Chelyadin was a member of the related team as a junior member. Slavery was limited to a certain period, after which the slave, having acquired freedom, could return to his land or remain with his former owners, but in the position of a free man.

In science, this style of relationship between slave owners and slaves is called patriarchal slavery.”

Patriarchal is paternal. You will not find such an attitude towards slaves not among the wise Greek slave owners, not among the medieval Christian slave traders, nor among the Christian slave owners in the south of the New World - in America.

Russians lived in tribal and intertribal settlements, engaged in hunting, fishing, trade, agriculture, cattle breeding and handicrafts. The Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan described in 928 that the Russians built large houses in which 30-50 people lived.

Another Arab traveler Ibn-Ruste at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries described Russian baths in severe frosts as a curiosity:

“When the stones become extremely hot, water is poured over them, which causes steam to spread, heating the home to the point where one takes off one’s clothes.”

Our ancestors were very clean. Moreover, in comparison with Europe, in which, even during the Renaissance, at the courts of Paris, London, Madrid and other capitals, ladies used not only perfumes - to neutralize the unpleasant “spirit”, but also special traps for catching lice on the head, and the problem of excrement Even at the beginning of the 19th century, the French Parliament viewed it from the windows onto the city streets.

Pre-Christian ancient Russian society was communal, veche, where the prince was accountable to the people's assembly - the veche, which could approve the transfer of power to the prince by inheritance, and could also re-elect the prince.

“The ancient Russian prince was not an emperor or even a monarch, for above him stood a veche, or people’s assembly, to which he was accountable.”– noted I.Ya. Froyanov.

The Russian prince of this period and his squad did not demonstrate feudal “hegemonic” signs. Without taking into account the opinions of the most authoritative members of society: heads of clans, wise “dids” and respected military commanders, no decision was made. A good example of this was the famous Prince Svetoslav. A.S. Ivanchenko notes in his study:

“... Let us turn to the original text of Leo the Deacon... This meeting took place on the bank of the Danube on July 23, 971, after the day before Tzimiskes asked Svetoslav for peace and invited him to his headquarters for negotiations, but he refused to go there... Tzimiskes had to, taming his pride, go to Svetoslav himself.

However, thinking in the Roman way, the Emperor of Byzantium wanted, if he did not succeed with military force, then at least with the splendor of his vestments and the richness of the outfits of his retinue accompanying him... Leo the Deacon:

“The Emperor, covered in ceremonial, gold-forged armor, rode up on horseback to the bank of the Istra; He was followed by numerous horsemen sparkling with gold. Soon Svyatoslav appeared, having crossed the river in a Scythian boat (this once again confirms that the Greeks called the Russians Scythians).

He sat on the oars and rowed like everyone else, not standing out among the others. His appearance was like this: of average height, not very large and not very small, with thick eyebrows, blue eyes, a straight nose, a shaved head and thick long hair hanging from his head. upper lip. His head was completely naked, and only a tuft of hair hung from one side of it... His clothes were white, which did not differ in anything other than noticeable cleanliness from the clothes of others. Sitting in the boat on the rowers’ bench, he talked a little with the sovereign about the conditions of peace and left... The Emperor happily accepted the conditions of the Rus...”

If Svyatoslav Igorevich had the same intentions regarding Byzantium as against the Great Khazaria, he would special effort would have destroyed this arrogant empire even during his first campaign on the Danube: he had four days of travel left to Constantinople, when Sinkel Theophilus, the closest adviser to the Byzantine patriarch, fell on his knees before him, asking for peace on any terms. And indeed Constantinople paid a huge tribute to Rus'.”

I would like to emphasize the important evidence - the prince of the Rus Svetoslav, equal in status to the Byzantine emperor, was dressed like all his warriors and rowed with oars along with everyone... That is, in Rus' during this period the communal, veche (conciliar) system was based on equality, justice and accounting interests of all its members.

Taking into account the fact that in the modern language of smart people, “society” is society, and “socialism” is a system that takes into account the interests of the entire society or its majority, then we see in pre-Christian Rus' an example of socialism, and how very effective way organization of society and principles of regulation of social life.

The story of the invitation to the reign of Rurik around 859-862. also shows the structure of Russian society of that period. Let's get acquainted with this story and at the same time find out who Rurik was by nationality.

Since ancient times, the Rus have developed two centers of development: the southern one - on the southern trade routes on the Dnieper River, the city of Kyiv, and the northern one - on the northern trade routes on the Volkhov River, the city of Novgorod.

When Kyiv was built is unknown for certain, like much in the pre-Christian history of Rus', for numerous written documents, chronicles, including those on which the famous Christian chronicler Nestor worked, were destroyed by Christians for ideological reasons after the baptism of Rus'. But it is known that Kyiv was built by the Slavs, led by a prince named Kiy and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv. They also had a sister with beautiful name- Lybid.

The world of that time suddenly found out and started talking about the Kyiv princes, when on June 18, 860, the Kiev prince Askold and his governor Dir approached the capital of Byzantium Constantinople (Constantinople) with a Russian army from the sea on 200 large boats and presented an ultimatum, after which they attacked the capital of the world for a week.

In the end, the Byzantine emperor could not stand it and offered a huge indemnity, with which the Rus sailed to their homeland. It is clear that only an empire could resist the main empire of the world, and it was a great developed Slavic empire in the form of a union of Slavic tribes, and not dense barbarian Slavs, who were blessed by civilized Christians with their arrival, as the authors of books write about this even in 2006-7.

During the same period, another strong prince appeared in the north of Rus' in the 860s - Rurik. Nestor wrote that “Prince Rurik and his brothers arrived from their generations... those Varangians were called Russia.”

