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Ynglism (Russian: Инглии́зм, also spelled "Yngliism" or "Inglyism"), institutionally the Ancient Russian Ynglistic Church of the Orthodox Old Believers—Ynglings (Древнерусская Инглиистическая Церковь Православных Староверов—Инглингов, Drevnerusskaya Ingliisticheskaya Tserkov' Pravoslavnykh Staroverov—Inglingov) is a direction of the Slavic Native Faith movement registered with the Ministry of justice of the Russian Federation in the early 1990s by Aleksandr Khinevich from Omsk, in Siberia.({{{1}}}, {{{2}}}) Adepts call themselves "Old Believers-Ynglings", seldom simply "Ynglings". The church is described by scholar Kaarina Aitamurto as having a well-defined doctrine, an authoritative leadership, and focusing on esoteric teachings.({{{1}}}, {{{2}}}) Ynglings regard themselves as perserving the true, orthodox (i.e. in accordance with the universal order), religious tradition of the Russians and of all the Slavs. Rodnover groups in Russia are strongly critical of Ynglism; the international veche (assembly) of Rodnover organisations even declared it a false religion. In the early 2000s the church faced judicial prosecutions for ethnic hatred, and Khinevich himself was imprisoned from 2009 to 2011. The central writings of Ynglism are the four Slavic-Aryan Vedas.
According to Ynglism history and terminology, the Slavic term for "Orthodox", Pravoslavie (Православие, that like the Greek counterpart precisely means "right glorifying"), which refers to the right way of living in accordance with the universal laws and glorifying the Prav World (World of Gods), was appropriated by the Christian Eastern Orthodox Church among the Slavs only by the 17th century, through the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, in order to wholly absorb the indigenous religion which was then still prevalent among the population. Prior to the reform, Christianity used the Greek loanword Ortodoksalnost (Ортодоксальность).[1]
The definition "Old Believers" (Староверы, Starovery), which today is employed to refer to Christians who preserved pre-Nikonian rituals, who are more correctly called the "Old Ritualists" (Старообрядцы, Staroobryadtsy), was imposed on the latter during the same Nikonian reform. Their previous name was "Righteous Christians" (Праведные Христиане, Pravednye Khristiane), and "Old Believers" it itself referred to indigenous Slavic religion. According to the Yngling Church, these theories would be proven by 13th-century documents preserved by a sect of the Christian Old Believers.[1]
In his teachings, Aleksandr Khinevich, the Pater Diy (Патер Дий, meaning "Supreme Priest" or "High Priest") of Ancient Russian Ynglistic Church of the Orthodox Old Believers—Ynglings,[2] does not position Ynglism either as a "paganism", "neopaganism", or as a "religion" at all. This is due to the fact that, as Khinevich say, these words do not reflect the essence of its primary concept.
In this way, the word "paganism" literally means "other faith", and allegedly for this reason Byzantine Christians called Slavs pagans, because for them Slavic Native Faith and culture were foreign. Thereby, «язык» (lat. «lingua», en. «language») is a folk, nation; representative of the folk is «языче» («yazyche»), but representative of another folk is «язычник» (yazychnik (en. "pagan") — "yazyche nikakoi", i.e. literally he's "lingually no-one"). Therefore, pagan is a term only, designating a representative of another faith, culture, language and folk. For this reason, in his words, it is wrong to call oneself a pagan, people can not be a pagan and a foreigner for themselves.
The word "religion" is interpreted by Khinevich differently as well. In his opinion, "religion" is a repeated connection of the higher with the lower, and vice versa, which means that the word is derived from "re" and "league" ("re" — repeating, "league" — union, unification). For example, for some reason people have lost their Faith, and trying to reconnect with their native Gods, to cognize the Ancient Wisdom of their ancestors, and some messenger begins to speak on behalf of God, and they make a doctrine out of these statements. At the same time, it is good if the messenger correctly conveyed the information and understood it properly, and can distort it. Or some wise man begins to explain the faith in his own way, how he himself understands it depending on his education, culture, and creates such a religion. Therefore, there are many religions, these are artificially created teachings, some part of the whole Wisdom ("faith"). But Ynglings' connection with their Gods never stopped, and based on this, Khinevich is convinced that Ynglism is not a religion.
In words of Aleksandr Khinevich, who clearly shares the concepts of the words "religion" and "faith", Ynglism is definitely a faith, since the "faith" ("vera") consists of two ancient Runes:
Veda – Wisdom, Knowledge; Ra – original, primordial Light.
