The Phenomenon of Dual Faith in the Volga Region as a Result of Russian Cultural Policy in the 18-19th Centuries

Lepeshkina Larisa ORCID: 0000-0001-8989-5987 PhD in History Associate professor, Department of Social Technologies and Humanities, Volga Region State University of Service 445017, Russia, Samarskaya oblast', g. Tol'yatti, ul. Gagarina, 4, kab. E-310 lara_yura@list.ru Other publications by this author

IntroductionPolyethnicity and polyconfessionality are inherent in the Volga region.

It is a meeting place of various religions – Christianity, Islam and traditional beliefs. The largest settlements in the region were formed thanks to Russians, Tatars, Chuvash, Mordvins, Mari, Udmurts and Germans, who had their own ethno-confessional characteristics.

The subject of the research in this article is the phenomenon of dual belief in the Volga region, which arose as a result of the cultural policy of the Russian Empire in the XVIII-XIX centuries. The relevance of considering this phenomenon is due to its preservation in the modern everyday culture of the peoples of the region, which indicates the inextinguishable desire of people to find spiritual support when meeting everyday joys and tragedies. The spread of Christian doctrine in the Volga region created a situation of duality, when the requirements of the "new" religion were formally observed, but in reality a person followed the precepts of his ancestors, seeing in them the highest justice and good. The relevance of the article is also determined by the fact that the dual faith, representing the parallel coexistence of different beliefs, contributed, on the one hand, to the adaptation of its bearers to different conditions of existence, to the acceptance of all the imperfections and contradictions of the surrounding world, and on the other hand, it formed a unique culture of the peoples of the Volga region. Scientific knowledge of the principles of the formation of this uniqueness expands the understanding of the patterns of intercultural communication in the region.

In critical historical periods, the need for people to return to traditions becomes especially acute. Currently, the interest in studying the reasons for the preservation of this need in modern society has not been exhausted. But the reasons for the stability of traditions, in our opinion, should be sought in the socio-cultural processes that influenced the fate of the bearers of these traditions. The cultural policy of the Russian Empire, expressed in Russification, Christianization and enlightenment of non-Russian peoples, became the trigger mechanism that formed the phenomenon of dual faith in the Volga region as a way of ethnic self-preservation and passive resistance to "alien" innovations of the state.

On this basis, the purpose of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of dual belief in the Volga region as a result of Russian cultural policy in the XVIII–XIX centuries. Of course, the spread of Islam (VIII-X centuries) and Christianity (intensively since the XVI century) in the region began in an earlier historical period due to the intensification of migration processes, military and political reasons, and an increase in interethnic contacts. But our choice of the specified chronological framework is explained by the fact that the cultural policy of Russia then acquired regularity and scale in its desire to consolidate the different peoples of the country on the basis of instilling Orthodox values in them and, accordingly, unconditional reverence for the sovereign autocrat.In the humanities, there are many approaches to the consideration of the phenomenon of double-belief, which indicates the ambiguity of its understanding by domestic and foreign scientists.

Let's focus on those approaches that turned out to be closest to the topic of our article.In the pre-revolutionary period, the topic of dual faith was comprehended in the context of the duration of the Christianization of Russia, in particular, in the works of A. P. Shchapov and E. V. Anichkov ^{[42; 1]}.

The process of accepting a new faith could not be completed immediately after Baptism, it took time. In addition, according to E. V. Anichkov, with disasters and adversities, a return to paganism began again ^[1].N. M. Galkovsky, A. S. Khomyakov and A. N. Veselovsky adhered to a different position on the causes of double-belief.

They believed that the sources of this phenomenon were the "unpreparedness of the mind" to comprehend Christianity, ignorance of Christian laws or error in their interpretation, preference for church rites against the background of misunderstanding the meaning of the creed itself ^{[4; 24; 2]}. We can agree with this position regarding the lack of proper education by the Orthodox clergy of non-Christian peoples. At the same time, one should not exclude the degree of rootedness in the consciousness of previous religious beliefs, in which the new creed is perceived as an alien element that causes "cultural shock" and further rejection. Then the dual faith can be likened to a way of protecting one's traditional values with formal consent to comply with the requirements of the Orthodox Church.In Soviet historiography on the problem of double-belief, it is necessary to highlight the works of N. M. Nikolsky, B. D. Grekov and B. A. Rybakov.

