In ancient times, on the territory modern Russia Numerous tribes lived with various pagan beliefs and rituals associated with the worship of many gods. The Slavs were among the first to live in this territory. The Slavs carved idols from wood. The heads of these idols were covered with silver, and the beard and mustache were made of gold. They worshiped the god of thunderstorms - Perun. There was a sun god - Dazhdbog, Stribog - who controlled the air elements and winds. Idols were placed in a high place, and bloody sacrifices (birds, animals) were brought to appease the gods. By the 9th century, tribal alliances of the Eastern Slavs formed principalities, which were headed by princes. Each prince had a squad (rich high nobility). Relations between the princes were complex, and internecine wars often broke out.
In the I X - X centuries. various principalities of the Eastern Slavs united and created a single state, which became known as the Russian Land or Rus'. Central city was Kyiv, the head of the state was the Grand Duke of Kiev. Founder of the dynasty Kyiv princes became Rurik. Slavic tribes They fought with each other and then decided to call one of the foreigners. The Slavs went to the Varangians who lived on the shore Baltic Sea. One of the leaders named Rurik was offered to come to the Slavic lands and rule. Rurik came to Novgorod, where he began to reign. He founded the Rurik dynasty, which ruled Rus' until the 16th century. The Slavic lands ruled by Rurik increasingly began to be called Russia, and the inhabitants were called Rusichs, and later Russians. In the language of the Varangians, the detachment of rowers that sailed, led by Rurik, on a large boat to Novgorod was called Rus. But the Russians themselves understood the word Rus differently: bright land. Light brown meant fair. The princes who began to rule after Rurik (Igor, Princess Olga, Oleg, Vladimir Svyatoslav, Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh, etc.) sought to end civil strife within the country, defended the independence of the state, strengthened and expanded its borders.
A significant date in the history of Russia - 988. This is the year of the adoption of Christianity. Christianity came to Rus' from Byzantium. Writing spread with Christianity. In the second half of the 9th century, the Slavic alphabet was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius. Two alphabets were created: the Cyrillic alphabet (named Kirill) and the Glagolitic alphabet (verb-word, speech); the Glagolitic alphabet did not become widespread. The brothers are revered by the Slavic peoples as educators and are recognized as saints. Writing contributed to the development ancient Russian literature. Literature Ancient Rus' has a number of features.
I. Feature – syncretism i.e. compound. This feature is associated with the underdevelopment of genre forms. In one Old Russian genre It is possible to identify features characteristic of other genres, i.e., in one genre elements of several genres are combined, for example, in “Walking” there are descriptions of geographical and historical places, and sermons, and teachings. A striking manifestation of syncretism can be traced in the chronicles; they contain a military story, a legend, samples of contracts, and reflections on religious topics.
II.Feature - monumentality. The scribes of Ancient Rus' showed the greatness of the world, they were interested in the fate of the Motherland. The scribe strives to depict the eternal; Eternal values defined by the Christian religion. Hence there is no image of appearance, everyday life, because... it's all mortal. The scribe strives to narrate the entire Russian land.
III. Feature - historicism. In ancient Russian monuments, historical figures were described. These are stories about battles, about princely crimes. The heroes were princes, generals, and saints. In ancient Russian literature there are no fictional heroes, there are no works on fictional plots. Fiction was equal to lies, and lies were unacceptable. The writer's right to fiction was realized only in the 17th century.
IV.Feature – patriotism. Old Russian literature is marked by high patriotism and citizenship. The authors always mourn the defeats suffered by the Russian land. Scribes have always tried to bet on true path boyars, princes. The worst princes were condemned, the best were praised.
V. Feature – anonymity. Old Russian literature is mostly anonymous. Very rarely, some authors put their names at the end of manuscripts, calling themselves “unworthy”, “great sinners” sometimes Old Russian authors signed with the names of popular Byzantine writers.
VI. Feature - Old Russian literature was entirely handwritten. And although printing appeared in mid-16th century V. Even before the 18th century, works were distributed by correspondence. When rewriting, scribes made their own amendments, changes, shortened or expanded the text. Therefore, the monuments of ancient Russian literature did not have a stable text. From the 11th to the 14th centuries, the main writing material was parchment, made from calf skin. Parchment from the title ancient city(in Greece) Pergamon, where in the 2nd century BC. began to make parchment. In Rus', parchment is called “veal” or “haratya”. This expensive material was available only to the propertied class. Craftsmen and traders used birch bark. The recordings were made on birch bark. Wooden tablets were fastened together in the form of student notebooks. Famous birch bark letters are monuments of writing from the 11th to 15th centuries. Birch bark letters - a source on the history of society and Everyday life medieval people, as well as on the history of East Slavic languages.
