Category talk:Rodnover zhrets

Zhrets and volkhvs

@Wojsław Brożyna I propose to return in a constructive way to the topic of zhrets and volkhvs. If you say that these are different categories, we can separate these categories among Rodnovers. I ask you to tell me what the literature known to you says about this? This question seems interesting to me and I would like to complement the Russian article about it. For example, Maxim Beloyar, as far as I know, is a zhrets. On the other hand, many Ukrainian and Russian Rodnovers are called volkhvs, but they also perform the functions of zhrets. In Russian and Ukrainian, these are usually synonyms, but, as I understand it, this is not the case in Polish culture? Nikolay Omonov (talk) 14:04, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

@Nikolay Omonov thank you. Yes, in the Polish literature they are treated separately. I mean the main Polish works on the Slavic religion:

• A. Szyjewski "Religia Słowian" The Religion of Slavs (Kraków 2003; btw, my lecturer) says about them as separate examples of Slavic clergy (pp. 153-154), underlining that volkhvs were connected with shamanic practices.
• J. Strzelczyk "Mity, podania i wierzenia dawnych Słowian" Myths, Legends and Beliefs of the Old Slavs (Poznań 1998) says only about volkhvs, but without any mention about zhrets and Arkona, treats them as characters from East Slavdom.
• A. Gieysztor "Mitologia Słowian" The Mythology of Slavs (Warszawa 1982) says that etymology suggests that function of zhrets is to know prayers & anthems and how to perform them, while function of volkhvs is to perform magic.

So, in Polish literature zhrets are typically seen as "high" clergy, specific type of Slavic priest in highly developed form of Slavic religion that emerged in Polabian Slavdom, while volkhvs are more like shamans, type of clergy from lowly developed form of Slavic religion from East Slavdom. You should also take into account that in Polish we do not use word zhrets as priest in general (Polish word for non-specific priest is kapłan or ofiarnik), so we do not call volkhvs that. Wojsław Brożyna (talk) 15:24, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

Thank you. Yes, the word zhrets as a priest came to Russian from Church Slavonic and its meaning may be even wider than that of a priest. The Russian language retains many church atavisms: a priest (священник) is usually only a Christian priest, and a zhrets is a "pagan" priest. Orthodox Christians consider it offensive when a Christian priest is called a zhrets, although there is nothing wrong with this word. Non-church Russians use the word священник for any priest.

Many modern Russian researchers also believe that the Eastern Slavs did not have "high" clergy. There are hypotheses that some of the functions of priest could be performed by knyaz. There is also a hypothesis that burial mounds could serve as shrines, since archaeologists could not find reliable traces of shrines among the Eastern Slavs. Nikolay Omonov (talk) 16:07, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

In Polish we use kapłan and ofiarnik both to Christian and non-Christian clergy (but in fact ofiarnik in Christian context is rare). If someone says zhrets, it is specifically about Slavic priest and not about volkhv. Old Polish language has once a word żyrzec (which originates from zhrets) for priest, but it is not in usage for centuries (except modern Rodnover usage as synonym for zhrets). We have also word ksiądz only for Christian clergy and it is etymologically connected with książę ("prince"), which have common origin with knyaz. Wojsław Brożyna (talk) 17:05, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

I will use your sources about zhrets in Russian articles. The fact that ksiądz in Poland means a priest, I remember from my school history lessons. But few people in Russia know about the meaning of the word żyrzec.

This is an example of the meaning of a word жречество in Russian, the article in the national Russian encyclopedia (Great Russian Encyclopedia), where there is not a word about the Slavs. Nikolay Omonov (talk) 19:37, 16 February 2023 (UTC)