According to N. M. Nikolsky, the dual faith is not so much a violent as an ideological struggle between Christianity and paganism. The reasons for its occurrence were the alienness of a number of Christian dogmas, for example, about Jesus Christ, and the tolerance of Orthodox priests to pagan customs (replacing Slavic gods with demons, the connection of Christian holidays with pagan ones, etc.) ^[18]. B. D. Grekov identified the dual faith not with parallel coexisting faiths, but with the formation of one syncretic faith ^[9]. Indeed, it is difficult to disagree with this point of view, since after the Baptism of Russia, a gradual mixing of pagan and Christian traditions began in holidays and rituals (maternity, wedding, funeral and memorial, etc.).The interpretation of the double faith of the Soviet archaeologist B. A. Rybakov received the greatest fame.

In his opinion, it was a constructed system for the protection of pagan superstitions, and not a mechanical connection of the old and new faith. Moreover, the activity of preserving these superstitions was conscious, especially in the rural environment, not allowing to destroy the identity of folk culture ^[35].Despite the popularity of B. A. Rybakov's approach in interpreting the double faith, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are currently criticizing it.

In particular, the article by the staff of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary A.V. Vorokhobov, A. E. Myakinin, N. E. Gorbatovsky disputes the conclusions of the scientist about the eclecticism of Christianity, which absorbed pagan beliefs and widely used primitive magic, for example, in praying for rain ^{[3, p. 25]}. On the contrary, the mentioned authors of the article are skeptical about the phenomenon of double faith, believing that after the Baptism of Russia, the process of "churching" pagan traditions began, the generation of folk Christianity, where the Christian spirit permeates all the creations of folklore.

Among the foreign researchers of the phenomenon of double-belief, it is necessary to single out Yves Levin, who compares folk religion with a "fruitful cultural system" that has not lost its appeal for centuries ^{[14, p. 10]}. In the understanding of the American researcher, double faith presupposes the conscious preservation of pagan beliefs and rituals by a person "under the outer layer of Christianity" ^{[14, p. 12]}. But in this case, it is curious to ask why, when performing, for example, pagan maternity rites, they could voluntarily turn to the Christian God with prayer and use holy water. As the Russian sociologist S. V. Trofimov explains, this phenomenon occurs when one's own religion is unable to meet the urgent needs of people and other means are required to solve everyday problems ^{[39, p. 57]}. Consequently, the adoption of Christianity compensated for the lack of knowledge in various life situations.It is not uncommon to find in scientific publications the identification of the concepts of "dualism" and "religious syncretism".

Thus, the religious scholar Hendrik Kremer understands by the latter a deliberate, reflection-based, "systematic attempt to combine, mix and reconcile inharmonious, even often contradictory religious elements into a new so-called synthesis" ^{[45, p. 392]}. The Soviet historian G. E. Kudryashov, who studied the process of evolution and extinction of religious ideas of the Chuvash, used the phrase "polysyncretic religiosity" in the title of his book ^[13], which indicates the relationship of the mentioned concepts.In our article, it is proposed to distinguish between the concepts of "dualism" and "syncretism", since by the first we mean a parallel adherence to two religions, and by the second – a fusion of heterogeneous beliefs, the creation of a new religion.

In this sense, we are impressed by the approach proposed by the Russian researcher A. N. Dannenberg. According to this approach, doublespeak is the result of partial assimilation, conscious protection of old beliefs, and syncretism is a "religion of a transitional type", the emergence of a new religious view of the world ^[10]. Religious syncretism does not appear immediately, in the process of cultural interaction, living for a certain period in a state of duality and gradual inclusion in the conditions of existence offered from the outside.The scientific literature devoted to the Volga region is also diverse in terms of research approaches and ethnographic materials.