They wrote on birch bark or parchment with ink. Ink was made from decoctions of alder or oak bark and soot. Until the 19th century enjoyed quill pen, since parchment was expensive, to save writing material, the words in the line were not separated, everything was written together. Paragraphs in the manuscript were written in red ink - hence the “red line”. Frequently used words were written abbreviated - under a special sign - “title” For example, lithargy (short for the verb, i.e. to speak) Buka (Virgin Mary)
The parchment was lined with a ruler. Every letter was written out. Texts were copied by scribes either across the entire page or in two columns. There are three types of handwriting: charter, semi-charter, cursive. The charter is in the handwriting of the 11th - 13th centuries. This is handwriting with regular, almost square letters. The letter is solemn, calm, the letters were written in wide, but not tall, letters. Working on the manuscript required painstaking work and great art. When the scribe completed his hard work, he happily noted it at the end of the book. Thus, at the end of the Laurentian Chronicle it is written: “Rejoice, book writer, having reached the end of the books.” They wrote slowly. Thus, “Ostromirovo Gospel” took seven months to create.
From the second half of the 15th century, paper came into use and the charter gave way to semi-charter, a more fluent letter. The division of the text into words and the use of punctuation marks are associated with the semi-charter. The straight lines of the charter are replaced by oblique lines. The charter of Russian manuscripts is drawing, calligraphically clear writing. In the semi-charter it was allowed a large number of abbreviations of words, emphasis. A semi-statutory letter was faster and more convenient than a statutory letter. Since the 16th century, semi-statutory writing has been replaced by cursive writing. “Cursive writing” is a tendency to speed up writing. This is a special type of letter, differing in its graphics from the charter and semi-charter. This is a simplified version of these two types. Monuments of ancient writing indicate high level culture and skill of ancient Russian scribes, who were entrusted with the copying of texts. They tried to give handwritten books a highly artistic and luxurious appearance, decorating them various types ornaments and drawings. With the development of the statute, geometric ornament develops. It is a rectangle, arch and others geometric figures, inside of which patterns in the form of circles, triangles and others were applied on the sides of the title. The ornament could be one-color or multi-color. They also used ornaments depicting plants and animals. They painted capital letters and used miniatures - that is, illustrations for the text. The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were intertwined into wooden boards. The boards were covered with leather, and sometimes covered with frames specially made of silver and gold. A remarkable example of jewelry art is the setting of the Mstislav Gospel (XII). In the middle of the 15th century, printing appeared. Church works were published, and artistic monuments They corresponded for a long time. The original manuscripts have not reached us; their later copies of the 15th century have been preserved. Thus, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” written in the late 80s of the 12th century, was found in a copy of the 16th century. Textualists study monuments, establish the time and place of their writing, and determine which list is more consistent with the original author's text. And paleographers use handwriting, writing material, and miniatures to determine the time of creation of the manuscript. In Ancient Rus', the word book in the singular was not used, since the book consisted of several notebooks bound together. They treated books with care; they believed that mishandling a book could harm a person. On one book there is an inscription: “Whoever spoils books, whoever steals them, let him be damned.”
The centers of book writing, education and culture of Ancient Rus' were monasteries. In this regard, the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery played a major role. Theodosius of Pechersk introduced the duty of monks to write books. In his life, Theodosius of Pechersky describes the process of creating books. Day and night the monks wrote books in their cells. The monks led an ascetic lifestyle and were educated people. They not only rewrote books, but also translated from Greek language The Bible, the Psalter (songs of religious content), church prayers explained the meaning of church holidays. Several books have survived from the 11th century. They are decorated with great taste. There are books trimmed with gold and pearls. Such books were very expensive. In Rus', book printing was considered a state matter.
The first printing house was founded by Ivan Fedorov in 1561 in Moscow. He creates a printing press, a typeface, and according to his scheme, a Printing Yard is being built not far from the Kremlin. 1564 is the year of birth of Russian book printing. Fedorov publishes the first Russian primer, which was used to teach both adults and children to read and write. Books and ancient manuscripts are stored in the libraries of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Yaroslavl, Kostroma. Few parchment manuscripts have survived, many in one copy, but most were burned during fires.
