Beliefs

By the 13th century, Russia and Novgorod had been Christian for over 250 years. The Eastern Orthodox faith, imported from Byzantium, brought literacy, stone architecture, and culture from the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In the 1200s oaths were sworn to Christian saints, cathedral domes dominated each city, and monks chronicled Russian history. Yet beneath the Christian layer remained an amalgam of older beliefs in Slavic and Norse Gods and a panoply of nature spirits. While by the 1200s paganism was underground, hints remained in complaints of wizards and idolatry in the chronicles,(1) numerous pagan references in the 1182 epic Song of Prince Igor, and the persistence of moon and animal amulets among Novgorod's citizens. Debate continues about how strong and widespread the old beliefs were in the 1200s.

NOTES

(1)Society for Medieval Archaeology, p. 99. Church sermons against pagan practices were recorded even in 16th century Russia.