The “rodnoy” badlands of the pagan faith
As the pagan system of believes increase in popularity, more and more priests and priestess of those religion speak out, attempting to explain the pagan ideas to the “less spiritual” followers. Among those priests and priestesses are also żercas – the priests of Slavic Native Faith. Unfortunately, the voices of żercas (who are, no surprise here, in vast majority male) seldom carry any pagan ideas, and more often preach concept taken straight out of Catholic sermons. This is why today I will be analyzing an interview Dawid Zbigniew Walkowiak, a Polish żerca, in the usual Witia’s way trying to separate a truly Pagan elements from the Judeo-Christian contaminants.
The hard life of żercas
At the very beginning of the interview żerca Walkowiak states, that the main duty of żercas is “propagation of the Slavic Native Faith and performing rituals”, adding that a żerca takes on a lifelong responsibility to “ broaden the knowledge about Deities, Faith, Slavic values, the world, tradition and human nature” as well as “organize and lead rituals, divination, uphold cult” (without however explaining what “upholding cult” means). In the further parts of the interview żerca Walkowiak lists also other responsibilities and duties arising from “the ministry of a priest”(for real, this is the language used in the interview), such as:
explaining to the followers “ the hardship and the joy of faith, and it’s real impact on life both here and in the afterlife “;
“talking with the Rodnovers about life and their spiritual struggle”
supporting “ the education of future żercas” and focusing “on appropriate quality of priesthood in Slavic native Faith”
Although there’s no doubt that in the pre-Christian societies of our Slavic ancestors, the presence of żerca was a necessary element of conducting religious rituals, the historical, archeological or any other sources do not mention anything about żercas propagating Slavic Faith, broadening the knowledge or educating themselves in any other way. Which is not surprising given that the original, pre-Christian Slavic faith did not need any priests to propagate or teach it, because it was spread - or rather: passed on – in exactly the same way nowadays Roman Catholic faith is passed on in, for example Poland: by the family and society, which, in the pre-Christian, medieval times, was pagan and 100% Slavic.
There’s also nothing indicating that the role of żerca was held lifelong, and very, very little (and only among Polabian Slavs) suggest that pre-Christian żercas held any other social functions, apart of divination and – literally – eating or rather gobbling up ritual sacrifices. What however is sure beyond any doubt is the fact that Slavic żercas – pre-Christian or not – never ever can, and never could have, perform or be given a “ministry of a priest”.
Ministry – of a priest or anyone else – is a concept created by and for the hierarchy of Christian religions. A ministry is a sort of “official” responsibility, given to a Christian by a bishop. A ministry can be had or held by a verger, a bell-ringer or, for example, an exorcist. Ministries of a priest (holy orders, formerly known as major orders,) – which include the ministry of the liturgy, of the word or the charity – are given to a catholic priests during the ceremony of Rite of Ordination (which is basically a ceremony of becoming a catholic priest). So, żerca Walkowiak, or any other żerca, in order to have, be given or perform a “ministry of a priest” would have to first attend and graduate from a Christian seminary or a theological school, and then be ordained into priesthood by a local bishop. Which seems absurd, but after reading the interview we are analyzing today, is not really surprising, because the listed (after summoning out of thin air) by Walkowiak responsibilities of żercas, are taken straight out of a code of catholic canon law.
