“About God at war”. Forms and features of religious Internet folklore pertaining to the Russo-Ukrainian war

Abstract

The article focuses on the issue of religious online folklore disseminated in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the popular social media platform Facebook (Ukrainian version), between April and June 2022. The aim of the analysis of the collected material presented in the text is to show the basic forms and functions of religious folklore in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, their relationship with other messages of religious content (prayers, appeals and supplications) and the specificity of Internet communication. The authors undertake to show the connections the studied messages exhibit with religious thinking and the Christian tradition on a verbal and visual level, as well as the identity of the Ukrainian people. They also point to the importance of Internet communication in times of helplessness and deep crisis.

Keywords

• Russo-Ukrainian war
• religious folklore
• Internet communication
• prayer
• experience of war