Mapping relationality: Webs of intercession in the Orthodox Marketplace

Abstract

Relationality in an Orthodox context can be mapped using “webs of intercession” which act as social phenomena and aid in analysing complex, transactional prayer delegation. Russian Orthodox fill out prayer-slips called zapiski and pay priests to read out these prayers and intercede on their behalf. Intercession in this context can be perceived as triangular: the living can intercede for the living; the living can intercede for the dead and the dead can intercede for the living. An element of exchange is implicit in these “webs of intercession”: for many devout this sense of exchange is most acute after the death of a loved one where the penitent not only prays for the deceased, but also awaits in return the prayers of the one that has passed. On saints days and on days where the dead are remembered such as Meatfare Saturday (subboty Myasopustnaya), the intercession becomes multi-mediated. Orthodox Christians believe that they inherit sin from their dead parents and grandparents; they pray for the departed ones to be forgiven for these sins and in turn they hope that the departed ones will pray for them to be cleansed of the sins that they handed down. These complex “webs of intercession” create in terms of exchange something akin to a marketplace.