The worldview of the medieval Slavs was closely connected with the surrounding natural forces. Old Russian gods personified the forces of nature. In addition to the deities, in the folk beliefs there were many other fantastic creatures such as gobbies, witches, demons, berezhin, bannikov and others. Some of them have come up with Russian folk beliefs to this day.
Universe of the ancient Slavs
Today we know very little about the worldview of the Eastern Slavs. Incomparably less than about the similar beliefs of many Western and Eastern peoples. This happened because our ancestors did not have their own written language for a sufficiently long period. There are simply no narrative sources giving an idea of the views of the ancient Russian tribes. To a certain extent, other sources talk about this: stone idols, religious shrines, textual references of a later time, and so on. The general idea of the Universe, as it was seen by the Eastern Slavs, can give the famous Zbruch idol, found in the river of the same name in Ukraine. This two-meter statue has four sides and three levels, each of which represents the Universe: the underground (world of dark creatures), earthly (world of people) and heavenly (world of gods). As already mentioned, the object of worship for the Russians was the natural element itself, in which they saw divine providence.
Etymology of Divine Names
The very names of the gods of the eastern Slavs indicate their functions and natural forces for which they are responsible: Rod was the ancestor of all gods and in general all life on earth; Dazhbog is a god who gives sunlight and abundant fertility; Mara is the goddess of evil and night, personifying the death of all life in late autumn. Her antagonist was the spring
goddess Lada. Often the old Russian names of deities were a local version of very similar gods from other
European mythologies. So, Perun was one of the hypostases of the thunder god, very popular among the Indo-European peoples. Mara was associated by various authors with the Roman deities Tsetsero and Mars. Some historians derive the name Veles from the Baltic god of the realm of the dead Vyalnas.
Baptism of Russia
The turning point in paganism was the rule in the second half of the 10th century by the Kiev prince Vladimir. Old Russian gods simply ceased to meet the conditions of the developing world. Powerful neighbors of Russia (Byzantium, Catholic
coalitions,
Arab caliphate) by this time were monotheistic states. Old Russian gods did not contribute to the internal consolidation of the country, and, therefore, hindered its strengthening and development. A few years before the
adoption of Christianity, Vladimir made an attempt to spiritual unification of the Russian lands. The most popular Old Russian gods in the form of six idols (Khors, Perun, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Mokoshi, Semargla) were collected on the Kiev temple. However, it soon became clear that the reform would not produce the desired results. And close contacts with powerful neighbors, primarily with Byzantium, prompted the prince to adopt the Greek version of Christianity in 988. It should also be noted that not only
mythological creatures managed to exist in the new system. Many Old Russian gods eventually turned into Orthodox saints in local Christianity.