СOMPARITVE-HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF FINNISH TRIBES

This article is devoted to the study of the Christianization of the Finnish peoples. The Finnish tribes had a common myth regarding the myth of the creation of the earth. In addition, they were influenced in various forms by the ideas of the ancient Indo-Europeans. In the mythology of the Baltic Finns, we see a strong influence from the Scandinavian mythology. The Volga Finns and Permians were more influenced by the ideas of the Iranian peoples of antiquity. At a later time, the Christian and Muslim peoples of Eastern Europe influenced the worldview of these peoples. Some ideas of the ancient Balts penetrated into the environment of the Mordovian peoples. A relatively mild version of the Christianization of the Komi lands was due to the peripheral position of the Komi and the special attitude of Stephen of Perm to his missionary activity. He created liturgical literature in the Perm language. He was a church devotee and did not seek special benefits for himself. This is in sharp contrast to the behavior of church hierarchs in relation to the peoples of the Middle Volga region, where they were looking for enrichment rather than conductive activity. Although Stephen of Perm did not shy away from using the army of the Ustyuzhan people in planting Orthodoxy in Perm, the Permians did not oppose Orthodoxy for so long as the Mari, Erzya and Moksha. Although Tatars lived among the peoples of the Middle Volga region, who prevented the active conversion of the population of the Middle Volga region to Christianity, it is worth remembering that among the Permians in the 11th-14th centuries the Volga Bulgars lived. The behavior of Stephen of Perm can be compared with the relatively tolerant policy of the Novgorod Republic in relation to the Baltic-Finnish peoples. He needed only the formal adoption of Orthodoxy and the destruction of the open sanctuaries of the pagan gods. At the same time, the Perm bishops put up with many remnants of paganism among the Komi. This contrasted with the way the church hierarchs began to behave towards Izhora, Vodi, Komi-Zyryans and Komi-Permians in the 16th century, when the highest church hierarchs set out to eradicate the remnants of paganism. It should be noted that this was accomplished in relation to Vodi and Izhora, but not in relation to Karelians, Vepsians, Komi, Permian Komi, whose Orthodox Christianity has absorbed many remnants of pre-Christian beliefs. Unlike, say, Mary, Murom, Meshchera, interaction with the Russians and the adoption of Orthodoxy did not lead to the complete assimilation of the Komi-Perm and Komi-Zyryans. The Perm example is also unique because the local language has not become a liturgical language anywhere except in this region. The toughest in relation to pre-Christian beliefs was the policy of Catholics in relation to the Livs, Estonians and Finns. It should be noted that the success of Christianization among the Livs is due to the fact that the archbishops of Riga and the Order closely followed the canonical nature of the rituals. In Estonia, the situation was somewhat different.