“...Russian Stargorod was located in the area of ​​​​the present-day West German lands of Oldenburg and Macklenburg and the adjacent Baltic island of Rügen. It was there that Western Rus' or Ruthenia was located. – explained V.N. Emelyanov in his book. – As for the Varangians, this is not an ethnonym, usually mistakenly associated with the Normans, but the name of the profession of warriors.

The mercenary warriors, united under the common name Varangians, were representatives of various clans of the Western Baltic region. Western Russians also had their Varangians. It was from among them that the grandson of the Novgorod prince Rostomysl, Rurik, the son of his middle daughter Umila, was called up...

He came to Northern Rus' with his capital in Novgorod, since the male line of Rostomysl died out during his lifetime.

At the time of the arrival of Rurik and his brothers Saneus and Truvor, Novgorod was centuries older than Kyiv, the capital of Southern Rus'.”

“Novogorodtsi: these are the people of Novugorodtsi - from the Varangian family...” wrote the famous Nestor, as we see, meaning by Varangians all the northern Slavs. It was from there that Rurik began to rule, from Ladograd located to the north (modern Staraya Ladoga), as recorded in the chronicle:

“And Rurik, the oldest in Ladoz, is grayer.”

According to academician V. Chudinov, the lands of today’s northern Germany, on which the Slavs previously lived, were called White Russia and Ruthenia, and accordingly the Slavs were called Rus, Ruthenes, Rugs. Their descendants are the Slavic Poles, who have long lived on the Oder and the shores of the Baltic.

“...The lie aimed at castrating our history is the so-called Norman theory, according to which Rurik and his brothers have been persistently considered Scandinavians, and not Western Russians, for centuries...– V.N. Emelyanov was indignant in his book. – But there is a book by the Frenchman Carmier “Letters about the North”, published by him in 1840 in Paris, and then in 1841 in Brussels.

This French researcher, who, fortunately, had nothing to do with the dispute between the anti-Normanists and the Normanists, during his visit to Macklenburg, i.e. precisely in the region from which Rurik was called, he also wrote down, among the legends, customs and rituals of the local population, the legend about the calling to Rus' of the three sons of the Slavic prince Godlav. Thus, back in 1840, among the Germanized population of Macklenburg there was a legend about the calling...”

Researcher of the history of ancient Rus' Nikolai Levashov in his book “Russia in Crooked Mirrors” (2007) writes:

“But the most interesting thing is that they couldn’t even make a fake without serious contradictions and gaps. According to the “official” version, the Slavic-Russian state of Kievan Rus arose in the 9th-10th centuries and arose immediately in a ready-made form, with a set of laws, a rather complex state hierarchy, a system of beliefs and myths. The explanation for this in the “official” version is very simple: the “Wild” Slavic Rus invited Rurik the Varangian, supposedly a Swede, to become their prince, forgetting that in Sweden itself at that time there simply was no organized state, but only squads of jarls who were engaged in armed robbery of their neighbors...

In addition, Rurik had no relation to the Swedes (who, moreover, were called Vikings, not Varangians), but was a prince from the Wends and belonged to the Varangian caste of professional Warriors who studied the art of combat from childhood. Rurik was invited to reign according to the tradition existing among the Slavs at that time to choose the most worthy Slavic prince as their ruler at the Veche.”

An interesting discussion took place in the magazine “Itogi” No. 38, September 2007. between the masters of modern Russian historical science, professors A. Kirpichnikov and V. Yanin, on the occasion of the 1250th anniversary of Staraya Ladoga - the capital of Upper or Northern Rus'. Valentin Yanin:

“It has long been inappropriate to argue that the calling of the Varangians is an anti-patriotic myth... At the same time, we must understand that before the arrival of Rurik we already had some kind of statehood (the same elder Gostomysl was before Rurik), thanks to which the Varangian, in fact, was invited reign over local elites.

The Novgorod land was the place of residence of three tribes: Krivichi, Slovenians and Finno-Ugric peoples. At first it was owned by the Varangians, who wanted to be paid “a squirrel from each husband.”

Perhaps it was precisely because of these exorbitant appetites that they were soon driven out, and the tribes began to lead, so to speak, a sovereign lifestyle, which did not lead to any good.

When fighting began between the tribes, it was decided to send ambassadors to (neutral) Rurik, to those Varangians who called themselves Russia. They lived in the southern Baltic, northern Poland and northern Germany. Our ancestors called the prince from where many of them themselves were from. You could say they turned to distant relatives for help...

Based on real situation affairs, then before Rurik there were already elements of statehood among the mentioned tribes. Look: the local elite ordered Rurik that he does not have the right to collect tribute from the population, this can only be done by high-ranking Novgorodians themselves, and he should only be given a gift for performing his duties, again I will translate to modern language, hired manager. The entire budget was also controlled by the Novgorodians themselves...

By the end of the 11th century, they generally created their own vertical of power - the posadnichestvo, which then became the main body of the veche republic. By the way, I think it’s no coincidence that Oleg, who became the Novgorod prince after Rurik, did not want to stay here and headed to Kyiv, where he already began to reign supreme.”

Rurik died in 879, and his only heir Igor was still very young, so his relative Oleg led Rus'. In 882, Oleg decided to seize power in all of Rus', which meant the unification of the Northern and Southern parts of Rus' under his rule, and set out on a military campaign to the south.

And taking Smolensk by storm, Oleg moved towards Kyiv. Oleg came up with a cunning and insidious plan - he and the wars, under the guise of a large trade caravan, sailed along the Dnieper to Kyiv. And when Askold and Dir came ashore to meet the merchants, Oleg and the armed soldiers jumped out of the boats and, presenting a claim to Askold that he was not from the princely dynasty, killed both. In such an insidious and bloody way, Oleg seized power in Kyiv and thus united both parts of Rus'.