Thus, studies of the region in the XIX – early XX centuries. V. A. Glitchev, V. K. Magnitsky, D. Mesarosh, N. V. Nikolsky, G. I. Komissarov, B. Gavrilova, S. V. Chicherina, N. I. Ashmarin, Ya. D. Koblova, I. N. Smirnov, etc. devoted to the description of the dependence of a person and a family collective on ancestral spirits, gods and nature. Moreover, the latter was often perceived as a mother, a deity and a member of the ancestral community. Similar terms were used in relation to the Volga River ("Volga-mother, mother", "Lady of the silver water!"), trees ("birch-mother and maternity"), earth. In Soviet literature, the pagan traditions of the peoples of the region correlated with remnants, for example, in the works of P. V. Denisov, G. E. Kudryashov, K. I. Kozlova, D. M. Makarov. At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, the phenomenon of doublespeak in the Volga region is interpreted in a new way, as a prerequisite for the development of neo-paganism, which is confirmed by the publications of E. A. Yagafova ^{[43; 44]}.Of course, within the framework of this article it is impossible to imagine all the variety of approaches to understanding the essence of double-belief.

This is not our goal. But in our research we proceed from the fact that, firstly, the dual faith represented a natural and at the same time an intermediate stage of the cultural development of peoples, the parallel adoption of two religions for the survival of their adherents in a changing world; secondly, the phenomenon of dual faith, vividly manifested in the Volga region as a result of the Russian cultural policy of the XVIII-XIX centuries., it symbolized the readiness of the inhabitants of the region for dialogue as a way of ethnic self-preservation.The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the author's selection of empirical material: official documents of the Office of the Synod, the spiritual department of the Russian Empire and ethnographic essays of the XVIII-XIX centuries.

This makes it possible to explain the causes of the phenomenon of doublespeak and the dynamics of attitudes towards it in a historical context. Depending on the nature of the perception of the phenomenon being studied by state authorities and ethnographers , three approaches to its consideration can be distinguished: 1) "condemning"; 2) "justifying"; 3) "ironic", each of which dominated at a certain stage of the implementation of cultural policy by the Russian Empire in the XVIII-XIX centuries.The scientific novelty of the article also consists in the fact that the phenomenon of double-belief was one of the key factors in the formation of a unique everyday culture of the peoples of the Volga region, which has not lost its ethno-confessional identity in modern conditions.

Materials and methodsThe empirical basis of the article is the official documents and reports of ethnographers located in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the Russian State Historical Archive, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic, the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society and the Central State Archive of the Samara region.

The published materials of foreign researchers of the Volga region in the XVIII century became a valuable source of information .The purpose of the study, related to the analysis of double-belief in the region, required the involvement of a systematic approach that made it possible to explain the stability of the phenomenon under study.

The polarity of the points of view of scientists and theologians on the problem of duality contributed to the understanding that this phenomenon is not only a parallel coexistence of beliefs, but is also a way of adapting a social group to changing conditions of existence. This does not mean that the social group does not have clear beliefs and values, but, on the contrary, demonstrates its pronounced need for survival.

The research methods are based on the principle of historicism, which makes it possible to show the consequences of the influence of Russian cultural policy on the traditions of the population of the Volga region. The following historiographical methods were also used in the article: comparative-historical, necessary to identify the stages of evolution and trends in the development of the phenomenon under study; logical for generalization and comprehension of the material under study; retrospective, helping to reconstruct the events of the past. The current state of double-belief was described by the author through the use of observation and survey methods when collecting field materials in some areas of the Volga region.Results

As is known, the mass spread of Christianity in the Volga region was associated with the capture of Kazan by Ivan IV the Terrible in 1552.

At the same time, the very process of Christianization of the region caused rejection among non-Russian peoples, since the new creed was identified with the "alien", generated distrust and fear: "they worked charms on the Christian army and brought great pluvia" ^{[38, p. 27]}.During the reign of Peter I, an active study of traditional beliefs and customs common in the Volga region began.

Then "condemnatory" rhetoric prevailed. Thus, the English shipbuilder, Captain John Perry, invited to serve in Russia in 1698, described with "some bewilderment" the superstitious fear of the peoples of the region about the use of Russian icons. According to their reasoning, there lived in heaven Someone who was not allowed to be depicted ^[19].In the middle of the XVIII century. Russification and, accordingly, Christianization of the Volga peoples continued.

