Religion in South Ossetia

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Palm Sunday procession in Tskhinvali

Uatsdin, which is polytheistic and has origins in ancient Scythian religion. Syncretism
between Christianity and traditional belief is common.

Christianity in South Ossetia was first introduced through

Soviet period. An Ossetian nationalist religious revival was initiated in the 1990s, and the Orthodox Church in South Ossetia declared its independence from the Georgian Orthodox Church. The South Ossetian Orthodox Church aligns with the Old Calendarist
movement; it is considered schismatic from the mainstream Orthodox Church.

Uatsdin, also practiced in North Ossetia, is a prominent minority faith in South Ossetia. It reflects the Iranian origins of the Ossetians, as well as later Christian influence. As the Ossetians were never fully converted to Christianity, Ossetian traditional religion has remained visible in South Ossetian society.

The capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, historically had a large Jewish population, outnumbering the Georgians and Ossetians at some points. The community declined throughout the Soviet period, and by the 1990s, the vast majority of the Jews in South Ossetia had emigrated, mainly to Russia and Israel.

Demographics

Tiri Monastery, a medieval Georgian monastery near Tskhinvali

South Ossetia is mostly ethnically Ossetian,[1] with minorities of Georgians.[2] The majority of Ossetians are Orthodox Christians,[3] and the Orthodox Church remains an prominent aspect of South Ossetian society. Traditional pagan elements are often syncretized with Orthodox Christianity.[4] The number of practitioners of Ossetian traditional religion is difficult to estimate, but it is a significant portion of the population.[5] Unlike in North Ossetia, where Muslims form a significant minority, Islam is absent from South Ossetia.[6] Many ethnic Ossetians who identify as Christian or Muslim participate in traditional values and rituals, and throughout North and South Ossetia, popular practice of folk religion exceeds that in churches.[7]

History

Christianity

South Ossetia, like

Bolshevik Revolution.[1]

During the Soviet period, religious practice declined as the South Ossetians were Sovietized, and the Georgian Church neglected the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast.[9] There were no active churches in South Ossetia during the Soviet period; during perestroika, one church was founded near Nikozi (in Georgia proper) to serve ethnic Georgians from South Ossetia.[12]

St. Mary's Church, an Armenian Apostolic church in Tskhinvali

From 1990, a religious revival with

Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA) in 1993 and was granted deanery status in 1998,[16] but the ROCA distanced itself from the South Ossetian church when it began improving relations with the ROC in 2001. Due to this, the South Ossetians began aligning with the non-canonical Old Calendarist Holy Synod in Resistance.[17] In 2005, the Alania Diocese was created, and Pukhate consecrated a bishop by the Synod.[18][19] In 2008, the ROC once again denied the South Ossetians' request to join its jurisdiction.[15] The Alania Diocese maintains that it is a continuation of the Alan Diocese, an eparchy in the region that existed from the 10th to the 16th centuries. It is regarded as schismatic from the mainstream Orthodox church.[20]

Traditional religion and neo-paganism

Rekom shrine in North Ossetia near the border, the most popular Uatsdin shrine in Ossetia[21]

Ossetian ethnic religion, most commonly known as

Uatsdin,[22] is present in South Ossetia. Uatsdin is nature-oriented[23] and polytheistic; the creator god is Xucau, head of a pantheon of deities reflecting Iranian and Christian influence.[24] Richard Foltz connects the Ossetian religion to that of the ancient Scythians.[25] The Ossetians, being an Iranian people, inherited and preserved many aspects of ancient Iranian religion; when the Alans came under Byzantine and Georgian influence, they accepted Christianity but the population remained largely pagan. During the Mongol period, the Alans, later the Ossetians, lost contact with the church as they retreated into the mountains. They reverted almost entirely to paganism, with only superficial aspects of Christianity remaining, such as the dedication of shrines to Christian saints.[26] In the 1980s, leading up to the fall of the Soviet Union, many constituent peoples of the state attempted to build new identities, including the Ossetians. Many of the Ossetian nationalists aimed at reviving a more authentic, pre-Christian religion.[1] In the early 1990s, a group of nationalist intellectuals formed the Styr Nykhas (Ossetian: "Great Council"), which leads the revival movement, in an effort to organize Ossetian tradition along the lines of other neopagan groups.[27] Due to the fluidity of Ossetian popular religion and the prevalence of syncretism with pre-Christian tradition, Uatsdin has drawn criticism from Christian and Muslim leaders in Ossetia, and even attempts to ban Uatsdin literature by the Russian Orthodox Church.[28]

