The publication presents the protocols of two meetings of the Section for the Study of Religions of the USSR headed by Nikolay Matorin in 1934. One was devoted to domestic Orthodoxy in Luga region, the other - to the pre-Christian beliefs of Eastern Slavs. Protocols show not only various aspects of the research work of the section, but also represent a complete program of study of the religious practices in the USSR, which was created by Matorin and his associates and then interrupted by Stalinist persecutions. The publication is accompanied by an introductory article and comments.

Keywords:religious practice, domestic Orthodoxy, pre-Christian beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, the study of religion in the 1930s in the USSR, Nikolay Matorin.

In the LATE twenties and early thirties of the last century, there was a fairly wide range of researchers in Leningrad who were engaged in the study of modern religious practices. Among them were historians, ethnographers and folklorists. Nikolai Mikhailovich Matorin (1898-1936) played a special role in planning, organizing, and conducting research on "living" religious beliefs and cults.

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In 1928, at the very beginning of his very short but bright academic career, Associate Professor of the Ethnographic Department of the Geographical Faculty of Leningrad State University N. M. Matorin organized, as was then customary, a research group (section) to study the history of so-called "cults", that is, everyday religiosity. Members of the group regularly met for evening meetings in the premises of the Geography Department of LSU. The meetings were attended by teachers, students, museum workers, propagandists of the Union of Militant Atheists; many specially came from different regions of the country. The main backbone of the group was Matorin's closest employees and students, as well as his colleagues who dealt with similar problems.

The group changed its name and place of "registration" several times, depending on how convenient it was for its leader, who, like many scientists in those years, worked in several institutions at the same time. From lying to the group moved first to the State Academy of history of material culture (GAIMK), where in August 1929 Matorin was enlisted to work as a researcher, then IPIN (Institute for the study of peoples of the USSR)1, where Matorin became Deputy Director, and in September 1934, the group was taken under the wing of the Museum of Ethnography, USSR Academy of Sciences and became known as "Section to study the religions of the peoples of the USSR".

From the autumn of 1928 to December 1934, Matorin was the main organizer and inspirer of religious research in Leningrad, working in various areas: pedagogical, collecting, museum, research and propaganda. Since 1931, he headed the Department of the History of Religion of Leningrad University, and then the Department of the History of Religion of the Leningrad Institute of History, Philosophy and Linguistics (LIFLI), which was separated from LSU. In January 1930, N. M. Matorin was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Peoples of Russia( KIPS), later transformed into the Institute for the Study of the Peoples of the USSR (IPIN). A few months later, he became a director

1. See: Khudyakov M. G. From the experience of Leningrad ethnographers. Institute for the Study of Peoples of the USSR (IPIN)//Ethnography. 1930. N4. pp. 85-86; Shakhnovichm. I. The second five-year plan of ethnographic work of the MAE and IPIN of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Ethnographic Department of the State Russian Museum // Soviet ethnography. 1932. N5-6. P. 204.

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Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE). In February 1933, the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences was established on the basis of IPIN and MAE, and N. M. Matorin was elected its director. Matorin took part in the organization of the Anti-religious Exhibition in the Hermitage in 1930 and in the creation of the Museum of the History of Religion of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1932.

V. G. Bogoraz-Tan, director of the Museum of the History of Religion, wrote about the activities of the Materin research group: "The section focused mainly on the study of religious syncretism and attracted a number of religious historians, ethnographers, archaeologists and folklorists to its work. In addition, the section has created a significant network of scientific correspondents in the USSR, especially in the national republics and regions, with which it maintains a lively and constant communication. Branches of the section were established in Moscow (at the Central Anti-Religious Museum), in Kalinin, Voronezh, Cheboksary. The Section continues its multi-year work on the compilation of taxa. religious household maps of various regions of the country (Chuvash keremets, Ossetian dzuars, pre-Christian prayer sites in the Leningrad, Moscow, Voronezh, Northern regions, etc.). The section prepared two collections of articles "Religious Syncretism" (go P. L.) and "Religious beliefs in the Leningrad region" from reports read at its meetings (22 baking sheet.)"2 (remained unpublished. - M. Sh.).

The last meeting of the group in 1934 was held on December 28. Matorin was not present. The next day, December 29, he was expelled from the CPSU (b). The resolution of the Party Committee of the USSR Academy of Sciences stated that N. M. Matorin was expelled from the CPSU (b) as an active oppositionist who did not break ideological ties with the counter-revolutionary Zinoviev opposition. Four days later, on January 1, 1935, Nikolai Mikhailovich Matorin was arrested.3 By a tragic irony of fate, it was on this day that Matorin and his staff were going to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the creation of the section.

