The Formation of Eschatological Habitus: Multisensory Aesthetics and Religious Consciousness in Medieval Russian Orthodoxy Pembentukan Habitus Eskatologis: Estetika Multisensoris dan Kesadaran Religius dalam Ortodoksi Rus Abad Pertengahan
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Abstract
Studi ini bertujuan mengkaji pembentukan habitus eskatologis dalam Ortodoksi Rus abad pertengahan sebagai mode konstitutif kesadaran religius. Studi ini penting karena kajian terdahulu tentang eskatologi Ortodoks cenderung menekankan doktrin, simbolisme, atau muatan ikonografis, tetapi belum cukup menjelaskan bagaimana makna eskatologis distabilkan menjadi disposisi yang bertahan lama melalui persepsi, afeksi, dan pengalaman liturgis. Studi ini menggunakan desain kualitatif berbasis dokumen dengan pendekatan fenomenologis-hermeneutik. Data dikumpulkan melalui pembacaan dekat dan analisis dokumen terhadap teks himnografi dan liturgi terpilih, narasi hagiografis Rus Kuno, serta satu bentuk representatif ikon Penghakiman Terakhir, yang seluruhnya dibaca melalui edisi, terjemahan, dan deskripsi yang telah diterbitkan. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa motif eskatologis seperti kebangkitan, penghakiman, cahaya ilahi, pertobatan, dan kenosis distrukturkan secara estetik melalui ritme, repetisi, metafora, dan kontras simbolik. Makna eskatologis juga diperkuat melalui integrasi unsur visual, auditori, ragawi, dan simbolik dalam praktik liturgis, sementara struktur temporal berupa ingatan, antisipasi, dan pengulangan kalender gerejawi menyediakan mekanisme yang memungkinkan pengalaman tersebut menstabil menjadi habitus religius yang bertahan. Analisis ini bersifat interpretatif terhadap struktur tekstual dan visual, bukan pengukuran pengalaman empiris umat beriman abad pertengahan. Orisinalitas studi ini terletak pada perumusan habitus eskatologis sebagai sintesis perseptual dan simbolik yang menghubungkan himnografi, ikonografi, dan temporalitas liturgis dalam satu kerangka analitis. Temuan ini berkontribusi pada kajian agama dengan menunjukkan bahwa eskatologi dalam budaya Ortodoks abad pertengahan tidak hanya berfungsi sebagai doktrin, tetapi juga sebagai mode pembentukan kesadaran yang bersifat multisensoris dan temporal.
This study examines the formation of an eschatological habitus in medieval Russian Orthodoxy as a constitutive mode of religious consciousness. The study is important because previous scholarship on Orthodox eschatology has tended to emphasize doctrine, symbolism, or iconographic content without adequately explaining how eschatological meaning is stabilized into durable dispositions through perception, affect, and liturgical experience. The research employs a qualitative, document-based design with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Data were collected through close reading and document analysis of selected hymnographic and liturgical texts, Old Russian hagiographical narratives, and one representative iconographic form of the Last Judgment, all read through published editions, translations, and descriptions. The findings show that eschatological motifs such as resurrection, judgment, divine light, repentance, and kenosis are aesthetically structured through rhythm, repetition, metaphor, and symbolic contrast. Eschatological meaning is also intensified through the integration of visual, auditory, bodily, and symbolic elements within liturgical practice, while temporal structures of memory, anticipation, and calendrical repetition supply the mechanisms through which this experience can stabilize into a durable religious habitus. The analysis is interpretive and concerns textual and visual structures; it does not measure the empirical experience of medieval believers. The originality of the study lies in its formulation of eschatological habitus as a perceptual and symbolic synthesis that connects hymnography, iconography, and liturgical temporality within a single analytical framework. These findings contribute to religious studies by showing that eschatology in medieval Orthodox culture functioned not merely as doctrine, but as a multisensory and temporal mode of consciousness formation.
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