Chasing money
Considering the topic of the interview, żerca Walkowiak pays a lot of attention to pride, greed, sloth and even (in an indirect way) to lust – which are four out of seven of deadly sins of Christianity. According to our żerca a priest of Slavic Native Faith, in order to fulfil the “ministry of a priest”, has to follow the rules of decency, perseverance, patience and self-discipline, and avoid: “materialism, lack of humility, mistaking pleasure for what’s good or rampancy for freedom”, as well as “convenience, ignorance, and reluctance to work hard or to sacrifice”. Discussing the problems of gaining knowledge about pre-Christian Slavic traditions, żerca Walkowiak did not omit to mention “a murky urban web of rivalry and dependence” (whatever it it), chasing money and “carelessness of entire generations, which do not want to waste time on such inefficient relic like faith or superstition”. To cut the long elaborations short, according to Walkowiak, a Slavic żerca, following the pre-Christian traditions, has to, like a good Christian, suffer and languish, live in poverty, work hard and humbly in the name of the higher Slavic values. Similarly, according to our żerca, should live every single Rodnover, otherwise he/she risks ceasing to be “rodnoy” (like the “rodnoy” part in Rodnovery, which comes from Russian “родной”, which means “familiar” or “native”).
Reading the statements of monsignor żerca, particularly the part about urban life, materialism or chasing money, I continued wondering how a (it seems?) well read and (supposedly?) knowing history person can come up with such ideas? Such a well read and educated person should know how the life of our ancestors looked. Such a person should realise, that pretty much everything our ancestor did was focused on gaining and keeping wealth and material goods.
In the early Medieval period, when the land was cultivated with slash-and-burn method, and ploughed with an ard; in the times when one sown seed produced two (in modern times, if I did the conversion of the units right, one sown seed produces 40); when everything, including mining ore and cutting trees, was done by hand; when the production cycle of one linen shirt (from sowing the linen seeds, to sewing the shirt) took a year; in those times anyone who did not “chase” material wealth - died. There is a reason why ¾ (if not more) of demons in Slavic mythology have something to do with material goods and wealth – with acquiring, maintaining and multiplying it. What more, Slavic legends and folk tales (like for example the legend of the fern flower) suggest, that pre-Christian Slavs considered it a blessing (so something good) to acquire wealth without work, effort, hardship and self-discipline. Considering those legends and folk tales there can be no doubt that contrary to Walkowiak’s claims, “convenience, ignorance, and reluctance to work hard or sacrifice” were not hated, disliked or avoided by our ancestors. Quite the opposite – all the evidence indicates that every pre-Christian Slav wanted that (although, surely, not very many managed it). It also doesn’t appear to be true that our ancestors disliked cities, living in cities or urban lifestyle in general. After all nobody forced them to organise, cooperate, build bigger settlements and then expanding them into craft and trade centres, like Arkona or Szczecin – which, according to historical sources, were not only cities, not only large, not only rich and most certainly with “murky urban web of rivalry and dependence”, but on top of that – what an horror! – full of native, born and bred Slavs. Slavs, who were not humble, who “chased money” (including organising raids with the sole purpose of looting) and who, despite all of that, somehow managed to be “rodnoy” and follow the original Slavic Native Faith.
Devouring żerca
The general tone of the interview with żerca Walkowiak suggest that, according to the Slavic tradition, żerca should have a high position among Rodnovers, should be respected and looked upon with deference. However we truly do not know enough about Slavic żercas (with exception of controversial in this respect Polabian Slavs) to be able to say if the priests of the original Slavic faith were respected, or not.
Only a few days ago, when I was publishing this post for the first time, I was completely sure that the word “żerca” originates from Proto-Slavic “*žerti”, which means ““to devour” or “to gobble up” (the first version of the post you can read below*). To be completely honest I am not even sure where did I take this conviction from – I guess I must have been told that in secondary school, by my History or Polish teacher. However, as it turns out, this etymology of “żerca” is not quite correct, or rather – is not complete, which was pointed out to me by a few commentators (to whom I wanted to say big thank you!), who mentioned in their comments various alternative etymologies (yes, it’s plural not singular) of this word. I became quite interested in the topic, so I decided to dig deeper:
According of the Polish etymological dictionary by Brückner the word „żreć” (“to devour” or “to gobble up”) has a common root with Church Slavonic word „żrěti, żrą”, which meaning is not given in the definition of the word “żreć”. The word “żyrzec” (or żerzec, żyrca, żerca) also has a common etymology with Church Slavonic „żrěti, żrą”, which meaning in the definition of “żyrzec”/”żerca” is given as ”to sacrifice”.