2. PFA RAS. f. 221. Op. 2. N41. L. 13-14.

3. On the fate of N. M. Matorin, see Nosova G. A. N. M. Matorin as a researcher of religion (To the 70th anniversary of his birth)//Questions of scientific atheism. Issue 7. Moscow, 1969. pp. 366-386; Reshetov A.M. The tragedy of personality: Nikolai Mikhailovich Matorin / / D. D. Tumarkin (comp.). Repressed ethnographers. Issue 2. Moscow, 2003, pp. 147-192.

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Matorin was sent to one of the camps in Central Asia, and in October 1936 was shot. The arrest and death of Matorin contributed to the arrest and persecution of his students and staff, as well as a significant curtailment of pedagogical and scientific work in the field of religious history not only in Leningrad, but in the country as a whole.

A student of the Faculty of Linguistics and Material Culture (yamphak)took an active part in the work of Matorin's group on the study of the "history of cults" since 1929 LSU (originally from 1925 - student of the East Slavic cycle of the Ethnographic Department of the Faculty of Geography) Alexander Arsenyevich Nevsky (1898-1980). He was interested in religious syncretism, especially "Orthodox paganism" 4 and attended a course of lectures on "The current state of Religion in the USSR" under N. M. Matorin, which Matorin taught at the Yamphak, where the department of the History of Religion was opened in 1929. It was to him that Matorin entrusted the work of the group's secretary for the "history of cults". Nevsky's duties included announcing the program and date of meetings, as well as keeping minutes.5 These protocols, written in Nevsky's hand, were discovered by me in the St. Petersburg Branch of the RAS Archive in January 2012.6

The publication, which preserves all the features of the language, style and spelling of the handwritten text, presents the minutes of two meetings. They not only demonstrate various aspects of the section's research work, but also show that Matorin and his closest collaborators created a holistic program for studying the religious practices of the peoples of the USSR. Its implementation was stopped by Stalin's repressions.

N5 Protocol

Sessions of the section on the study of religious beliefs of the peoples of the USSR 7-15 March 1934

4. In 1936, A. A. Nevsky was arrested as a member of the "Matorin counter-revolutionary group", and returned to Leningrad only in 1958.

5. See: Nevsky A. Work of the group on studying the history of cults of the State Academy of the History of Material Culture//Soviet ethnography. 1931-N1-2. pp. 169-171.

6. Currently, these protocols are being prepared for publication as part of a large work by M. M. Shakhnovich and T. V. Chumakova (authors and comp.) "Research on Religion in the USSR: between Ideology and Science (1922-1961)".

7. PFA RAS. f. 221. Op. 2. N37. L. 15-1706.

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Present were: N. Matorin, A. Vasiliev 8, M. Petrova, V. Fedotov, A. Alekseev (hood [ozhnik] MIR 9), M. Khudyakov 10, Mikhin [N. A.]11, Kopotkin 12, A. Nevsky, Malinovskaya, Kurazov 13, Yershov, Lekmotsev 14.

Chairman: Matorin

Secretary: Nevsky Prospekt

Report of N. F. Kurazov. Everyday Orthodoxy in the Luga Region

The speaker, as an introduction, reports on his work in the Luga Region on collecting materials on witchcraft and witchcraft (up to 150 sorcerers were identified in the district). Currently, he is interested in the process of dying out of religion and the collision of the old with the new. Today, the speaker intends to report on the desert of Mardaria 15. In this place there are also sacred springs, sacred trees and sacred stones. Stones with a carved cross. Caves, especially with streams ("pechora"), in which the icon then appears. All these elements are found in the Mardariya desert. The population calls the saint "Mandarius". In the Diocesan Gazette on Mardarii, it is said that Mardarii was tonsured in the Cheremenetsky monastery and appointed "builder" of Theophilus Desert. 16 There, he sought solitude and indulged in asceticism. At the call from above, he retired to a deserted place. Mardariya took one fist for his maintenance. Mardarii was tempted by the devil in the form of a mass of people walking around his dugout, digging him up. The fierce serpent amused him, as did the other objects of his visions.

8. Vasiliev Arkady Ivanovich-historian and local historian, permanent member of the section.

9. Museum of the History of Religion of the USSR Academy of Sciences, established in 1932. Now it is the State Museum of the History of Religion.

10. Mikhail Geogrievich Khudyakov (1894-1936), an archaeologist and ethnographer, was shot in the same case as N. M. Matorin, a permanent member of the section.