In one of the reports of 1768 to the Holy Synod, the importance of the establishment of God's preaching among the gentiles and their forced baptism as "wordless" was noted ^{[28, l. 9]}. Moreover, the newly baptized were exempted from taxes and recruitment sets as privileges ^{[25; 27]}. In addition, the Synod prohibited any contacts between pagans and newly baptized. Thus, in an archival document found in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, cases were recorded when unbaptized people were buried in an Orthodox cemetery, whose relatives arranged sacrifices and ritual dances, which the authorities and the church opposed ^{[26, L. 2]}.Researchers of the Volga region in the XVIII century, for example, F. I. Stralenberg, G. F. Miller, G. Georgi, etc., also condemned the religious views of the Finno-Ugrians (Mari, Udmurts, Mordvins) and Chuvash ^{[5; 11; 16]}.

According to F. I. Stralenberg, the pagan peoples of the region revered a number of "man-made dummies", performed sacrifices using holy trees, fire and other elements ^[11]. At the same time, in the pagan worldview, for example, the Chuvash and Mari people had an idea of Jesus Christ, which can be explained by the influence of the "Russian" factor on them as a result of the implementation of state cultural policy in previous historical periods.As the processes of Russification and Christianization intensified in the Volga region, the role of Muslim Tatars simultaneously increased, feeling the need to resist external, "alien" influences and maintain their traditions.

The way of such resistance was the Islamization of neighboring peoples-pagans and New Baptists, who were not fully imbued with the spirit of Orthodoxy. According to ethnographer I. N. Smirnov, the Tatars successfully assimilated other inhabitants of the region, which was expressed in the forgetting of the native language by the Mordvins and Chuvash and "otatarivanie" ^{[34, l. 20]}. In addition, Chuvash women, avoiding contacts with Russians, were "favorable to the Tatars" and willingly married them ^{[17, l. 27]}. As a result, the pagan traditions of a number of peoples of the Volga region began to dissolve in the Islamic creed, manifesting themselves in sacrificial and funeral rituals, in conspiracies against diseases and misfortunes ^{[15, p. 34]}. And here we are already talking about the formation of everyday Islam, i.e. religious syncretism.In the 19th century, the daily existence of baptized Chuvash, Mordvins and Mari remained closely connected with the pagan faith, despite the continued implementation of state cultural policy in the region.

But the assessment of the phenomenon of double–faith in the documents of the Holy Synod is given a different - "exculpatory". In the annual report on the state of affairs in the Kazan province in 1840, it was indicated that the Chuvash and Cheremis (Mari) were still "in an immature position" about belonging to the Christian church and often trembled before "superstitious rites", like their fellow tribesmen-idolaters ^{[30, L. 2]}. The reasons for the steadfastness of non-Christian traditions were rooted in the language problem (ignorance of the Russian language by non-Christian parishioners, and the languages of the inhabitants of the region by Orthodox priests, which demonstrated the difficult assimilation of Christian literacy) and in the class difference between the clergy and the peasantry ^{[32, l. 3]}. At the same time, in order to suppress pagan rituals in the region, the Kazan Military Governor had to exercise special caution, cautiously convincing and admonishing adherents of the old faith ^{[31, l. 2]}.In one of the documents of the First Department of the Ministry of State Property dated December 31, 1843, it was noted that the Holy Synod proposed to use "measures of gentle admonition and edification" to establish Christianity among the baptized Mari people and forbade cutting down sacred groves for pagan rituals that existed in all Mari villages.

This prohibition was explained by the fact that "people who have barely seen through the darkness of idolatry, limited in all their concepts, cannot suddenly abandon all the prejudices and superstitions in which they were born and spent most of their lives ..." ^{[29, L. 26]}.In fact, in the XIX century. there was a refusal of the state authorities and the Orthodox Church from radical steps to Christianize non-Russian peoples.

