Abkhazians who by faith. Religion of the Abkhazians. What Christian denominations are there in Abkhazia

The collapse of the USSR, the bitter Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993 and the subsequent isolation of Abkhazia from the outside world contributed to the revival of the traditional religion of the Abkhaz. A survey of the population of the Gagra and Gudauta districts conducted by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the autumn of 19971 indicates a strong influence of the traditional pre-Christian religion on modern Abkhazians. Thus, during the survey, 199 people or 47.4% of the 420 Abkhaz who called themselves Christians admitted that they themselves or their relatives have traditional sanctuaries, or turned to such sanctuaries for help. For the rest, this figure is as follows: 163 or 66.5% of 245 Muslims, 34 or 47.2% of 72 who found it difficult to determine their religious affiliation, 27 or 37.5% of 72 non-believers, 12 or 70.6% of 17 pagans, 6 or 60% out of 10 adherents of the “Abkhazian faith”, and 7 or 43.8% out of 16 atheists.

As shown by field studies conducted by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1994-1998 in Abkhazia, the affiliation declared by the Abkhaz to be Christians or Muslims is completely formal. It remains a tribute to tradition and only testifies to which of these religions their ancestors were once considered adherents (forced in the past, under pressure of circumstances, to be baptized or convert to Islam, but in reality retained their former faith).

Modern “Christian-Abkhazians” do not attend churches (or attend them extremely rarely), do not perform the rite of communion, do not observe any fasts, are not interested in the basics of dogma, do not read the Bible. “Abkhazian Muslims” eat pork, alcoholic drinks, do not perform circumcision (they even consider it shameful and unworthy of a man), do not read the Koran and are not at all interested in Islam. Therefore, the almost complete absence of ideological differences among the Abkhazians and everyday differences between people who formally identify themselves as Christians and Muslims is quite natural. Some differences are observed in funeral rites and in the procedure of religious holidays, which, however, have completely lost their original content. If the holiday is celebrated by Abkhazian Christians, Muslims take part in it with pleasure, and vice versa. In families that unite representatives of different faiths, religious holidays of Christians and Muslims are most often celebrated together. The celebration itself in most cases comes down to a feast: certain dishes are prepared and relatives, neighbors and friends are invited to the table.

The general picture of complete religious tolerance for Abkhazians (actually generated by the fact that both Abkhazian “Christians” and Abkhazian “Muslims” actually profess one religion - the traditional religion of their ancestors) is not violated by local atheists either. So, one of the atheists wrote in the questionnaire that there was an azhira (forge) in her parents' house in the village of Primorsky, and that she herself turned to her for help when she fell ill, and after her recovery, a thanksgiving sacrifice was made. Another atheist pointed out that he regularly takes part in ritual holidays with his relatives.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the opinion dominated in science that, despite some influence of Christianity and Islam on them, all Abkhazians (with a few exceptions) worship pagan deities and perform the corresponding rituals2. This interpretation continues to dominate in Abkhaz studies until now3. Nevertheless, some of the Abkhaz thinkers at the beginning of the 20th century refused to consider the religion of the Abkhaz as pagan. In particular, as the prominent Abkhazian educator and public figure Simon Basaria wrote, “if you listen to the reports of the clergy, descriptions of various everyday writers, then the Abkhazians are either Christians, or Muslims, or pagans, but in general, they all found among the Abkhazians complete indifference to religion. ... But the Abkhazians are not pagans, they profess the correct faith, which is not at all alien to either the true teachings of Christ, or the moral side of the teachings of Mohammed, or the teachings of the Buddha and other great founders of religion.

Abkhazians believe in one God. The indications of many everyday writers, and, in particular, the late N. Janashia, on the countless number of gods in which the Abkhaz supposedly believe is sheer absurdity”4. However, the doubt expressed by S. Basaria that the Abkhazians can be classified as pagans (not to mention his controversial phrase about the “correct faith” of the Abkhazians) contradicted the established ideas so much that it did not become the subject of scientific discussion and was rejected5. Starting from the 1930s, the assertion became dominant that the traditional religion of the Abkhazians disappeared completely, or continues to exist in separate, disparate vestigial elements, which, under the influence of atheism, will disappear in the very near future6. This was far from true.

What is the traditional religion of the Abkhaz at the present time? The clearest idea about this religion is given to us by the Dydrypsh sanctuary, located near the village of Achandara in the Gudauta region, whose priests preserved many rituals and religious ideas of their ancestors, half-forgotten or lost in other places. This is explained by the fact that this sanctuary was the only one that continued to function continuously throughout the entire Soviet period. Therefore, the information presented below about the traditional religion of the Abkhazians is given mainly from the words of the current priest of this sanctuary, Zaur Chichba.

Abkhazians have one God. This is Antsea7 - God the creator and creator of the whole world. This one supreme God is revered by the followers of all world religions, but only each in his own way. God has apaimbars8 - “angels, higher beings, servants and representatives of God on Earth”, who report to God about everything that happens. The most revered among the apaimbars is Dydrypsh.

Each of the apaimbars is busy with his own business: they watch the house, the hearth, the cattle, the mountains and the sea. People are created and their fate is determined by “ashachsha9” (“ashatsva”) - the creators and gods of fate. When a person is born, ashachsha “divide: what kind of happiness to whom, who will live for how many years”. Some of the respondents believed that from time to time ashachshas fly to the house of a newborn in the form of three doves, that they can fly to a traveler resting by the road, who is warned about a change in his fate, etc. Ashachsha, like the Apaimbars, report everything to God.

Abkhazia is a land chosen by God for its beauty. When God distributed land to different nations, he wanted to keep it for himself, but gave it to the Abkhazians. Such grace and God's chosenness of the Abkhazians is explained by the fact that in ancient times they differed from other peoples not only in their hospitality10, but also in their morality: their women and girls “did not cut their hair”, did not wear short skirts, etc. Seeing this, “God gave Abkhazia to the Abkhaz, although it was his land. God is always with us, although we do not see him.”

All events in world history are determined by God. He punishes the peoples when he is “offended by them for their bad behavior” and all the troubles of the peoples come from here. So, as the priest emphasized, it is not the rulers who are to blame for the troubles that befall the world, but those people for whose sins the nations are punished by God.

Abkhazia is guarded by seven sanctuaries-anykhs, the totality of which is called “byzhnykha” (“seven sanctuaries”). To date, the activity of five of them has been resumed, these are Dydrypsh-nykha, Lashkendar, Ldzaa-nykha, Lykh-nykha and Ylyr-nykha. Sixth Inal-Kuba sanctuary is located in the mountain valley of Pskhu, now inhabited by Russians.Our Abkhaz interlocutors did not have a unanimous opinion about the name and location of the seventh sanctuary.Zaur Chichba and some of the respondents called Bytkha, the ancient sanctuary of the Ubykhs, as such.Others believed that the seventh sanctuary is Pskhu-nykha (however, the majority believed that Inal-kuba and Pskhu-nykha are one and the same.) Much less often, Lapyr-nykha, Napra-nykha, Gech-nykha and Kapba-nykha were called as the seventh sanctuary.

The current Dydrypsh-nykha, Ldzaa-nykha and Lykh-nykha, which are among the “byzhnykha”, are located in Bzybskaya Abkhazia, Lashkendar and Ylyr-nykha - in Abzhuiskaya. The seven main shrines are "brothers" and "sisters". Various phenomena in the atmosphere (flights of fireballs across the sky, etc.) are associated with the communication of related ones. It is believed that with the help of atmospheric phenomena anykhs can show people their attitude to what is happening. According to the story of the priest of the Dydrypsh sanctuary, at the beginning of the Georgian-Abkhazian war, “rays came from Mount Dydrypsh, pointing in the direction of Gagra occupied by the Georgians.” After Gagra was liberated, “beams began to show in the direction of Sukhum”, which continued to be held by Georgian troops.

The main sanctuaries-anykhs patronize all the smaller ones - “anyhyrta11”, but do not communicate with them. Anyhyrta is not a sanctuary where there are priests and prayers are regularly held, but simply a “clean place for prayer”. Most often, such anyhyrta is used once a year to conduct a village prayer for the gift of rain and harvest “atsu-nykha”, which is held not by a priest, but by a “prayer” from among the local residents. Although a prayer can perform his functions for life, they are not assigned to certain surnames. In addition, to be appointed as a prayer it is not at all necessary to be a “crystal clear” person, which is an absolutely indispensable quality for an Abkhazian priest.

According to the priest Zaur Chichba, there are anykhyrta in every village and were mistakenly considered by different authors (most likely from the words of local residents) as anykhs. For most of the Abkhazians we interviewed, the differences between anykha and anyhyrta were not clear: many of the people we interviewed called anykhs not only the seven main sanctuaries, but also azhirs, family prayer places, etc. In addition, some of the sanctuaries classified by Zaur Chichba as anyhyrta have their own priests who belong to certain surnames and consider them to be anykhs (for example, the priests of Lapyr-nykh are Tsymtsba).

Priests - “anykha payu” (translated as “sons of the sanctuary”) of the seven main Abkhaz sanctuaries can only be representatives of certain Abkhaz priestly families: Gochua (Ldzaa-nykha), Kharchlaa (Lashkendar) Chichba (Dydrypsh-nykha), Shakryl (Lykh-nykha) ) and Shinkuba (Ylyr-nykha). In the case of taking on priestly duties without sufficient grounds, divine powers can punish the impostor. So, initially, one of the representatives of the Arshba family became the priest of the renewed Lashkendar sanctuary, but soon he was forced to realize the recklessness of this step and declare that representatives of another family should be priests.