11. Initials are set according to other protocols.

12. According to other protocols, he is an IFLI student.

13. Kurazov Nikolay Fedorovich (1887-after 1935), local historian, folklorist. He was arrested in 1924 and sentenced to 6 years in prison camps. In the 1930s, he was the director of the Luga Museum of Local Lore.

14. Igor Mikhailovich Lekomtsev (1911 - 1942), ethnographer, member of the MAE.

15. Currently - Pskov region, Strugokrasnensky district, near the village of Kocheritsy.

16. See: Kuleshova V. P. Feofilova pustyn //Pskov. Ngo. 2004. pp. 57-65.

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A lost woman discovers the location of Mardariya. Instead of a dugout, a wooden cell was later built. Mardarii hadn't bathed in 30 years, but he was "clean as a dove." Mardarii died in or about 1765. The Mardariev Desert competed with the Nikandrov Desert. The monks of Nikandra therefore stole the body of Mardarii to their monastery. There was an investigation 17, but Archimandrite Nikandrova Pustyn managed to get out, having got, however, on another case. This is the history of Mardari according to written sources. Mardarii was not canonized.

According to the inhabitants, the founder of the three deserts were three brothers: Mondarius, Nicander and Theophilus. Mondarius warns of the day of his death and bequeaths to drag his body. But the peasant laid the body on the firewood. The horse was walking on the lake up to his ankles, and not on dry land Mondarius blames the peasant: "He ruined the whole thing for me!". In another version, the man carries the body around the place of death, instead of dragging it.

The third variant mentions a bottom stream (kipuna), near which Mardarii settled. Mardary is a healer who works in the medical field: "Mardary helps." About the theft of the body of Mardarii, they say that the body left the coffin and went from the Nikandra desert to its old place. The Archimandrite, waiting for the "royal command" to open the relics, strangled himself out of fear. Another possibility: the horses carrying Mardarii's body fell, and the people went mad.

Lots of stories about healing from Mardarii.

Offerings to Mardarii in the chapel - money. They even threw gold coins. Miller Zhorokhov collected up to 500 rubles for the holiday. They used to leave their clothes, but now they only leave rags. Money (coins) are thrown into the spring. The chapel has a lot of icons. There is an icon of Mardariya.

After crossing the "bottom stream", we find a chapel of God hung with women's povoyniki, ribbons, rags. Especially honored are the three kipunka springs, from which they drink (in turn from all) and take water. One of the kipunks is now dry ("Unholy Times"!). In the desert there is a revered fir tree, under which there are five stones. White ribbons hang from the fir tree. Stones rub sore spots. Touching them without blessing causes supposedly illnesses. There is a mound where Mardarius is supposedly buried. According to the information, this mound was built on the site indicated by the vision of one of the women-the miller's mother-in-law, to whom the cult owes its strengthening.

17. The Pskov State Archive holds the file "On the coffin of Monk Mardarii secretly Dug out of the ground in Porkhovsky Uyezd" dated January 4, 1805.

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There were many people who wanted to profit from Mardarii's victims, except for Melnik. The clothes brought to Mardarii were taken by Peter, the hermit's successor, who was also quite a well-known figure. The cult of stones seems to have originated a long time ago. Some connect the cult of stones with the case of a miller who stumbled over a stone, swore, fell ill, but after asking for forgiveness from the stone, was healed.

The new miller Syaga, an Estonian Lutheran, sees healing springs as mineral water. Syaga is fighting against Mardarii and the pilgrims, bringing real terror to the latter.

Collective farms treat Mardary ironically. It is said that on some days only single visitors come to Mardariy, according to the covenant. On Elijah's Friday, the praying mantis came to Mardarii, and one of them-Murashova-told a lot of information about Mardarii. Murashova's husband is dekulakized, and her sons are exiled for stabbing a collective farm horse. Murashova is a real pop agitprop.

Near the kipunka there was a holy cave, which is now filled in.

Murashova told legends about communists who were punished by God and who believed. The legend of the tar river (social construction), on which a ship (collective farms) sails, doomed to perish. The legend was spoken by Murashova quickly, smoothly, as if memorized.

There is no anti-religious work in the Luga Region. In the Gilde estate. there was a stone with a recess, which was filled with water by order of the landowner. They were treated with this water. So the cult was supported by "cultured" landlords.

Stones and stone crosses - 24 in the Luga region.

There are 6 caves.

Groves and trees - 12.

Sources - 19.

There are about 30 local and miraculous icons.

Uncanonized saints - 6.

Questions

Khudyakov: Were there any official religious processions in the Desert Mar-darya? Which clergy served?

Nevsky: What is the difference between a witch doctor and a witch doctor? Are there no facts of seeking forgiveness from places other than the Mardarii Stones?