That is, the Faith is the original, primordial Knowledge, that each folk and nation has, i.e. language, culture, traditions, rituals, holidays, information about ancestors (where this folk came from, where its roots are), and the like. This system of knowledge is called in one word — Faith, which is Wisdom, and this knowledge is passed from generation to generation. Therefore, according to Ynglism, each nation and each folk has its own Faith (its own language, traditions, ancestors and knowledges), but some people keep this Knowledge, while the others treat it indifferently: it is – good, it's not – then it is not necessary.
By the words of Aleksandr Khinevich himself, as "neither monotheistic nor polytheistic" as were the beliefs of the "early ancestors"—the Indo-Europeans, whom Khinevich identifies as the Slavic-Aryans. According to Shnirelman, Yngling theology owes much to Slavic, Germanic, Iranian and Indian sources, but integrates gods and concepts from other cultures as well.[3] The idea of reincarnation matching that of Hinduism, and the idea of a struggle between good and evil forces matching that of Zoroastrianism, are both incorporated within Ynglism. All deities are regarded as the manifestations of a supreme universal God,[4] so that Yngling theology may be defined as monistic. Yngling resources define Ynglism, and Slavic religion overall, as a "rodotheism", that is to say "worship of the gods of the kin", that links back to the supreme God of the universe, which is the universe's supreme ancestor.[5]
Ynglings believe that all these ideas fit the original "Russian spiritual culture" which may rescue people from corruption. Much like other esoteric sciences, they are ambivalent towards Christianity, recognising Jesus as an important prophet (a "great wanderer", veliky putnik) while accusing Christian churches to have distorted his original message, which would be preserved in apocryphal literature. The journal Zhiva-Astra issued by the Yngling Church has published Gnostic scriptures that are popular among Russian nationalists, such as the Secret Gospel of John and the New Testament of the Holy Apostle Thomas discovered in 1945. Ynglings say that early Slavic volkhvs were aware of the concepts of a supreme God and of the trinity, which were later borrowed by Christian organisations. Like other Rodnover groups, Ynglings consider Christianity as an anti-national international machination aimed at the enslavement of people, chiefly Russians.[4]
According to Ynglism, "Inglea" (Инглия; cf. the Germanic Yng, Yngwi, whose Scandinavian runic consists in square symbols →, and cf. the Germanic suffix "-ing", implying the action of generation and production) is the Primordial Pure Light (energy), departed from the supreme God, called "Ra-M-Ha" (Ра-М-Ха, also spelled "Ramha") in the Yngling usage. Ra-M-Ha is absolute, unknowable, unfathomable, and yet manifest in the gods generating of all phenomena in accordance with the supreme order, Ingle.[6] This last is personified as the intelligence of God, keeper of the source of the flame of the universe, and is the model of the earliest originator of humanity (Rod).[7] Inglea is represented by the swastika symbol, which Ynglings call the "symbol of Inglea".[8]
Besides the similarity of the names of the Ynglings' Ra-M-Ha and the Indian Rama, it is worthwhile to note that Ramha is identified with the ancient Egyptian concept of Ra central to the other Russian Native Faith practice Vseyasvetnaya gramota.[9]
A hymn to Ra-M-Ha declaims:[6]
A hymn to Ingle God declaims:[7]
Primary concepts are the already described absolute God and the matrix into which its gods incarnate—the Earth, characterised as Midgard ("Middle-Realm") in Scandinavian terminology. A third important concept is Rod, who is the archetype of humanity, progenitor of all ancestors. Gods are described as immutable, informational personal laws who harmoniously engender the different forms of life in the universe and support them in their course. They are all in accordance with the order (Yngly) begotten by the supreme God, but at the same time they may exceptionally intervene in the course of phenomena helping people's spiritual evolution along the right path, if people are motivated by sincere creativity and love. An Ynglism dictum is that "the gods are our fathers, and we are their children".[10]
Ynglings distinguish three classes of gods: "Patron Gods" (Боги-Покровители, Bogi-Pokroviteli) are those patronising the celestial bodies, the stars and planets, the Earth, the Moon as well as the "Rods", the progenitors of human lineages (of the bright Aryan "great race"); "Gods-Governors" (Боги-Управители, Bogi-Upraviteli) are those who control various elements, desires, the measured flows of life on Earth; "Gods-Guardians" (Боги-Охранители, Bogi-Okhraniteli) are those who ward various locations on Earth, such as arable lands, forests and the countries of the Aryans. The most important gods from these categories are the "Highest Gods" (Вышние Боги, Vyshniye Bogi): the "Rod-Forefather", Vyshen (Вышень, Slavicised Vishnu), Svarog, Perun, Ramkhat, Matushka, Veles, god-generatrix Mokosh, Chislobog, Dazhbog, Zhiva, god-generatrix Rozhana, Simargl, Kupala, Svetovid, Indra and Kryshen (Крышень, Slavicised Krishna).[10]