According to oral tradition, in former times there was a council of priests in Abkhazia. The resumption of the work of several Abkhazian sanctuaries implies regular communication between the priests and therefore, according to Zaur Chichba, it would be quite logical to create such a council in the future. However, the creation of such a body will become relevant only if the priests of the renewed sanctuaries manage to achieve authority and influence among the local population comparable to that enjoyed among the Abkhazians by the Dydrypsh sanctuary (and this is a very difficult task).

At present, the rituals performed in the sanctuaries have become much simpler than those described in the past. The practice has become widespread when people conduct prayers not in the sanctuary itself, but in the vicinity of it - in more conveniently located places. So, according to the descriptions of the 19th century, then prayers were held on the top of Mount Dydrypsh, then they were transferred to its foot. To date, the ceremony at the foot of the mountain has also become very rare, and in most cases, prayers are held in the village of Achandara - on the site of the priest of the Dydrypsh sanctuary, Zaur Chichba.

The same picture is observed in relation to Lapyr-nykh: here the simplification of the ritual has reached the point that the annual prayer of the priestly family of Tsymtsba has ceased to be common and is performed separately in the house of each of its representatives. The annual prayer at the Ldzaa shrine is now held in the surrounding forest, and not in its territory, where people have nowhere to hide from the summer heat.

The interlocutors explained such a transfer of places of prayer from the territory of the sanctuaries for many reasons: once people were caught by rain, and they were forced to sacrifice along the road; once a pregnant woman died on the way up the mountain, or her child died during childbirth, etc. Although appealing to higher powers from a simple place of prayer (anykhyrta) is permissible and is not perceived as any violation of the rite, many interlocutors pointed out that it is still preferable to hold the ceremony on the territory of anykha itself, since “there it will have great power.”

An important role in the traditional religion of the Abkhazians is played by the principle of internal and external “purity”. Priests, who are considered as intermediaries in communication between God and people, cannot receive any remuneration12, they must correspond to the characteristics of a person of “crystal” purity. People should come to the ceremony clean and festively dressed; before it begins, the priest or prayer man washes his face and hands, sometimes rinses his mouth. All those present do the same for them. Only a “clean” animal can be sacrificed: it must be flawless, well-fed, healthy, emaciated (or young and never happened).

Most often, a young bull is sacrificed, less often - a goat, in some cases - a ram, a rooster, etc. According to Zaur Chichba's explanation, the sacrificial animal must be male because God and Dydrypsh are men. However, in principle, it is allowed that a female animal can be brought as a sacrifice, and it must be “clean” - that is, not happened (for example, a goat). The same provision is contained in the third book of Moses of the Old Testament, in the first chapter of which the Lord indicates to Moses that when offering a sacrifice to the Lord in the form of a calf, either from small livestock, from sheep or from goats, the animals must be male, without blemish (Leviticus, I, 2,310).

The traditional prayer of the Abkhaz necessarily includes a sacrifice and a common feast, consisting of several special “clean” ritual dishes: boiled meat, abysta (cool corn porridge, better known by its Moldavian name “mamaliga”), salt, adjika (sometimes it is not served ) and “clean” (made without sugar) wine. In most cases, after the sacrifice, food is prepared near the place of prayer. But sometimes, for example, during the rite of cursing in the sanctuary, it is prepared in advance - in the house of the petitioner himself. In this case, the treat consists of other dishes: boiled rooster meat, cheese pie, chacha (or vodka). By the way, such curses in Abkhazian sanctuaries are quite rare. It is believed that if you pronounce it without sufficient grounds, then the wrath of God can turn on the curser himself, his family and clan, so most Abkhazians prefer not to tempt fate.

There are great differences in holding the same prayers. For example, the “atsu-nykha” prayer for rain and harvest can be carried out in two main versions. In the first case, it is family, only men and teenage boys take part in it, only meat, abysta and salt are served on the table (for example, the prayer of the Aiba family13 in the village of Otkhara). In the second version, “atsu-nyha” is held by the village with the participation of all families living in the neighborhood, along with men, women and children take part, along with ritual dishes, sweets, fruits, etc. are served on the table. Quite often, people take part in both family and village “atsu-nykhs”.

Most likely, women and children began to be allowed to the village “atsu-nykhs” already in Soviet times, when in many villages the prayer for the harvest began to lose its religious connotation and take on the character of a folk holiday.

According to the traditional religion of the Abkhaz, moral purity and sincerity in dealing with higher powers are mandatory. According to the priest of the sanctuary Ldzaa F. Gochua, people often come to him for help asking to pray for their sin without naming it, or do not want to admit their guilt and claim that they do not know it either for themselves or for their ancestors. In this case, the priest cannot remove the imposed curse and the punishment of higher powers: “without knowing the essence of the problem, one cannot rise to the sanctuary. Even if the sin was committed by the ancestors, one must repent and pray for a specific sin” (F.Gochua, Ldzaa village). Given this, people who seek to remove punishment from their kind, but at the same time avoid publicity that is undesirable for themselves, sometimes go to the trick. They can ask the priest to pray not for the sin for which they are being punished, but for some other, minor, or committed in ancient times by their ancestors. According to the unanimous opinion of all the priests we interviewed, prayer in this case is useless, it does not lead to cleansing from sin and lifting the curse. However, in reality, the picture turned out to be not so unambiguous: judging by the cleansing prayers we visited in the Dydrypsh sanctuary, during the ceremony the priest always asks for forgiveness for all the sins of the visiting family without exception.

Traditional religion continues to play an important role in the social life of the Abkhaz. During family prayers at the azhira, performed on January 13 of each year, at tribal and family gatherings, after making a sacrifice, the prayer elder turns to God with a request to remove troubles, illnesses and other misfortunes from all his relatives, so that the family will continue, multiply and prospered. Then each of the members of the clan repeats this prayer in turn, tastes a piece of the liver and heart of the sacrificial animal and drinks a glass of sacred “pure” wine. Abkhazians begin to take part in prayers and a common feast from an early age, which contributes to the preservation and strengthening of family and clan structures.

In the conditions of post-Soviet reality in Abkhazia, there is an increase in the authority of several main traditional sanctuaries and their priests. The reason is that along with their main task - to protect Abkhazia from external enemies, the main anykhs continue to perform an important function in regulating social relations within the Abkhaz ethnos. In the past, conflicts between representatives of different strata of feudal society, as well as between individuals, clans and families, were resolved with the help of the sanctuary. At present, anykhs remain a place of purifying oath for people suspected of committing a crime, victims can turn to their help with a request to punish the offenders, or, if they are unknown, point out the perpetrators.

Relying on the authority of the sanctuary, the accused can not only prove his own innocence, but also save his family from blood feud. For example, if the perpetrator claims that his actions were not intentional and everything happened by accident. Relatives of the deceased insist that the killer acted deliberately and that his family should be punished. To find out the truth, those in conflict can turn to the priest and go up to the sanctuary. There, the suspect, accompanied by guarantors from among friends and relatives, following the priest, takes an oath: “I killed him by accident, but if I told a lie and killed him intentionally, let me not leave here.” This usually reassures the affected family that the killing was unintentional and allows the conflict to be resolved without further bloodshed.

It is believed that the punishment of anyhi can take a variety of forms, depending on the circumstances of the case. The guilty person and/or his family can be punished in ten or even a hundred years, so that the criminal has time to change his mind, come and confess his guilt. If he continues to persevere and does not want to repent, then as a result of all sorts of troubles and misfortunes sent by supernatural forces, not only he himself, but also his entire family and even his entire clan may perish. The principle of collective responsibility of the clan for its member is one of the characteristic features of traditional Abkhazian law. The same principle is confirmed in the text of the oath taken in the sanctuary. A suspect in a crime first declares his innocence, and then must say the following phrase: “if I am guilty, let me and my family die.”

The oath given in the sanctuary is considered sacred, it is not allowed to break it under any circumstances. Such a violation is considered the greatest sin, the punishment for which falls on the whole family of the perjurer. There is a widespread belief among Abkhazians that after taking a false oath, a person can die on the spot, or punishment falls on his loved ones.

Talking about how God can punish the guilty, the priest of the sanctuary Dydrypsh especially emphasized the fact that initially punishment can fall on the most worthy and pure relatives of the criminal. Thus, if a person does not admit his guilt, then he becomes the cause of the death of his entire family, clan and surname, and only then dies himself. Moral suffering from the consciousness that he is the cause of misfortune and death of his loved ones is considered as a more severe punishment for a person than his own physical death. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the following curse still exists among the Abkhazians: “so that you live and see everything”, i.e. He was a living witness to the death of his family and friends.

The sincere faith of local peasants in the power of any, combined with the responsibility inherent in the Abkhazians for the fate of their loved ones, in most cases is a sufficient guarantee of the truth of the oath taken. To decide on a false oath, apparently, only a few can. Fear of the power, omniscience and omniscience of the traditional anyh leads to the fact that often people who have actually committed the crimes they are accused of are afraid to take a cleansing oath in the sanctuary and even, in order to avoid this, admit their guilt. That is why anykhs quite often become the only way to prevent blood feuds, or to stop it.

Despite the fact that the traditional religion plays a very important role in the life of modern Abkhazians and continues to be one of the most important foundations of the Abkhazian identity, the current authorities do not distinguish it from other confessions. They take an emphatically respectful position in relation to all religions present in the country. By legislative means, with the help of a special decree of the President of Abkhazia, the activity of only one sect, the Jehovah's Witnesses, was banned. In the current political situation, when a new war in Abkhazia is very likely, this sect, because of the fundamental refusal of its members to take up arms, is considered by the authorities as an enemy agent. However, even after the ban, no repressions were undertaken against the Jehovists, they even intensified their activities (according to the estimates of the Abkhaz press in 1998, the number of this sect exceeded a thousand people15).

