: sacralization

The Russian Tsar in Non-Christian Religions of the Russian Empire

This article describes the sacralization of a Russian monarch’s person in the non‑Christian religious systems of the Russian Empire (Islam, Buddhism, traditional beliefs). It shows that in Christianizing subjects’ mythological worldview a tsar could play the role of a demiurge, replacing the pagan creator, and moreover, Russian Buddhists actually included the supreme rulers of the Empire in the pantheon of their faith.