Thanks to Rurik and his followers, Kyiv became the center of Rus', which included numerous Slavic tribes.

“The end of the 9th and 10th centuries are characterized by the subordination of the Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ulichs and other tribal unions to Kyiv. As a result, under the hegemony of the Polyanskaya capital, a grandiose “union of unions” or super-union emerged, covering almost the whole of Europe geographically.

The Kiev nobility, the glades as a whole, used this new political organization as a means to receive tribute…” noted I.Ya. Froyanov.

Ugric-Hungarians neighboring Russia once again moved through the Slavic lands towards the former Roman Empire and along the way they tried to capture Kyiv, but it didn’t work out and, concluding in 898. a treaty of alliance with the people of Kiev, moved west in search of military adventures and reached the Danube, where they founded Hungary, which has survived to this day.

And Oleg, having repelled the attack of the Ugrians-Huns, decided to repeat Askold’s famous campaign against Byzantine Empire and began to prepare. And in 907, the famous second campaign of the Rus, led by Oleg, against Byzantium took place.

The huge Russian army again moved by boat and land to Constantinople - Constantinople. This time, the Byzantines, taught by previous bitter experience, decided to be smarter - and managed to tighten the entrance to the bay near the capital with a huge thick chain to prevent the entry of the Russian fleet. And they interfered.

The Russians looked at this, landed on land, put the boats on wheels (rollers) and, under their cover from arrows and under sails, went on the attack. Shocked by the unusual sight and frightened, the Byzantine emperor and his entourage asked for peace and offered ransom.

Perhaps it has gone on since then catchphrase about achieving the goal by any means: “We don’t wash, we just roll.”

Having loaded a huge indemnity onto the boats and carts, the Rus demanded and bargained for unhindered access of Russian merchants to the Byzantine markets and a rare exclusive: duty-free trading rights for Russian merchants throughout the Byzantine Empire.

In 911, both parties confirmed and extended this agreement in writing. And the next year (912) Oleg handed over the rule of prosperous Rus' to Igor, who married the Pskovian Olga, who once transported him on a boat across the river near Pskov.

Igor kept Rus' intact and was able to repel the dangerous Pecheneg raid. And judging by the fact that Igor launched a third military campaign against Byzantium in 941, one can guess that Byzantium ceased to honor the agreement with Oleg.

This time the Byzantines prepared thoroughly; they did not hang chains, but decided to throw vessels of burning oil (“Greek fire”) at the Russian boats from throwing weapons. The Russians did not expect this, they were confused, and, having lost many ships, they landed on land and staged a brutal battle. Constantinople was not taken, suffered serious damage, and then within six months the evil ones returned home with various adventures.

And they immediately began to prepare more thoroughly for a new campaign. And in 944 they moved to Byzantium for the fourth time. This time, the Byzantine emperor, anticipating trouble, halfway asked for peace on terms favorable to the Rus; They agreed and, loaded with Byzantine gold and fabrics, returned to Kyiv.

In 945, during the collection of tribute by Igor and his squad, some kind of conflict occurred among the Drevlyans. The Drevlyan Slavs, led by Prince Mal, decided that Igor and his squad had gone too far in their demands and committed injustice, and the Drevlyans killed Igor and killed his warriors. The widowed Olga sent a large army to the Drevlyans and took fierce revenge. Princess Olga began to rule Russia.

Since the second half of the 20th century, new written sources - birch bark letters - began to become available to researchers. The first birch bark letters were found in 1951 during archaeological excavations in Novgorod. About 1000 letters have already been discovered. The total volume of the birch bark dictionary is more than 3200 words. The geography of the finds covers 11 cities: Novgorod, Staraya Russa, Torzhok, Pskov, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Mstislavl, Tver, Moscow, Old Ryazan, Zvenigorod Galitsky.

The earliest charters date back to the 11th century (1020), when the indicated territory had not yet been Christianized. Thirty letters found in Novgorod and one in Staraya Russa date back to this period. Until the 12th century, neither Novgorod nor Staraya Russa had yet been baptized, therefore the names of people found in the 11th century charters are pagan, that is, real Russians. By the beginning of the 11th century, the population of Novgorod corresponded not only with recipients located inside the city, but also with those who were far beyond its borders - in villages and other cities. Even villagers from the most remote villages wrote household orders and simple letters on birch bark.

That is why the outstanding linguist and researcher of the Novgorod letters of the Academy A.A. Zaliznyak claims that “This ancient writing system was very widespread. This writing was spread throughout Rus'. Reading the birch bark letters refuted the existing opinion that in Ancient Rus' only noble people and the clergy were literate. Among the authors and addressees of the letters there are many representatives of the lower strata of the population; in the texts found there is evidence of the practice of teaching writing - alphabets, copybooks, numerical tables, “tests of the pen.”

Six-year-old children wrote: “There is one letter where, it seems, a certain year is indicated. It was written by a six-year-old boy.” Almost all Russian women wrote - “now we know for sure that a significant part of women could both read and write. Letters from the 12th century generally in the most different relationships reflect a freer society, with greater development, in particular, of female participation, than a society closer to our time. This fact follows quite clearly from the birch bark letters.” The fact that “a picture of Novgorod from the 14th century” speaks eloquently about literacy in Rus'. and Florence of the 14th century, in terms of the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod."

Experts know that Cyril and Methodius invented the Glagolitic alphabet for the Bulgarians and spent the rest of their lives in Bulgaria. The letter called “Cyrillic”, although it has a similarity in name, has nothing in common with Kirill. The name "Cyrillic" comes from the designation of the letter - the Russian "doodle", or, for example, the French "ecrire". And the tablet found during excavations in Novgorod, on which they wrote in ancient times, is called “kera” (sera).