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The originality of ancient Russian literature:
Works of ancient Russian literature existed and were distributed in manuscripts. Moreover, this or that work did not exist in the form of a separate, independent manuscript, but was part of various collections. Another feature of medieval literature is the absence of copyright. We know of only a few individual authors, book writers, who modestly put their name at the end of the manuscript. At the same time, the writer supplied his name with such epithets as “thin”. But in most cases, the writer wished to remain anonymous. As a rule, the author’s texts have not reached us, but later lists of them have been preserved. Often, scribes acted as editors and co-authors. At the same time, they changed the ideological orientation of the work being copied, the nature of its style, shortened or distributed the text in accordance with the tastes and demands of the time. As a result, new editions of monuments were created. Thus, a researcher of ancient Russian literature must study all available lists of a particular work, establish the time and place of their writing by comparing various editions, variants of lists, and also determine in which edition the list most closely matches the original author's text. Such sciences as textual criticism and paleography (studies the external signs of handwritten monuments - handwriting, lettering, the nature of writing material) can come to help.
A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is historicism. Its heroes are predominantly historical figures; it allows almost no fiction and strictly follows the fact. Even numerous stories about “miracles” - phenomena that seemed supernatural to a medieval person, are not so much the invention of an ancient Russian writer, but rather accurate records of the stories of either eyewitnesses or the people themselves with whom the “miracle” happened. Old Russian literature, inextricably linked with the history of the development of the Russian state and the Russian people, is imbued with heroic and patriotic pathos. Another feature is anonymity.
Literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian person, capable of sacrificing what is most precious for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses deep faith in the power and ultimate triumph of good, in man's ability to elevate his spirit and defeat evil. The Old Russian writer was least of all inclined to an impartial presentation of facts, “listening to good and evil indifferently.” Any genre ancient literature, either historical story or a legend, life or church sermon, as a rule, includes significant elements of journalism. Touching primarily on state-political or moral issues, the writer believes in the power of words, in the power of persuasion. He appeals not only to his contemporaries, but also to distant descendants with an appeal to ensure that the glorious deeds of their ancestors are preserved in the memory of generations and that descendants do not repeat the sad mistakes of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
The literature of Ancient Rus' expressed and defended the interests of the upper echelons of feudal society. However, it could not help but show an acute class struggle, which resulted either in the form of open spontaneous uprisings or in the forms of typically medieval religious heresies. The literature vividly reflected the struggle between progressive and reactionary groups within the ruling class, each of which sought support among the people. And since the progressive forces of feudal society reflected national interests, and these interests coincided with the interests of the people, we can talk about the nationality of ancient Russian literature.
In the 11th - first half of the 12th century, the main writing material was parchment, made from the skin of calves or lambs. Birch bark played the role of student notebooks.
To save writing material, the words in the line were not separated and only paragraphs of the manuscript were highlighted with red capital letters. Frequently used, well-known words were written abbreviated under a special superscript - title. The parchment was pre-lined. Handwriting with regular, almost square letters was called charter.
The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were bound into wooden boards.
Problem artistic method:
The artistic method of ancient Russian literature is inextricably linked with the nature of the worldview, the worldview of medieval man, which absorbed religious speculative ideas about the world and associated with labor practice concrete vision of reality. In the minds of medieval man, the world existed in two dimensions: real, earthly and heavenly, spiritual. The Christian religion insisted that human life on earth is temporary. The purpose of earthly life is preparation for eternal, incorruptible life. These preparations should consist of moral improvement of the soul, curbing sinful passions, etc.
Two aspects of the artistic method of ancient Russian literature are associated with the dual nature of the worldview of medieval man:
1) reproduction of individual facts in all their specificity, purely empirical statements;
2) consistent transformation of life, that is, idealization of facts real life, an image not of what exists, but of what should be.
The first side of the artistic method is associated with the historicism of Old Russian literature in its medieval understanding, and with the second - its symbolism.
The Old Russian writer was convinced that symbols are hidden in nature, in man himself. He believed that historical events were also fulfilled symbolic meaning, because he believed that history moves and is directed by the will of the deity. The writer considered symbols as the main means of revealing the truth, discovering the inner meaning of a phenomenon. Just as the phenomena of the surrounding world are polysemantic, so is the word. This is where the symbolic nature of metaphors and comparisons in ancient Russian literature stems.
An Old Russian writer, trying to convey an image of truth, strictly follows a fact that he himself witnessed or about which he learned from the words of an eyewitness, a participant in the event. He does not doubt the truth of miracles, supernatural phenomena, he believes in their reality.
As a rule, the heroes of works of ancient Russian literature are historical figures. Only in some cases do representatives of the people turn out to be heroes.