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Petrova: Have you ever heard the story about the little finger of Mardarii? A story about the funeral of Maradarius, whose little finger remained with the funerary.

Matorin: Is there any information about the Feast of the Exaltation at Mardarii?

Fyodorov: Is the school fighting against the cult?

Yershov: Does Murashova have a connection with the city? Isn't it a Leningrad asset?

Kalinovskaya: Were the offerings taken for the Museum? - Nothing was taken, but everything was photographed.

Kurazov: The Church fought against the uncanonized Mardarii, but the people went there en masse. The cult of saints arises in a peculiar way: the discovery of a skull on arable land; the vision of a peasant - setting up a chapel: they come and bow to the "unknown saint".

Healers and witches are separated only by popular rumor, but their methods are exactly the same.

Sorcerers deal with devils, healers only use them. The reputation of worshipers of sorcerers was created mainly by priests.

They ask for forgiveness not only from stones, but also from springs, etc.

About the little finger is Knyazev 18. In the stories of the population, this motive is not found. It is believed that Mardarii died in Vozdvizhenie, hence the fair was held in Vozdvizhenie. If you visit Mardariya, then you must visit Vozdvizhenie. The school is far from the place of worship, and is not interested in Mardari. Praying mantises came from 10-20 kilometers away. Murashova has no connection with Leningrad, but she sings in the choir, despite being illiterate.

Utterances

[Kurazov] Knyazev's information comes from people who remember Mardari's funeral. The figure of Gennady is interesting. This rascal is a friend of Paul I. He received Maltese vestments, built a monastery. Mardarii was a competitor of the Nikandrov Monastery on the dates of holidays. The bones of Mardarii were needed to increase the objects of worship in the monastery: Nikander's coffin, Nikander's stone (on which Nikander allegedly died), and so on. Pinkie

18. Meaning: Knyazev A. Hieromonk Mardarii, the desert dweller. Pskov, 1891 (reprinted: Pskov, 1998).

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it was given by Gennady to a man who protested against the abduction of Mardari's body. Then the finger was in the graveyard of the Mountain. Initially, services were held at the grave of Mardarii, but the molebens were stopped by the order of Evg. Bolkhovitinov, then bishop of Pskov. He also ordered the Mardarii Chapel to be dismantled.

Petrova: One of the peasant women said that there were not enough churches , so they gathered for Mardariy and prayed. Rags are hung on the road to Mardarii.

Khudyakov: The formation of the cult of a Christian saint follows the true paths of pre-Christian beliefs. Archaic features are very pronounced. The specialty of other saints is interesting: Nikandra and others. The legends are interesting: they have ancient roots. The legend of the trip across the lake is interesting and elements of the cult of water and the cult of the horse. The icons of Mardarii are interesting: is he depicted as a martyr or an elder? Mikhail Nikitich Romanov was not personally depicted at first, but was replaced by the image of Michael the Archangel.

Vasiliev: It is interesting to get a chest with the little finger of Mardarii in the churchyard of the Mountain and look at the image on the lid.

Matorin: The cult of Mardarii is underdeveloped. The class use of the cult is clear. This should not be confused with the mass use of the cult. Is there an old prayer place here, or a newly formed one? Of course, kipunki trees are an old moment, as well as trees. The grave, the pebbles, the cave-these are all probably neoplasms. Here is a well-trodden path of the old cult, but connected with the name of the newly appeared saint.

We need to speed up the work on drawing up religious and household maps. The deadline for submitting materials for the London Congress is May 1, 19. In England, similar monuments are enclosed with bars. Our work shows that the boundaries between the West and the East are melting (Marr's expression).

In the Luga Region, it is necessary to create a whole department dedicated to the monuments of worship that need to be protected. Before the summer, I need to make an urgent report on the study of religious syncretism in France. We will publish the revised version of A. I. Vasiliev's work. Materials of N. F. Kurazov should be published in the Leningrad regional publishing house. N. F. and Ark. Iv. it is necessary to immediately start drawing up a map of the Leningrad region with texts on 1.5-2 sheets.

19. This is the First International Congress of Anthropologists and Ethnographers.

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Our group should become the core of the research group on the history of religion, the question of the organization of which is raised in IAE 20. We must no longer remain as a voluntary organization under MIR. At IAI 21, you can also organize a cell on the history of religion in the feudal era. There are now 22 Klibanovs, 22 Kopotkin, and there is a place for A. I. Vasiliev with his "lives of saints".

