Paper short abstract:

This report is devoted to narratives and ritual practices associated with the so-called Tomb of the Father Victor, a priest who is believed to have been killed during the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. The place of his death became a sacred place for the Supreme Soviet's Supporters

Paper long abstract:

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 this 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 Viktor 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 Viktor 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".