Folk Orthodoxy

Folk Orthodoxy (Russian: народное православие, romanized: narodnoe pravoslavie; Bulgarian: народно православие, romanized: narodno pravoslavie; Serbian: народно православље, naradno pravoslavlje; Latvian: narodno pravoslavlje) is the folk religion and syncretic elements present in the Eastern Orthodox communities. It is a subgroup of folk Christianity, similar to Folk Catholicism. Peasants incorporated many pre-Christian (pagan) beliefs and observances, including coordinating feast days with agricultural life.

Folk orthodoxy has developed from an interpretation of rituals, sacred texts, and characters from the Bible. In folk orthodoxy, religious syncretism coexists with Christian doctrine and elements of pre-Christian pagan beliefs. According to historian and ethnologist Sergei Anatolievich Shtyrkov, the boundary between canonical and folk orthodoxy is not clear or constant; it is drawn by religious institutions such as the Russian Orthodox Church (which often consider folk orthodoxy superstition or paganism).