Which areas are not affected? - Synodal Archive. First Zlygosteva was sent there, then Volkov worked. All these were forays of an artisanal nature. The Synodal archive should be worked out: this is a whole topic of graduate work. A file of "Living Antiquities" and "Ethnographic Review"should also be compiled. Then it is the turn to work out the diocesan statements. Archives Tenishevsky and RGO 23 should be raised. We need to expand our forces as well. We need to set up meetings in Comunice 24 and LIFLI. The correspondent network must be maintained and expanded: this is a great thing. Communication should be maintained not only with individuals, but also with organizations. As an academic group, we will be able to have branches in the branches of the Academy of Sciences. A branch in Moscow at TSAm 25 has already been established. In Voronezh, with the transfer of Yershov there, there will be another support base for us.

If we can make our cause internationally relevant, it will be recognized.

Khudyakov: It is necessary to speed up the work on drawing up p [eligious] - b [cult] maps. You can take our protocols to the congress with a map that should cover the places where the reports were made. Card indexes on diocesan lists are not so difficult to make. Transfer of the group to the IAE is highly advisable. In addition to religious syncretism and shamanism, we must also raise the problem of totemism, about which there is an opinion among bourgeois scientists as a phenomenon associated with certain religious beliefs.-

20. The Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography, now the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography named after I. V. Shishkin. Peter the Great (Kunstkamera).

21. Historical and Archeographic Institute, on the basis of which the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created, now the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

22. Klibanov Alexander Ilyich (1910-1994), religious historian, disciple of N. M. Materin.

23. Russian Geographical Society.

24. This refers to the Leningrad branch of the Communist Academy.

25. Central Anti-Religious Museum in Moscow.

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cultural circles, while totemism is a universal phenomenon. We must make a report on our work at the London congress. Create a table of reports.

Vasiliev: It is not difficult for N. F. Kurazov to map places of worship, as well as for Mikhin Malinovskaya. Draft maps should be ready by 31 / III.

Yershov: There were organized attempts to compile a bibliography on "Living Antiquity" and "Ethnographic Review" - traces of Yegorov from the Loikfun bay 26. It is necessary to think seriously about the technique of this case, since Yegorov's organizational aspects were very lame.

Matorin: We will take note of the report. The report should be included in the collection for the Leningrad region. The article should be ready by 1/X. The draft map must be completed by 31 / III. The Luzhsky Museum should have a department dedicated to religious monuments. Speed up work on religious and household maps under the responsibility of A. I. Vasiliev.

It is necessary to make a general report on the work of the group for all the time on the map of the USSR and the Leningrad region. Select a number of materials for playback from the photo library. Write a summary report with the calculation of the room in the "Soviet Ethnography" - Nevsky.

M. G. Khudyakov to present the project of implementation of the bibliography on journals. Enter into negotiations with the administration of the Ethnographic Department for the Tenishevsky Archive.

According to the RGS archive-send a comrade. Mikhin for negotiations with Comrade. Eliash. To enliven correspondent relations with short notes on the preparation of the work-to conduct this to the group secretary Nevsky.

During trips to Mordovia and Transcaucasia, establish correspondent contacts.

The next report should be M.'s report. E. Khudyakova "The Magi of Ancient Russia".

M. G. Khudyakov has a report on "Cults and cosmic representations in the Kama region in the era of the disintegration of the tribal system".

It is advisable that tt. s give the group secretary plans for their future work to take into account interests and plan reports.

Secretary Nevsky

26. Leningrad Society for Cultural Research of Finno-Ugric Peoples.

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Minutes No. 16 of the Meeting of the Group on the Study of Religious Beliefs of the Peoples of the USSR 27.

December 14, 1934

Present: N. M. Matorin, A. I. Vasiliev, N. A. Nikitina-Schmidt 28, A. A. Nevsky, Ioffe 29, Lebedev (student). LIFLI), Gutman, Leper 30, Linevsky 31, Pugovkina 32, Studenetskaya 33, Kryukova 34, Nikitin. A 35, L. Lavrov 36, A.M. Pokrovsky, V. G. Bogoraz 37.

Chairman: N. M. Matorin

Secretary: A. A. Nevsky

I. Current information.

N. M. Matorin announces 1) the decision of NCP 38 on the organization of postgraduate studies in ethnography at the Department of Ethnography of Leningrad region. 2) about the Ethnographic Commission under the Central Library of the USSR, which organizes and sets as one of its tasks the publication of programs for the study of the beliefs of the peoples of the USSR.

Messages are taken into consideration.

27. PFA RAS. f. 221. Op. 2. N37. l. 60-61 vol.

28. Nikitina (Schmidt) Nina Alexandrovna (1903-after 1934) - ethnographer, in 1934 an employee of the IPIN, a permanent member of the section.