One major annual ritual in South Ossetia takes place at the

Æfsati, the god of the hunt. The ceremony commemorates a legend that in previous eras, a deer would sacrifice itself atop the mountain, but the deer stopped coming when the people began to disregard tradition. The ruined stone shrine may be a medieval Christian church.[29] The Khetag grove near Alagir in North Ossetia has served as a site for pan-Ossetian rituals since the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most important Ossetian shrines.[30]

Judaism

Building in the Jewish quarter of Tskhinvali
Main article: History of the Jews in South Ossetia
See also: Georgian Jews

yeshivas for further study. At their peak in 1917, Jews were the largest ethnic group in Tskhinvali, forming 38.4% of the population.[32]

The Jewish population of Tskhinvali was repressed in the 1930s, and all but one synagogue was shut down by the authorities.[32] The community declined throughout the 20th century as Jews moved elsewhere, particularly to Russia and Israel.[35] During the 1991–1992 war, all but 17 of the Jews in the city fled, and the Jewish quarter was heavily damaged.[36] During the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, only one Jew, an elderly woman, remained in South Ossetia. The Tskhinvali synagogue, largely unused for decades, was damaged by Georgian rocket fire as people were sheltering in its basement.[37][38]

Religious freedom

The

US State Department, authorities in South Ossetia restricted the access of Georgian clergy and pressured the remaining Georgian Orthodox parishes to join the Russian Orthodox Church. While South Ossetia officially bans the Georgian Orthodox Church as well as Jehovah's Witnesses, the authorities reportedly have allowed the groups, along with Pentecostals, to assemble in Akhalgori.[40]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Foltz 2019, p. 317.
  2. ^ a b Merabishvili & Metreveli 2021, p. 8.
  3. Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. 2007. p. 1. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 2024-02-23. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  4. ^ Conroy 2015, p. 622: "Recent poll data shows approximately 60 percent of Ossetians are Orthodox, often in combination with traditional (pagan) beliefs... the Orthodox church remains an important factor in South Ossetia either way, for political—if not religious—reasons."
  5. ^ Foltz 2019, p. 330: "Estimating the actual number of those who practice the Ossetian popular religion is impossible, but clearly there are many thousands of sympathizers throughout North and South Ossetia and beyond."
  6. ^ Dzeranov 2015, p. 11.
  7. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 330–331.
  8. ^ Matsuzato 2010, p. 271.
  9. ^ a b Conroy 2015, p. 632.
  10. ^ Foltz 2019, p. 316.
  11. ^ Khodarkovsky 1999, pp. 412–413.
  12. ^ a b Matsuzato 2010, p. 274.
  13. ^ a b Matsuzato 2010, p. 283.
  14. ^ Conroy 2015, pp. 623, 629.
  15. ^ a b Guliev 2012, p. 104.
  16. ^ Matsuzato 2010, p. 284.
  17. ^ Conroy 2015, pp. 632–633.
  18. ^ Conroy 2015, p. 629.
  19. ^ Matsuzato 2010, p. 286.
  20. ^ Conroy 2015, p. 633.
  21. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 327–328.
  22. ^ Foltz 2019, p. 325.
  23. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 325–327.
  24. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 321–322.
  25. ^ Foltz 2019, p. 314, 316.
  26. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 316–317.
  27. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 325, 327–328.
  28. ^ Foltz 2019, p. 331.
  29. ^ Foltz 2019, pp. 323–324.
  30. ^ Shnirelman 2002, pp. 204–205.
  31. ^ Lomtadze & Janjghava 2018, p. 17–18.
  32. ^ a b c d e "Цхинвали" [Tskhinvali]. Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. 9. 1999. Archived from the original on 2022-09-29. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  33. ^ Lomtadze & Janjghava 2018, pp. 19–20.
  34. ^ Lomtadze & Janjghava 2018, p. 18.
  35. ^ Lomtadze & Janjghava 2018, p. 19.
  36. ^ "Georgia's Jewish Heritage Imperiled with Talk of War". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 25 February 2008. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  37. ^ "Empty synagogue gives shelter in Georgian war". NBC News. Associated Press. 22 August 2008. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  38. Newspapers.com
    .
  39. ^ "Конституция" [Constitution] (in Russian). Government of the Republic of South Ossetia. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  40. ^
    U.S. Department of State. 2022. Archived
    from the original on 2024-02-29. Retrieved 2024-02-29.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links
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