The article examines the phenomenon of the prophet as a carrier of religious experience on the example of the personality of William Wade Harris. Harris ' personal religious experience transformed the lives and worldviews of tens of thousands of people and went from personal to socially significant-as a revelation for representatives of many ethnic groups in West Africa. Thus, the religious experience of an individual received wide public recognition, it stimulated the religious enthusiasm of co-religionists and acted as a powerful factor in mass social activity.

Key words: religious experience, prophet, W. W. Harris, Afro-Christianity.

Religion is a special sphere of interaction of a person, his feelings and consciousness with another reality. Contact with another reality, the ultimate, the Divine, is the essence of religious experience. Religious experience acts as a certain set of religious experiences perceived, evaluated, processed by the subject from a religious point of view and significant for the formation, strengthening, and development of his religious worldview [Religious Studies, 1998, p.384]. Religious experience denotes a special mental state ¹, in which a person experiences a sense of contact with a certain supernatural entity, feels his participation (participation) in the beyond world and the ability to influence events in the world of earthly reality through it.

The principal approach in this study is the thesis that any experience is accompanied by its interpretation, in which the subject acts actively, and only if there are religious ideas as an interpretive base, the experience can get the meaning of religious, in other words, the idea that a person who does not have religious ideas can have a non-referential religious experience is rejected. Another fundamental approach is the thesis most clearly formulated by R. Otto in his classic book "The Sacred": "Man in general, as it seems to rationalism, and not an indistinguishable mass of identical subjects in their interaction, as modern ethnopsychology believes, are the recipients and carriers of impressions of the super-mundane, but only the "chosen ones" preferred by him" [Otto, 2008, p. 229].

Religious experience cannot be reduced to a complex of feelings, the experience is not limited only to the affective states of a person, it cannot be separated from the knowledge about religion presented in the experience, from the subject's attitude to it, as well as from the real process of human life activity mediated by the current cultural and historical stage of society development. The study of the phenomenon of religious experience is important from the point of view that it is a universal phenomenon, its depth is not at all important.

¹ Altered State of Consciousness (AS). The phenomenon of ASD was studied fundamentally by S. Grof [Grof, 2005].

it depends on the level of development of the civilization. The study of religious experience is particularly important for phenomenology (the search for basic structures of human consciousness) and existentialism.

Prophets are the bearers of intense religious experience. According to the method of occurrence, religious experience can be spontaneous or artificially induced. In the first case, religious experience occurs without deliberate efforts of a person under the influence of any strong external and internal experiences (the splendor of the natural landscape, the threat to life, the violence of the elements, etc.) or without them - in states of sleep, illness, clinical death, etc. Artificial production of religious experience is achieved by special psychological or cultic methods : intense prayer practice (for example, repeating the "umna" or Jesus prayer), meditation, ritual dances and music (for example, rhythmic sounding of a tambourine or drum), and other religious psychotechnics, especially widely used in Islam. Some cult practices of stimulating religious experience involve the use of narcotic and hallucinogenic substances.

"Prophet" is a word of Greek origin, etymologically related to the words " pro (pre)- river", "about (for)rock", "about (through) speech". The prophet is the one through whose speech the future is revealed, who is given the "message" and the right to communicate it to people. Information about prophets and prophecies is found in many religious traditions [Chudes..., 2007]. For example, the Delphic Oracle ² was one of the main soothsayers in the Hellenic world. It was believed that through the Pythia (other-Greek.  "the diviner priestess in the temple of Apollo at Delphi is spoken by the god Apollo himself. At the same time, male priests interpreted the Pythian speeches. Many testimonies of ancient Greek sages devoted to the riddles of the Delphic Oracle have survived to this day. Among them are Pliny, Plato, Cicero, Plutarch, Strabo, and others. The geographer Strabo (64 BC-25 AD), in particular, wrote: "It is said that the Pythia sits on a tripod directly above a deep and rather narrow cavern, through which the pneuma (gas, steam, products of animal respiration; hence the familiar words "pneumatic", "pneumonia", etc.) rises to the top.The Pythia inhales the pneuma and begins to prophesy" [Nepomnyashchy].

