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Yezidis and Christianity: Shaping of a New Identity

In: Iran and the Caucasus
Author:
Victoria Arakelova Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University Yerevan

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For the last decades, the Yezidi identity whose main marker was for centuries based on a unique religion, the Sharfadin, has undergone specific transformations. One of the most stable trends playing a crucial role in the mentioned process, is the spread of Orthodox Christianity, particularly among the Yezidis of Georgia and Russia. This phenomenon is especially interesting regarding the fact that, unlike neo-Protestant missions, Orthodox Church has never been active in proselytism particularly among the Yezidis; no Orthodox mission has ever focused its activities on this group. Yet, the number of the Yezidis converting to the Orthodox Christianity gradually grows. The paper is an interim result of a project on the modern transformations of the Yezidi identity. Compiled on the materials collected by the author through interviews and questionnaires among the converted Yezidis of Georgia and Russia, it focuses on several particular cases reflecting the shaping of a principally new identity, when Christian mentality replaces the Yezidi eclectic religious outlook.

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