According to the Russian etymological dictionary by Vesmer the word “жрать” („to eat”, read as zhrat’ so sounding very similar to Polish „żreć”, which is read as zhret’), comes from Old Church Slavonic „(по)жрѣти” (which means “to swallow”) i „жьрѫ” (which meaning is not given in this defintion). Vesmer also compares Russian “жрать” to Old Indo Aryan „giráti, gr̥ṇā́ti”, which meaning in this definition is given as “eat, swallow”. In the same dictionary Vesmer states that the Russian word „жрец” („priest”, read as zhrets) comes from Old Church Slavonic жьрѫ, жръти (which meaning is also not given) and is related to Old Indo Aryan „gr̥ṇā́ti” (without giráti), which, in the entry for „жрец”, means “to sing”, to “praise”.
After learning the above I decided that I should really figure out the meaning and the origins of „giráti, gr̥ṇā́ti” (mentioned by Vesmer in the ethymology of жрать (zhrat’ – to eat) and „gr̥ṇā́ti” (without „giráti”). Not being able to find an Old Indo Aryan dictionary (which Vermer uses in his etymologies) I decided to look those words up in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon by Derksen, were „giráti” is said to be a Sanskrit word meaning “devour, and “gr̥ṇā́ti” (according to Derksen also from Sanskrit) means “greet, praise”. In Derksen I also found Proto-Slavic „*žerti”, which in the entry “*žrti; *žerti “ means “sacrifice” and in the entry “*žerti” alone means “devour, eat”.
From the above it becomes obvious that, depending on the dictionary and the definition, the words “żerca” (“priest”) and “żreć” (“devour”) converge etymologically in: Church Slavonic („żrěti, żrą”), Old Church Slavonic („жьрѫ”), Proto-Slavic („*žerti”) and even Old Indo Aryan/Sanskrit („gr̥ṇā́ti”). Not being a linguist, I am not able to deduce how meaningful (or not meaningful) those convergences are, particularly considering that to the etymological family of “żerca” and “żreć” belong languages that are extinct (Old Indo Aryan, Sanskrit) as well as reconstructed (Proto-Slavic). Nevertheless, there is no doubt that both words are related somehow, which, considering other historical sources, makes total sense. Because we know that one of the responsibilities of pre-Christian żercas was eating sacrifice offered to God/Gods and/or drinking the blood of of the sacrificial animals (or, perhaps, even humans). This means that a żerca regularly had to consume raw blood and/or meat – in the times where cooking food was the only available way of deactivating pathogens in food. In the case of blood or meat we are talking about pathogens responsible for diseases such as: brucellosis, cysticercosis, taeniasis, echinococcosis, listeriosis, dysentery, salmonellosis, gnathostomiasis, giardiasis, toxoplasmosis or even, potentially, tuberculosis and rabies. Of course pre-Christian Slavs did not know viruses, bacteria or internal parasites, but they also were not dumb. Through observation, deduction and trial and error they managed to discover medicinal use of plants, so they could as well have guessed that earing raw meat or blood is not safe or healthy for a human. Particularly considering that the symptoms zoonoses such as cysticercosis or salmonellosis develop within 24-48 hrs after consuming raw meat/blood. It is not impossible then that for żercas our ancestors chose people, whose importance/usefulness within the community was low or limited (by, for example age or physical disability).
Choosing people affected by physical disability to be the intermediaries between humans and the Gods, is a part of Slavic tradition. We don’t have to look among Celtic druids or Hindu brahmins (where żerca Walkowiak finds “evidence” to prove his theses). We only have to look in Ukraine and Belarus, where since at least XV century, until (relatively) recently existed a function of lirnyk-dziad - a travelling musicians. Lirnyks, usually blind or otherwise not standard-physically able, travelled around the country and performed historical, religious, epic or just entertaining songs. They traditionally participated in rituals such as swadźba (Slavic wedding) or Dziady (veneration of the ancestors). The more “normal” (physically and lifestyle-wise) rural society saw lirnyks (who led itinerant lives and did not care about farming) in a very ambivalent way. The society’s attitude towards lirnyks was not based on respect, but on fear – fear of supernatural abilities or powers, which lirnyks were believed to have.