"Rod-Forefather" (Род-Породитель, Rod-Poroditel) is the archetype of all the progenitors of the lineages, and is described as one and the same with Ramha, through Yngly. He is without image, like Ramha, but Ynglings worship him through the three-runes symbol of Ramha. His protection flows through Prav, Yav and Nav, the three worlds of traditional Slavic cosmology.[11]
A hymn to Rod-Forefather declaims:[11]
According to Ynglism cosmology, reality consists of the three dimensions:
The "Nine Great Warps" (Девять Великих Основ, Devyat' Velikikh Osnov) constitute the ethical code of Ynglism which guides the "weft" of the destiny of the Aryans and their descendants towards perfection. The union of whites and blacks is held to produce wicked mixlings, the "greys"; Abrahamic religions and the masses they persuade are believed to be essentially of a grey nature.[1]
The Warps are:
Ynglings believe that "Yngling", a name that identifies the earliest royal dynasties of Scandinavia, means "offspring of Inglea", and that the historical Ynglings migrated to Scandinavia from the region of Omsk, which was a spiritual centre of the early Indo-Europeans. They hold that the Ynglinga saga of the Edda (itself composed by Snorri Sturluson on the basis of an older Ynglingatal), proves their ideas about the origins of the Ynglings in Omsk and is ultimately a more recent version of texts contained in their own sacred books, the Slavo-Aryan Vedas.[14]
Ynglism presents itself as the true spirituality of the Indo-Europeans or Aryans, a term which means "harmonious men", those who act in accordance with the laws of God and therefore manifest bright white features.[13] The first Aryans were spiritually influenced by the northern celestial pole and the circumpolar stars, especially the Great Bear and the Little Bear, and the Big Dipper and Little Dipper astral images; these constellations, spinning umbe the pole, draw the changing image of Yngly (the swastika) in the four phases of the day and the year. The first Aryans dwelt at the geographic North Pole, whence they are known in Greek sources by the name "Hyperboreans" (lit. "over the north"). After leaving their original homeland they mostly settled in what is today Russia and broader Eurasia, where the richest occurrences of hooked cross symbolism in historical testimonies have been found, in patterns of architecture, weaponry, and tools of everyday life. Ynglism would be the means to regather the Aryans and reconnect them to their progenitors, reawakening their pristine way to perceive the world.[13]
The area that Aryans settled once they left the pole was that which in Russian folklore is known as Belovodye (Беловодье, lit. "White Waters"), which Ynglings locate in Siberia and identify as the same as the Tibetan concept Shambhala, the Scandinavian Asgard ("Gods-Realm"), and the land of the Rigvedic rivers: they identify the rivers as the Yenisei and Angara, the Lena, the Irtysh and Ob, and ultimately the Ishim and the Tobol. Architectures were built according to the pattern of Alatyr (Slavic mythological stone or mountain which represents the world centre or the world axle), which is the same as the image of Yngly (hooked cross), which endows human consciousness with virtue.[1]
The Yngling Church is concerned with the health of the Russians, and other Slavic peoples, and of the family as any folk's fundamental unit. They emphasise that men are innately disposed towards "public" life, while women fulfil themselves in the "private" life of the family at home.[15] Aitamurto (2008) characterises the church as strongly patriarchal; the social model that Ynglism proposes is the traditional hierarchy of the family, headed by male elders. The veche of the church itself is conceived as the gathering of these elders, the fathers. According to Ynglings beliefs, women are "so tied to their natural task of reproduction" that they may not reach the same intellectual and spiritual achievements of men, who are naturally more prone to the abstract thinking that is needed for political assignments.[16]
Ynglism is critical of modern Western liberal democracy, and espouses instead an ideal of democracy that is more similar to ancient Greek democracy. According to the Ynglings, universal suffrage leads to unwise decisions and ultimately to the disruption of society, because the majority of people are not wise. In their view, modern liberal democracies are dictatorships of the "biggest minorities", whereas ancient Slavic veche and mir were based on "consensual decision-making". Ynglings propose the traditional Slavic principle of samoderzhavie, meaning "people ruling themselves", which according to them is the highest "true will of the people" which comes to be incarnated and exercised by a wise ruler.[17]
According to the church, the demographic decline of contemporary Russia has to be studied as a crisis of the psycho-physical heritage transmitted by Russian parents to their children, and of the environment where these children grow up. Within the Yngling Church, miscegenation is considered as unhealthy, and they also condemn perverted sexuality and the consumption of alcohol and drugs as threats imported from the degenerated West. As a solution, Ynglings emphasise the theme of "creating beneficial descendants" (sozidanie blagodetel'nogo potomstva).[18]
In a broader metaphysical discourse, all forces of globalisation coming from the West are perceived as alien models that infiltrate and spoil the spirit of Slavic culture.