Although the authorities of Abkhazia do not take any measures to popularize, especially to plant the traditional Abkhaz religion, they seek to use the peculiarities of the religious consciousness of people for their own purposes. As the priests of the Dydrypsh and Ldzaa sanctuaries told the author, now the help of the supernatural forces of some is quite often resorted to by police officers, prosecutors and courts. In cases where law enforcement agencies are unable to prove the guilt of the suspect, he is sent to the sanctuary to take an oath of purification; if he swears his innocence there, that is considered sufficient grounds for the charges to be dropped. Naturally, although in this regard there are no restrictions on a national basis, such a measure applies only to Abkhazians who believe in the power of some, and does not apply to representatives of other peoples.

The Abkhaz authorities turned to anykhs for help not only in connection with individual crimes, but also when they considered the criminal situation in the country to be critical. In the summer of 1996, the Abkhaz leadership headed by President V.G. came to the Dydrypsh sanctuary. Ardzinba with a request "to enlighten people so that they change their minds and do not commit crimes." Dydrypsh was promised to make sacrifices every year if he "stops crime."

Representatives of the current leadership of Abkhazia always take part in thanksgiving prayers for intercession and support in the Georgian-Abkhazian war. They are held in the Dydrypsh sanctuary every year. Ceremonies in other sanctuaries are also usually timed to coincide with the anniversary of the victory over the Georgian army: it was on this day, September 30, 1996, that prayers were solemnly resumed at the Lashkendar sanctuary near the town of Tkuarchal (Tkvarcheli). A year later, on the same day, a prayer of thanksgiving took place in the sanctuary of the village of Mokva.

The Abkhaz leaders are clearly trying not to single out any of the traditional sanctuaries and emphasize their respectful attitude towards each of them by their presence at the ceremonies. Similarly, the presence of representatives of the authorities at the services and holidays of all religious communities demonstrates the equality of all confessions in post-Soviet Abkhazia.

Despite many decades of dominating state atheism, throughout the entire Soviet period, the majority of Abkhazians maintained a respectful attitude towards traditional shrines and priests. Indicative in this regard is the behavior of the descendants of the peasants, who in 1931 took an oath in the Dydrypsh sanctuary that they would never join the collective farms, but then, under the threat of cruel repressions, violated it. Their children and grandchildren from all over Abkhazia made expiatory sacrifices in the sanctuary for the perjury of their ancestors throughout the entire Soviet period. This sin is still being prayed for: we managed to attend one of these ceremonies organized by the Ampar family on August 23, 1998.

At the same time, religious fanaticism is completely alien to Abkhazians. Blind faith in anything is in no way characteristic of the national character of modern Abkhazians. It can be assumed that some of them perceive prayers in traditional sanctuaries not as a cult ceremony, but as a tradition coming from their ancestors, as a folk holiday and a worthy occasion for a mass feast so loved by many.

The President and senior officials are by all means present at all solemn events, services and prayers held by various religious communities. By this they seek to demonstrate the equality of all religions, their respect for national traditions and unity with the common people.

In 1994, a new constitution was adopted in Abkhazia, which guarantees the equality of all citizens, regardless of their “attitude towards religion” (Article 12), freedom of conscience and religion (Article 14). At the same time, Article 18 contains a ban on “creation and activities of public associations, parties and movements, the purpose and action of which is the forcible change of the constitutional order, undermining the security of the state, the creation of armed formations, inciting social, racial, national and religious hatred”16.

The emphasized religious tolerance of the current Abkhazian authorities favors the spread of religion. Such a course, combined with the peculiarities of the spiritual state of a society isolated from the outside world and having survived military upheavals, creates favorable conditions for strengthening the religiosity of the multinational population living in Abkhazia.

Currently, among the Abkhaz there is an active revival of traditional religion. At the same time, a variety of sects took advantage of this favorable situation, successfully strengthening their positions in a state unrecognized by the world community. Orthodoxy and Islam also had every opportunity to strengthen their positions in post-Soviet Abkhazia. However, their revival did not take place largely due to the fact that the position of the Russian Orthodox Church and Islamic spiritual leaders towards the unrecognized republic was based on political calculations. For the sake of these calculations, they preferred to forget about real people, including their current or potential parishioners.

Those religious figures who support the principle of separation of church and state and do not consider it possible for themselves, in favor of governments that do not recognize Abkhazia as a sovereign state, to stop all work on its territory, have benefited from the current situation. As a result, representatives of previously unknown Western and Eastern religious movements and sects established themselves in the country and got the opportunity to preach their own teachings. The sects operating in Abkhazia emphasize the involvement of local youth in their ranks. In this way, they lay the foundation for their future influence.

In the current post-Soviet reality, the traditional religion of the Abkhaz plays an important stabilizing role in society, contributes to the psychological rehabilitation of people who have experienced severe military stress. The prevailing idea that this religion is pagan arose on the basis of descriptions of the 19th - early 20th centuries, in which, in fact, it was not about the religion of the Abkhazians, but about their mythology, folklore and fairy tales. It is surprising at the same time that many of the authors who described the “beliefs” of the Abkhazians and mentioned that among the people they met were priests of traditional sanctuaries, they interviewed anyone: princes, shepherds, local Orthodox priests, teachers, peasants, etc., but not priests.

The term “paganism” is evaluative, not scientific, and carries a clearly negative connotation. As noted in the recently published Ethnological Dictionary, “Paganism is a theological term in the Russian language, covering all types of religious beliefs that are not related to world religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam) and Judaism. An important feature of paganism is polytheism, which is clearly expressed, for example, in the ancient Greek pantheon, but elements of polytheism are found in Christianity (the cult of the Virgin, the apostles and saints), in Islam (the cult of the “prophets”)”17.

Such an interpretation of the term "paganism" seems to be too broad. In essence, we are talking about the opposition of monotheistic (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and polytheistic (pagan) religions. According to one of the founders of modern religious studies, the Dutch professor Cornelius Thiele, “the main religious idea of ​​polytheism is the recognition in all manifestations of deities of a higher source; in monotheism, it consists not only in "there is only one God", and not in "my God is the only one", but implies the statement that "God, who declares himself in all these manifestations, is the only , and Him I worship.”18

To what extent do the ideas that the Abkhazians had many gods correspond to reality, i.e. that they were originally polytheists (pagans)? The data collected during several years of field research in Abkhazia on religious beliefs and rituals in the traditional religion of the Abkhazians does not confirm this in any way. On the contrary, they allow us to conclude that in this case we are dealing with a completely obvious monotheistic religion, the central idea of ​​which is the existence of a single Creator God (Ancea). Antsea is infinitely plural in its manifestations, it is the primary source of all that exists. That is, according to K. Thiele, the religion of the Abkhaz meets the definition of “strict monotheism” (to which, according to many researchers, even modern Christianity and Islam cannot be attributed), in which the only God is the source of both good and evil. Thus, based on all of the above, we can conclude that the best definition for the traditional religion of modern Abkhazians is “Abkhazian monotheism”.

Similar ideas are preserved among some other peoples of the Caucasus. The Ossetian sanctuary Iron Dzuar, which has been operating in Abkhazia since 1972, allows us to conclude that the rituals and religious ideas about the Creator God among the Abkhazians (Antsea) and Ossetians (Khsau) are very similar. Such coincidences are hardly accidental, they cannot be explained by external borrowings from other religions (naturally, this problem requires further study in Ossetia and other regions of the Caucasus, where the traditional religion is still preserved).

Apparently, the best answer to the question of the place of the traditional religion of the Abkhazians (as well as of some other peoples of the Caucasus) that has survived to this day in the system of world religions is given by the theory of “pra-monotheism” by the outstanding Austrian religious scholar Wilhelm Schmidt. In his fundamental twelve-volume work “The Origins of the Ideas of God”, W. Schmidt proves that the original religion of mankind was monotheism, that behind all the diversity of existing beliefs, including among the most backward peoples, one can find the remains of this ancient faith in a single God-Creator . According to W. Schmidt and his followers, pra-monotheism preceded all forms of religion, and only later various totemic, fetishistic, magical, animistic and other elements were added to it. Thus, Judaism, Christianity and Islam represent the return of people to the original monotheism of their distant ancestors.

The traditional religion of the Abkhazians, as well as the peculiarities of the origin and history of this people (and some other peoples of the Caucasus) give reason to conclude that in this case we are dealing with the manifestation of precisely this, primordial according to W. Schmidt, monotheism, which has survived to this day. Based on a comparison of biblical texts and Abkhazian mythology, L.Regelson and I.Khvartskya came to the same conclusion, indicating that “the folk religion of the Abkhazians is a well-preserved relic of pre-biblical monotheism”20. According to these authors, “the undoubted antiquity of the linguistic terms and mythological images associated with the idea of ​​God Antsea can serve as proof that these purely monotheistic ideas are not borrowed from Christianity or Islam. A more difficult question is whether Abkhazian monotheism should not be considered as an echo of Hebrew monotheism, but numerous arguments ... show the opposite direction of borrowings ... both Abkhazian and Semitic monotheism have a common root associated with the territory and the ancient population of present-day Abkhazia.

According to A.M. Kondratov and V.V. Shevoroshkin, experts in the field of deciphering ancient writings, many religious ideas of the peoples of Asia Minor were borrowed from the ancient Hattians. As these authors note, “between the Hattians, the predecessors of the Hittites, and the Caucasians, there were either long-term contacts or kinship (if there was a kinship, then, most likely, between the Hattian and Abkhaz-Adyghe languages).