Medieval literature is still alien to any individualization of human character. Old Russian writers create generalized typological images of an ideal ruler, a warrior, on the one hand, and an ideal ascetic, on the other. These images are sharply contrasted with the generalized typological image of the evil ruler and collective image demon-devil, personifying evil.
In the view of the ancient Russian writer, life is a constant arena of the struggle between good and evil.
The source of goodness, good thoughts and actions is God. The devil and demons push people to evil. However, Old Russian literature does not relieve responsibility from the person himself. Everyone is free to choose their own path.
In the consciousness of the ancient Russian writer, the categories of ethical and aesthetic merged. Good is always beautiful. Evil is associated with darkness.
The writer builds his works on the contrast of good and evil. He brings the reader to the idea that high moral qualities of a person are the result of hard moral work.
The behavior and actions of the heroes are determined by their social status, their belonging to the princely, boyar, druzhina, and church classes.
Strict adherence to the rhythm and order established by the ancestors forms the vital basis of etiquette and ceremoniality of ancient Russian literature. So the chronicler, first of all, sought to put the numbers in a row, that is, to arrange the material he selected in chronological sequence.
The works of ancient Russian literature were didactic and moralizing in nature. They were called upon to help get rid of vices.
So, medieval historicism, symbolism, ritualism and didacticism are the leading principles of artistic representation in works of ancient Russian literature. IN various works, depending on the genre and time of their creation, these features manifested themselves differently.
Historical development Old Russian literature proceeded through the gradual destruction of the integrity of its method, liberation from Christian symbolism, ritualism and didacticism.
The literature of Ancient Rus' arose in the 11th century. and developed over seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature is a single whole with all the diversity of genres, themes, and images. This literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and patriotism. On the pages of these works there are conversations about the most important philosophical, moral problems, about which heroes of all centuries think, speak, reflect. The works form a love for the Fatherland and one’s people, show the beauty of the Russian land, so these works touch the innermost strings of our hearts.
The significance of Old Russian literature as the basis for the development of new Russian literature is very great. Thus, images, ideas, even the style of writings were inherited by A. S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy.
Old Russian literature did not arise out of nowhere. Its appearance was prepared by the development of language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria and due to the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. The first literary works to appear in Rus' were translated. Those books that were necessary for worship were translated.
The very first original works, i.e. written by ourselves Eastern Slavs, date back to the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. V. The formation of Russian national literature was taking place, its traditions and features were taking shape, determining its specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days.
The purpose of this work is to show the features of Old Russian literature and its main genres.
II. Features of Old Russian literature.
2. 1. Historicism of content.
Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's imagination. Authors works of art, even if they describe the true events of real people, they conjecture a lot. But in Ancient Rus' everything was completely different. The ancient Russian scribe only talked about what, in his opinion, really happened. Only in the 17th century. Everyday stories with fictional characters and plots appeared in Rus'.
Both the ancient Russian scribe and his readers firmly believed that the events described actually happened. So the chronicles were a peculiar thing for the people of Ancient Rus' legal document. After the death of Moscow Prince Vasily Dmitrievich in 1425, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich and son Vasily Vasilyevich began to argue about their rights to the throne. Both princes turned to Tatar Khan so that he could judge their dispute. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich, defending his rights to Moscow reign, referred to ancient chronicles, which reported that power had previously passed from the prince-father not to his son, but to his brother.
2. 2. Handwritten nature of existence.
Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence. Even the appearance printing press in Rus' the situation changed little until the middle of the 18th century. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special veneration of the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to instability ancient Russian works literature. Those works that have come down to us are the result of the work of many, many people: the author, editor, copyist, and the work itself could last for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as “manuscript” (handwritten text) and “list” (rewritten work). The manuscript may contain lists of various works and may be written either by the author himself or by copyists. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term “edition,” i.e., the purposeful processing of a monument caused by socio-political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.
Closely related to the existence of a work in manuscripts is the following: specific trait Old Russian literature as a problem of authorship.
The author's principle in Old Russian literature is muted, implicit. Old Russian scribes were not thrifty with other people's texts. When rewriting, the texts were processed: some phrases or episodes were excluded from them or inserted into them, and stylistic “decorations” were added. Sometimes the author's ideas and assessments were even replaced by the opposite ones. The lists of one work differed significantly from each other.
