The Circle of Veles (also known as the Commonwealth of Slavic Rodnovery Communities) is an association of neo-pagan communities dedicated to the revival and promotion of Slavic native spirituality. The association venerates Veles[1][2], the Slavic god of wisdom, and regards Rod[1] as the supreme deity, aligning itself with the Rodnovery tradition.
The association emphasizes the veneration of earth deities, drawing parallels to Indian tantrism. It is not affiliated with any political movement and does not engage in racial or religious discrimination.
The "Velesov Circle" was established in 1999 in Moscow. It is an association of communities dedicated to the development of Slavic spirituality, consciously distancing itself from political affiliations. The association venerates Veles[1][2], the Slavic god of wisdom, and regards Rod[1] as the supreme deity.
The association's calendar dates back to 2409 B.C., marking the foundation of Slovensk the Great. Joint celebrations include Kupala, Perunov's Day and Koliada.[2] In addition to Slavic traditions, the association also venerates Protopop Avvakum, a spiritual leader of the Old Believers, viewing them as a commitment to tradition and rebellion against the Antichrist.[1]
The Kolomna Appeal (2000) established veche as the associations' leadership model. It describing the pagan community as a apolitical organization, while retaining control over ideological questions. The Appeal also emphasized tolerance for diversity, allowing terms such as "Paganism," "Rodnovery," "Vedism," "Ynglism," and "Orthodoxy" to be used to describe their faith.
Veleslav (Ilya Cherkasov), the head of the association and a volhv, is one of the most renowned figures in Slavic neo-paganism in Russia. He has appeared on several television programs.[6] In 2003, he published "The Ritebook", which establishes a system of rituals. He also authored the doctrine of "Rodoliubie" (Russian: Родолюбие), described as the "original ancestral faith of the Russians." This doctrine advocated for a pantheistic belief in a single, all-encompassing god, Rod, grounded in a vedic worldview. It emphasized the veneration of ancestors, the division of society into castes, and a deep love for one's native land.[1] The archetypes of the "One Tradition" are based on both the "Russian Slavic and Aryan spirit" and "traditional paganism," the latter incorporating the entire spiritual experience accumulated by humanity.[7]
History
Early history
In November 1993, the Obninsk Vedic community "Traiana", led by the Volhv Bogumil (D. A. Gasanov), formed the Circle of Veles as part of the Union of the Veneds[ru].[1][8] Gasanov received his initiation from Rodoliub (Rybin), a sorcerer from Nizhny Novgorod. Between 1994 and 1997, Gasanov maintained close relations with the Union of Veneds. Between 1994 and 1997, Gasanov maintained close relations with the Union of Veneds. Until the end of 1998, the "Traiana" community collaborated closely with the Kaluga Slavic community led by Vadim Kazakov, a disciple of Alexey Dobrovolsky (also known as Dobroslav).
In 1997, Kazakov became the leader of the Union of Slavic Native Belief Communities, which included Bogumil's own community. However, in December 1998, the community was expelled from the Union and subsequently renamed itself first as the Obninsk Slavic Community "Triglav", and later as the Obninsk Rodnovery Community "Triglav".
