Title of the article:

SPECIFICS OF THE FORMATION OF MARGINAL CULTS OF “CHILDREN-WONDERWORKERS” SLAVIK CHEBARKULSKY AND KUNNEI KARDASHEVSKAYA

Author(s):

Gaidukov, A.V., Kamaldinov, A.V. 

Information about the author/authors

Aleksei V. Gaidukov — PhD in Philosophy Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of History of Religions and Theology, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Moika Emb. 48, 191086 St. Petersburg, Russia
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0348-7195
E-mail: a_gaidukov@mail.ru

Aleksei V. Kamaldinov — Leading Expert of the Information and Analytical Department of the Department of Scientific Research, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Moika Emb. 48, 191086 St. Petersburg, Russia.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4841-7282
E-mail: aleksej.kamaldinov.93@mail.ru

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2024

Volume

Vol. 72

Pages

pp. 77–92

Received

July 24, 2023

Approved after reviewing

January 31, 2024

Date of publication

June 25, 2024

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2024-72-77-92

Index UDK

298.9

Index BBK

86.25

Acknowledgements: The research was supported by an internal grant of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (project No. 26VG).

Abstract

Two cults of deceased “children — wonderworkers” Slavik Chebarkulsky and Kunnei Kardashevskaya were formed under the influence of their mothers, who wrote books about the life and miracles of their children. Digitalization has expanded the audience of admirers, supplementing textual narratives with electronic ones (films about the miracles of Slavik, videos of Kunnei concerts and interviews with her mother). Also, digitalization provided online communication of admirers, and their unification into communities.
The content and history of the formation of cults differ: Slavik during his lifetime told and prophesied more (which was recorded mainly by his mother), sometimes he healed people; after death, thanks to books and films, a marginal cult arose, associated with visiting the grave of a youth and numerous healings. Kunnei almost did not prophesy during her lifetime, she experienced signs of a shamanic illness, and, at the behest of the spirits, she healed people (which was recorded mainly by her mother).
Both cults are at odds with the discourses of the traditional religious institutions they are trying to fit into. The doctrine of Slavik is refuted by the Church as pseudo-Orthodox, books about him are not recommended for reading by Orthodox people, hagiology does not contain criteria sufficient for his recognition as a saint, prophet or martyr.
Slavik's eschatological narrative is focused on the present and the future, where he helps people. Online communication allows to respond to current events in a timely manner, generating new conspiracy prophecies. An organized cult of Kunnei was not established. Her narrative is focused on the present, when she can actually help, and on the past, when she was alive. She is remembered and revered as a talented girl and udaganka.

Keywords

Holy Child Slavik, Vjacheslav Krasheninnikov, Kunnei Kardashevskaja, Udagan, Children Wonderworkers, Holiness, Folk Religiosity, Marginal Religiosity.

Reference

References

1 Danilova, R.N. “Arkhetipy zhenshchin v geroicheskom epose olonkho” [“Archetypes of Women in the Heroic Epic Olonkho”]. Naukosfera, no. 2-2, 2023, pp. 24–29. (In Russ.)

2 Zygmont, A.I. “Kul't otroka Viacheslava Krasheninnikova (po materialam issledovaniia, provedennogo v g. Chebarkul' Cheliabinskoi oblasti)” [“The Cult of the Holy Child Vyacheslav Krasheninnikov (Based on a Study Conducted in the City of Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk Region)”]. Polevye issledovaniia studentov RGGU: Etnologiia, fol'kloristika, lingvistika, religiovedenie [Field Research of RSUH Students: Ethnology, Folklore Studies, Linguistics, Religious Studies], vol. VI. Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities Publ., 2011, pp. 148–161. (In Russ.)

3 Ksenofontov, G.V. Shamanizm: izbrannye Trudy [ Shamanism: Selected Works]. Moscow, Sever – Iug Publ., 1992. 318 p. (In Russ.)

4 Lebedev, V.Iu., Prilutskii, A.M. “Prorochestva ‘Otroka Viacheslava’ kak eskhatologicheskii diskurs o katastrofakh” [“The Prophecies of the ‘Holy Child Vyacheslav’ as an Eschatological Discourse about Catastrophes”]. Religiia. Tserkov'. Obshchestvo [Religion, Church, Society], vol. 11, ed. by A.M. Prilutskii. St. Petersburg, Skifiia-Print Publ., 2022, pp. 80–93. (In Russ.)

5 Osipova, N.G. “Tsifrovizatsiia sotsial'noi real'nosti: kliuchevye diskussii” [“Digitalization of Social Reality: Key Discussions”]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta, Series 18: “Sotsiologiia i politologiia” [“Sociology and Political Science”], no. 28 (3), 2022, pp. 9–42. (In Russ.)

6 Panchenko, A.A. Ivan i Iakov neobychnye sviatye iz bolotistoi mestnosti: “Krest'ianskaia agiologiia” i religioznye praktiki v Rossii Novogo vremeni [Ivan and Yakov Unusual Saints from the Marshland: “Peasant Hagiology” and Religious Practices in Russia of Modern Period]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2012. 448 p. (In Russ.)

7 Prilutskii, A.M. “Semiotika noveishego agiologicheskogo mifa i formirovanie nekanonicheskikh kul'tov” [“Semiotics of the Latest Hagiological Myth and the Formation of Non-canonical Cults”]. Izvestiia Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, Series: “Politologiia. Religiovedenie” [“Politology. Religious Studies”], vol. 23, 2018, pp. 102–109. (In Russ.)

8 Pukhov, I.V. Iakutskii geroicheskii epos olonkho: Osnovnye obrazy [Yakut Heroic Epic Olonkho: Main Characters]. Moscow, Academy of the Sciences of the Soviet Union Publ., 1962. 256 p. (In Russ.)

9 Romanova, A.A. “Pochitanie sviatykh detei kak fenomen russkoi sviatosti v XVII veke” [“Veneration of Holy Children as a Phenomenon of Russian Holiness in the 17th Сentury”]. Nauchnyi dialog, no. 9 (57), 2016, pp. 205–216. (In Russ.)

10 Ryzhov, Iu.V. “Tsifrovizatsiia religii v sovremennom mire” [“Digitalization of Religion in the Contemporary World”]. Sotsial'nye instituty v tsifrovoi srede: sbornik trudov vtoroi Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii [Social Institutions in the digital environment: proceedings of the Second International Scientific and Practical Conference]. Rostov-on-Don, South-Russian Institute branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation Publ., 2020, pp. 435–439. (In Russ.)

11 Smirnov, M.Iu. “Tsifrovizatsiia kak ‘obnulenie’ religii” [“Digitalization as ‘Zeroing’ of Religions”]. Vestnik Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. A.S. Pushkina, no. 3, 2019, pp. 137–145. (In Russ.)

PDF-file

Download