The central sacred writings of the Yngling movement are the Slavic-Aryan Vedas (Славяно-Арийские Веды, Slavyano-Ariyskiye Vedy), purportedly ancient texts,[19] allegedly passed down generation by generation in Siberia. They were allegedly originally written on sheets of precious metal (саньтии, santies), which would be now kept in a secret location by the high priests of Ynglism. Bad translations of the books, misinterpreted through the lens of Western science fiction, have circulated through the Internet.
The spiritual academy "Asgardian spiritual school" of the Yngling Church teaches their version of the Vedas. A main content of the spiritual school courses are:
The church is known for its "intensive proselytism",[19][22] carried out through a "massive selling" of its books other media. Although, in the example of Aleksandr Khinevich, Ynglings on the contrary not forcing people to anything, and by the nature they are very religiously tolerant. Ynglings organise yearly gatherings (veches) in summer.[23]
Yujism (юджизм, lit. "truth of the earthly world"), also spelled "yudzhism", is the basis of the world perception of Slavs and Aryans. To understand Yujism, need to learn to think figuratively. The image conveys way more information than phonemics, gestures or visual-auditory information.
The world perception is different from the worldview in that it is necessary not only to look at the world, to view it, but also to understand. The one who will understand the structure of Yujism, worldview will be revealed. The one who will not understand it until the end, world perception will be worldview for him.[24]
The first rune of, the aforementioned "image of Inglea" which is the swastika symbol, is conceived as well as the representation of yuj or yudzh (юдж) itself, which Ynglings sources themselves equate with Indian yoga. Yuj is the expansion of human consciousness in both sides, that is triggered by becoming aware of Inglea in reality. Such consciousness articulates into two opposite actions, a positive and a negative one respectively called Ha–Tha (Ха–Тха) and represented by two beams of the swastika. Ynglings claim that they are the ancient Slavic name of the same concept that is known in Chinese thought and language as yin–yang.[24]
The worldview that results from the practice of yujism is symbolised by Ynglings as an image of a "flat earth sustained by three elephants sustained by a turtle which swims in an unlimited ocean": the flat earth represents the twofold structure of perception (articulating in all dualities, from "yes–no" to "up–down"); the three elephants are symbols of the three dimensions of reality — Yav, Nav and Prav — material, ideal (which realises in word) and mystical, which are also three forms of life; the turtle is yuj itself, awakened consciousness, which draws information from the ocean, which represents infinite energy.[25]
Commentaries to the Slavic-Aryan Vedas provide us information about measures of length and time, as well as about the structure of the calendar. The word "calendar" in the opinion of Ynglings comes from a combination of slavic words Koliada and dar (gift). Thereby, literally, "calendar" is a "gift of Koliada". Other designation is a Cislobog's Wheel of Years.
Ceremony of Trizna is customary to spend on the 9th and 40th days, which corresponds to the week and month of the Yngling's calendar.
