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DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2023.87.48.010
IMPACT. WAS THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF ALANIA JUST A SURFACE PHENOMENON?
Ognibene, Paolo
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2023. IIS 48 (87).
Abstract:
The Christianization of Alania is the second of the three great conversions to Christianity that
took place in Europe towards the end of the first millennium. The process has long been considered
incomplete, since even Theodorus in the 13th century considered the Alans to be Christians in
name only. However, this view is very partial and inaccurate: it is undeniable that in the centuries
following the conversion, a form of religious syncretism was reached in the country because the pre‑
Christian religion and the Christian religion coexisted, but the Christian message penetrated deeply
enough to affect the names of Wacilla and Wastyrǵi, who, while retaining all the features of pre‑
Christian figures, bear the names of Christian saints. The interaction or, if preferred, the impact was
therefore much more extensive than one might imagine, and probably only political fragmentation
prevented the process from being completed. In this paper, part of the cases in which the terms related
to Christianity overlapped in the name of pre‑existing pagan figures and in the system of traditional
Ossetian calendar festivals are indicated
Keywords: Alania, Christianization of Alania, Ossetes, Nart epos, Religion.
Download the full text  For citation:: Ognibene, P. Deep impact. Was the Christianization of Alania just a Surface
Phenomenon? // Izvestiya SOIGSI. 2023. Iss. 48 (87). Pp. 153‑162. (in Russian).
DOI 10.46698/VNC.2023.87.48.010
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