A number of scholars believe that the ancestors of the Abkhazians and Adyghes previously inhabited the territory of Asia Minor, from where they were subsequently forced out. Other scientists, on the contrary, believe that in the III millennium BC. the local population of the Caucasus (about which legends are preserved in the Abkhazian folklore as the people of the “Atsans”) were conquered by the Hattians who came from Asia Minor”21.

According to A.M. Kondratov and V.V. Shevoroshkin, the formation of religious ideas among the peoples of Ancient Anatolia took place as follows. Just as the Sumerian language was supplanted by the language of the Babylonians, until it finally turned into the language of the priests, into the sacred language of the Babylonian religion, and “the speakers of the Anatolian languages ​​penetrated into the territory of the Hattians, not as barbarians, sweeping away all traditions, all local culture in their path, but gradually seeping into the midst of the local, more civilized population, mixing and interbreeding with it. ... Sumerian cultural, religious and economic terms, the names of gods and other words entered the language of the Babylonians. Similarly, in the Hittite, Luvian, and Palai languages ​​there are a large number of Hattian words”22.

At present, it is difficult to judge how true is the statement of L. Regelson and I. Khvartsky that the initial monotheism, the oldest religion of mankind, originated in a single center23. There is no doubt, however, that ancient Anatolia in the 4th-2nd millennium BC. was one of the centers of origin of civilizations and a place of close contacts between the Hattians, Semites and Indo-Europeans. The religious ideas that prevailed here had a profound impact on the development of world religions. The existing parallels between the traditional religion of the Abkhazians and other world religions are by no means accidental and most likely have common roots. They require a special and detailed religious study.

In the meantime, I would like to dwell on some of the most archaic manifestations in the traditional religion of the Abkhazians. In Abkhaz studies, the opinion was established that the name of the God-Creator Antsea comes from the word An (“mother”). Recently, L. Regelson and I. Khvartsky doubted the fidelity of such an interpretation, according to which “The Name of God An is primary in the religions of many, if not all, ancient peoples. However, the Abkhazians, apparently, are the only ones who have preserved to this day the living cult of the Supreme Creator of the world, the heavenly father An: the Abkhazians call him Antsea”24. Antsea is defined by these authors as “The Heavenly Creator God, the Almighty of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, all-good, omnipresent, invisible”25.

Leaving aside the question of the primacy of the name of God in world religions (which appeared due to divine revelation -?), I would like to note the possibility of another explanation for the name Antsea. It proceeds from the assumption that many religious concepts and terms have been preserved by the Abkhaz since ancient times. Therefore, it can be assumed that the word Antsea comes from the Sumerian-Akkadian religious ideas about An (Anu) - the father of all gods. An was considered the god of the sky and clouds. Perhaps, hence the expression used in modern Abkhaz prayers that the almighty Antsea connects heaven and earth, the idea that he gives people rain and harvest. An was the organizer of all human affairs, was considered a source of good and evil, which was often hostile to people26. It seems that the coincidence of the Sumero-Akkadian name An (Anu) with the Abkhazian Antsea, and the clear commonality of their semantic content, may indicate that modern Abkhazians retain many of the religious ideas of their distant ancestors. Considering that “two peoples took part in the creation of the culture of Mesopotamia - the Sumerians, who belonged to the Caucasian ethnic and linguistic group, and perhaps to the Ural-Altaic and Akkadians - a people of Semitic origin”27, they receive a logical explanation and obvious parallels in Judaism and Abkhaz monotheism.

Some teachings connect the beginning of the construction of temples with the ancient population of the Caucasus - the ancestors of modern Abkhazians. So, A. Donini writes that “the reason for the construction of the Babylonian temples in the form of pyramids with seven ledges was the desire to build artificial mountains to continue the cult of “high places” where the plains were devoid of elevations. It is likely that the first builders of such towers in Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, who apparently came from the mountainous regions of the Caucasus, brought with them the custom of worshiping the gods on the tops of the mountains28.

There is no doubt that in the traditional religion of modern Abkhazians, many rituals and representations of the most distant historical eras continue to be preserved. The most fruitful way for further work on the study of the traditional religion of the Abkhaz is to combine the most complete description of its current state and compare Abkhaz monotheism with other world religions. I would like to believe that in the future the scope of such work will be expanded and they will, to a greater extent than now, correspond to the unique place and significance of Abkhazian monotheism in the history of mankind and in world religious studies.

NOTES
1. For the results of the survey, see: A.B. Krylov. Abkhazia. Social portrait of the unrecognized state. - "Asia and Africa Today". 1998. No. 11. pp. 42-46; A.B. Krylov. The confessional composition of the population of Abkhazia - Nezavisimaya Gazeta. 01/14/1998; A.B. Krylov. Abkhazia under blockade. Data. - "Commonwealth of NG". 1997. No. 1.

2. See, for example, S.T. Zvanba. Ethnographic studies. Suh., 1956. P.65.

3. See History of Abkhazia. Gudauta. 1993. P.149.

4. S. Basaria. Abkhazia in geographical and ethnographic relations. Sukhumi. 1923. p.57.

5. For example, G.F. Chursin considered that the entire chapter on religion written by S. Basaria was “untenable”. See: G.F. Chursin. Materials on the ethnography of Abkhazia. Sukhumi. 1956. P.259.

6. This opinion dominated not only among Soviet, but also among foreign scientists. For example, the American Paula Garb argued: “at present, most Abkhazians prefer atheism, which, in their opinion, is more reasonable than old prejudices” - P. Garb. Centenarians. M. 1986. P.24.

7. It should be noted that the names Antsea and Antsva, used in the past and now by authors writing in Russian to designate the supreme God of the Abkhazians, very approximately convey the complex combination of sounds "h", "ts" and "u" with aspiration and energetic stress on them in middle of a word. These current names correspond so little to their original that almost all of our Abkhaz interlocutors at first simply did not understand what they were talking about.

8. “Apaimbar” - can be translated as “prophet”, as well as “senior person”, who enjoys authority among “younger” relatives and acquaintances.

9. The word comes from the Abkhaz "ashar" - a division.

10. Among the Abkhazians, there is a widespread legend about how “the progenitor of their people was late for the appointed time for the “distribution of lands”. He explained to God his lateness by the fact that he could not leave the house, as he received a guest. As a reward to the Abkhaz for his hospitality, God gave him his land.” The idea that the Abkhaz received their country from God the Creator himself is absorbed by the Abkhaz with mother's milk. Therefore, it was quite natural that they were so furiously opposed to the false theory that had triumphed in Georgian historical science about the recent, since the 16th century, appearance of Abkhazians on the territory of modern Abkhazia (for recent publications on this topic, see, for example: M. Lordkipanidze. "An integral part of Georgia" - Crucified Georgia, St. Petersburg, 1995, pp.5-9).

11. Unlike the priest, Sh.D.Inal-ipa translates the word anyhyrta as "altar" (see Sh.D.Inal-ipa. Abkhazians. (Historical and ethnographic essays). Sukhumi. 1965. P. 530).

12. Judging by the numerous testimonies of various authors, in the past the Abkhazian priests received a very considerable payment for their services. This was also confirmed by the current priest of the sanctuary of Lapyr-nykha Zolotinsk Tsymtsba from the village of Barmysh, according to whom, even in Soviet times, the priest Tsymtsba took 50 rubles for removing the curse and so on. cases (which was at that time a very large amount). However, almost all the priests we interviewed now agree that they cannot take money from people, since this is incompatible with their role as intermediaries in communication between people and God and would be a sin.

13. Men from other families living in the village, invited by the Aybians, also participate in it, but there are not many of them.

14. Similar provisions are contained in the cuneiform texts of prayers of the kings-high priests of the Hittite Empire. V. Zamarovsky. Secrets of the Hittites. M., 1968, pp. 287-288.

15. Echo of Abkhazia. 19.3.1998.

16. The Constitution of the Republic of Abkhazia. Sukh., 1994. P.5.

17. Ethnological dictionary. Ethnos. Nation. Society. Issue 1. M.1996. From 191.

18. K. Thiele basic principles of science and religion. -Classics of world religious studies M. 1996 P.174.

19 See W. Schmidt. Der Ursprung der Gottesidee. V.1-12. 1912-1955.

20. L. Regelson., I. Khvartsky. Land of Adam. Sukh., 1997. p.4.

21. A. M. Kondratov, V. V. Shevoroshkin. When the letters are silent. Mysteries of the ancient Aegean. M. 1970. P. 135.

22. Ibid., p. 135-136.

23. L. Regelson., I. Khvartsky. Land of Adam. Suh., 1997, pp.69-70.

24. Ibid., ss. 78-79.

25. Ibid., p.84.

26. A. Donini. People, idols and gods. M., 1966, p. 121; Classics of world religious studies. M. 1996. p.396.

27. Ibid. S. 107

28. A. Donini. People, idols and gods. M.. 1966. P.126.

For many decades, atheism was the dominant doctrine in the territory of the former USSR. Religion did not have a noticeable impact on the life of society: the majority of Soviet people were not convinced atheists, but they were rather indifferent to questions of religion and faith. Everything began to change in the early 1990s, when the ruling elites of the newly formed states and their ordinary citizens needed something to fill the resulting ideological and spiritual vacuum. Since then, the importance of religion in society has been constantly increasing.

The data obtained as a result of a survey of the population of Abkhazia testified to a high degree of religiosity of the local population. In 1997, when asked about their religious affiliation, 55% of respondents stated that they were Christians, 17% identified themselves as Muslims, 14.6% of those surveyed consider themselves non-believers, and 7.4% found it difficult to determine their religious affiliation. At the same time, however, the majority of "unbelievers" expressed a "positive" or "normal" attitude towards religion, and some wrote that they were going to be baptized or "believers" without specifying the name of their faith. Conscious atheists turned out to be only 3%, another 2% said that they were pagans or adhere to the "Abkhazian faith".