In the Tale of Bygone Years, a monument from the early 12th century, there is no information about the baptism of Novgorod. Consequently, Novgorodians and residents of surrounding villages wrote 100 years before the baptism of this city, and the Novgorodians did not inherit writing from Christians. Writing in Rus' existed long before Christianity. The share of non-ecclesiastical texts at the very beginning of the 11th century amounts to 95 percent of all found letters.

However, for academic falsifiers of history, for a long time, the fundamental version was that the Russian people learned to read and write from alien priests. From strangers! Remember, you and I have already discussed this topic: When our ancestors carved runes on stone, the Slavs were already writing letters to each other.”

But in his unique scientific work “The Craft of Ancient Rus'”, published back in 1948, archaeologist Academician B.A. Rybakov published the following data: “There is an established opinion that the church was a monopolist in the creation and distribution of books; This opinion was strongly supported by the churchmen themselves. What is true here is that monasteries and episcopal or metropolitan courts were the organizers and censors of book copying, often acting as intermediaries between the customer and the scribe, but the performers were often not monks, but people who had nothing to do with the church.

We counted the scribes according to their position. For the pre-Mongol era, the result was this: half of the book scribes turned out to be laymen; for 14th - 15th centuries. the calculations gave the following results: metropolitans - 1; deacons - 8; monks - 28; clerks - 19; popov - 10; “servants of God” -35; Popovichey-4; parobkov-5. The Popovichs cannot be considered in the category of clergy, since literacy, which was almost obligatory for them (“a priest’s son cannot read and write—he is an outcast”) did not yet predetermine their spiritual career. Under vague names like “servant of God”, “sinner”, “sad servant of God”, “sinful and bold in evil, but lazy in good”, etc., without indicating affiliation with the church, we must understand secular artisans. Sometimes there are more specific instructions: “Wrote to Eustathius, a worldly man, and his nickname was Shepel,” “Ovsey Raspop,” “Thomas the Scribe.” In such cases, we no longer have any doubt about the “worldly” character of the scribes.

In total, according to our calculations, there are 63 laymen and 47 clergy, i.e. 57% of artisan scribes did not belong to church organizations. The main forms in the era under study were the same as in the pre-Mongol era: work to order and work for the market; Between them there were various intermediate stages that characterized the degree of development of a particular craft. Work to order is typical for some types of patrimonial craft and for industries associated with expensive raw materials, such as jewelry or bell casting.”

The academician cited these figures for the 14th - 15th centuries, when, according to the narratives of the church, she served almost as a helmsman for the multi-million Russian people. It would be interesting to look at the busy, single metropolitan, who, together with an absolutely insignificant group of literate deacons and monks, served the postal needs of the multi-million Russian people from several tens of thousands of Russian villages. In addition, this Metropolitan and Co. must have had many truly miraculous qualities: lightning speed of writing and movement in space and time, the ability to simultaneously be in thousands of places at once, and so on.

But not a joke, but a real conclusion from the data provided by B.A. Rybakov, it follows that the church was never in Rus' a place from which knowledge and enlightenment flowed. Therefore, we repeat, another academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Zaliznyak states that “the picture of Novgorod of the 14th century. and Florence 14th century. in terms of the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod." But by the 18th century the church led the Russian people into the fold of illiterate darkness.

Let's consider another side of the life of ancient Russian society before the arrival of Christians to our lands. She touches the clothes. Historians are accustomed to depicting Russian people dressed exclusively in simple white shirts, sometimes, however, allowing themselves to say that these shirts were decorated with embroidery. Russians seem so poor, barely able to dress at all. This is another lie spread by historians about the life of our people.

To begin with, let us recall that the world’s first clothing was created more than 40 thousand years ago in Rus', in Kostenki. And, for example, at the Sungir site in Vladimir, already 30 thousand years ago, people wore a leather jacket made of suede, trimmed with fur, a hat with earflaps, leather pants, and leather boots. Everything was decorated with various objects and several rows of beads. The ability to make clothes in Rus', naturally, was preserved and developed to a high level. And silk became one of the important clothing materials for the ancient Rus.

Archaeological finds of silk on the territory of Ancient Rus' from the 9th to the 12th centuries were discovered in more than two hundred locations. The maximum concentration of finds is in the Moscow, Vladimir, Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions. Precisely those that experienced population growth at that time. But these territories were not part of Kievan Rus, on whose territory, on the contrary, finds of silk fabrics are very few. As you move away from Moscow - Vladimir - Yaroslavl, the density of silk finds generally drops rapidly, and already in the European part they are rare.

At the end of the 1st millennium AD. The Vyatichi and Krivichi lived in the Moscow region, as evidenced by groups of mounds (near the Yauza station, in Tsaritsyn, Chertanovo, Konkovo, Derealyovo, Zyuzin, Cheryomushki, Matveevsky, Fili, Tushino, etc.). The Vyatichi also formed the original core of the population of Moscow.

According to various sources, Prince Vladimir baptized Rus', or rather, began the baptism of Rus' in 986 or 987. But there were Christians and Christian churches in Russia, specifically in Kyiv, long before 986. And it wasn’t even a matter of the pagan Slavs’ tolerance of other religions, and in one important principle - the principle of freedom and sovereignty of the decision of every Slav, for whom there were no masters , he was a king for himself and had the right to any decision that did not contradict the customs of the community, therefore no one had the right to criticize, reproach or condemn him if the decision or action of the Slav did not harm the community and its members. Well, then the history of Baptized Rus' began...

sources

The basis is the research of our modern scientist from St. Petersburg, Igor Yakovlevich Froyanov, who published a monograph in the USSR in 1974 entitled “Kievan Rus. Essays on socio-economic history”, then many scientific articles were published and many books were published, and in 2007 his book “The Mystery of the Baptism of Rus'” was published.

