http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/13shnir.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->According to some experts, the Pamiat movement in its early period in the 1980s was based on Neo-pagan ideology.60 Its leaders were proud of their association with the Communist Party and were sincere advocates of the stable and highly integrated Soviet empire. There were neither Christian believers nor monarchists among them. At the same time, Neo-paganism included a mixture of Slavic paganism and popularized Hinduism. By the 1990s, however, Neo-pagans had access to the mass media and were able to establish political movements.
At the same time, an extreme branch of Neo-paganism is represented by Yemelyanov, who was fascinated with the rich literary and cultural traditions of pre-Christian civilization in Russia.33 He wrote about the ancient<b> Aryans of India as âAryan-Venedsâ who brought âour ideology, which survived at the core of Hinduism and Yogaâ to India. The Veneds (âAryansâ), he claims, once dominated the Eastern Mediterranean region, and provided Palestine with its nameââOpalennyi Stan,â i.e., the burnt country. The Neo-pagans forge many of their arguments from such spurious folk etymology.</b>
Yemelyanov identified the Phoenicians with the Veneds as the inventors of the alphabet, and claimed that âthe Veneds and the Baltic Aryans were the only indigenous peoples of Europe, whereas the Celts and the Germans came later from the Asian interior.34 Their pure Aryan language and ideology survived only âat the territory between Novgorod and the Black Seaâ where the notion of âthe triplication of three triple Trinitiesâ (triedinstvo trekh triedinykh troits) was maintained for so long: âPrav-Yav-Nav, Svarog-Perun-Svetovid, or Soul-Flesh-Power.â35 The true Golden Age occurred there: âthere was no notion of evil.â Yemelyanov glorifies the pre-Christian past in which the Russians (ârusichiâ) lived in harmony with nature, had no sanctuaries or priests, and a religion that did not call for blind obedience to the Lord. The yoginis (women who practiced yoga) had occult powers. All these fantasies, of course, bear no resemblance to what is known from contemporary archaeology about the life of Eastern Slavs in the pre-Christian period. The Vles Book was extensively cited by Yemelyanov as representative of the true Russian worldview which made the âpeopleâs soul.â36
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<img src='http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0gQs19YbGxexO/610x.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->What is Bad about Christianity?
Medieval history can therefore not feed the pride of the Russian Neo-Pagan
204 V. A. Shnirelman
nationalists with regard to their ancestorsâ deeds. Besides, the Christian Church
always tried to play down ethnic differences and to indoctrinate its followers
with a cosmopolitan attitude. That is why the contemporary ethnic nationalist
idea cannot live in peace with a Christianity which is aimed at de-ethnicization
(albeit, in the Russian environment, it means RussiÂcation of the non-Russians).
Finally, while calling for humility Christianity disarms ethnic nationalists who
need quite different qualities in order to struggle for power, such as
aggressiveness, brevity, sacriÂcial behaviour, Âghting skill, intolerance towards
âenemies of the nationâ, etc. (see, for example, Barkashov, 1994). Thus, some
ethnic nationalist ideologists admire Neo-Paganism for its bellicose spirit;
indeed, they need a struggling God rather than a suffering one (Eliseev, 1995).
It is worth mentioning that the Ukrainian radical nationalists connect a
successful national development with an aggressive, militant attitude
(Yavorsâkyi, 1992: 26â29).
The latter reason manifested itself clearly in the Abkhazian and Armenian
Neo-Pagan rhetoric: an emergence of Neo-Paganism among the Armenians was
accompanied by a growth of tensions with the Azeris (Abrahamian, 1999: 68)
and an interest of the Abkhazians in Neo-Paganism expressed itself at the dawn
of the GeorgianâAbkhazian conÂict in 1989. The Ukrainian Neo-Paganism is
strongly aimed at ethnic Russians; even anti-Semitism seems to be of a
subsidiary importance in this respect. Lev Sylenko emphasized strongly that it
was the ethnic Russians who used Christian Orthodoxy in order to enslave the
Ukraine (Sylenko, 1979).
