Ephemeral Icons: Construction and Representation of Temporary Votive Chapels in Old Russian Religious Rituals

The collective ritual of building one-day votive churches (obydennye khramy) was practicedin the European north of Russia between the late 14th and 17th centuries. The product of a syncretismbetween Orthodox Christianity and native folklore, the ritual’s purpose was to deliver the communityfrom epidemic disease. One-day churches were built of freshly cut logs, on virgin ground, in aprominent place, such as a town square or crossroads. According to local belief, votive objects madefrom natural materials were simultaneously temporary and eternal; this paper interrogates howone-day churches fit this model. Obydennye khramy were ephemeral structurally, processually, andcircumstantially. These were simple, rudimentary votive structures, not built to last nor substituteestablished churches. By condensing into a single day all of the traditional steps of church-building,the ritual prevented the church from growing old before completion, ensuring its purity throughits newness. Built under threat of pestilence, obydennye khramy had the function of realigning theprogression of time, putting an end to the period of disease, and thereby allowing humans to fleetinglytriumph over natural forces. Obydennye khramy were enduring as objects of intercession, as governanceinstruments, and in their subsequent representations in the written word and urban topography.Votive churches were spatial icons, mediating between humans and the cosmos and returning tonature as they decayed. The ritual itself, led by religious and secular authorities, performativelyreinforced social hierarchies. Obydennye khramy were immortalised in chronicle narratives andoccasionally replaced with stone churches, some of which survive today.