ON REFERRING TO CHRISTIANITY SANCTUARIES IN TABLE MOUNTAIN (MAT-LOM)

Authors

  • Israpil M. Sampiev Ingush State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH153335-344

Keywords:

Ingushetia, Table mountain (Myat-Lom), the sanctuary Matteli, Susal-Dyala, Matar-Dyala, paganism, Christianity, the worship of ancestors.

Abstract

The article aims to verify some of the assertions made about attributing sanctuaries of Mount Stolovaya (Myat-Loam) in Ingushetia to Christianity. The principal tasks of the study are to conduct critical analysis of some of the statements of pre-revolutionary and soviet authors, related to those shrines; to check the conformity of the said shrines to the Christian places of worship; to compare rituals of the sanctuaries with the Christian ones.
Pre-revolutionary imperial and soviet authors associate sanctuaries of Mount Stolovaya in the mountainous regions of Ingushetia (Myatzetli, Myattar-Dyala, Susol-Dyala) to Christianity, describing them as churches or chapels. For this purpose, names of the shrines were often distorted and then attributed to Christian saints. Those statements, without any scientific reasoning, were most likely aimed to legitimize the Russian Empire on the Caucasus’ territory, as a former Christian space. However, the study analysis of the sanctuaries, carried out by the leading experts in places of worship (architect A. Goldstein, archeologist M.B Muzhukhoev, ethnologists V. N. Basilov, V.P. Kobychev et al.) reveals that they do not comply with the established criteria of Christian monuments; rituals of praying at the sanctuaries also show no conformity to Christianity (it was forbidden for anyone to be inside the Ingush shrines except the priest; the absence of altar; animal sacrifice; feasts and dances, etc.).
The analysis of architectural, ritual and ethnographic aspects of the sanctuaries on Mount Stolovaya provides the conclusion that Myatsil, Myattar-Dyala, Susol-Dyala are pagan shrines, associated with crypts as attributes of the cult of ancestor veneration. Basing on the analysis, it has been established that Myatseli and other distinctive Ingush sanctuaries, located in Kistin community of Ingushetia, were never Christian churches or chapels; attempts at associating Christian names of St. Mary or St. Matthew to the name of Myatseli and the sacred Ingush mountain Myat-Loam are unfounded. The results of the study refute the attempts of false attribution of Ingush national places of worship to Christianity and carry not only gnoseological, but also practical relevance.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Israpil M. Sampiev, Ingush State University
    D.Sc. (in Political science), Professor, Head of the Department of sociology and political science

References

Golovinsky P I. Chechens. [Chechentsy. Zametki o Chechne i chechentsakh: iz zapisok P.I. Golovinskogo Notes about Chechnya and the Chechens: from the notes of P. I. Golovinsky. Collection of articles about Terek region Sbornik statey o Terskoy oblasti. Vol. I. Vladikavkaz, 1878: 241-261. (In Russ.)

Alborov B A. Ingush "Galerdi" and Ossetian "Allardy" (To the question of Ossetian-Ingush cultural relations) [Ingushskoye «Gal'yerdy» i osetinskoye «Allardy» (K voprosu ob osetino-ingushskikh kul'turnykh vzaimootnosheniyakh) News of the Ingush research Institute of local lore [Izvestiya Ingushskogo nauchno-issledovatel'skogo instituta kraevedeniya]; Vol.1; Vladikavaz, 1928: 349-430.(In Russ.)

Dalgat B.K. Primal religion of the Chechens and the Ingush [Pervobytnaya religiya chechentsev i ingushei]. M.: Nauka, 2004. (In Russ.)

Berzhe А.P. Chechnya and Chechens [Chechnya i chechentsy]. Tiflis, 1859. (In Russ.)

Zeidlitz N.K. A trip to Galgaevsky and Djerahovsky gorges [Poezdka v Galgaevskoe I Djerahovskoe ushelya Proceedings of the Caucasian Department of the Imperial Russian geographical society [Izvestiya Kavkazskogo otdela imperatorskogo Russkogo geograficheskogo obshhestva]. Vol. II. Tiflis, 1873, №4: 144‒149. (In Russ.)

Goldstein A.F. Medieval architecture of Chechen-Ingushetia and North Ossetia [Srednevekovoe zodchestvo Checheno-Ingushetii i Severnoj Osetii]. M.: Nauka, 1975.(In Russ.)

Muzhehoev M B. Medieval material culture of the mountainous Ingushetia of the XIII-XVIII centuries: dissertation [Srednevekovaya material'naya kul'tura gornoj Ingushetii XIII-XVIII vv.]. M.: Institute of Archeology of RAS, 1972. (In Russ.)

Matkhoh F. (Mount Stolovaya). Sketch [Stolovya Gora. Eskiz The Caucasus [Kavkaz]. November 30, 1885. № 318. (In Russ.)

Suleymanov A.S. Toponymy of Chechnya and Ingushetia [Toponimiya Checheno-Ingushetii]. Vol. II. Grozny: Chechen-Ingush book publishing, 1978.(In Russ.)

Shcheblykin I.P. Ingush art in monuments of material culture [Iskusstvo ingushey v pamyatnikakh material'noy kul'tury News of Ingush research Institute of local Lore [Izvestiya Ingushskogo nauchno-issledovatel'skogo instituta kraevedeniya]. Vladikavkaz, 1928. Vol. I: 271‒298. (In Russ.)

Bayern F.O. Ancient structures of the Caucasus [O drevnih soorujeniyah na Kavkaze]. Collection of information about the Caucasus [Sbornik svedenij o Kavkaze]. Tiflis, 1871. Vol. I: 298‒325. (In Russ.)

Semenov L.P. Archaeological and ethnographic studies in mountainous Ingushetia in 1925‒1832 years [Аrkheologicheskie i ehtnograficheskie razyskaniya v gornoj Ingushetii v 1925-1932 godakh]. Nazran: Piligrim Publ., 2010. (In Russ.)

Krupnov E.I. Medieval Ingushetia [Srednevekovaya Ingushetiya]; Magas: Serdalo Publ., 2008.(In Russ.)

Basilov V.N., Kobychev V.P. Galgay – the land of towers [Galgaj – strana bashen]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie. 1971. № 1: 120‒135.(In Russ.)

Downloads

Published

2019-10-14

Issue

Section

History

How to Cite

1.
Sampiev IM. ON REFERRING TO CHRISTIANITY SANCTUARIES IN TABLE MOUNTAIN (MAT-LOM). ИАЭК. 2019;15(3):335-344. doi:10.32653/CH153335-344