''Pogost'' (, from

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

: погостъ) is a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

historical term which has had several meanings. 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.

History

The original usage applies to the

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

for princes and ecclesiastics with the word being similar to modern Russian ''gost (гость), "guest". It is assumed that originally ''pogosts'' were rural communities on the periphery of the ancient Rus` state, as well as trading centers (Old Russian: ''gost'ba'', гостьба). In the end of the 10th century ''pogosts'' transformed into administrative and territorial districts. ''Pogosts'' varied in size, ranging from tens to hundreds of villages in 11th–14th centuries. As Christianity spread in Russia, churches were built in ''pogosts''. In 1775 the last ''pogosts'' that served as administrative districts were destroyed. Since then they became known as city ''pogosts'' (погосто – место), functioning as parish centers. In the central ''

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

s'' of 15th–16th centuries ''pogosts'' were small settlements with a church and a graveyard, like Kizhi Pogost or Kadnikov Pogost. In modern Russian, ''pogosts'' usually designate a combination of a rural church and a graveyard, situated at some distant place.

Usage in Finland and Latvia

The central village of the Finnish '' kunta'' ('municipality') of

Ilomantsi Ilomantsi (, ) is municipality and a village of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The easternmost point of Finland ...

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 Pogosta disease is a viral disease. The symptoms of the disease usually include rash, as well as mild fever and other flu-like symptoms; in most cases the symptoms last less than 5 days. However, in some cases, the patients develop a painful arthr ...

. In modern Finnish language, ''

pogosta ''Pogost'' (, from Old East Slavic: погостъ) is a Russian language, Russian historical term which has had several meanings. In modern Russian, it typically refers to a rural church and graveyard. It has also been borrowed into Latgalian l ...

'' is also used in references to historical places, as a historical synonym for "

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

" or "

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

" in

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

n, Ingrian and Russian contexts. Pagasts is the name for a basic unit of local self-government in the Republic of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. The word "pagasts" is a commonly used Latvian word equivalent to civil parish, rural municipality or small rural district, originating in the

''pogost''. There are 432 rural municipalities or ''pagasti'' in

References

{{Slavic terms for country subdivisions History of the administrative divisions of Russia Rural geography Russian-language designations of territorial entities