In 2003, the proportion of non-believers and atheists decreased even more: 60% of the respondents identified themselves as Christians, 16% as Muslims, 8% as atheists and non-believers, 5% as pagans, 3% as adherents of the Abkhaz religion, less than Jehovah's Witnesses, Judaists and "Syncretists" account for 1% each, and 6% found it difficult to answer.

Despite the high indicators of the level of religiosity of the population of Abkhazia recorded by the survey, it must be taken into account that the fact that the respondents refer themselves to one or another confession (in itself, of course, indicative) does not mean that at present all of them are deeply religious people, or at least have elementary ideas about the foundations of religion.

Based on field research conducted in Abkhazia, it can be stated that for a significant number of people who have been baptized in Orthodox churches, the declared adherence to Christianity continues to remain completely formal. Even on the days of the most significant Christian holidays, very few parishioners come to church services.

At the same time, prayers in Abkhazian sanctuaries are often attended by many hundreds of people. In this regard, modern Abkhazia outwardly resembles a picture that took place in the first centuries of the spread of Christianity, when the chronicler monks sadly contrasted empty Christian churches with the noisy crowd of ancient temples.

For Abkhazians, the discrepancy between the confessional affiliation declared by people and their real religious ideas and ritual practice has a special specificity. Unlike other national communities, where most often even people who have undergone the rite of baptism in reality continue to remain non-believers, the vast majority of Abkhazians who identify themselves as Christians are people with a religious worldview.

They sincerely believe in the existence of a single Creator God (Antsea), but do not share the doctrine of the Trinity: they do not revere the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ as the Son of God, they do not attend churches, they do not perform the rite of communion, they do not observe any fasts, they are not interested in the basics of the Christian faith don't read the Bible. Thus, Abkhazians who claim to belong to the Christian faith do not in fact share its fundamental tenets and are only nominally Christians.

A survey of Abkhazians conducted in the autumn of 1997 testified to the strong influence on them of the traditional religion that had developed among the Abkhazians in the process of their historical development without the formative influence of world religions. Thus, 199 people or 47.4% of the 420 Abkhazians who called themselves Christians admitted that they themselves or their relatives have anyhi sanctuaries, or turned to such sanctuaries for help. For the rest, this figure is as follows: 163 or 66.5% of 245 who called themselves Muslims, 34 or 47.2% of 72 who found it difficult to determine their religious affiliation, 27 or 37.5% of 72 non-believers, 12 or 70.6% of 17 pagans, 6 or 60% of 10 adherents of the "Abkhazian faith", and 7 or 43.8% of 16 atheists.

Most of the respondents reported that either they or their relatives have anykha in their native village - a sanctuary, which most often meant "azhira" - a forge, the veneration of which goes back to the ancient cults of fire and metals. At the same time, only a small number of respondents pointed to sanctuaries of a general Abkhazian scale as their own anykhs. The latter, apparently, is partly explained by the fact that people can turn to the most revered, "strong anykhs" only in a completely critical situation for themselves.

The originality of the religious ideas of modern Abkhazians is clearly illustrated by the following reasoning of L. Khagba, who lives in the village of Achandara, who considers himself a Muslim: "Allah is God for all people, for us the main God is Dydrypsh, who lives nearby, on Mount Dydrypsh-nykha." Our other interlocutor, Zolotinska Tsymtsba from the village of Barmysh, who is a priest of the Aerg-Lapyr-nykha sanctuary, said: “I am a Muslim, but I don’t do any rites like Bairam-Mayram, but follow only the traditions of my ancestors.” During traditional prayers, only some of the elderly people continue to turn to Allah, but this name (along with Hazshaz - the Creator and others) is used by them as one of the names of the Creator God Antsea.

The fact that for all Abkhazians the traditional religion remains of paramount importance explains the almost complete absence among them of worldview differences and everyday differences between people who formally identify themselves as Christians and Muslims according to their religious affiliation. Some differences between them are mainly in the funeral rituals: before the funeral, "Abkhaz-Muslims" break the lid of the coffin, dig a grave with lining, etc.

The general picture of complete religious tolerance for Abkhazians (generated by the fact that both Abkhazian "Christians" and Abkhazian "Muslims" actually profess one religion - the traditional religion of their ancestors) is not violated by local atheists either. So, one of the Abkhazian "atheists" wrote in the questionnaire that there was an azhira in her parents' house in the village of Primorsky and that she herself turned to her for help when she fell ill, and after her recovery, a thanksgiving sacrifice was made. Another Abkhaz "atheist" pointed out that he and his relatives regularly take part in ritual holidays, that is, in traditional prayers.

The following eloquent statements of our interlocutors give an idea of ​​how atheism and communist teachings were combined in the minds of the Abkhaz with their traditional religion: "In Soviet times, I was a member of the Abkhaz regional party committee, a minister, but I always came to divine rites, even I had to run away from the meeting of the bureau of the regional committee" (Sh. Ampar, Kaldahuara village). “I have been in the Communist Party since 1941, I have always followed its program and charter, but when I prayed to God, I slaughtered a goat and I don’t think that this bothers anyone, what does religion have to do with it?” (A. Ampar, Kaldahuara village).

Being aware of the peculiarities of the religious consciousness of the Abkhazians, the current ministers of the Orthodox Church of Abkhazia emphatically respect the traditional religion they profess and are constantly present at the most important prayers in the Abkhazian sanctuaries. The fact that in the past in Abkhazia the traditional religion and Christianity (as well as Islam in the 17th-19th centuries) peacefully coexisted in a similar way is clearly evidenced by ritual practice, which was witnessed at the end of the 19th century. N.S. Janashia. Describing the communal prayer for rain and harvest (atsu-nykha), this author indicates that it was also attended by the local priest, who "returned from mass, at which, except for him and the clerk, probably no one was present."

Further N.S. Janashia points out that before the start of the sacrificial rite, "if the villagers are Christians, a 'prayer service during rainlessness' is served: the people do not listen to it with due attention." When, after the priest, the old prayers began to speak, "the whole people are on their knees humbly. You will not hear a sound." Compared to the one described a hundred years ago, N.S. Janashia ceremony, the modern atsu-nykha as a whole has changed insignificantly, but at the present time priests have ceased to attend it (who, as can be seen from the above quotation, had a very modest influence among the Abkhaz at the end of the 19th century).

The peaceful coexistence of traditional religion and Orthodoxy in the past was explained, first of all, by the fact that the clergy actually abandoned the struggle against religion, which, according to all church canons, should be considered pagan. Realizing the impossibility of ousting the traditional religion from the life of the Abkhazians, church hierarchs were content with the formal recognition of Christianity by the Abkhazians as their own religion (the ministers of Islam acted in the same way in Abkhazia).

One of the main reasons hindering the real, and not the formal strengthening of the positions of Orthodoxy, is the current uncertain status of the Abkhazian Church. After the war of 1992-1993. The Tskhum-Abkhaz diocese of the Georgian Orthodox Church was left without a bishop. The head of the diocese, Metropolitan Daniel (Datuashvili), was forced to leave Abkhazia and is currently in Tbilisi. As a result, for more than ten years the leadership of the Georgian Church has not been able to manage the activities of Orthodox parishes in Abkhazia.

The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP), despite the large number of Russians living in Abkhazia, continues to view local Orthodox parishes as subordinate exclusively to the Georgian Orthodox Church.

This principled position of the ROC MP was reaffirmed at the end of July 2003, when the Synod of the ROC MP adopted a special resolution recognizing Abkhazia as part of the canonical territory of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The position of the Russian Orthodox Church (MP) on the issue of belonging to the Orthodox parishes of Abkhazia was highly appreciated by the Georgian authorities: the then President of Georgia E. Shevardnadze personally thanked Patriarch Alexy II for his consistent position on this issue.

Currently, the Orthodox parishes of Abkhazia operate without episcopal care and are governed by a temporary Diocesan Council of representatives of the local Orthodox clergy. This council refuses to recognize the supremacy of the Georgian Orthodox Church and is not recognized by it as a legal structure. Thus, the Orthodox parishes of Abkhazia continue to remain outside the framework of normal canonical communion with both the Georgian and Russian Orthodox Churches. As a result, most of the Orthodox churches in Abkhazia are left without priests. The extreme paucity of the local Orthodox clergy greatly impedes the revival of Orthodoxy in post-Soviet Abkhazia.

Something similar is happening with Islam, which once played a very important role in the political life of Abkhazia (XVII-XVIII centuries). The positions of Islam were undermined by the mass exodus of the most Islamized part of the Abkhazians to Turkey at the end of the 19th century. and the long stay of Abkhazia as part of the Russian Empire, and then - the USSR. At present, Muslim countries are emphatically distancing themselves from the unrecognized republic and do not show any desire to once again promote the spread of the prophet's teachings here.

There is still not a single mosque in Abkhazia. Abkhazians who consider themselves Muslims do not revere the Prophet Mohammed, the vast majority of them have no idea about the Koran and do not show any interest in studying it. None of the "Abkhaz Muslims" we interviewed knew anything about the five daily prayers, about the need to fast in the month of Ramadan, about the payment of a 2.5% tax prescribed by Islam for the maintenance of poor fellow believers, etc. Only a few of them identified Allah and God the Creator Antsea, specifying that "Allah is God for all people", whom they deeply revere, but their own guardian angel (Dydrypsh, Lykhnykh, Ldzaanykh and etc.).

The "Abkhaz-Muslims" do not have any restrictions on food and drink: they consume vodka and wine, pork and other dishes forbidden for the "true believers". The rite of circumcision is not only not carried out, but is also perceived by "Abkhaz Muslims" as something unnatural and completely shameful.