29. Evg. Grig. Joffe is a student of LIFLI, a permanent member of the section.

30. Yevgenia Romanovna Leper (1897-1949), ethnographer, in 1934 she was the head of the Museum of the Leningrad Prigorodny District (Pushkin), a permanent member of the section.

31. Alexander Mikhailovich Linevsky (1902-1985), ethnographer and writer, permanent member of the section.

32. Pugovkina Maria Iustinovna-ethnographer, MAE employee.

33. Studenetskaya Evgeniya Nikolaevna (1908-1988), ethnographer, permanent member of the section.

34. Kryukova Tatyana Aleksandrovna (1904-1978), ethnographer, in 1934 employee of the State Museum of Ethnography, permanent member of the section.

35. George (Yuri) Nikitin (1908-1942), ethnographer, 1934 employee of the State Museum of Ethnography, permanent member of the section.

36. Leonid A. Lavrov-permanent member of the section.

37. Vladimir Germanovich Bogoraz (Tan) (1865 - 1936), ethnographer, linguist, religious historian, founder of the Museum of the History of Religion of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

38. People's Commissariat of Education.

39. Central Bureau of Local Lore.

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II. Report by N. A. Nikitina. Pre-Christian beliefs of the Eastern Slavs during the genesis of feudalism. (Part of a chapter from a textbook for higher education institutions prepared by the State Academy of the History of Material Culture)

Written sources: Byzantine writers, treaties of princes, chronicles, church literature. Their point of view on old beliefs. "A Word about Igor's Regiment". Material monuments - burial grounds. Their meaning. Folklore materials of the XIX-XX centuries. Ethnographic data (material of survivals). Difficulty in using ethnographic materials (they have not been studied historically). Linguistic sources (linguist, paleontological].). Monographs: Anichkov, Kagarov, Zelenin, Mansikka. Anichkov's idealistic approach. Grushevsky, N. M. Nikolsky, Veselovsky, Marr. Derzhavin. Marxist works: Pokrovsky. Some issues are still unresolved.

Generic cult. Employment of the population, the leading role of agriculture and cattle breeding. Deities of the elements and nature. Sun and thunderstorm. River deities. Materials on the cult of the sun. Images. Kupala rites according to the chronicle and at the present time. Yarila's holiday. Phallic moments. The cult of fire. Feeding the sheep. Cult of water and water creatures. Mermaids. Veneration of trees. Leshy. Spirits of diseases. Remnants of totemism.

Places of worship. Cherished groves, rocks, and trees. Sacrifices to the deities. Public and private prayers. Burials and graves. Rod and rozhanitsy.

The destruction of old forms of beliefs in the era of feudalism. Perun and the Kiev Pantheon. Animal gods, gods of wealth. Knyazhesko is a druzhinnaya and mass religion.

Questions:

Nevsky: Why naturalistic beliefs are given first. And then the ancestral cult?

Pokrovsky: What do you mean, the cult of the dead was generic?

Vasiliev: The issue of new gods, as well as stones and trees, is not clear.

Bogoraz: Explains the question about Rostov and other cities.

Linevsky: About sorcerers and remnants of totemism: explain what's going on.

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Answers:

Nikitina: The sequence of presentation is explained by the desire to give first ideas, and then cults. The cult of the dead existed in the conditions of a large family. The religion of Perun was created not only by the declarations of Vladimir, but also had roots in ancestral cults. The cult of Perun was connected with the old cults of the Slavs, flowing organically from them. There is very little material about totemism in written sources.

Matorin: The work of N. A.-a new summary of materials for the textbook. This should be borne in mind first of all.

Speaking of Pamphilus, it should be mentioned that this is Pskov, and not another region. Tver Yariliny festivities provide material for covering old festivities. Orthodox prayers under an oak tree in the Kaluga Region in 1934 with the distribution of branches from an oak tree. There is more to be said about Mo-koshi, the female deity (see Ilinsky's article)40. Mention among the saints of St. Gregory. Take advantage of Sreznevsky's work on worship among the Slavs 41. Point to the beliefs of the Volga Finns as a source for reconstructing the beliefs of the ancient Slavs. The structure of the chapter should not be based on a formal principle, but rather on the substance of the material. Natural objects are related to ideas about spirits and have a subordinate meaning. Dual beliefs are also a source for reconstructing old forms of beliefs.

There is a growing interest in the beliefs of Russians: not only for the exhibition, but also for the development of folklore and ethnographic heritage.

It is necessary to analyze Anichkov's latest works in the foreign press - this is my shock commitment.

