The History of Eastern Slavic Paganism Academic Research: Review of the Sources of the XVIII — First Half of the XIX Centuries

Abstract

The article presents an overview of the scienti c studies on Eastern Slavs’ pagan beliefs, starting with the earliest works on this topic that appeared in the XVIII century (Frenzel, Lomonosov) and up to the mid-XIX century (Schoeppingk, Hilferding). The approaches to the coverage of the pre-Christian Old Russian religion which characterized the studies of that period are given a general analysis. The study traces the perspectives on pagan beliefs from the emergence of the sentimental-romantic approach, with its clear propensity for the pre-Christian past and an uncritical attitude to the research materials, to the development of the comparative trend and the creation of the school of «desk mythology». The relevance of the topic stems from the growing interest of Russian society in its spiritual and cultural heritage, from the desire of the adherents of modern nativist religious movements to reconstruct not only in theory but also in practice the pre-Christian beliefs and the Eastern Slav religion. The same situation is typical of Ukraine and Belarus. Unlike the previous studies in the eld of Slavic paganism, the author uses the method of complex (historical, religious, and theological) source analysis.