Conspiracy letters of the Saratov priest Yakov Egorov (the first quarter of the 18th century)

Annotation

The relevance of the article, first, consists of the introduction into scientific circulation of new factual data about conspiracy letters – attributes of witchcraft practices used in Russia for several centuries. The purpose of the work is to show one of the reasons that urged to use such forms of influence, even among the clergy. The sources for the article were materials of the Appendix to the Astrakhan Diocesan Gazette for 1890 as well as the Russian and Soviet scientists, historians, philologists and ethnographers’ works devoted to the phenomenon of renounced reading in Russian society of the 17th–18th centuries. The article includes comparative, analytical and interpretive methods of scientific research. The key takeaways are that conspiracy letters and other witchcraft attributes were fairly common and ordinary elements, a so-called "bright household feature" of the Russian society’s daily routine at the end of the 17th century and a century later. Being a part of society, clerics also used, distributed and even created conspiracy letters. The incentives for such an attitude to witchcraft attributes could be inner estates intrigues as well common ignorance and everyday promiscuity.

Keywords

• conspiracy letters
• witchcraft practices
• renounced reading
• clergy
• parish clergy
• abbot
• dean
• penance
• spiritual crimes
• sorcery
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References

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