The Tomb of the Unknown Priest: Narratives
and Ritual Practices of the Supreme Soviet's Supporters after the
Russian Constitutional Crisis of 1993
Abstract of the report on The 10th international
SIEF congress «People Make Places - ways of feeling the
world»
(CRIA-Centro em Rede de
Investigação em Antropologia, Lisbon on
April 17-21, 2011)
The Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 began in earnest on September
21, when President Boris Yeltsin tried to dissolve parliament (The
Supreme Soviet of Russia and The Congress of People's Deputies of
Russia). At the beginning of October street fighting between Supreme
Soviet supporters and special police took place in Moscow. The army, by
Yeltsin's orders, stormed the Supreme Soviet building in the early
morning hours of October 4, and arrested the leaders of the resistance.
According to government estimates, 187 people were killed during the
conflict.
The place of street fighting of
1993 became sacred for the Supreme Soviet's supporters. After the
crisis they organized near the Supreme Soviet building an unofficial
shrine with monuments, fragments of barricades, signs, flags and
graffiti. One of the most unusual parts of the shrine is the so-called
"Tomb of Father Viktor". It is thought that priest Victor Zaika, one of
the Supreme Soviet's supporters, was crushed by an army tank during the
storm. However, priest Viktor was not killed in 1993, and he lives in
Ukraine to this day, but the legends about the death of the martyr
Victor are still popular among the Supreme Soviet's supporters. The
Requiem Mass for Father Viktor takes place every anniversary of his
"death." The report is devoted to narratives and ritual practices
associated with Father Viktor and his "tomb".