A.A. Tyunyaev, academician of the Academy of Physical Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

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BAPTISM AND DEBAPTISION
We often follow national traditions without even thinking about their meaning and origin. One of them, according to many Slavs, is the custom of baptizing newborns. The sacrament of baptism is a rite of joining the church, and in a good way, such a choice should be made by everyone independently. However, today this procedure is perceived by parents as an integral part of the process of nurturing and raising a new person.
In modern Russia, the mass fashion for christenings arose immediately after the dismantling of the socialist system, when the whole country suddenly rushed into the “bosom of their native church” to atone for what they had done during the years of atheism. As if having broken free from a chain, the citizens of our country began to be baptized and introduce their children to religion in the same way. As a result of this, the vast majority of modern youth were baptized at an unconscious age, without asking their own opinion. This article describes the essence and meaning of the Christian rite of baptism and two options for conducting the rite of debaptism.
Christian "holy scripture" was created from Jewish texts. The “Old Testament” of the Bible is an abbreviated and “ennobled” edition of the Torah (the main book of the Jewish religion), simply teeming with a mass of facts of genocide and other brutal crimes committed both by the characters themselves and by the Deity they revered (referred to as: Yahweh, Jehovah, Sabaoth, Elohim ). Take, for example, the act of Noah - the great “righteous man” - the only one who, according to God, was worthy of salvation during the Great Flood. This “man” did not find anything better than to burn at the stake a good half of the living creatures he saved in gratitude to the “All-Good”!!!
The second part of the Bible, the so-called. The “New Testament” consists of 4 gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John), written after the death of Christ. There are more than a dozen apocryphal gospels (from Peter, Mary, Nicodemus, Philip, etc.), which, however, were not included in the canonical code by repeatedly held Ecumenical Councils (meetings of representatives of the Christian church). There are quite a lot of discrepancies in these texts with the canonical versions. For example, in the “Gospel of Judas” (this also exists, but its authenticity is questioned by the official church), the fact of betrayal is presented as the initiative of Christ himself, necessary for him to fulfill the mission with which he was sent to Earth.
And in general, don’t you think it’s strange to join the Russian tradition of belief in the Jewish God?
If we talk about church rituals and customs, then they, for the most part, are of pagan origin and were integrated into the Christian cult to speed up the process of replacing previous beliefs among enslaved peoples.
For example, the tradition of celebrating Easter was taken from the cult of Osiris. According to Egyptian myth, the goddess Isis, after his tragic death, was able to collect all the pieces of her betrothed’s body scattered throughout Egypt, with the exception of one very intimate part. Then she sculpted this organ herself, but its functioning required regular sacrifice, which was later replaced by the exchange of eggs and cylindrical cakes with a white top.
Ask any believer - does he know what he is celebrating? Most likely, in response you will hear a denial and an indication that this, they say, is also a “good tradition.”
If you really follow religious customs, then it is necessary to undergo circumcision, because... it is this operation, according to the text of scripture, that is a mandatory covenant for all Christians.
The Christian God commanded circumcision to Abraham to all his male household members with the words:
“This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and you and your descendants after you [in their generations]: All your males shall be circumcised; circumcise your foreskin: and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Every male child among you throughout your generations shall be circumcised eight days from birth, and My covenant shall be an everlasting covenant upon your body. But the uncircumcised male who does not circumcise his foreskin [on the eighth day], that soul shall be cut off from among his people, for he has broken My covenant.” (Genesis 17:10-14)
But this custom is also taken from paganism, only there it has a completely different purpose. Among some ancient peoples, circumcision served as a religious rite, “a tribute to a cruel and evil deity, to whom it is necessary to sacrifice a part in order to save the whole, to circumcise a child in order to save his life.” Thus, it is possible that circumcision was originally intended to replace the pagan rite of human sacrifice.
But let's get back to baptism...
When performing the ceremony, not only parents, but also witnesses, called “godparents,” must be present. All four must be the guarantors of the future Christian education of the child. Isn't it true that the procedure is almost the same as in Sberbank when receiving a loan?
Of course, one could accept baptism as, for example, a family tradition, if it at least did not harm the child. But let's take a closer look at the occult and esoteric sides of this action.
During the ceremony, the person being baptized undergoes a symbolic procedure of death and rebirth in the Christian faith with a new name. It is believed that in this way he repeats the earthly path of Christ, dying and resurrecting already cleansed of sins. It is no secret that a name carries a certain program for a person, leaving a certain imprint on his entire life.
What names does the Russian Orthodox Church assign to Russian people during baptism?
Basically these are the names of biblical heroes and canonized saints. More than one critical book has been written about the moral qualities of the participants in biblical history; I would personally add that if an Orthodox believer had thoughtfully read and analyzed the “holy” scripture (the Bible), he would have become not only an atheist, but an ardent opponent of this cult. My opinion is that almost none of his characters are worthy of the title of worthy representative of the human race.
Whom does the church canonize?
For the most part, these are great martyrs and hermits or people who died a tragic death for the ideas of Christianity.
Answer yourself this question: would normal parents want to identify their child’s future with such destinies in some way? I'm sure not.
So, during the baptism ceremony, the human soul goes through a symbolic death, then, through a special set of actions, the child’s essence is erased from the program that was laid down by the name given to him initially, and a new one is assigned, corresponding to that assigned by the representative of the church.
At the same time, the likelihood that during baptism the child will be given a Slavic name is extremely low. The vast majority of names allowed by the Russian Orthodox Church are Jewish or Greek.
This, apparently, should also emphasize the “Dgevnaya Hussian tradition”?
