Icon and ritual (structural-functional analysis)
Functional analysis shows that the ritual has 36 functions whereas the icon has 21. Comparative analysis of these series of functions shows that 2/3 of functions of the icons acting as a cult object are determined by ritual. This confirms A.L. Toporkov’s point of view on ritual function as “the function of the structure of functions” (according to P.G. Bogatyrev). The functional structure of the ritual is that it forms a very strong, though not always apprehended and articulated, “determinative”, that defines the sacral nature of religious object in various moduses and toposes of its existence.