In February 1998, the Aryan Pagan community "Satya-Veda",[1] which included Veleslav,[7] began operations in Moscow. Satya-Veda was soon evolved into the Russian-Slavic Rodoliubie community, establishing close ties with Velimir's group. This collaboration led to their merger into the Rodoliubie – Kolyada Vyatichi Community Accord in 2001, though the groups eventually parted ways. In Moscow, until the mid-2000s, the "Moscow Velesov community" operated under the leadership of Volhv Velemir (A. Zhilko).[1]
The "Velesov Circle" was established in 1999 in Moscow. The first communities to join were the Russian-Slavic Rodnovery community of Veleslav and the Obninsk Triglav community led by D. A. Gasanov (Bogumil Murin).[1][9] Both communities later disbanded.[2] Subsequently, five more communities joined, including the "Veles Community" of Volhv Velemir (A. Zhilko), which included Velemudr (Alexei Nagovitsyn).[1][10]
Kolomna Appeal (2000)
On September 15, 2000 ("832 years from the fall of the Jaromarsburg") in Kolomenskoye (Moscow), seventeen communities, including the "Moscow Veles Community," Obninsk community "Triglav," community "Kolyada Vyatichi," Kirov community "Svetoslavichi," Vladivostok community "Shield of Semargl," and others, signed the Kolomna Appeal to all Pagan Communities of Russia and Neighboring Countries. This document established the status of the Pagan faith and regulated relationships between the communities. As a sign of agreement, a joint ritual was performed at the Alatyr Stone in the Veles tract near Kolomenskoye.[1]
The Appeal advocated for the veche principle of leadership, describing the pagan community as a apolitical organization, while retaining control over ideological questions. It emphasized tolerance for diversity, allowing terms such as "Paganism," "Rodnovery," "Vedism," "Ynglism," and "Orthodoxy" to describe their faith. The Appeal also demonstrated a desire for unity and proclaimed "the inadmissibility of mutual blasphemy." It called for regular meetings during the Day of Slavonic Alphabet and encouraged the exchange of information.
Subsequent activity
In 2002, in memory of Academician B. A. Rybakov, whose controversial mythological constructions many Rodnovers use as a source, Veleslav published a brochure dedicated to "the revival of the original Russian-Slavic Rodnovery".[11][12]
In 2005, Veleslav created the youth-oriented doctrine of Navoslavism, "The Way of the Left Hand," or "Shuyny Way".[13]
In August 2008, after an act of vandalism at one of the temples, four associations, the "Union of Slavic Communities of Slavic Native Faith" (SSO SRV), "Circle of Pagan Tradition" (KJT), "Veles Circle", and "Schoron ezh Sloven[ru]", began to unite by creating an Advisory Council. It consisted of two representatives from each association, including Vadim Kazakov and Maxim Ionov (priest Beloyar) from SRV, Dmitry Gavrilov (sorcerer Iggeld) and Sergey Dorofeev (sorcerer Veledor) from KJT, and D. Hasanov (sorcerer Bogumil) from "Veles' circle". A joint statement was issued against the desecration of sacred places revered by pagans, as well as a rejection of what they called "pseudo-paganism".[1] In 2011, the Schoron ezh Slovenes voluntarily left the council.
In May 2012, three neo-pagan associations in Russia—KNT, SSO SRV and "Veles Circle"—entered into an agreement "On Slavic priests". Among other things, the agreement recognized certain theories as "pseudoscientific and harmful to Slavic faith". These theories were based on mythology and folkloristics by such figures as A. I. Asov (Busa Kresenya), V. Yu. Golyakov (Bogumil the Second), Yu. V. Gomonov, N. V. Levashov, A. V. Trekhlebov, and V. A. Shemshuk. The agreement also rejected theories in the fields of language, speech, and traditional thinking proposed by N. N. Vashkevich, G. S. Grinevich, M. N. Zadornov, A. Y. Khinevich, V. A. Chudinov, as well as historical by Yuri D. Petukhov, A. Tyunyaev, A. T. Fomenko, among their successors, followers and their like".[14][15]
The 2012 Agreement also stipulated that only representatives of "Slavic people" could serve as Slavic priests and priestesses. In exceptional cases, individuals from "Indo-European tribal heritage and custom" who had adopted the Slavic language, culture, and "Native Faith" and had demonstrated their belonging to "Slavicness" could also be considered.
