volkhv

File:Приход Глеба Святославича Новгородского к волхву.jpg comes to a volkhv. Novgorod, 1071. Radziwiłł Chronicle]]

Volkhvs are attested among the early Rus' people. Volkhvs were believed to possess mystical powers, particularly the ability to predict the future. The first literary reference to a volkhv occurs in the Primary Chronicle under the year 912; there, a volkhv predicts Prince Oleg's death. With the adoption of Christianity, the pagan priests came under persecution and sometimes tried to channel social discontent against the Christian church.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Volkhv |encyclopedia=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\V\O\VolkhvIT.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185039/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\V\O\VolkhvIT.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016}} The name of the divination book "Volkhovnik" comes from the term "volkhv".

File:USNBC Rodnover volkhv.jpg volkhv]]

In contemporary Slavic Native Faith, the volkhvs are those responsible for holding rites for worshipping the gods and leading communities and religious festivals. Volkhvs are the higher rank of the sacerdotal hierarchy, the lesser order being that of the zhrets.{{sfn|Pilkington|Popov|2009|p=272, note 11}} The latter are not necessarily shamans, and their function is merely to hold sacrifices (the word zhrets literally means "sacrificer", from Proto-Slavic *žьrti, and is cognate of Slavic words for "offering").{{cite book |last=Gieysztor |first=Aleksander |author-link=Aleksander Gieysztor |year=2006 |title=Mitologia Słowian |publisher=Warsaw University Press |location=Warsaw |isbn=832350234X}} p. 210; {{cite book |last=Urbańczyk |first=Stanisław |author-link=Stanisław Urbańczyk |year=1968 |title=Szkice z dziejów języka polskiego |publisher=Polish Scientific Publishers PWN |location=Warsaw |isbn=832350234X}} p. 316. Though the majority of priests are males, most groups do not exclude women from the priesthood, so that a parallel female priesthood is constituted by the two ranks of zhritsa and vedunya ("seeress"). Prestige is not limited to male priests; a priestess, Halyna Lozko from Ukraine, is an acknowledged authority within the Slavic Native Faith movement.{{sfn|Aitamurto|2008|p=4}}

In 2012, three Russian Rodnover organisations, the Union of Slavic Rodnover Communities, the Circle of the Pagan Tradition and the Circle of Veles, signed an "Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Priests", instituting a common priesthood and the criteria for the ordination of those wishing to become Slavic priests.{{sfn|Skrylnikov|2016}}

• Zhrets
• Gothi, the Germanic priests
• Slavic Native Faith
• Volkhovnik

{{commonscat|Volkhvs}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Aitamurto |first=Kaarina |year=2008 |title=Egalitarian Utopias and Conservative Politics: Veche as a Societal Ideal within Rodnoverie Movement |journal=Axis Mundi: Slovak Journal for the Study of Religions |volume=3 |pages=2–11 }}
• {{cite contribution |last1=Pilkington |first1=Hilary |last2=Popov |first2=Anton |year=2009 |contribution=Understanding Neo-paganism in Russia: Religion? Ideology? Philosophy? Fantasy? |title=Subcultures and New Religious Movements in Russia and East-Central Europe |editor=George McKay|pages=253–304 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9783039119219 }}
• {{cite news |first=Pavel |last=Skrylnikov |date=20 July 2016 |title=The Church Against Neo-Paganism |website=Intersection |url=http://intersectionproject.eu/article/society/church-against-neo-paganism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707165114/http://intersectionproject.eu/article/society/church-against-neo-paganism |archive-date=7 July 2017 }}

{{Slavic mythology}}

Category:Religious occupations

Category:Russian folklore

Category:Slavic titles

Category:Slavic paganism