So we see here, that in Christianised-Pagan Slavic tradition such as folklore (which żerca Walkowiak also relies on in his elaborations) the people who were responsible for contacts with the supernatural, were people who, because of age or physical disability, were not able to fulfil roles (lets call it) more useful or productive for the community. This people, like lirnyks, lived on the margins of the society, and their responsibilities were limited to performing music for the purpose of ritual, religion or entertainment. Perhaps lirnyks did play some role in passing on the oral tradition (for example, by singing dumas, so heroic/epic songs), but most certainly their opinions or advice were not as respected or sought as those of the elders of the village. Considering the above, it’s not impossible that the original, pre-Christian żercas – people, who had to, in the name of Gods, gobble up unhealthy, potentially deadly raw blood/meat – were chosen from, lets call it, less useful for community groups of people. It’s not impossible that żercas were chosen from among the people, whose death would not have been as damaging from the community, as, for example, the death of a healthy, strong, capable and widely respected farmer.
Harvest wreaths - best example of Christian-Pagan confusion in Slavic tradition/folklore
Pagan, not “rodnoy”
I have no doubts that żerca Walkowiak’s faith is true and intentions – pure. However, despite reading (as he himself claims) over 120 books on Slavic religion, faith and culture, despite spending over a decade on studying Slavic Native Faith, it is obvious that żerca Walkowiak not only did not get rid of Judaeo-Christian cultural and religious influences, but somehow managed to contaminate Rodnovery even more, introducing concepts and ideas taken straight from Roman-catholic catechism and code of canon law.
The main mistake, in my opinion, żerca Walkowiak (and others like him) make, is relying on instincts and instinctive differentiating between the “rodnoy” and not so “rodnoy”. Perhaps such approach would be appropriate if we, Rodnovers, were following a faith deeply rooted in the mindset and tradition of our immediate ancestors. Unfortunately pretty much every one of us grew up and lives in a world saturated with Judaeo-Christian ideas, which, on top of it, for hundred of years mixed with pagan elements of folklore. Thus it is not surprising that things which at the first glance seem obviously natural and “rodnoy”, are very likely as close to the pagan, as “ministry of a priest” is to being a żerca.
The opinions of żerca Walkowiak should be a lesson for every Rodnover. When searching, learning and reconstructing the faith of our ancestors, we should never stop doubting, analysing, considering and thinking critically, even (or – maybe – more so) if on our pagan path we went so far and are so established, that people not only listen to us, but even want to interview us. If we stop doubting, stop questioning – both others’ and our own opinions – we can easily get lost and in our confusion – as żerca Walkowiak and others like him – unknowingly find a way of not pagan, but Judaeo-Christian ideas, which, unfortunately, to all of us, might seem more familiar, more “rodnoy”, than the pagan ones.
Slava!
Bibliography:
A. Szyjewski „Religia Słowian”
H. Kitsikopoulos “Agrarian Change and Crisis in Europe 1200-1500”
А. А. Бычков „Энциклопедия языческих богов”
P. Grochowski „Polscy dziadowie i ukraińscy lirnicy. Fakty, stereotypy i perspektywy badawcze”
*(the first version of the “gobble up” argument”:
If we look at the role of żerca from a point of view of linguistic analysis of the word “żerca” (which comes from the Proto-Slavic “*žerti” and means “to gobble up”) the only thing we know for sure is that a żerca’s role was to eat the part of sacrifice offered to the Gods and/or drink the blood of the sacrificial animals.