Plutarch (46 - 120 AD) described the mysterious ritual in more detail. According to him, in the sanctuary there is a certain relationship between the god Apollo, Pythia and Pneuma. At the same time, Apollo is likened to a musician, Pythia - to the instrument on which he plays, and pneuma - to the plectra (bone for playing stringed instruments). With the help of the plectra, Apollo makes his instrument (the Pythia) sound, that is, he encourages her to utter prophecies.

The sanctity of the prophets is derived from the direct possession of the divine spirit; the prophet is the voice of the Deity in this world. The essence of prophetic service was brilliantly captured by A. S. Pushkin in his textbook poem "The Prophet". A striking example is the Biblical prophets: "For prophecy was never uttered according to the will of man, but the holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21). Two major religions - Mazdaism and Islam-were founded by the prophets Zarathustra and Muhammad , the latter of whom is considered a messenger of God. In Japanese Buddhism, there is a prophetic movement associated with the name of Nihiren, a judge-preacher and reformer [Religious Studies, 2008, pp. 444-445].

In Afro-Christianity, a special role is played by Messianic trends, the intense religious experience of the founders of which, combined with the abilities attributed to them, became a source and powerful stimulus for spiritual and social development.,

² Oracle (Lat. oraculum, from oto-I say, I ask) - among the ancient Greeks, Romans (haruspices, augurs) and the peoples of the East, a prediction transmitted by priests on behalf of the deity to inquiring believers, as well as the place where the prediction was announced.

cultural and legal transformations (William Wade Harris, Andre Matsua, etc.). Afro-Christianity emerged at the end of the XIX century. as a result of the adaptation of Christian denominations to local beliefs. The essence of Afro-Christianity consists in syncretism, a combination of the dogmas of Christianity and local beliefs in the creed. The first Afro-Christian movement was founded in 1882 in the Cape Colony (the territory of modern South Africa) by Methodist preacher N. Thiele, who created the so-called Tembe Church (after the name of the people).

Modern Afro-Christianity is represented by many trends. Afro-Christianity also includes a large number of religious movements founded by former slaves exported from the colonies. Such movements include macumba in Brazil, voodoo and santeria in the Caribbean, Rastafari in Jamaica, and others.

In this article, we will focus on the personality of William Wade Harris, the founder of the Harris Church (Harrism), which belongs to the Protestant Messianic Afro-Christian trends. Harrism is aimed exclusively at the Black population. The basic Christian dogmas have not changed significantly. Great importance is attached to the ten Biblical commandments, from which the necessity of abstinence, love for neighbors, and submission to elders is derived. Of the sacraments, only baptism is preserved. Communion and confession exist, but they are not sacraments, but only rites. The Harrist cult is very similar to the Methodist cult ³. There are no ordained priests in Harrism, only preachers who wear a cassock. At the same time, there is a complex church hierarchy. Believers visit the church 3-5 times a week, one of them - on Sunday. They gather in special oratories - bamboo huts with altars. Services are similar to Protestant ones-they sing psalms, spiritual songs, and at the end a sermon is read. Harrism is characterized by a sharply negative attitude towards local beliefs.

Missionary work, which marked the beginning of evangelization in Ivory Coast, is inextricably linked with the arrival on its territory in 1913 of William Wade Harris, who considered himself a messenger of Jesus Christ and predicted the imminent coming of the Savior. However, as early as 1911, Monsignor Jules Moru, the apostolic vicar in charge of the Roman Catholic Mission in Ivory Coast, openly despaired of the future Christianization of this French colony. The result of 15 years of missionary activity was the baptism of only 2,000 people by 1911. But only three years later, in his annual report of 1914, Moru wrote that the people who had destroyed their fetishes flooded into Catholic churches and wanted to be baptized [Archives of the Société..., 1914].