The main time intervals described in Slavic-Aryan Vedas and its commentaries are:
Every year has a 9 forties (months) and consists of three natural seasons: Autumn, Winter and Spring. That is, for each natural season there are three forties. A year can be of two types:
Letos are grouped into:
№ | Name of hall, epoch | Patron God | Date of an epoch | Day |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Virgin | Jiva | 10948–9328 B.C. | Twilight |
2 | Ras (White Leopard) | Dazhdbog | 9328—7708 B.C. | Twilight |
3 | Eagle | Perun | 7708–6088 B.C. | Twilight |
4 | Horse | Kupala | 6088–4468 B.C. | Night |
5 | Phinist (Phoenix) | Vyshen | 4468–2848 B.C. | Night |
6 | Elk | Lada | 2848–1228 B.C. | Night |
7 | Ox | Kryshen | 1228–392 B.C. | Night |
8 | Fox | Mara | 392–2012 A.D. | Night |
9 | Wolf (White Dog) | Veles | 2012–3632 A.D. | Dawn |
10 | Busel (Stork) | Rod-Forefather | 3632–5252 A.D. | Dawn |
11 | Bear | Svarog | 5252–6872 A.D. | Dawn |
12 | Raven | Kolyada, Varuna | 6872–8492 A.D. | Dawn |
13 | Serpent | Simargl | 8492—10112 A.D. | Day |
14 | Swan | Mokosh | 10112–11732 A.D. | Day |
15 | Pike | Rozana | 11732–13352 A.D. | Day |
16 | Veper (Boar) | Ramhat | 13352–14972 A.D. | Day |
Below is the list of some of the more important "dates of the past", as of 2018, according to the Slavic-Aryan Vedas:
Ynglism has a different structure in comparison with Rodnovery. According to Ynglism teachings, Ynglings month's names may be written as a compound of two Ynglings runes. The names of the months always consist of two Runes, and the second Rune of all the months is the same –Let (Летъ), which means "year" as well as "summer" (as months are phases of the year which comes to full maturity in summer), because of the month is a part of the Year; and the first Rune shows the image, which exactly the part of the Year it is. The only exception is the first month whose name is "Ramhat" (Рамхатъ), because it is image of the Beginning of a new Lap. Thereby, after the completion of another Year, we come to the beginning of everything again — RA-M-Ha, who claims (T) and creates (Ъ) a new Lap, as the beginning of a new Life.[29]
According to Ynglism, a Kologod ("kolo" — circle or lap, "god" — year) is a system of rituals and holidays that helps a human to stay in harmony with nature throughout the year. 8 basics of the Kologod are Gods, or the laws of the nature. Between the global transitions there's also a meeting (sreche) - autumnal, spring, wintery; and between it a 3 more small meetings. Below are the main holidays of the Ynglings - global transitions.[30]
Aitamurto (2016) characterises the Yngling Church as less politically goal-oriented than Rodnover movements.[23] By contrast, Russian scholar of religion Vladimir B. Yashin of the Department of Theology and World Cultures of Omsk State University wrote in 2001 that the church has close ties with the regional branch of the far-right Russian National Unity of Alexander Barkashov, whose members provide security and order during the mass gatherings of the Ynglings.[2]
The headquarters of the Yngling Church were prosecuted and liquidated by law between 2002 (in the Omsk region) and 2004 (in Russia), primarily because of its use of swastika-like religious symbolism and because of its teachings about the unhealthiness of interracial mixing. Aleksandr Khivevich himself was prosecuted on 11 June 2009 at the International Court of Justice of Omsk, which found him guilty of inciting racial hatred under the article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced him to one year and a half of prison with two years of probation.[2][23]
Despite the prosecutions, the church continued its activities and mass celebrations as an unregistered religious movement, expanding to other regions of Russia and abroad, and Aleksandr Khinevich resumed large-scale preaching activities in 2011. Scholar Vladimir Yashin reports that it was impossible to uproot the church from public life, since in 2001 there were already about three thousand members in Omsk alone.[2]
According to Yashin, Ynglism has come out strengthened from the prosecutions, turning into a decentralised phenomenon, so that as of 2015 it is more correct to describe it as a movement of dozens of organisations spread between the regions of Chelyabinsk, Krasnodar, Tyumen, Moscow, but also Ukraine , Germany and the Czech Republic. Ynglism, together with mainstream Rodnovery, has gathered many adherents in the North Caucasus regions, according to Yashin as a Slavic-identity counterweight against Islam. In 2015 it was the turn of the Slavo-Aryan Vedas, the sacred writings of Ynglism, to be condemned as "extremist literature" in Omsk.[2] In the same year, Yngling communities based in Stavropol were prosecuted on the charge of extremism.[31]