Old Russian scribes did not at all strive to reveal their involvement in literary composition. Many monuments remained anonymous; the authorship of others was established by researchers based on indirect evidence. So it is impossible to attribute to someone else the writings of Epiphanius the Wise, with his sophisticated “weaving of words.” The style of Ivan the Terrible’s messages is inimitable, boldly mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of simple conversation.
It happens that in a manuscript one or another text was signed with the name of an authoritative scribe, which may or may not correspond to reality. Thus, among the works attributed to the famous preacher Saint Cyril of Turov, many, apparently, do not belong to him: the name of Cyril of Turov gave these works additional authority.
The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the ancient Russian “writer” did not consciously try to be original, but tried to show himself as traditional as possible, that is, to comply with all the rules and regulations of the established canon.
2. 4. Literary etiquette.
The famous literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature, Academician D. S. Likhachev, proposed a special term to designate the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - “literary etiquette”.
Literary etiquette consists of:
From the idea of how this or that course of events should have taken place;
From ideas about how one should behave actor according to your position;
From ideas about what words the writer should have described what was happening.
We have before us the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and the etiquette of words. The hero is supposed to behave this way, and the author is supposed to describe the hero only in appropriate terms.
III. The main genres of ancient Russian literature.
The literature of modern times is subject to the laws of “genre poetics.” It was this category that began to dictate the ways of creating a new text. But in ancient Russian literature the genre did not play such an important role.
A sufficient amount of research has been devoted to the genre uniqueness of Old Russian literature, but there is still no clear classification of genres. However, some genres immediately stood out in ancient Russian literature.
3. 1. Hagiographic genre.
Life is a description of the life of a saint.
Russian hagiographic literature includes hundreds of works, the first of which were written already in the 11th century. The Life, which came to Rus' from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of ancient Russian literature, that literary form, in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Rus' were clothed.
The compositional and verbal forms of life have been refined over the centuries. High theme - story about a life that embodies ideal service to the world and God - determines the image of the author and the style of narration. The author of the life tells the story excitedly; he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic and his admiration for his righteous life. The author's emotionality and excitement color the entire narrative in lyrical tones and contribute to the creation of a solemn mood. This atmosphere is also created by the style of narration - high solemn, full of quotations from the Holy Scriptures.
When writing a life, the hagiographer (the author of the life) was obliged to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of a correct life should be three-fold: introduction, story about the life and deeds of the saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author asks forgiveness from readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narrative, etc. The introduction was followed by the life itself. It cannot be called a “biography” of a saint in the full sense of the word. The author of the life selects from his life only those facts that do not contradict the ideals of holiness. The story about the life of a saint is freed from everything everyday, concrete, and accidental. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates, exact geographical names, or names of historical figures. The action of the life takes place, as it were, outside of historical time and specific space; it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of the hagiographic style.
At the end of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, requiring great literary art, good knowledge of rhetoric.
The oldest Russian hagiographic monuments are two lives of princes Boris and Gleb and the Life of Theodosius of Pechora.
3. 2. Eloquence.
Eloquence is an area of creativity characteristic of ancient period development of our literature. Monuments of church and secular eloquence are divided into two types: teaching and solemn.
Solemn eloquence required depth of concept and great literary skill. The speaker needed the ability to construct a speech effectively in order to capture the listener, set him in a high mood corresponding to the topic, and shock him with pathos. Existed special term to denote a solemn speech - “word”. (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. A military story could also be called “the Word.”) Speeches were not only pronounced, but written and distributed in numerous copies.
Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrow practical goals; it required the formulation of problems of broad social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for creating “words” are theological issues, issues of war and peace, defense of the borders of the Russian land, domestic and foreign policy, the struggle for cultural and political independence.
The most ancient monument of solemn eloquence is the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, written between 1037 and 1050.
Teaching eloquence is teachings and conversations. They are usually small in volume, often devoid of rhetorical embellishments, and written in the Old Russian language, which was generally accessible to people of that time. Church leaders and princes could deliver teachings.
Teachings and conversations have purely practical purposes and contain information necessary for a person. “Instruction to the Brethren” by Luke Zhidyata, Bishop of Novgorod from 1036 to 1059, contains a list of rules of behavior that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not utter “shameful” words. Go to church and behave quietly in it, honor your elders, judge truthfully, honor your prince, do not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.
Theodosius of Pechora is the founder of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: not to be late for church, make three prostrations, maintain decorum and order when singing prayers and psalms, and bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechora demands complete renunciation from the world, abstinence, and constant prayer and vigil. The abbot sternly denounces idleness, money-grubbing, and intemperance in food.
3. 3. Chronicle.