The Synod's fear that uncompromising in the spread of Orthodoxy could provoke social tension and antagonism between Christian preachers and pagans marked the beginning of a quieter period in the existence of the dual faith. This is confirmed by the local history literature of that time, in which, on the one hand, tolerance prevailed in relation to the pagan beliefs of the peoples of the Volga region, and on the other hand, there was a place for the surprise of ethnographers when they got acquainted with the traditions of the population of the region.

Thus, V. A. Glitchev approached the consideration of the religious views and customs of the Chuvash quite unusually. Despite the fact that he wrote about religious dualism and its manifestation in the rites of the Chuvash people, the position of this researcher was reduced to the theory of monotheism, according to which the Chuvash people from ancient times had faith in one good god. "This dualism," V. A. Glitchev pointed out, "consisted in the worship of two hostile ... divine forces, i.e. Torah and Shaitan. Torah was the god of good and light... Shaitan is the god of evil and darkness… In the regions of both the good and the evil god, according to the belief of the Chuvash, there were service spirits. Of these, the Chuvash subsequently made special independent deities" ^{[37, pp. 78-79]}. A similar opinion about the beliefs of the Chuvash was shared by N. I. Zolotnitsky, who believed that the name of the Torah was once called the one god, and among the modern Chuvash, the Torah was added "to the names of many heavenly and earthly deities ..." ^{[12, p. 256]}.The paganism of the peoples of the Volga region manifested itself most vividly in the rituals of the life cycle and holidays, some of which coincided in form with the Christian ones. V. K. Magnitsky, who described the Chuvash rituals of the village of Maslova, Kazan province, pointed out the importance of sacrifices in them when meeting with a memorial or festive event ^[7].

It must be assumed that such sacrifices, which had a sacred meaning, provided a strong connection between the profane and sacred worlds, between "one's own" and "someone else's" through the appeasement of ancestral spirits, eliminating the fear of an unknown future. Moreover, this connection remained unshakable for a long time, until about the mid-1950s-60s, since pagan cults served as an integral part of everyday life, establishing a certain order of existence in the family, clan and community.It should be emphasized that in the XIX century the Chuvash continued to demonstrate fidelity to their traditions and language, using their own words in the names of Christian holidays: Easter – Mt nkun; Trinity – ?im?k; Apple Savior – Ulma Saviour; Exaltation – len erni; Christmas – Rashtav; Epiphany – K?sharni; Palm Sunday – Verp?nni; Elijah's Day – Ilyin kone (Tatar.) and Ille kun ? (Chuvash.) ^{[6, l. 8]}.

Similar phenomena were observed in the naming of Orthodox holidays among Mordvins and Mari: Easter – Ochizhi (Moksha), Ineche (Erzya), Kugeche (Mari.), Christmas – Roshtuva (Moksha, Erzya), Roshto (Mari.), Epiphany – Lemdema (Erzya), Kreshene (Mari.), etc.

A number of these names were obtained by transforming Russian words, adapting them to the peculiarities of the Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages, endowing them with a sound familiar to the non-Russian population.

The attitude of the peoples of the Volga region to Christian churches was ambiguous.

Thus, the Chuvash rarely and reluctantly visited parish churches, preferring chapels that were several dozen versts away from their place of residence ^{[40, l. 6 vol.]}. As V. K. Magnitsky wrote, "the strangeness of the latter phenomenon, no doubt, explains that the chapels mostly stand in seclusion, and this, as much as possible, it favors the avoidance of various unfavorable encounters ..." ^{[8, l. 7]}. The desire for solitude testified to a sense of embarrassment in front of their neighbors for accepting Christianity, about the fear of being ridiculed by those who remained faithful to the religion of the fathers.Similar cases have become widespread in the Samara province.

No matter how religious the Chuvash may seem, no matter how diligently he attends the Orthodox Church, "but not a little zeal puts ... the Torah" ^{[41, l. 6]}. At the same time, when sacrificing Torah (Tura), for example, ritual porridge, they could say: "Amen, be content" ^{[36, p. 33]}.At the end of the XIX century, an "ironic" approach to the description of pagan traditions in the Volga region began to be applied.