It was William Wade Harris who was able to make such a coup. The phenomenality of his success has long puzzled white Christian missionaries. In 1926, when missionary methods and their effectiveness were being discussed at an international conference in Belgium, Dr. Edwin W. Smith, a former missionary in Rhodesia, dryly remarked: "The man who should be speaking in Belgium about preaching to Africans is the Prophet Harris, who flashed like a meteor across parts of West Africa. years ago. Africa's most successful evangelist, he turned to

³ Methodists-followers of one of the Protestant trends of Christianity that emerged in the second quarter of the XVIII century in the Anglican Church. The founders were brothers John and Charles Wesley, around whom in 1729 a small circle of followers (initially mainly students of the University of Oxford) gathered, who were distinguished by their special religious zeal, perseverance and methodical study of the Bible (hence the name - Methodists). Gradually, the idea of reforming the Anglican Church was born, which was not crowned with success. Then the adherents of the new trend created their own strictly authoritarian, centralized organization. Its members paid special attention to preaching activities, formed the institute of so-called traveling preachers, with the help of which this doctrine spread quite quickly and widely in the English-speaking world. The Methodist Church's creed is based on the abbreviated Anglican creed, and it also retains many features of the Anglican cult.

There are more people for Christ in a few months than in the previous 50 years of work. What was his method?" (Smith, 1926, p. 42).

The very appearance of the prophet and the success of his sermons presuppose a favorable historical setting and an adapted cultural context. Since its inception, harrism has been an extraordinary success throughout the Ivory Coast. This was a sign that the religious movement, having a syncretic origin, fell on the fertile ground of local animism and met the aspirations of the independence fighters. Even in his lifetime, Harris was associated with the desire of Africans to assert themselves: culturally, religiously, and politically.

Africanist and Catholic historian Adrian Hasting called Harris the first Christian prophet in Africa. No one else, in his opinion, was able to achieve such a huge impact in such a short time. Harris accomplished what was in fact the most remarkable evangelization campaign that Africa has ever known, Hastings acknowledged (see more: [Hastings, 1994]). In just 18 months, William Wade Harris has baptized between 100,000 and 200,000 people in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

It should be emphasized that Harris was a native of Liberia, a country that had been independent since 1847. It seems that this played an important role, since an independent Liberia was perceived as a potential example of the possibility of freeing Africa from colonial dependence. He belonged to the Grebo ethnic group, the most turbulent and rebellious of the Liberian authorities. William Wade Harris was born in 1865 in the village of Half Graway to an animist family, but he was a Methodist himself-a religion that had already taken root among Africans, attended a Methodist mission school, where he became imbued with the ideas of the Gospel and was baptized. Thus, his original religious beliefs were determined by Methodism. William Wade Harris began his working life by sailing as a sailor to Gabon and Nigeria. In Liberia, he continued to earn a living by working on construction sites, and devoted all his free time to studying the Bible. He was then invited to work as a mentor at the Cape Palm Methodist Mission, where he taught for 10 years.

After marrying and becoming the father of two children, William Wade Harris became interested in politics and, since 1910, took part in the national movement of the indigenous population against the Liberian government, for the creation of a true national independent state in his native region. He defended the independence of Grebo and was repeatedly jailed for anti-government protests. It was in prison that the event that determined his future fate took place.

In 1912, in a prison cell, he said, he had a vision of the Archangel Gabriel, who announced to Harris God's will: to be a messenger of God on earth and devote his life to the evangelization of nations. Here is how Harris himself told about his destiny received from above: "I am a prophet above all religions and freed people from control. I am dependent only on God through the medium of an angel who has dedicated me to my mission in the present end times-the era of which St. Paul speaks. John in the 20th chapter of Revelation "[Le prophète Harris vu par lui-même..., 1961, p. 120-124]. The very appearance of the archangel Gabriel, according to Harris, was sudden, he was woken up in the night and saw a form above his bed-it turned out to be the archangel Gabriel. He tapped the top of his head three times and said, " Go and sacrifice your wife. She will die, but I will give you many other women to accompany you in your creation, which you must create. Your wife will give you 6 shillings before she dies; that will be all your wealth, and you will never need anything else. With this 6 shillings, you will go a long way. I myself will accompany you everywhere and reveal to you the mission that God has assigned you. God, the Ruler of the world, whom people no longer respect" (see more: [Haliburton, 1971]). Harris also felt, as he will describe later, the descent of the Spirit of God, which descended like ice on his head.

From this description, we can define Harris ' religious experience as an emotive one, acquired as a result of a psychic experience. This is the area of sensory perception, characterized by the spontaneity of the impact. One of the most adequate descriptions of the structure of the emotive component was given by R. Otto in the Numinous Doctrine ⁴. At the level of sensory perception, Harris's religious experience combined visual (the vision of the archangel Gabriel), tactile (the descent of the Spirit of God in the form of "icy" sensations in the head) and auditory (Gabriel's speech).

