Pogost

"Pogosta" redirects here. For the disease, see Pogosta disease.

A pogost (Russian: погост) is a historical Russian term for an administrative-territorial unit. In modern Russian, it typically refers to a rural church and graveyard. It has also been borrowed into Latgalian (pogosts), Finnish (pogosta) and Latvian (pagasts), with specific meanings.

Vytegra Pogost, as photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, c. 1912

History

The term pogost originally denoted territorial centers, typically surrounded by numerous hamlets, that were used to receive dignitaries or guests, particularly in regions controlled by Novgorod.^[1] These sometimes had paired churches.^[1] The word pogost is similar to modern Russian gost' (гость, "guest"). It is assumed that originally pogosts were rural communities on the periphery, as well as trading centers (Old Russian: гостьба, gost'ba).^[2]

The modern Russian term for a hamlet, derevnya, appears in historical sources from the 14th century.^[3] In the territories of Smolensk and Novgorod, the term pogost was used to refer to a hamlet.^[3] This could mean a hamlet, distinguished in modern Russian as pogost-mesto (погост – место), and a village center of a small area, known as pogost-tsentr.^[3] The term could also be used to denote the surrounding area, known as pogost-okrug.^[3]

From the 10th century, the term selo was used to refer to a village on the estate of a landowner.^[3] By the 14th century, the terms selo and derevnya became interchangeable in the Russian North.^[3] As Christianity continued to spread in Russia after its formal introduction in the late 10th century, the term selo came to refer to a village with a church, starting from the 16th century.^[3]

In the Russian North, the pogost retained its status until 1775.^[1] The term pogost came to be understood as a rural church and graveyard.^[3] A pogost could have a freestanding bell tower positioned between and in front of two churches.^[1] It could also be enclosed by a low wall constructed from horizontal logs resting on a fieldstone base, with square towers at the corners.^[1] The most widely known example of the pogost, and Russian wooden architecture in general, is Kizhi Pogost on Kizhi Island in Lake Onega.^[1]

Usage in Finland and Latvia

The central village of the Finnish kunta ('municipality') of Ilomantsi is usually called the pogosta of Ilomantsi (Ilomantsin pogosta), the word being obviously a borrowing from Russian. The local dialect of Finnish shows strong Russian influence, and there is a strong presence of Orthodox Christians in the municipality. Even the name of the local newspaper is Pogostan Sanomat ("The Pogosta News"), and a certain viral disease is locally called the Pogosta disease.

In the modern Finnish language, pogosta is also used in references to historical places, as a historical synonym for "parish" or "municipality" in Karelian, Ingrian and Russian contexts.

Pagasts is the name for a basic unit of local self-government in the Republic of Latvia. The word pagasts is a commonly used Latvian word equivalent to civil parish, rural municipality or small rural district, originating from Russian pogost. There are 432 rural municipalities or pagasti in Latvia.^[4]