In addition, it has been scientifically proven that water is a powerful carrier of information and energy. What energy will be accumulated in the font (i.e., the vat into which children are dipped) by the time the child is immersed in it - only God knows. It’s not even worth mentioning about hygiene and temperature shock, which certainly occurs in a newborn’s body, which does not yet have normal thermoregulation, when immersed in cold, albeit blessed, water.
The fact that at the end of the procedure, a lock of hair from the person being baptized in a special way (in the form of a cross) is cut off, but hair is also an excellent carrier of human vital energy, which is often used in dubious magical rituals. There is an opinion that in this way certain channels of energy and information interaction with the outside world are blocked in the newborn.
One can, of course, not take the esoteric aspects of the sacrament in question seriously, but if a believer admits the existence of the divine, then why not assume the probability of such phenomena? One way or another, the choice always remains with the parents themselves.
What is baptism?
Let’s not indulge in demagoguery, but turn to the brochure “On the Sacrament of Baptism,” published by the Orthodox publishing house “Blagovest” in 2001:
“...And whoever was baptized received in Christ that wonderful garment that covers everything base and shameful in a person.” Please note that it does not save, but covers.
“...man is naturally born a sinner and guilty before the justice of God.” A person has just been born and is already a sinner. The main task of the church is to awaken a sense of guilt in a person, make him pray and repent, and keep him in fear. If this succeeds, that’s it, the person becomes a “servant of God” and becomes ideologically controlled. Added to this is the energetic dependence into which a person is placed during the rite of baptism.
During the baptism process, the priest pronounces the following words:
“...Let the light of your countenance shine upon your servant...”
“The servant of God is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit...”, etc.
It seems that the main purpose of baptism is to attract another slave. All this is also clearly illustrated by quotes from the New Testament:
Revelation, ch. 22, art. 3: “...but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve it.”
Epistle of Peter to the Romans, ch. 6, Art. 3: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death”?
Almost all rituals that take place in the church are based on magic. It's important to understand this.
Take for example the ritual of communion: a person is given a loaf of bread - the flesh of Christ and red wine - his blood. And what matters is not what a person drinks and eats. The important thing is that he consciously sets himself up to eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood.
In Voodoo magic - the most terrible of magic - this is the blackest rite: to eat the flesh of your defeated enemy and drink his blood in order to make his essence your slave forever.
The rite of communion uses the principle of identification. Identification means the transfer of astral-mental properties from one entity to another. That is, a person, identifying himself with Christ, takes on the properties of an already deceased person, thereby joining the world of the dead.
When making the sign of the cross, a person draws a star with his hand - a symbol of magic.
Baptism is a rite of blocking the development of a person’s essence, a rite of connecting the next donor to the egregor of the Orthodox Church.
This is a way to make a person blind so that he never understands what is happening in his life and in the world around him.
Baptism consists of the following actions:
1. Beginning of the ceremony. It includes the catechumen, renunciation of the devil and union with Christ (a set of specific questions and answers, and reading the creed). It makes no sense to describe all these actions in detail. Anyone interested in this can read the relevant literature.
2. Blessing of water: the priest blesses the water with a brush with blessed oil. Then “... it’s the turn of the person being baptized. The priest says: “The servant of God (name) will be anointed with the oil of gladness in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The forehead, chest, ears, hands and feet are anointed.” When anointing the forehead and chest, the corresponding energy centers (responsible for clairvoyance and emotions) are prepared to close (disconnected from natural forces).
3. Baptism: “... the priest immerses the person being baptized in water three times, pronouncing the words: “The servant of God is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen"". Then, after the font, a white baptismal shirt and cross are put on.
4. Confirmation. Miro – special composition from various aromatic oils, flowers and grape wine. It occurs immediately after baptism, and the person receives the “gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Otherwise, these gifts are called (and absolutely rightly) “seals of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” With the help of myrrh (which, by the way, is used to smear the dead), seals are applied in a cross shape to the forehead, eyes, nostrils, lips, ears, chest, arms and legs. With each stroke the priest says: “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen". The previous two are finally closed with seals. energy centers, and unique “filters” are applied to the organs of information perception. If a person was baptized at a conscious age, then, coupled with his mental attitude and energy, these seals prevent the correct perception of information undesirable for the church.
5. Walk around the font three times. Following the priest, the godparents (or the godson himself, if he is an adult) walk around the anti-salt font.
6. Reading the Apostle and the Gospel. There is a reading of the sixth chapter of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans and the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16-20.
7. Ablution. The priest washes off the myrrh with a sponge (only physically, energetically they remain) in order to “protect it from desecration.”
8. Tonsure. Small strands are cut crosswise “at the back of the head, at the forehead, on the right and left sides of the head.” Then the hair is rolled up in a piece of wax and lowered into the font.
In magic this is called envolting to death!
With the help of this ritual, a person becomes completely attached to the Christian egregor, and at the same time to the egregor of magic.
9. Churching. The priest reads prayers, then “introduces (or brings the baby) into the temple and brings it to the royal doors, saying: “The servant of God is churched in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen;” He will enter Your house and worship Your holy temple. In the middle of the church he will sing your praises.” After this, if a woman (girl) is going to church, she venerates herself to the halves of the royal doors, and “the priest reads the prayer: “Now Thou releasest Thy servant, O Master, according to Thy word in peace: for my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all.” people, a light for the revelation of tongues, and the glory of your people Israel” (no comments needed). The men are led around the altar (the boys are led around). After all this, everyone present kisses the image of the dead Christ on the cross.
10. Conclusion of the christening. Everyone goes home and a drinking party takes place.