In reality, in modern Abkhazia, only the descendants of the Abkhaz mahajirs who returned to their historical homeland from various countries of the Near and Middle East can be considered true Muslims. But they make up a very small part of the local population, they live rather closed in several settlements located far from each other and do not exert any noticeable influence on the scale of the entire Abkhaz ethnos.

The Catholic Church takes its own and fundamentally different position from the ROC MP in relation to Abkhazia: after the collapse of the USSR, the unrecognized republic was included in the Black Sea parish covering the south of the Krasnodar Territory. The rector of the Sochi church, the Polish priest Bogdan Severin, who came to Russia in the early 1990s, was appointed head of this parish. The revival of Catholicism in Abkhazia was connected with his activities (before the revolution, the local community of Catholics was multinational and quite numerous).

After the end of the Georgian-Abkhaz war, B. Severin received permission from the authorities of the unrecognized republic to resume the activities of the Catholic Church. At present, the Catholic community unites mainly Poles and Armenians, two church elders represent these nationalities.

The Catholic parish regularly receives humanitarian aid from the Polish embassy in Moscow (its representatives have repeatedly visited Abkhazia), as well as from the public Polish Catholic organization Caridas (mercy). Through the Polish embassy in Moscow, the community also receives certain financial resources. The community organized the study of the Polish language by the children of the parishioners, several people, Poles by nationality, were sent to study in Poland.

Evidence that the Catholic Church highly appreciated the merits of priest B. Severin in the revival of Catholicism in southern Russia and Abkhazia was his appointment first as rector of the Catholic community of Peter and Paul in Moscow, and then as rector of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in St. Petersburg.

There were similar plans for the revival of Protestantism in Abkhazia: in the late 1980s - early 1990s. delegations coming from Germany repeatedly examined the building of the former Sukhumi church. Unlike the church building, in Soviet times the church was practically not damaged. However, no real steps were taken by the German church circles to resume its work: apparently, political considerations played a decisive role in this.

The uncertain political status of Abkhazia clearly favors the activities of Protestant denominations, various religious sects and currents. Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses are especially active in preaching, enjoying significant financial support from their fellow believers in Western countries. The number of each of these communities is constantly growing, primarily due to local urban youth.

Under the guidance of their Western-educated spiritual mentors, community members study relevant religious teachings, perform collective prayers and actively promote their teachings through sermons, street evangelism, and the distribution of colorful literature. The very significant batches of humanitarian aid coming to the communities and distributed among their members from fellow believers from the West undoubtedly increase the effectiveness of such propaganda.

Members of some non-Orthodox communities, some of which can be called sects, become heavily dependent on their spiritual mentors, which causes serious conflicts in families. Often, cultists threaten to commit suicide in response to attempts by friends and relatives to convince them that it is necessary to leave the community and return to normal life.

Unlike modern Russia and most other states that emerged in the post-Soviet space, representatives of the Satanist sect failed to gain a foothold in the unrecognized Abkhazia. In June 1997, three Satanists performed their savage ceremony, during which, after much bullying, they brutally tortured a thirteen-year-old Abkhaz teenager. The boy's relatives managed to find the killers. The Satanists who confessed to the crime were taken to a deserted place, doused with gasoline and burned alive. After that, no more information about the actions of Satanists in Abkhazia appeared.

The Krishnaites are very active in modern Abkhazia, who in 1989 in Sukhumi, for the first time on the territory of the USSR, openly held a religious holiday of the Chariot with a procession through the city and showing the people images of their own deities. Unlike other sects, Hare Krishnas do not impose their own vision of the world on others and do not seek to convert many people to their faith. This community is active in humanitarian activities: during the Georgian-Abkhaz war, its representatives acted on both sides of the front, organized several charitable canteens and saved many hundreds of people from starvation. These canteens continue to work to this day: in Sukhumi, many elderly and elderly people get food in them every day.

Almost the entire Jewish population of Abkhazia emigrated to Israel during the Georgian-Abkhaz war. However, several dozen Jews remained in Sukhumi, mostly of advanced age. The synagogue continues to operate. The Jews who left for Israel practically lost the opportunity to support their elderly relatives who remained in place. The Israeli government, which in every possible way contributed to the resettlement of local Jews to Israel, does not provide any assistance to the members of the community remaining in the territory of Abkhazia. Therefore, local Jews were repeatedly forced to seek help from international humanitarian organizations, as well as from Sukhum Hare Krishnas: the rabbi received food from them, consecrated it according to Jewish canons and distributed it among his needy flock.

The activities of the Sukhumi synagogue almost ceased. After the Georgian-Abkhazian war, some of her parishioners demanded to sell the building, hire a steamboat with the proceeds and move to Israel with all their property, including furniture, refrigerators and other large items. However, the majority of the community did not agree to this and supported their rabbi, who declared that the synagogue would operate as long as at least one Jew remained in Abkhazia.

The close interweaving of religious and ethno-political factors is a characteristic feature of the entire post-Soviet development of Abkhazia. The further direction of development of the confessional situation and the fate of the Orthodox Church in Abkhazia primarily depends on political factors and the way in which the Abkhaz problem will be solved. The absence of canonical relations between the Georgian Orthodox Church and Orthodox parishes in Abkhazia created a favorable situation for the functioning of various sects and associations in Abkhazia, including totalitarian ones, to further increase its confessional mosaicism. Under these conditions, activities to reduce the degree of excessive politicization of church life, to develop a coordinated policy of the Orthodox churches of Georgia and Russia in relation to the Orthodox parishes of Abkhazia, to establish truly Christian mutual understanding between them, acquires particular relevance.

In 1997, a survey in Abkhazia (1448 people were interviewed) was carried out with the support of the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation (project 97-01-18011). In 2003, a survey (448 people were interviewed) was conducted with the support of the "Caucasian Knot" media (http://kavkaz.memo.ru ) "Memorial" Society and "Open Society" Institute within the framework of the project "Society in conditions of an unrecognized state".

In this case, the name Allah was used as one of the names of the Creator God Antsea.

Janashia N.S. Articles on the ethnography of Abkhazia. Suh., 1960, p.66.

Based on the report of Doctor of Historical Sciences A. Krylov
at the conference "The Role of Orthodoxy in the State and Society"

The geographical position of Abkhazia (on the one hand, Georgia and Russia, on the other hand, Turkey) contributed to the emergence of two main religions here - Christianity and Islam. But, throughout the history of the state, the bulk of the population continued to believe in the Supreme God Antsea.

Christianity

The first Christian community arose in Abkhazia at the beginning of the 4th century, in Pitsunda. The establishment of this religion is associated with the name of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. In the 6th century, the first Church of the Virgin Mary was built in Pitsunda. A little later, with the help of Byzantium, Christianity became the state religion. They built churches and temples, preached. Some temples erected at that time have survived to this day. So, for example, the Mokva Temple, built by the Abkhazian king Leon in 965.

As a result of its political and territorial growth, the Abkhazian state rendered direct assistance to the adoption of Christianity by the North Caucasian peoples. In particular, at the initiative of the Abkhazian kings, the Alans were baptized - Inal-Ipa writes about this in his book "Abkhazians"

In the 10th century, a reform of the Abkhazian church life took place. Leadership passes to the Georgian Orthodox Church. Since the end of the 13th century, the main myrrhs, meetings of bishops and solemn ceremonies have been held in the Pitsunda church. The Greek language of divine services was replaced by Georgian. This played an important role in the spread of the Georgian language and writing in Abkhazia.

At the end of the 15th century, the Turks invaded Abkhazia and began to preach Islam. Christianity returns to the territory of the state after joining the Russian Empire in the middle of the 19th century. The mass conversion of Abkhazians to Orthodoxy began.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a desire arose in Abkhazia to create its own national church with services in the Abkhaz language. With the help of the Bishop of Sukhumi and Russian priests, several church books and services were translated.

Since 1920, as in the entire territory of the USSR, the activities of religious organizations in the territory of Abkhazia were subjected to serious restrictions. As a result, several functioning temples remained and the number of believers significantly decreased. But, already in the 1980s, there was an increase in interest in religion in Abkhazia, the first Abkhaz priests appeared since the establishment of Soviet power.

After the Georgian-Abkhaz war, church life in Abkhazia began to be restored by a small group of parish priests who remained after the war on the territory of Abkhazia. They formed a diocesan council and elected Priest Vissarion Aplia as the temporary administrator of the Sukhumi-Abkhaz diocese. With his leading role, services were resumed in many churches, including those in the Abkhaz language. Two unrecognized church jurisdictions operate on the territory of Abkhazia - the Abkhaz Orthodox Church and the Holy Metropolis of Abkhazia. Despite the canonical difficulties, church life in Abkhazia is developing, new churches and monasteries are opening, during the service in churches the name of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is commemorated.

Abkhazia is a fairly large center of Orthodox pilgrimage. The most visited holy places are New Athos, where the grotto of St. Apostle Simon Kananit, a temple of the tenth century, built on the resting place of the Apostle, and the New Athos Monastery.

Islam

Islam begins to penetrate into Abkhazia at the end of the 15th century with the appearance of the missionaries of Sultan Turkey on the territory of the state. The first of the Abkhazians to accept Islam were representatives of the upper class - princes and nobles. Many of them were closely connected with Turkey economically and politically. Gradually, the upper class becomes the backbone of Islam in Abkhazia. In the 17th century, two large wooden mosques were built in Sukhum.