Here it is appropriate to touch upon the problem of the cognitive significance - or objective validity - of religious experience, which is one of the most complex problems of religious studies. The question is whether religious experience has a cognitive status that implies objective contact with beings and forces outside of human consciousness, or whether it is entirely subjective. The figure of Joan of Arc is widely known. It has been mentioned above that the prophet's appearance and the success of his sermons presuppose a favorable historical setting and an adapted cultural context. In the 15th century, the French kingdom, ravaged by the Hundred Years ' War, was waiting for its liberator, who "should be an innocent girl, because a woman destroyed her (meaning Queen Isabella of Bavaria. - L. A.A sixteen-year-old girl, Jeanne, claims to hear and see saints, including Catherine and Margaret, who command her to lead the French army and crown King Charles. At the trial in Rouen, in response to questions from the judges, Jeanne claimed that she not only saw and heard her saints, but also hugged them, i.e. we are talking about visual, auditory, tactile contacts [Ambelin, 1993, p. 161]. It is natural that Jeanne interpreted these contacts as the influence of those saints whose names and legends were well known to her.

The figurative structure of Joan's visions - St. Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine and St. Margaret-corresponds to Christian ideas. However, Pope John XXIII (pontificate from 1958 to 1963) ordered a thorough historical study of Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria. This research led to the fact that both saints were deleted from the calendar of saints, as scientific research showed the inconsistency of claims about their real existence. Consequently, Jeanne came into visual, auditory, and tactile contact with people who had never been in the world [Ambelin, 1993, p. 162]. This example shows that the question of cognitive validity is theological and partly philosophical, so religious experience should be considered primarily from the point of view of the functions that it performs in the life of a person and society. As the English historian W. Fowler showed in his work "Religious Experience of the Romans", the problem of clarifying the role of religion in society can be solved even without involving the problem of the cognitive status of religious feelings, ideas and beliefs. Empirical research can bypass the question of the reliability of religious experience [Samygin, Nechipurenko, Polonskaya, 1996, p. 137].

All these conclusions apply to the religious experience of Wade Harris. Released from prison in 1913, he expatriated to Ivory Coast and began working as a missionary, seeking to evangelize the country and eliminate idolatry. In carrying out this mission, he walked almost the entire coast of Ivory Coast for two years (1913-1915)-from Dabou, San Pedro, Sassandra, Grand Lau, Abidjan to Grand Bassam. In just one year, Harris gathers about 120,000 followers. He preaches, baptizes with water and the Bible, cures people, destroys all idols

⁴ R. Otto believed that religious experience is sui generis( unique), i.e. qualitatively different from other types of experience. According to Otto, religious experience is generated by a person's contact with a "completely different", extra-world dimension of reality that transcends human understanding. He characterized this particular sense of otherness by using a neologism derived from the Latin numen-the spirit inhabiting a sacred grove-turning it into the word "numinous".

and he becomes famous, crowds of fans come to him, sometimes from the very hinterland of the country.

Harris was traveling from Liberia through the Ivory Coast and on to Ghana. He walked barefoot, wearing a long white robe with black stripes on the chest, carrying a tall cross made of reeds, a hookah intended to be filled with water during the rite of baptism, a pumpkin, rattles and a Bible. His companions were two or three women (one of whom may have been his wife). These women accompanied his sermons by dancing and playing maraca. Harris ' sermons focused primarily on the glorification of labor, peace, and condemnation of theft, adultery, and lying. The one and only God, in whose name Harris preached, sent him to protect people from idols, from corruption, from an evil fate.

Harris ' appeal to Ivorians was both religious and political. He called on them to stop worshipping the spirits of nature that did not protect them from the French colonialists, and turn to an all-powerful Creator God who will bring them prosperity, sovereignty, and access to the knowledge and technology that their conquerors possess.