Bogoraz: N. A. Nikitina also has a second specialty - in northern religion: a book on shamanism, which should have been followed by other works. I am very sad that this line was interrupted. This group is the only group where attendance is high and people want to study ethnography. The topic of the speaker is large, but still undeveloped. It is necessary to give more developed reports with more material.

40. Meaning: Ilinsky G. A. Odno neizvestnoe drevneslavyanskoe bozhestvo [One unknown Ancient Slavic deity]. Izvestiya Akademii nauk SSSR [Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences]. VI series. 1927. N 21 (3). pp. 369-372.

41. Sreznevsky I. I. Issledovaniya ob yazycheskom bogosluzhenii drevnykh slavyan [Studies on Pagan worship of the ancient Slavs], St. Petersburg, 1847.

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Hardly ovinnik-splitting brownie, it is associated with the cult of fire. Susedko is a special form of brownie. Burials by burning - in the upper strata. The speaker omitted the instructions of Arab writers about Veles on the Volga, and they are important.

There is little reason to associate the old faith (spirits) with the new one (Perun). There is no indication of Norwegian (Scandinavian) connections. After analyzing the speaker, we didn't get any richer. Many places need to be given a more interrogative form. We must rise to a new level, as we have done in ethnography over the past year. Here we see new forces. At first we were completely ignorant, and now we are experiencing an era of half-knowledge. We need to shorten this epoch. We must set firm scientific goals.

Matorin: Our scientific institutions should not dismiss the discussion of textbook chapters: this is the main task. The chapter should be divided into a number of scientific topics, which are already given in depth. But this is the task of the future.

Bogoraz offers N. A. Nikitnaya to help her in her work. The chapter is not suitable for a textbook, but the topic deserves every encouragement.

Petrov V. P. (Ukraine): In the characterization of the production stage of the decomposition of the genus, plow farming cannot be put forward. We need to talk about slash farming. Cattle breeding was also much less widespread. Marx: "Kievan Rus' is a chapter in the history of the Norman Conquest." It is necessary to contrast the Norman and Slavic systems of mythology. The cult of natural objects is mediated by production. The Kupala ritual coincides with the cutting of trees in the slash system. Numismatic material and other sources indicate the formation of principalities under Roman influence (the mass of Roman coins). In this approach, Kolyada is associated with the Latin influence (interpretation by A. Veselovsky).

A. I. Vasiliev: We must help both N. A. in her work on the textbook and the textbook itself. Scandinavia has been discarded in vain. You had to be very careful with Perun. The trees and springs of modernity are not what they were before. They move around. They are traditional by cult, not by objects. The burial mounds belong to the early period. A large family was always needed to fill the mounds, there are very small mounds.

Nevsky speaks of the need to bring to the fore social, rather than industrial and natural resources.-

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tov. Totemism and witchcraft are unfolded and raised up in the field of attention, otherwise they are mentioned in a single phrase that does nothing.

To use in this respect the material of survivals used by N. M. Nikolsky in his work on the religion of the Dnieper Slavs.

Pokrovsky A.M.: the style of the chapter in this textbook is not suitable. Phrases should not contain riddles (about sorcerers, about totemism).

Linevsky: It is very difficult to quickly switch from subject to subject in an article. Not oak was revered by the Slavs, but aspen, rowan, bird cherry. Field women's perfume (omitted by the speaker) is more archaic than field perfume. Interesting relics can be found among shepherds and hunters.

Closing remarks

Nikitina: Only in MIR-e can we discuss the issues raised in my report. There is a big difference between the read chapter and the research (later). In a large study, the construction principle will be different. The religion of the Vladimir era will need to be worked out. In the X - XII centuries, plow farming was already predominant. About survivals: you need to use this material very carefully.

III. About the future prospects of the group's work and participation in its MIR-a exhibition.

N. M. Matorin informs about his invitation to work at the GA-IMC. Then the GAIMC will be able to help N. A. work on the material about Slavic beliefs.

Our group should take part in the exhibition work of MIR-a. It is necessary to put up a shield according to the pre-Christian beliefs of the Russians. This exhibition should be both scientifically competent and artistically expressive. Maybe we should give the cult of Perun on Ilmen or something else equally vivid.

A. I. Vasilyev: We should raise the question of when it will be necessary to display the material. The time limit for convening the exhibition group depends on this.

Bogoraz: It would be advisable to call a meeting about the exhibition as soon as possible. This is necessary for the group itself. We must be prepared. The shield will be placed in the plan of the first quarter of 1935.