Vedic Rus'... How many people know this concept? When did it exist? What are its features? It is known that this is a state that existed in the pre-Christian period. Vedic has been little studied. Many facts are distorted to please the new rulers. Meanwhile, Rus' of those times was a developed civilized society.

Thus, in ancient Russian society, it was not numerous riches that were considered valuable, but faith in the gods. The Rus swore by their weapons and their God - Perun. If the oath is broken, then “we will be golden,” said Svyatoslav, despising gold.

The ancient Russians lived based on the Vedas. The Vedic past of Rus' is shrouded in many secrets. But still, researchers have done a lot of work and today a lot of interesting information can be told about that distant pre-Christian period. The history of Vedic Rus' will be told further.

What are the Vedas

The Vedas are scriptures, revelations of God. They describe the nature of the world, the true essence of man and his soul.

The literal translation of the word is “knowledge.” This knowledge is scientific, and not a selection of myths and fairy tales. When translating a word from Sanskrit, which is native language Vedas, it means “apaurusheya” - that is, “not created by man.”

In addition to spiritual knowledge, the Vedas contain information that helps people live happily ever after. For example, knowledge that organizes a person’s living space from building a house to the ability to live without illness and in abundance. The Vedas are knowledge that helps prolong life, explains the connection between the human microcosm and the macrocosm, and much more, right down to planning important endeavors in life.

The Vedas originated in India, becoming the beginning of Indian culture. The time of their appearance can only be guessed, since external sources appeared much later than the Vedas themselves. Initially, knowledge was transmitted orally for many millennia. The design of one of the parts of the Vedas dates back to the 5th century BC. e.

A detailed record of the Vedas is attributed to the sage Srila Vyasadeva, who lived in the Himalayas more than fifty centuries ago. His name "vyasa" translates as "editor", that is, one who was able to "divide and write."

Knowledge is divided into Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. They contain prayers or mantras and knowledge in many disciplines.

The oldest manuscript is the text of the Rig Veda, written in the 11th century BC. e. The fragility of the materials - tree bark or palm leaves, on which the Vedas were applied, did not contribute to their preservation.

We learn about the Vedas thanks to mnemonic rules of memorization and their oral transmission, based on the Sanskrit language.

The knowledge transmitted by the Vedas is confirmed by modern scientists. Thus, even before the discovery of Copernicus in the Vedas, using astronomical calculations, it was calculated at what distance the planets of our system are from the Earth.

Russian Vedas

Scientists talk about two branches of Vedic knowledge - Indian and Slavic.

The Russian Vedas have survived less due to the influence of various religions.

By comparing the linguistics and archeology of Rus' and India, one can see that their historical roots are similar and may be common.

The following examples can be cited as evidence:

• The name and archaeological features of the city of Arkaim, the remains of which were discovered in Russia in the Urals, are similar to Indian cities.
• Siberian rivers and rivers of Central Russia have names consonant with Sanskrit.
• The similarity of pronunciation and features of the Russian language and Sanskrit.

Scientists conclude that the flourishing of a single Vedic culture took place in the territory from the shores of the northern seas to the southernmost point of the Indian Peninsula.

The Slavic-Aryan Vedas are considered Russian - this is the name given to a collection of documents reflecting human life on Earth for more than 600,000 years. The Book of Veles is also included in the Slavic Vedas. According to scientists N. Nikolaev and V. Skurlatov, the book contains a picture of the past of the Russian-Slavic people. In it, the Russians are presented as “grandsons of Dazhdbog”, the forefathers Bogumir and Or are described, and the resettlement of the Slavs in the Danube region is described. The “Veles Book” tells about the management of the economy by the Slavic-Russians and about the system of a unique worldview and mythology.

Magi

Magi were considered wise people with knowledge. Their activities extended to many areas of life. So, witches were engaged in household chores and rituals. The very word “witch-ma” meant “to know” and “mother” - “woman”. They were “in charge” of matters that could be solved with the help of household magic.

The sorcerers, called didas or grandfathers, were well versed in sacred legends. Among the wise men and women there were representatives of both simple sorcery and those with serious scientific knowledge.

The Magi of Vedic Rus' became famous among the Slavs for their instructions, help in organizing life and in the desire to understand God's Faith. They were considered sorcerers, well acquainted with herbalism, fortune telling, healing and predictions.

In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” there is a mention of the also called Volkhv Vseslavyevich. Being a prince's son, Vseslav the Prophet had the ability to turn into a gray wolf, a clear falcon or a bay aurochs, as well as tell fortunes and create obsessions. The prince's son learned everything from the Magi, where his father sent him to study.

With the advent of Christianity, the Magi, revered in Rus', took part in protests against the new faith. Their activities were recognized as illegal, and they themselves were called evil sorcerers, criminals and warlocks, apostates. They were accused of having connections with demons and of wanting to bring evil to people.

A well-known and detailed event occurred in Novgorod, when a rebellion against a new religion was organized by a sorcerer. The people took the side of the sage, but Prince Gleb Svyatoslavich committed a vile act. The prince hacked to death with an ax the organizer of the rebellion. The name of the sorcerer is unknown, but the strength of faith of the sage and his supporters is impressive.

Before the baptism of Rus', the popularity of the Magi was often greater than the popularity of the princes. Perhaps it was this fact that influenced the eradication of paganism in the Slavic lands. The danger for the princes was the influence of the Magi on people like A in witchcraft and magical abilities Even representatives of the Christian Church had no doubt about these people.

Among the Magi there were people who were called koshunniks, guslars and baenniks. They not only played musical instruments, but also told epics and fairy tales.

Famous Magi

The ancient Russian singer Boyan the Prophet is involved in the Magi. One of his gifts was the ability to transform.

