Deep impact: byla li christianizacija Alanii poverchnostnym javleniem?

The Christianization of Alania is the second of the three great conversions to Christianity that took place in Europe towards the end of the first millennium. The process has long been considered incomplete, since even Theodorus in the 13th century considered the Alans to be Christians in name only. However, this view is very partial and inaccurate: it is undeniable that in the centuries following the conversion, a form of religious syncretism was reached in the country because the pre- Christian religion and the Christian religion coexisted, but the Christian message penetrated deeply enough to affect the names of Wacilla and Wastyrǵi, who, while retaining all the features of pre-Christian figures, bear the names of Christian saints. The interaction or, if preferred, the impact was therefore much more extensive than one might imagine, and probably only political fragmentation prevented the process from being completed. In this paper, part of the cases in which the terms related to Christianity overlapped in the name of pre-existing pagan figures and in the system of traditional Ossetian calendar festivals are indicated