From a doctrinal point of view, Harris ' preaching meant a transition from polydemonism directly to monotheism, bypassing the stage of polytheism, i.e., the rejection of the worship of multiple spirits in favor of faith in one Creator God in the Christian version-in the form of the Divine Trinity (God the Father, God the Son - Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit). At the same time, Harris actualized the early Protestant idea of the immanence of the return of Jesus Christ, for which people should prepare by radically changing their lives in accordance with the requirements of Christian ethics. Recognizing the Bible as the highest authority, which is generally characteristic of Protestantism in general (recall Luther's Sola Scriptura principle), Harris probably deviated from Christian precepts only in one point: he did not condemn polygamy (see for more details: [Haliburton, 1971]). The example of Harris confirms the idea of R. Otto that " where once the idea of unity and the divine good is expressed and understood, it often captures listeners surprisingly quickly, if they have any religious feeling at all. Often they then adapt their previous religious tradition in this sense" [Otto, 2008, p. 215].

Harris ' call for the rejection of polydemonism and fetishism was reinforced by real actions - he instructed his supporters to burn fetishes. Dr. Maurice Neve in 1928 wrote in his book: "I picked up a statuette of the Leukouezan totem, a tree spirit from the village of abouré, which Harris destroyed on his Messianic journey through Bonoua" (Neveux, 1928, p. 16).

A Catholic priest, Father Harrigton, who was fascinated by the conversation with Harris, described in his diary this event, which became the most significant episode of his short stay in Ivory Coast.: "This is undoubtedly one of the most magnificent types of Negroes I have ever seen, 55-60 years old, 1 m 80 cm tall. A man with truly expressive features, with a proud look, with a white waving beard, in a white wide cassock, with a black armband woven exactly like a bishop's stole and with a large wooden chest cross. His head was covered with a turban similar to that of a Mohammedan sheikh. He never wore shoes or jewelry of any kind... He spoke excellent English... I must confess that his personality, his appearance, and his broad gestures made a most positive impression on me " [Harrigton (pere), 1917, p. 155 - 161, 191 - 195].

In a conversation with Harris, the Catholic priest also touched upon the foreign policy situation-at that time the First World War was underway. Father Harrigton reproached Harris for favoring the Germans, to which the latter replied:: "What do I care about the Germans? What do they have to do with me? I am a prophet of a new religion... "[ibid.]. So, when the " prophets

if they speak about themselves, then most often they express only the consciousness of their own mission, its superiority over themselves - only for this reason they claim faith and obedience from others " [Otto, 2008, p. 237].

Until 1915, this purely religious movement did not arouse any suspicion on the part of the colonial authorities. On the contrary, evangelization was welcomed by all the Governments of West Africa and encouraged by all the movements aimed at eradicating idolatry and witchcraft, which they saw as the cause of many secret murders and intrigues. And for the peoples themselves, Harris Wadi's sermon was a consolation from the troubles and misfortunes of colonialism. They needed protection and were worried about their future. Catholicism was the religion of the colonialists, Harrism became the religion of the oppressed local population, the idea of salvation and liberation from the colonialists. On this wave, Harris achieved great success, but the actions of his followers often caused turmoil and unrest in some villages. At the outbreak of World War I, Harris ' followers were even suspected of colluding with Germany (whose commercial influence, particularly in Liberia, was predominant) because of their hostility to the local French colonial authorities (see, for more details, Le prophète Harris, 1984).

Rumours were spreading that French rule was coming to an end, that soon no whites would survive the mass slaughter, that the tribes would go their separate ways again, and that every rainy season would be accompanied by a war to exterminate the white colonialists. An eyewitness to the events, Father Gorju, for example, testifies: "They (these little prophets) openly proclaim that the French, cruel and demanding gentlemen, will soon be driven out of the colonies. One of them stirred up trouble in a village near Bingerville... declaring that " A lion that came from Liberia... in the Ivory Coast, it will destroy all Catholic priests and all Frenchmen" " (see [Gorjus (pere), 1915]).

The Government was frightened by this trend of evangelization in the country. Harris ' followers, including himself, were arrested. Harris and the three women accompanying him in prison were severely beaten, and one of his women, Helen Valentine, died as a result of the beating. But soon, in 1915, Harris was released from prison and expelled from the country. Eight times Harris Wadi tried to return to the Ivory Coast, but no attempt was successful. Harris 'followers in Ivory Coast flocked to the south of the country, where many prophets appeared who wanted to cash in on Harris' fame rather than continue evangelizing. Most of them were from Liberia.