In December 2013, the SRV, Veles Circle, and KJT condemned Vladimir Kurovsky, leader of the "Ukrainian religious sect" Rodovoye Ognische Slavyanskoe Rodnoi Vera (Slavic Native Faith).[16]
On August 27, 2016, in Kolomenskoye, there was a meeting of eighteen volhvs and priests from various neo-pagan associations: "Pagan Federation International" (PFI), SSO SRV, KJT, "Veles Circle", "Moscow Wiccan House", the Olympic Religious League "Liberation of Mind", the almanac "Saga" ("project of the Union of Free Asatru"), "Assembly of Slavic Communities Native Land". The traditions represented there including Slavic, "Hellenic", North German, and followers of "European Witchcraft". The meeting was preceded by a long preliminary discussion by a working group of the vital problems of the neo-pagan movement. A "Veche Center of Pagan Associations" was formed, and in the following months its conceptual documents were adopted. This collegial body consists of 24 neo-pagan figures. It is proposed "to create a Commonwealth of associations (followers of the Natural Faith) in Russia, Belarus and other countries, united by a common historical and cultural space."[17][18][19]
Прокофьев А. В., Филатов С. Б., Коскелло А. С. (2006). "Славянское и скандинавское язычества. Викканство". Современная религиозная жизнь России. Опыт систематического описания. Vol.4 (2000 экзed.). М.: Логос. pp.155–207. ISBN5-98704-057-4.{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Prav (Правь), Yav (Явь) and Nav (Навь) are the three dimensions or qualities of the cosmos as described in the first chapter of the Book of Light and in the Book of Veles of Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery). Older sources mention only Nav and Yav concepts of ancient slavic cosmology, similar to Yin and Yang in Taoism, and Prav was not part of the concept. The literal meanings of the Prav, Yav, and Nav words, are, respectively, "Right", "actuality" and "probability". They are also symbolised as a unity by the god Triglav. Already Ebbo documented that the Triglav was seen as embodying the connection and mediation between Heaven, Earth and the underworld / humanity; these three dimensions were also respectively associated to the colours white, green and black as documented by Karel Jaromír Erben.
The Book of Veles is a literary forgery purporting to be a text of ancient Slavic religion and history supposedly written on wooden planks.
The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the historical belief systems of the Slavic peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, though the movement is inclusive of external influences and hosts a variety of currents. "Rodnovery" is a widely accepted self-descriptor within the community, although there are Rodnover organisations which further characterise the religion as Vedism, Orthodoxy, and Old Belief.
Victor Alexandrovich Schnirelmann is a Russian historian, ethnologist and a member of Academia Europaea. He is a senior researcher of N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Russian Academy of Sciences and an author of over 300 works, including over 20 monographies on archaeology. Schnirelmann's main fields include the ideologies of nationalism in Russia and CIS, ethnocentrism and irredentism.
Slavic fantasy is a sub-genre of contemporary art that developed in the late 90s and early 2000s. Slavic fantasy is distinguished by the incorporation of Slavic folklore, legends, bylinas, and myths into the general canons of fantasy literature. However, its genre boundaries remain indistinct.
Volhv Veleslav, also known as Влх. Велеслав and V.L.S.L.V., is a Russian Rodnover priest. He is also an author, artist, poet, teacher and lecturer. Veleslav is the founder of Rodolubie (Rodoljub) and the Veles circle. His early works form the basis of the Slavic neopaganism movement and its reconstruction. Veleslav is the author of several books on Russian and Slavic traditions, including The Doctrine/Teachings of the Magi: The White Book ; The Black Book of Mara (2008); Living Vedas of Russ: Revelations of Native Gods (2008); the Book of Veles's Tales (2005), and "The Book of the Great Nav" (2011), amongst many others. He has also contributed to the first magazine for Rodnovers, "Родноверие".
Uralic neopaganism encompasses contemporary movements which have been reviving or revitalising the ethnic religions of the various peoples who speak Uralic languages. The movement has taken place since the 1980s and 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and alongside the ethnonational and cultural reawakening of the Finnic peoples of Russia, the Estonians and the Finns. In fact, Neopagan movements in Finland and Estonia have much older roots, dating from the early 20th century.
In Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery) there are a number of shared holidays throughout the year, when important ritual activities are set according to shared calendars. Generally speaking, ritual activities may be distinguished into "external" (exoteric) and "internal" (esoteric) relatively to the different communities. External ceremonies are mass gatherings, usually held on important holidays dedicated to the worship of common gods, and involving large numbers of people. Internal ceremonies are those restricted to specific groups, and holding special meaning for such groups; they may comprise private rituals and worship of specific ancestors.