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Matorin: The next meeting on December 28, 1934, at 7 p.m., will be devoted to the issues of the exposition, dividing it into two parts: 1) the general plan of the exposition of the third section; 2) the exposition of the shield on pre-Christian beliefs of Russians.

In addition, we will also be engaged in programs on the beliefs of the peoples of the USSR.

IV. About nonresident correspondents of the group.

A. I. Vasiliev suggests that a number of correspondents should be registered as a protocol. N. M. Matorin points out a number of individuals, including:

Sheremetyevo Airport (Kaluga)

Pchelina (Moscow)

Petrushevsky (Tiflis)

Vostokov (Voronezh)

Petrov Vict. Plat. (Kiev)

V. G. Bogoraz does not object to the involvement of such corresponding members in the work.

Matorin suggests submitting a list of people who should be kept in mind as correspondents to the MIR-a Directorate. All these individuals should be notified accordingly.

V. N. M. Matorin informs the meeting 1) about the work on the creation of the Museum of the History of Religion in Tiflis (com. Makalatia) 2) on the involvement of the Mari researcher Vasiliev to work on the tasks of the group (selection of items for the museum according to the kuch-sorta sect, drawing up a religious and everyday map of the Mari region).

Secretary: A. A. Nevsky

Bibliography

Archive materials

St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PFA RAS). f. 221 (Museum of the History of Religion of the USSR Academy of Sciences).

Literature

Ilinsky G. A. One unknown Ancient Slavic deity//Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences. VI series. 1927. N 21 (3). pp. 369-372.

Knyazev A. Hieromonk Mardarii, the Desert Dweller. Pskov, 1891 (reprint: Pskov, 1998).

Kuleshova V. P. Feofilova pustyn//Pskov. 2004. N10. pp. 57-65.

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Nevsky A. Work of the group for studying the history of cults of the State Academy of the History of Material Culture//Soviet ethnography. 1931-N1-2. From 169-171.

Nosova G. A. N. M. Matorin kak issledovatel ' religii (K 70-letiyu so deya rozhdeniya) [Matorin as a researcher of religion (To the 70th anniversary of his birth)]. Issue 7. Moscow, 1969, pp. 366-386.

Reshetov A.M. The tragedy of personality: Nikolai Mikhailovich Matorin/ / D. D. Tumarkin (comp.). Repressed ethnographers. Issue No. 2. Moscow, 2003, pp. 147-192.

Sreznevsky I. I. Issledovaniya ob yazycheskom bogosluzhenii drevnykh slavyan [Studies on Pagan worship of the ancient Slavs]. SPb., 1847.

Khudyakov, M. G. From the experience of Leningrad ethnographers. Institute for the Study of Peoples of the USSR (IPIN)//Ethnography. 1930. N4. pp. 85-86.

Shakhnovich M. I. The second five-year plan of ethnographic work of the MAE and IPIN of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Ethnographic Department of the State Russian Museum //Soviet ethnography. 1932. N5-6. P. 204.

Il'inskij G.A. Odno neizvestnoe drevneslavjanskoe bozhestvo // Izvestija Akademii nauk SSSR. VI serija. 1927. N 21 (3). From 369-372.

Knjazev A. Ieromonah Mardarij, pustynnozhitel'. Pskov, 1891 (pereizd.: Pskov, 1998).

Kuleshova V.P. Feofilova pustyn' // Pskov. N 20. 2004. S. 57 - 65.

Nevskij A. Rabota gruppy po izucheniju istorii kul'tov Gosudarstvennoj akademii istorii material'noj kul'tury // Sovetskaja jetnografija. 1931. N 1 - 2. S 169 - 171.

Nosova G.A. N. M. Matorin kak issledovatel' religii (K 70-letiju so dnja rozhdenija) // Voprosy nauchnogo ateizma. Vyp. 7. M., 1969. S. 366 - 386.

Reshetov A.M. Tragedija lichnosti: Nikolaj Mihajlovich Matorin // D.D. Tumarkin (sost.). Repressirovannye jetnografy Vyp. 2. M., 2003. S. 147 - 192.

Sreznevskij I.I. Issledovanija ob jazycheskom bogosluzhenii drevnih slavjan. SPb., 1847.

Hudjakov M. G. Iz opyta leningradskih jetnografov. Institut po izucheniju narodov SSSR (IPIN) // Jetnografija. 1930. N 4. S. 85 - 86.

Shahnovich M.I. Vtoraja pjatiletka jetnograficheskoj raboty MAJe i IPIN Akademii nauk SSSR i Jetnograficheskogo otdela Gosudarstvennogo Russkogo muzeja // Sovetskaja jetnografija. 1932. N 5 - 6.

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