Famous sorcerers and priests include Bogomil Nightingale. They called him that for his eloquence and for the fulfillment of pagan stories. He gained his fame for organizing an uprising against the destruction of temples and pagan sanctuaries in Novgorod.

With the advent of Christianity in Rus', the Magi were persecuted and destroyed. Thus, in the 15th century in Pskov, twelve “prophetic wives” were burned. By order of Alexei Mikhailovich, in the 17th century, the Magi were burned at the stake and the witches were buried in the ground up to their chests, and “wise” people were also exiled to monasteries.

When and how did pre-Christian Rus' arise?

The exact time when Vedic Rus' arose is unknown. But there is information about the construction of the First Temple by the wizard Kolovras, and there is also a date calculated by astrologers - 20-21 millennium BC. e. Built from rough stones, without the use of iron, the Temple stood on Alatyr Mountain. Its appearance is associated with the First Exodus of the Rus tribe from the north.

The Aryans, who came from ancient Iran and India back in the third millennium BC, also settled on Russian soil. e. They settled in Belovodye, where Bogumir taught them art and craft. He, being the forefather of the Slavs, divided people into warriors, priests, traders, artisans and others. The capital of the Aryans in the Urals was called Kayle - a city, now it is called Arkaim.

Society of Vedic Rus'

Initially, the Rus formed centers of development - the city of Kyiv in the south and the city of Novgorod in the north.

The Rus always showed kindness and respect towards other peoples and were distinguished by their sincerity.

Before the baptism of Rus', there were also slaves in Slavic society - servants from captive foreigners. The Russian Slavs traded in servants, but considered them younger members of the family. Slaves were enslaved for a certain period of time, after which they became free. Such relationships were called patriarchal slavery.

The place of residence of the Slavic Russians were tribal and intertribal settlements; up to 50 people lived in large houses.

The communal society was headed by a prince, who was subordinate to the people's assembly - the veche. Princely decisions were always made taking into account the opinions of military leaders, “dids” and clan elders.

Communication based on equality and justice took into account the interests of all community members. Living according to the laws of the Vedas, the Rus had a rich worldview and great knowledge.

Culture

We know about the culture of Vedic Rus' from surviving cathedrals, archaeological finds and monuments of oral narratives - epics.

The cultural level of the Rus can be judged by the statements of Princess Anna, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, who became Queen of France. She brought books with her and considered “enlightened” France to be a large village.

“Unwashed” Russia amazed travelers with the presence of baths and the cleanliness of the Slavs.

Numerous temples and sanctuaries surprised with their splendor and architecture.

Vedic temples

Above each settlement stood a temple dedicated to the very word “temple” which meant a mansion, a rich house. The altar was named after the sacred mountain Alatyr, the elevation “pulpit” for the priest to pronounce a speech came from “mov”, which means “to give a speech”.

The most beautiful temples of Vedic Rus' towered above the Holy Ural Mountains next to the Konzhakovsky stone, above Azov - the mountain in Sverdlovsk region, above Iremel - a mountain not far from Chelyabinsk.

Many Christian churches preserve images of pagan gods, mythological animals and Slavic symbols. For example, on the stone bas-relief of the Dmitrov Cathedral there is an image of the ascension of Dazhdbog.

You can get acquainted with examples of temple art in the temple of the ratars - approved in Retra.

Legends

Many fairy tales and legends of Vedic Rus' were transmitted orally. Some have been changed over time. But even now the texts of “The Book of Veles”, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “Boyan’s Hymn” and “Dobrynya and the Snake” recreate a picture of the past, the legendary history of Vedic Rus'.

Restored by the writer G. A. Sidorov, these written monuments amaze with the intimacy and depth of knowledge of the Russian Slavs. In the writer’s collection you can get acquainted with the Dead Heart, Lada’s daughter, legends about the temple of Svarog, Ruevit, volots, etc.

Symbols of Vedic Rus'

With connected secret meanings priestly art. They were worn not at all for decoration, as some people think, but to achieve a magical effect and sacred meaning.

Bogodar, a symbol of paternal care and patronage of the Human Race, is credited with the highest wisdom and justice. A symbol especially revered by the guardian priests of Wisdom and the Human Race.

The symbol of the Godhead corresponds to the Eye of God, which provides assistance to people. It consists of the eternal patronage of the Light Gods for developing and spiritually improving people. With the help of the Light Gods, awareness of the actions of the universal elements occurs.

The symbol Belobog is credited with bestowing goodness and good luck, love and happiness. The creators of the world are also Belobog, who is also called Belbog, Svyatovit, Svetovik, Sventovit.

The bellfish, or Celtic cross, is a cross and swastika symbol.

A Slavic cross is a swastika symbol without rays running along the sides. The solar symbol existed long before the advent of Christianity.

The Slavic Trixel is a three-rayed swastika. Northern Trixel was depicted simply as a broken line. The symbol has the meaning of “one who leads.” That is, it promotes the development of processes and actions in the required direction, orients a person towards the activities he needs.

The eight-rayed Kolovrat, a sign of power, is the name of the symbol attributed to Svarog. He is also called God the creator, God the creator of the whole world. This symbol was used to decorate the banners of warriors.

Gromovik, the symbol of Perun in the form of a six-pointed cross outlined in a circle, was considered a sign of the bravery of warriors.

The symbol of Chernobog, including darkness and blackness, denoted the progenitor of evil forces in the world. The impenetrable square also denoted Hell.

The symbol of Dazhdbog denoted the Father of the Rusichi, bestowing benefits indicated by warmth and light. Any request can be fulfilled by the only God.

The symbol of Madder, the Mighty Goddess, the Black Mother, the Dark Mother of God, the Queen of the Night is the swastika - a sign of death and winter. Swastikas, fundamental solar symbols, were used to decorate objects from pagan times.