Turkish mullahs were the main promoters of Islam in Abkhazia. They often acted as healers, which could not but influence the conversion of people to Islam. Islam has left its imprint on some rituals and aspects of folk life. Muslim tombstones with epitaphs were made in the cemeteries of feudal families. Abkhazian Muslims stopped eating pork meat. As a result, in the middle of the 19th century, pig breeding in Abkhazia fell into decline. Another indicator of the influence of Islam, according to Inal-Ipa, is the assimilation by the Abkhazian princes and nobles of Muslim male and female names with the feudal title "bey".

But, in general, despite the active preaching activities of Turkish missionaries, only the ruling class of the population turned out to be adherents of Islam.

After the annexation of Abkhazia to Russia, the tsarist government and the Russian Orthodox Church organized the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus, and active missionary activity took place. Islam among the Abkhazians was practically outlawed. Violators of imperial rules are punished with deportation to Siberia, deprivation of parental rights, fines, divorces.

In the second half of the 19th century, the mass eviction of Muslim Abkhazians to Turkey began, the so-called mahadzhirstvo. The deserted lands began to be populated by colonists, encouraged by the administration in every possible way. An important condition for this was the Christian religion. Thousands of newly arrived Russians, Armenians, Greeks began to "explore" new lands. Settlers were exempted from duties, they were provided with benefits.

Islam in Abkhazia is slowly, but reviving. This is also due to the fact that many Abkhazians - descendants of mahajirs - are returning to their historical homeland. All Turkish Abkhazians are ethnic Muslims, many of them are sincere, observing all the precepts of Islam. The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Abkhazia was established in Sukhum in 1995. At present, a line is being drawn in Abkhazia for rapprochement between the Muslims of the Republic and the Muslim community of Russia. Contacts are maintained with the Spiritual Administrations of Muslims of the Russian Federation, the republics of the North Caucasus, including the Department of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, with our many thousands of diaspora in Turkey on various religious issues.

Paganism or traditional religion

Until the middle of the VI century. Abkhazians for the most part were pagans. Since ancient times, they have attached exceptional importance to tribal shrines, the cult of which was practiced in family tribal prayer places dedicated to the patron gods of the clans. The hierarchy of tribal deities was headed by the god Antsea. In addition, there is a whole pantheon of patron deities: "Azhveipshva" - the patron of forests and wild animals, to whom hunters sacrificed before going hunting; "Aitar" - the patron of livestock, prayer and sacrifice to which was performed during the breeding season; "Jajja" - the goddess of fertility and crops; "Gvynda" - the patroness of bees and apiaries; "Shvashvy" - the patron of blacksmithing; "Erysh" - the patroness of weaving; "Dziuara" - the patroness of water and rain; "Afy" is the patron of thunder and lightning. Of all the deities listed, Anchva, Dziuara and Afy are the most preserved in the people's memory.

According to the ideas of Abazins related to Abkhazians, in the past the surrounding nature was inhabited by evil and good spirits (uyd, almasty, shaitan, bnagIv, pchagIv), which could harm a person or help him. Natural disasters often led to the emergence of various rituals associated with turning to the forces nature. In our opinion, this is due to the fact that, alone with nature, a person resorts to various methods of self-survival.

For centuries, the Abkhazians have preserved totemic ideas about the relationship of their clans with this or that animal or plant, with some natural phenomenon. The meaning of the surnames that have survived to this day is explained by the veneration of animals or plants by the ancestors. For example, in the surnames Adzhba, Dzhanba, Dzhopua, the root stem "adzh" ("j") means "oak".

Throughout the history of Abkhazia, the people did not forget to honor their national traditions and rituals. Currently, among the Abkhazians, there is an active revival of traditional religion, the importance of which in the life of society has been steadily increasing in recent years. Their task was the legal registration and registration of the Abkhaz traditional religion.

Syncretism

The religious ideas of the Abkhazians, as a significant part of the ethnic spiritual culture and morality, have repeatedly become the subject of research analysis. At the same time, most authors focused on their individual components: traditional (autochthonous) religion, Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam and, to some extent, other religions and cults. Meanwhile, the phenomenon of the religious culture of the Abkhazians lies in its complex, syncretic nature - R. Bartsyts believes.

Abkhazians only formally accepted different beliefs, but always adhered to the traditional Abkhazian religion. Signs of Christianity can be seen in traditional Abkhazian prayers, where at the end of any service they answer "Amen". Christian temples are built next to traditional places of worship.

The open and tolerant nature of the Abkhazian traditional beliefs ensured the progressive process of incorporating into the religious culture of the people the cult and ritual norms most appropriate to its spirit, introduced by the two world religions. The fusion of these three main components formed the original image of the Abkhazian religious syncretism, as R. Bartsyts writes about. All religious holidays - Christian, Muslim and pagan - are celebrated jointly by representatives of different religions and are reduced to a common feast.

References:

1. Bartsyts R.M. Abkhazian religious syncretism in cult complexes and modern ritual practice. Monograph. Moscow. 2009.
2. Janashia N. Abkhazian cult and way of life. Printing house of the Academy of Sciences, 1917
3. Dzidzaria G.A. Makhajirism and problems of the history of Abkhazia in the 19th century. Sukhum, "Alashara", 1975.
4. Dimitri Dbar (Hieromonk Dorotheos): Religious Trends in Modern Abkhazia. Sukhum, 2012.
5. Gabnia S.S. Sign system in the traditional culture of the Abkhazians.
6. Inal-ipa Sh.D. Abkhazians. Sukhumi, "Alashara", 1965.
7. Krylov A. Religion and traditions of the Abkhazians (based on field research in 1994-2000). M., 2001.
8. Tatyrba A. Islam in Abkhazia (a look through history). 2008 B.m.

Elvira Kozlova,

especially for the site "Country of Abaza"

Inal-ipa Sh.D. Abkhazians. Sukhumi, "Alashara", 1965, p. 569

Inal-ipa Sh.D. Abkhazians. Sukhumi, "Alashara", 1965, p. 586

Bartsyts R.M. Abkhazian religious syncretism in cult complexes and modern ritual practice. Monograph. Moscow. 2009., p. 4

According to studies conducted in 1994-1998, in essence, the majority of Abkhazians practice their traditional religion (Abkhazian monotheism), even if they formally consider themselves Christians or Muslims. This is manifested in all spheres of Abkhaz life.

A significant part of the surveyed residents of Abkhazia, who consider themselves Christians, do not recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God, do not attend Christian churches, do not take communion and do not observe fasts. Abkhazians who consider themselves Muslims eat pork, drink wine, do not circumcise (considering such an act unworthy of a man) and do not visit Mecca. Judging by the polls, practically no one reads the Gospel or the Quran. All religious holidays - Christian, Muslim and traditional - are celebrated jointly by representatives of different religions and come down to a common feast.

Adherents of the Abkhazian traditional religion claim that they believe in the One God - the Creator of all things (Antsа), invisible and omnipresent. According to some local historians, the Abkhazian religion is a "unique" example of primordial monotheism, allegedly "the most ancient religion of mankind" - a relic that has survived to this day. The ideologists of the modern Abkhaz religion position it as pantheistic, since Antsva has an infinite number of manifestations on earth (that is, he is Nature himself), he is not only good or only evil - he is the focus of both concepts.

A survey of the population of the Gagra and Gudauta regions conducted by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the fall of 1997 indicates a strong influence of the traditional pre-Christian religion on modern Abkhazians. Thus, during the survey, 199 people or 47.4% of the 420 Abkhazians who called themselves Christians admitted that they themselves or their relatives have traditional sanctuaries, or turned to such sanctuaries for help. For the rest, this figure is as follows: 163 or 66.5% of 245 Muslims, 34 or 47.2% of 72 who found it difficult to determine their religious affiliation, 27 or 37.5% of 72 non-believers, 12 or 70.6% of 17 pagans, 6 or 60% of 10 adherents of the “Abkhazian faith”, and 7 or 43.8% of 16 atheists.

Since the 1990s, the Abkhaz traditional religion has been restoring its position. There are seven sanctuaries (anykha) in Abkhazia, the totality of which is called byzhnykh("seven shrines"). To date, the activities of five of them have been resumed, these are Dydrypsh-nykh, Lashkendar-nykh, Ldzaa-nykh, Lykh-nykh and Ylyr-nykh. The sixth sanctuary of Inal-Kuba is located in the mountain valley of Pskhu, now inhabited by Russians. There is no consensus about the name and location of the seventh sanctuary, some call it Bytkha - the ancient sanctuary of the Ubykhs. Less commonly, Lapyr-nykha, Napra-nykha, Gech-nykha and Kapba-nykha were called as the seventh sanctuary.

Priests - anykha pay(translated as “sons of the sanctuary”) of the seven main Abkhaz sanctuaries, only representatives of certain Abkhaz priestly families can serve: Gochua (Ldzaa-nykha), Kharchlaa (Lashkendar) Chichba (Dydrypsh-nykha), Shakryl (Lykh-nykha) and Shinkuba (Elyr- nyha).

Islam

According to a sociological survey in 2003, 16% of the inhabitants of Abkhazia consider themselves Muslims. About 250 survey participants identified themselves as active Muslims, 130 of whom live in the Gagra and Gudauta regions.

Judaism

Christianity

Orthodox Church

There are now several dozen Orthodox churches in Abkhazia. The Sukhum-Abkhaz diocese was previously subordinate to the Georgian Orthodox Church, but after the outbreak of the war, it actually withdrew from its subordination and has since existed independently, declaring autocephaly. Representatives of the Georgian and Russian Churches qualify the actions of the Abkhaz priesthood as a whole as unauthorized.

