Abstract
The article deals with two religious epidemics that unfolded in Ukraine in a span of one hundred years. The study analyzes the factors influencing the emergence and development of religious epidemics. On this basis, their peculiar algorithm has been singled out, the components of which are, on the one hand, the worldview and crisis of values caused by the rapid turns of history, and—on the other—-choosiness by God, charisma of the leader of a particular organization, which is “fed” by an eschatological idea, syncretic teachings, which are cultivated as an alternative religious model to established traditions. The definition of a religious epidemic is given, which, arising on the wave of a crisis of social changes and acquiring a mass character, causes a change in human identity, in which imitation, self-suggestion and mutual suggestion play a significant role.
Recommended Citation
Predko, Olena and Predko, Denis
(2021)
"Religious Epidemics on the Territory of Ukraine: Historical Parallels and Essential Characteristics,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 41
:
Iss.
1
, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol41/iss1/7