But there were also true followers of Harris, such as Do and Yezi, who also fought against witchcraft. Some Ivorians also tried to continue the Harris case: They are Kokangba or Koba from Dabakala, Papa Nouveau from Tukuzukuzu, Mari Lalu or Deima from Lakota and Nyambezaria. All of them preached Harrism to one degree or another. But the real successor to Harris was John Awey, who was lucky enough to see Harris in 1920, shortly before his death. John Awey was ordained to succeed Harris himself and, after the latter's death in 1929, became the head of the evangelical movement in Ivory Coast. He inherited Harris ' staff and Bible, and twice, in 1929 and 1954, revived his mentor's religion.

Since the beginning of 1961, Harrism has been officially recognized by the Ivorian State as an association of the "Church of Christ", or "Harris Mission", with a spiritual center in Grand Bassam.

In 1980, the Harrist community had approximately 1,500,000 adherents worldwide, with the largest distribution in southern Ivory Coast and most of the Gulf of Guinea coast.

Many contemporaries have breathed new life into the Harris Church in Ivory Coast through their ministry. One of them, Albert Atcho, who preached in Bregbo, announced

feel like the new messiah of Harrism. The Prophet Albert Atcho was born in Bregbo in 1903 and lived there all his life. He was a planter and fisherman, a famous collector of herbs and a great connoisseur of their medicinal properties, a skilled healer. Albert Atto was baptized by Harris and followed his path. In one of the villages, he built his own temple and established November 1 as the village's traditional holiday. During the festival, he blessed his students to study and avoid devilish temptations.

Another contemporary preacher in Ivory Coast, Begre Niamba, who took the name Papa Nouveau, did not claim to be a prophet of Harrism, but he was present at the grand openings of the Harrist temples in Tiagba (1978) and in Jacqueville (1985). According to him, in a dream in 1937, Berge received a message from the Holy Spirit, who ordered the creation of a new religion, taking the name Papa Nouveau. In 1987, Ivory Coast celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Harrism (see for more details: [Le Grand Dictionnaire..., 1988]).

Currently, Harrism is widespread throughout the coast of Ivory Coast, in Liberia, Ghana, as well as in certain regions of Europe, in particular in France, where it quite peacefully coexists with Catholicism and other religions.

Almost everywhere in Ivory Coast there are temples of Harrists. The architectural design of the temples is admirable, especially in Bonois and Bregbo - with their twisted colonnade, with trumpeting angels, a fence decorated with stars, and with the obligatory statues of the prophet founder William Wade Harris. Every year there are new temples - new prophets. Currently, Harris Church is represented by 702 parishes, each parish is governed by 12 apostles, both male and female. In total, there are 7,000 apostles and 1,400 prophets in Ivory Coast.

The constitution of Charism as a religious community fits into the scheme described by R. Otto: "From time to time there are" saints", miracle workers. People crowd around them, flocking to listen, to see the miracles, to see the living saint and his deeds. There are now narrower, then wider circles of followers who collect and formalize "sayings", stories, legends about them. New fraternities appear or expand and take over new circles that already existed. But the focus of the movement is always the "saint" himself during his lifetime - the driving force is always the strength of his personality, the peculiarities of the impressions he evokes. Experts assure us that 98% of these "saints" are simply charlatans. Even so, 2% isn't: a surprisingly high percentage when you consider that this is an occupation where the demand for cheating is so high and where it is so easy. By the way, this percentage calculation is highly instructive for understanding the phenomenon itself. The "saint" or prophet must be experienced by his circle as something more than " psilos anthropos." He appears as a mysterious and wondrous being belonging to a higher order and residing somewhere near numen itself. He doesn't teach that he is like that, but that's how he is experienced. Only in the presence of such experiences - albeit very rough and often self - deception, but strong and deep-do religious communities arise" [Otto, 2008, pp. 239-240].

Harris ' religious experience, which led to the formation of a new religious denomination, is universal. For example, the formation of the Church of" Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints " (Mormons), which today has more than 1.5 million adherents, is based on the personal religious experience of Joseph Smith (1805-1844), or, as Mormons themselves call him, the first Prophet of our time. At the age of 15, he had his first intense religious experience, when he was looking for an answer to the question of which of the many Christian denominations common in America at that time was the true one.