Catholic Church

At present, there is a small Catholic community of 150 people in Sukhum. Small groups of Catholics are found in Gagra and Pitsunda. The majority of parishioners are Armenians and Poles. There is a functioning Catholic church in Sukhum. In Sukhum there is one Catholic

Reflections on some conclusions of the book by A. Krylov "Religion and Traditions of the Abkhazians"

M. Kvitsinia, (Associate Professor of ASU, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences)

With the entry into the new millennium, the rhythm of History, both local and global, is especially felt. The roads of peoples, civilizations that have sunk into oblivion, and those that have not yet been passed, but are inscribed in an unknown future, open up before our eyes. In such an atmosphere of Time, research is of particular importance, its content is directed into the depths of millennia through the prism of the present, in order to preserve original cultures for the future.

The study of the Doctor of Historical Sciences, an employee of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. Krylov "Religion and Traditions of the Abkhazians (based on field research 1994-2000)", in 2 volumes (M, 2001) is a voluminous study, using a rich ethnographic, historical, linguistic literature, which undoubtedly indicates the depth of the author's knowledge of not only local material, features of the way of life, traditions, the current state of development of the Abkhaz ethnic group, but also problematic, unexplored areas of modern Caucasian studies. From this point of view, the logical-analytical conceptual constructions given in the work regarding the identification of a religious pro-relic, preserved by the Abkhazians in the worship of the Supreme God-Antsea, with the religions of the most ancient civilizations of the world, are especially valuable.

The author is consistent and conclusive of the concept that modern Abkhazians are a people professing their own faith - faith in the Supreme God-Antsea, which has its roots in the depths of prehistoric times. According to the scientist, now the national traditional religion is being revived in Abkhazia, this is facilitated by the Government, the President, and Time. An interesting picture of the religiosity of the Abkhazians, which was revealed by the author in the course of field research: now 49.3% of Abkhazians consider themselves Christians, 28.7% - Muslims, 3.2% - pagans and believers in the Abkhazian faith (in the modern everyday consciousness, paganism and Abkhazian faith is replaced in the meaning of traditional, folk religion).

Who are Abkhazians by faith, if they, calling themselves Christians or Muslims, are not such in essence, as the author writes about this despite the results of the survey given by him? maybe; Does this contradiction make sense? Paradoxically, apparently there is. The whole intrigue of this apparent incident is that there is no clear distinction between what History has left us since the time of Sumer, perhaps even further, and what the path of the Abkhaz faith has and leads to - to the formation of a national-state religion, not which so far has its own name, or to Orthodox Christianity, and perhaps to Islam.

The author clearly defines the traditional religion as autochthonous, which developed among the Abkhazians and other peoples of the Caucasus in the process of their historical development without the formative influence of world religions. And the fact that in the work, in its final part in particular, the Hattian trace of this religion is emphasized is valuable and confirms the theory of pra-monotheism. The author took his own step in this direction, greatly supplementing the theory of autochthonous Abkhazians in their land. J. Regelson and I. Khvartskya came to this in the work "Adam's Land". Apparently, today it is very difficult to see the valuable core of this work, the Abkhazian pra-monotheism as such intuitively and logically defined by the authors (this concept is only being evaluated in Russian religious studies).

Assessing all the merits of the work, it is impossible not to note the controversial issues and inconsistencies arising from the text itself and creating a feeling of some reticence, in particular, regarding the characteristics of the modern Antsea God: firstly, today's Antsea God in the minds of the Abkhazians is not that purely Abkhazian Antsea, who was worshiped by the proto-Abkhazians in ancient times, history left a noticeable imprint in his understanding; secondly, "the modern God-Antsea is a God in the mouth, in verbal statements, formulas, easily replaced in practice in cult deeds by Jesus, Allah; thirdly, the modern God-Antsea is an unconscious, internal, psychogenetic patron of the Abkhazians, the patron of the country fourthly, the resuscitation of God-Antsea in its original (prehistoric) form in modern Abkhazia seems impossible due to the underformation of the traditional religion itself, the lack of a clear organization of the worship of Antsea, the lack of actions of all the "any" and the priesthood in the form of a hierarchized "caste". that the monotheism of Antsea presupposes the subordination of other sanctuaries to one, a clear delimitation of the function and position of each anykh among the seven anykh.Singling out one anykh, for example, only Dydrypsh-anykh, and subordinating other anykhs to it, diminishes the significance and autochthonous nature of these anykhs, violates the traditions of respect, equal reverence, observed by priests from time immemorial.

In the modern situation, anykha is a stable religious unit within a certain territorial distribution and family affiliation. Anykha is not only an autonomous formation, but also a sacramental phenomenon, traditionally having power precisely within the boundaries and certain functions assigned to it. The collection of any necessarily requires the centralization of one of them (let us recall the failed attempt of Vladimir the Baptist to subordinate the rest of the deities that had their own sanctuaries to Perun).

In the study, we read: "The peaceful coexistence of traditional religion and Orthodoxy in the past was explained primarily by the fact that the clergy actually abandoned the struggle against religion, which, according to all church canons, should be considered pagan." In fact, the historical presence of the Abkhazians under ideological pressure from outside for many centuries formed in them religious tolerance towards other religious influences (to Catholicism - during the period of Genoese influence, to Islam - during the Turkish presence, to Orthodox Christianity - in the form of a selective attitude) . For historical reasons, the Abkhaz could not become "pure" traditionalists, Christians or Muslims. Therefore, it is not surprising that neither in the time of Evliya Celebi (the first third of the 17th century), nor today, those who consider themselves one or the other know little about the content of the Koran or the Bible. There is no need to talk about the religious education of peoples under the conditions of mountain feudalism or the Soviet era. Several generations turned out to be outside the national-religious traditions (the author writes quite convincingly about the situation of some and the priesthood in Abkhazia in Soviet times), and today we can only note the trends of the ethno-religious revival of the Abkhazians. And therefore, it is precisely at present that the syncretism, the mixing of elements of various religions in the minds of the Abkhaz - traditional, Christian, Islamic, is manifested to the greatest extent, each of which, to a lesser or greater extent, affects the entire set of views of an individual. Of course, this form of consciousness of the Abkhaz developed as a result of the influence of historical events and phenomena on the life of the ethnos. Therefore, considering modern religious traditions in isolation from Christian and Islamic ideological guidelines means rejecting one part of the whole system (Antsea-Jesus-Allah),

Religious tradition has always been and is an element of spiritual culture. Apsuara as an ethnogenetic social code of life has always prevailed in the behavioral culture of the Abkhazians. For Abkhazians, both in the past and in the present, it doesn’t matter who is in front of him - a Muslim, a Christian, a traditionalist, etc., what is more important is what kind of person he is, is it possible to be friends with him, share his innermost self, etc. Abkhaz, According to the laws of Apsuara, he believes that everyone has the right to choose a faith, so long as this faith does not restrict his freedom, does not encroach on the sacred - Apsny (this explains the negative attitude of the state towards Jehovah's Witnesses). A striking example of the primacy of religious tolerance and adherence to the principles of apsuar we find in the author of the book, who describes the opening of the Ylyr-nykh sanctuary in June 1998, which was attended not only by traditional priests, but also by Orthodox priests. The observance of the principle "one does not go to a strange monastery with one's own charter" applies not only to priests, but also to Orthodox priests. Every person, whether it be a priest or a priest, knows what place he has been given according to the Abkhaz law at this or that ceremony. A common understanding prevails here that there are many religions. God is one and everyone worships him. In this case, it is necessary to talk about the high religious culture of the ethnic group.

At the end of the work, the author defines the position of the traditional religion among the Abkhazians as officially state, while emphasizing the absence of professional clergy in it in the past, which, in his opinion, led to the preservation of the most archaic forms and representation. These judgments raise some objections, since the revival of national-religious traditions in a secular state does not yet mean giving them the status of a state religion. The patronizing steps of the Abkhaz leadership and society are explained by their understanding of the significance of their own cultural roots, traditions, respect for the spiritual heritage of History, because everything that is native remains native, it lives within the ethnic group and is felt by it. There is no doubt that the holding of prayers at the level of surnames, the existence of the principle of inheritance of the rights of a particular person among the cult priesthood led to the preservation of archaic initial religious ideas.

In Abkhazia, essentially democratic traditions of attitude to faith have always been strong, in which respect for one's own and foreign religions was combined. Therefore, today the state pursues a policy in the matter of religion, based on the observance of the principle of freedom of conscience. This principle is enshrined in the state symbols of Abkhazia. It is known that the green-white alternation of the seven stripes of the national flag of Abkhazia is evidence of the religious tolerance of the Abkhazians, the peaceful coexistence of Islam and Christianity in the consciousness and behavioral culture of the ethnic group.

Today there are 11 active Orthodox churches and two active monasteries in Abkhazia. The geography of their length is from Pitsunda to Chuburkhinj (Gali district). The clergy consists of 13 people, six of them represent the Abkhazian clergy, one of which is Father Dorotheus (D. Dbar), a candidate of theology. Abkhazian Orthodox Church, headed by Fr. Vissarion, is experiencing the beginning of a process of spiritual rebirth.

The Islamized part of the Abkhazian population (mainly returned descendants of mahajirs) also has the opportunity to satisfy their religious needs. The construction of mosques in Sukhum and Gudauta is a vivid example of the balanced policy of the Abkhaz authorities on this issue. Christian sectarianism in Abkhazia is represented mainly by the non-Abkhaz part of the population.

The outstanding German philosopher G.V. F. Hegel in his work "Philosophy of History" noted that "when we deal with the past and deal with a world far from us, such a present is revealed to the spirit, which, being the actual activity of the spirit, rewards it for its efforts." Indeed, the efforts of the scientist in enriching the ethnographic material on Abkhazia have been rewarded a hundredfold. For many generations of the future, these books will convey one of the oldest cultural heritage of mankind - the religious traditions of the ancient ethnic group of the Abkhazians.