E-mail: rassyhaev@mail.ru Tel.: +7 (8212) 20-17-02
26, Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, Folklore Department, Institute of Language, Literature and History, Komi Scientific Center, Uralic Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
The publication was prepared as part of the planned research topic "Poetics of folklore of the peoples of the European North of Russia in synchrony and diachrony" (reg. no. 121051400044-2).
This article is based on expeditionary materials of the early twenty-first century, recorded from Upper Vychegdа Komi in the Kortkeros district of the Komi Republic. For the first time, it describes oral stories of the Upper Vychegda Komi folklore tradition that include the motif of God’s punishment for the desecration of churches. These recordings show that narratives of church destruction in the Soviet period do not pass out of the repertoire with the older generation of eyewitness storytellers but continue to function in stories related by later noneyewitnesses of the events. The motif of God’s punishment almost always accompanies stories about sacrilege. Perpetrators are punished by an early death (e.g. death in war or because of an accident), diseases, injuries, or mental disorders. God’s punishment is meted out to sinners and their family members “up to the seventh generation.” It is considered sacrilege to destroy a church or chapel; removing crosses and domes; desecration of icons; and the use of church bricks and religious objects for monetary gain. The Komi stories do not focus on the nationality of the perpetrators, something that may be seen, for example, in the Ukrainian tradition. Often the defilers are men from the village who are representatives of the Soviet government (Communists, Party members, the chairman of the rural council or kolkhoz, police officers, etc.) who follow the instructions of their superiors. Notably, these Komi oral stories have much in common with Russian folklore prose in the interpretation of similar events that also includes the motif of God’s punishment for the destruction of churches.
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