The naked righteous: the open body in ascetic and religious practices

The article examines the main patterns of the presence and functioning of nudity in the ascetic and religious practices of those peoples for whom the open body and behaviour in the confessional sphere were complementary elements of spiritual life. It has been revealed that since ancient times, nudity has become a sign-symbol of asceticism, renunciation of the world, and submission to the will of supernatural forces. In a religious context, nudity is often seen as a symbol of purity and rejection of all worldly things. In Christianity, some saints (for example, Mary of Egypt) are constantly depicted naked, which is regarded as a sign of repentance and renunciation. In Buddhism and Jainism nudity can symbolize a lack of attachment. Nudity contains a huge number of culturally determined meanings, which are extremely difficult to list exhaustively: beauty, sin, vulnerability, sexuality, protest, innocence, naturalness, illness and much more. The meaning of the naked body changes dramatically depending on the social context in which it appears to the viewer. An open body can become a sign of a political challenge, a struggle against censorship, oppression and be used as a shock practice to draw attention to the problem.