Smith describes his first religious experience as follows: "So, having made up my mind to turn to God, I went into the woods to fulfill my intention. It was a bright morning in the early spring of 1820. For the first time in my life

I decided to take this step in my life, because never before, despite all my mental worries, have I tried to pray out loud... I had scarcely opened my mouth, when suddenly a force seized me and completely weakened me, and had such a startling effect on me that my tongue became numb and I could not speak. A terrible darkness enveloped me, and it seemed to me that I was doomed to sudden death. But, straining all my strength, I cried to God for deliverance from this hostile force that had seized me. And then, at the moment when I was about to give up and give myself up to destruction, not to any imaginary destruction, but to the power of some real being from the invisible world, who possessed such incredible power as I had never seen in any human being in my life - at that moment With a terrible alarm, I saw a pillar of light brighter than the sun directly above my head... When the light rested on me, I saw Two Faces standing in the air above me, whose brilliance and grandeur cannot be described. One of them turned to me and called me by name, and said, pointing to the other, " This is my beloved Son. Listen To Him!" The purpose of my appeal to the Lord was to find out which of all the sects was correct, so that I could join one. So, as soon as I was able to speak again, I asked the People who stood above me in the light which of all the sects was right, and which one I should join. I was told that I should not join any of them, as they were all wrong, and the Person who addressed me said that all their creeds were abominable in His eyes; that all their preachers were perverted; that "they draw near to Me with their mouths, but their hearts are far removed from Me." Me, and that they preach the commandments of men as a doctrine; they have the appearance of godliness, but deny its power" " [www // latter-daysaints.ru/o-cerkvi/istorija-cerkvi/dzhozef-smit-pervoe-videnie.html].

From this description, we can conclude that Smith's religious experience, like Harris', was emotive in nature. At the level of sensory perception, Smith's religious experience, like Harris', combined visual form, tactile (a sense of some power that had taken hold of him), and auditory. Joseph Smith's original religious beliefs were determined by Presbyterianism (one of the trends in Calvinism), i.e., one of the Christian Protestant denominations. Harris ' original religious beliefs were determined by another Christian Protestant denomination, Methodism. Over the next 10 years, according to Joseph Smith, he was visited by other heavenly messengers. And he believed that he was destined by God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth. Like Harris, Joseph Smith transformed the lives and worldviews of tens of thousands of people by drawing on his personal religious experience, thereby making them socially significant.

* * *

Harris ' missionary work led to a massive break along the coast with outside practices typical of traditional African beliefs. A whole series of "taboos" on certain days and places, the lustful "Taming" dance performed at traditional festivals, and the isolation of women in barracks during the menstrual period have disappeared. There were transformations of the funeral rite.

Harrism has embraced dozens of ethnic groups, primarily due to the idea of unity embedded in it: one God, one source of moral behavior (the Ten Commandments), one day (Sunday), one book (the Bible), one symbol (the cross), one baptism (a break with fetishism), one place of worship, one place of worship. institution (church leadership of the Twelve Apostles). Prayer, including "Our Father," has replaced sacrifice and fetish worship. And already in 1921, Catholic missionaries saw the threat of turning the country into a Protestant one, even though in ten years the country was still in danger of becoming a Protestant country.

Some years earlier, some expressed doubts about the possibility of success of missionary work in Ivory Coast.

Thus, it can be stated that the personal religious experience of one person transformed the lives and worldview of tens of thousands of people, thereby turning into a socially significant, stimulating religious enthusiasm of co-religionists and being a powerful factor of mass social activity. W. James in his classic work "The Diversity of Religious Experience" noted: "... Personal religion is more fundamental than personal religion. than theology or ecclesiasticism. Churches, once established, live a secondary life based on tradition; but the founders of each church initially had authority due to the fact of their direct personal communication with the Deity. This applies not only to the superhuman founders-Christ, Buddha, Mahomet, but also to all the founders of Christian sects; therefore, personal religion should be considered primary " [James, 1998, p. 153]. The words of a classic of the psychology of religion may well be attributed to the bright and extraordinary personality of William Vade Harris.

list of literature

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Nepomnyashchy N. N. Delphic Oracle: Truth and Fiction. www.a-nomalia.narod.ru/100velTayn/60.htm

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