Slavic Native Faith or Slavic Neopaganism in Russia is widespread, according to some estimates from research organisations which put the number of Russian Rodnovers in the millions. The Rodnover population generally has a high education and many of its exponents are intellectuals, many of whom are politically engaged both in the right and the left wings of the political spectrum. Particular movements that have arisen within Russian Rodnovery include various doctrinal frameworks such as Anastasianism, Authentism, Bazhovism, Ivanovism, Kandybaism, Levashovism, Peterburgian Vedism, Slavic-Hill Rodnovery, Vseyasvetnaya Gramota, the Way of Great Perfection, the Way of Troyan, and Ynglism, as well as various attempts to construct specific ethnic Rodnoveries, such as Krivich Rodnovery, Meryan Rodnovery, Viatich Rodnovery. Rodnovery in Russia is also influenced by, and in turn influences, movements that have their roots in Russian cosmism and identify themselves as belonging to the same Vedic culture, such as Roerichism and Blagovery.
Slavic Native Faith and Christianity are mutually critical and often directly hostile to each other. Among the Slavic Native Faith critiques are a view of religious monotheism as the root of mono-ideologies, by which is meant all ideologies that promote "universal and one-dimensional truths", unable to grasp the complexity of reality and therefore doomed to failure one after the other. These mono-ideologies include Abrahamic religions in general, and all the systems of thought and practice that these religions spawned throughout history, including both Marxism and capitalism, the general Western rationalistic mode of thinking begotten by the Age of Enlightenment, and ultimately the technocratic civilisation based on the idea of possession, exploitation and consumption of the environment. They are regarded as having led the world and humanity to a dead-end, and as destined to disappear and to be supplanted by the values represented by Rodnovery itself. To the "unipolar" world created by the mono-ideologies, and led by the American-influenced West, the Rodnovers oppose their political philosophy of "nativism" and "multipolarism".
In the Russian intellectual milieu, Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery) presents itself as a carrier of the political philosophy of nativism/nationalism/populism (narodnichestvo), intrinsically related to the identity of the Slavs and the broader group of populations with Indo-European speaking origins, and intertwined with historiosophical ideas about the past and the future of these populations and their role in eschatology.
The Union of Slavic Communities of the Slavic Native Faith is one of the largest Russian organisations of Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery) groups, established in 1997, and officially recognised by the government in 2014.
Social entrepreneurship in Russia is in its infancy. Its origin as a phenomenon of the post-Soviet history of the country should be attributed to the first half of the 2000s, although similar initiatives of individual enthusiasts occasionally took place already in the 1990s, and prototypes of social and entrepreneurial activity can be found also in earlier periods, up to the turn of the XIX-XX centuries.
Slavic-Hill Rodnovery is one of the earliest branches of Rodnovery that emerged in Russia in the 1980s founded by Aleksandr Konstantinovich Belov (1957–), and one of the largest Rodnover movements in terms of number of practitioners, counted in the many tens of thousands. The movement is characterised by a military orientation, combining Rodnover worldview with the practice of a martial arts style known as "Slavic-hill wrestling". The locution "Slavic hill" refers to the kurgan, Indo-European warrior mound burials of the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a collective term for new religious movements which are influenced by or derived from the various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern peoples. Although they share similarities, contemporary pagan religious movements are diverse, and as a result, they do not share a single set of beliefs, practices, or texts.
The "Circle of Pagan Tradition" ("CPG") is one of the Russian Slavic Native Faith associations.
Mono-ideologies are a concept in Russian political and philosophical discourse.
Valery Nikolayevich Yemelyanov was a Soviet-Russian Arabist and public figure, teacher of Arabic and Hebrew, and candidate of economic sciences. One of the founders of Russian neo-paganism, a representative of the "first wave" of the Russian neo-pagan movement, the creator of a pseudo-historical concept of the ancient civilization of the "Aryans-Veneti", and an author of antisemitic ideas. He was the founder and chairman of World Anti-Zionist and Anti-Masonic Front (VASAMF) "Pamyat" and author of the books Dezionization and Jewish Nazism and the Asiatic Mode of Production.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