Thus, Neo-Pagans are deeply and insatiably in love with the pre-Christian
past, as if at that time, peoples lived in virgin purity, were not corrupted by
external inÂuences, could therefore enjoy the best ideology in the world, wage
successful wars, and accomplish great heroic deeds.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->According to some experts, the Pamiat movement in its early period in the 1980s was based on Neo-pagan ideology.60 Its leaders were proud of their association with the Communist Party and were sincere advocates of the stable and highly integrated Soviet empire. There were neither Christian believers nor monarchists among them. At the same time, Neo-paganism included a mixture of Slavic paganism and popularized Hinduism. By the 1990s, however, Neo-pagans had access to the mass media and were able to establish political movements.
At the same time, an extreme branch of Neo-paganism is represented by Yemelyanov, who was fascinated with the rich literary and cultural traditions of pre-Christian civilization in Russia.33 He wrote about the ancient<b> Aryans of India as âAryan-Venedsâ who brought âour ideology, which survived at the core of Hinduism and Yogaâ to India. The Veneds (âAryansâ), he claims, once dominated the Eastern Mediterranean region, and provided Palestine with its nameââOpalennyi Stan,â i.e., the burnt country. The Neo-pagans forge many of their arguments from such spurious folk etymology.</b>
Yemelyanov identified the Phoenicians with the Veneds as the inventors of the alphabet, and claimed that âthe Veneds and the Baltic Aryans were the only indigenous peoples of Europe, whereas the Celts and the Germans came later from the Asian interior.34 Their pure Aryan language and ideology survived only âat the territory between Novgorod and the Black Seaâ where the notion of âthe triplication of three triple Trinitiesâ (triedinstvo trekh triedinykh troits) was maintained for so long: âPrav-Yav-Nav, Svarog-Perun-Svetovid, or Soul-Flesh-Power.â35 The true Golden Age occurred there: âthere was no notion of evil.â Yemelyanov glorifies the pre-Christian past in which the Russians (ârusichiâ) lived in harmony with nature, had no sanctuaries or priests, and a religion that did not call for blind obedience to the Lord. The yoginis (women who practiced yoga) had occult powers. All these fantasies, of course, bear no resemblance to what is known from contemporary archaeology about the life of Eastern Slavs in the pre-Christian period. The Vles Book was extensively cited by Yemelyanov as representative of the true Russian worldview which made the âpeopleâs soul.â36
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<img src='http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0gQs19YbGxexO/610x.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->What is Bad about Christianity?
Medieval history can therefore not feed the pride of the Russian Neo-Pagan
204 V. A. Shnirelman
nationalists with regard to their ancestorsâ deeds. Besides, the Christian Church
always tried to play down ethnic differences and to indoctrinate its followers
with a cosmopolitan attitude. That is why the contemporary ethnic nationalist
idea cannot live in peace with a Christianity which is aimed at de-ethnicization
(albeit, in the Russian environment, it means RussiÂcation of the non-Russians).
Finally, while calling for humility Christianity disarms ethnic nationalists who
need quite different qualities in order to struggle for power, such as
aggressiveness, brevity, sacriÂcial behaviour, Âghting skill, intolerance towards
âenemies of the nationâ, etc. (see, for example, Barkashov, 1994). Thus, some
ethnic nationalist ideologists admire Neo-Paganism for its bellicose spirit;
indeed, they need a struggling God rather than a suffering one (Eliseev, 1995).
It is worth mentioning that the Ukrainian radical nationalists connect a
successful national development with an aggressive, militant attitude
(Yavorsâkyi, 1992: 26â29).
The latter reason manifested itself clearly in the Abkhazian and Armenian
Neo-Pagan rhetoric: an emergence of Neo-Paganism among the Armenians was
accompanied by a growth of tensions with the Azeris (Abrahamian, 1999: 68)
and an interest of the Abkhazians in Neo-Paganism expressed itself at the dawn
of the GeorgianâAbkhazian conÂict in 1989. The Ukrainian Neo-Paganism is
strongly aimed at ethnic Russians; even anti-Semitism seems to be of a
subsidiary importance in this respect. Lev Sylenko emphasized strongly that it
was the ethnic Russians who used Christian Orthodoxy in order to enslave the
Ukraine (Sylenko, 1979).
Thus, Neo-Pagans are deeply and insatiably in love with the pre-Christian
past, as if at that time, peoples lived in virgin purity, were not corrupted by
external inÂuences, could therefore enjoy the best ideology in the world, wage
successful wars, and accomplish great heroic deeds.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->