This was often associated with the unusual manifestation of Orthodoxy in the region as an attempt to conclude a "truce" between the Christian Church and non-Russian peoples. For example, the mordvins of Jesus Christ and the apostles depicted "in their own image", wearing Mordovian shirts, ports and bast shoes ^{[15, p. 105]}. Moreover, pagan prayers were often held on the days of Orthodox holidays, and the priests did not interfere with this, receiving food remuneration from the parishioners ^{[6, l. 8]}.In the XX century, the daily life of the peoples of the Volga region was inseparable from the historical fate of Russia, which was reflected in the transformation of traditions and rituals of the region.

At the same time, the phenomenon of double-belief, which originated in an earlier historical period, has not exhausted itself and continues to remain part of regional everyday life. Our research conducted in 2013 and 2017 in the Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, in the Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, shows the increasing importance of traditional beliefs, especially those related to death and nature. For example, in the Zainsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, they take care of old springs, cleaning them every spring. Then the arrangement of the purified spring begins, assigning it the name of a person known in this territory. When a drought occurs, a ritual of pouring water is performed – Yangyr Teleu, during which they ask Allah for rain and a rich harvest ^[23]. The rituals of calling the rain of Russians and Mordvins in the village of Novaya Binaradka in the Samara region have a similar meaning ^[22].Quite specific ritual practices, testifying to the dual faith, have become widespread in the village of Bolshaya Borla, Ulyanovsk region.

So, to the question about the traditional perception of natural phenomena, the villagers gave the following answer: if there is no rain for a long time, then they go to the key, where a prayer service is held. When hail occurs, a poker or frying pan is thrown out of the house. Previously, elderly women recited prayers for the cessation of rain or hail. Currently, lamentations can be pronounced in case of bad weather ^[21].Apparently, these ritual actions are initiated not only by the need to improve their well-being, but also aimed at preventing superstitious fears of nature and otherworldly forces.

The cult of trees had a special meaning for the peoples of the Volga region. For the Chuvash, the linden tree (the female symbol) and oak (the male symbol) possessed the status of the sacred, from which a tombstone – yupa was made ^{[33, pp. 93-94]}. Embodying the image of the deceased, this pillar symbolically united life and death. It continued to be installed on Chuvash graves in the Kuibyshev region and the Tatar ASSR and in Soviet times.The sacred groves of the meadow Mari people, which served as a place of interaction between people, gods and patron spirits, have not lost their traditional significance ^[20].

Traces of ancient rituals have been preserved even in such an everyday sphere as the harvesting of firewood.

For example, this is manifested in the selective use of wood in the Volga region. Informants from the village of Bolshaya Borla, Ulyanovsk region, reported that when harvesting firewood, restrictions are imposed on cutting down oak because of its "ritual" value ^[21]. In the village of Novaya Binaradka, Samara region, it is forbidden to cut birch because of its "sacred" position in the traditional culture of the peoples of the Volga region ^[22].

ConclusionThus, the emergence of the phenomenon of double-belief in the Volga region as a result of Russian cultural policy in the XVIII-XIX centuries was natural.

This was due to the intensity of interethnic contacts, the strengthening of the "Russian" factor in the Christianization and education of the Finno-Ugric and Turkic population of the region. Initially, the state cultural policy of the territory was characterized by conservatism and rigidity in terms of the spread of Christian values and Russian culture, and then softened in favor of "foreigners", thereby contributing to the development of dual faith in the Volga region. However, the emergence of dual faith in the region was influenced not only by the missionary activities of the Orthodox Church and local historians, but also by the activation of Muslim Tatars who sought to protect their traditions through the Islamization of pagans and New Baptists.In general, the phenomenon of double-belief in the Volga region, most pronounced in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

among the Chuvash, Mordvins, Mari and Udmurts, it became, on the one hand, an option for searching for a new religion, new religious knowledge, and on the other – a way of ethnic self-preservation, maintaining historical memory of the experience of overcoming various life situations. It was a compromise with one's conscience, when the adoption of other religious beliefs, rituals and symbols, together with the old faith, gave answers to all pressing questions.