Chronicles were weather records (by “summers” - by “years”). The annual entry began with the words: “Into the summer.” After this there was a story about events and incidents that, from the point of view of the chronicler, were worthy of the attention of posterity. These could be military campaigns, raids by steppe nomads, natural disasters: droughts, crop failures, etc., as well as simply unusual incidents.
It is thanks to the work of chroniclers that modern historians have amazing opportunity look into the distant past.
Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk, who sometimes spent time compiling the chronicle long years. In those days, it was customary to start telling stories about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had to first of all find, put in order, and often rewrite the work of his predecessors. If the compiler of the chronicle had at his disposal not one, but several chronicle texts at once, then he had to “reduce” them, that is, combine them, choosing from each what he considered necessary to include in his own work. When materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler moved on to recounting the events of his time. The result of this great job the chronicle was forming. After some time, other chroniclers continued this collection.
Apparently, the first major monument ancient Russian chronicles became a chronicle compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this code is believed to have been the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).
Nikon's work formed the basis of another chronicle code, which was composed in the same monastery two decades later. In the scientific literature it received the code name “Initial arch”. Its nameless compiler replenished Nikon's collection not only with news of last years, but also chronicle information from other Russian cities.
“The Tale of Bygone Years”
Based on the chronicles of the 11th century tradition. The greatest chronicle of the era was born Kievan Rus- “The Tale of Bygone Years.”
It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th century According to some historians, its probable compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, also known for his other works. When creating “The Tale of Bygone Years,” its compiler used numerous materials with which he supplemented the Primary Code. These materials included Byzantine chronicles, texts of treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, monuments of translated and ancient Russian literature, and oral traditions.
The compiler of “The Tale of Bygone Years” set as his goal not just to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among the European and Asian peoples.
The chronicler talks in detail about the settlement Slavic peoples in ancient times, about the settlement of territories by the Eastern Slavs that would later become part of Old Russian state, about the morals and customs of different tribes. The Tale of Bygone Years emphasizes not only the antiquity of the Slavic peoples, but also the unity of their culture, language and writing, created in the 9th century. brothers Cyril and Methodius.
The chronicler considers the adoption of Christianity to be the most important event in the history of Rus'. The story of the first Russian Christians, the baptism of Rus', the spread of the new faith, the construction of churches, the emergence of monasticism, and the success of Christian enlightenment occupies a central place in the Tale.
The wealth of historical and political ideas reflected in “The Tale of Bygone Years” suggests that its compiler was not just an editor, but also a talented historian, a deep thinker, and a brilliant publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the Tale, sought to imitate him and almost necessarily placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle.
Medieval picture of the world.
Russian ancient and medieval culture Since the adoption of Christianity, it has been characterized by the concepts of holiness, conciliarity, sophia, and spirituality. Special aesthetic value in the traditional picture of the world Medieval Rus' acquired the categories of personality and transformation, light, luminosity.
Many religious, Orthodox values entered the ancient Russian picture of the world quite organically and naturally and became entrenched in it for a long time. First of all, it should be noted that the assimilation and understanding of Christian dogma and cult, and all worship, took place largely in the language artistic imagery as closest to the consciousness of ancient Russian man. God, spirit, holiness were perceived not as theological concepts, but rather as aesthetic and praxeological categories, more as living (mythological, according to A. F. Losev) rather than as symbolic.
Beauty was perceived in Rus' as an expression of the true and essential. Negative, unseemly phenomena were considered as deviations from the truth. As something transitory, not related to essence and therefore actually having no existence. Art acted as the bearer and exponent of the eternal and imperishable - absolute spiritual values. This is one of its most characteristic features and, moreover, one of the main principles of ancient Russian artistic thinking in general - Sofian art, which consists in the deep feeling and awareness by the ancient Russians of the unity of art, beauty and wisdom and in amazing ability Russian medieval artists and scribes to express through artistic means the basic spiritual values of their picture of the world, the essential problems of existence in their universal significance.
Art and wisdom were seen by the people of Ancient Rus' as inextricably linked; and the terms themselves were perceived almost as synonyms. Art was not conceived by the wise, and this applied equally to the art of words, icon painting or architecture. Starting his work, opening the first page, the Russian scribe asked God for the gift of wisdom, the gift of insight, the gift of speech, and this plea was by no means just a traditional tribute to the rhetorical fashion of his time. It contained true faith in the Divinity of creative inspiration, in the high purpose of art. .
The best expressive means The icon served as the sophia of the ancient Russian artistic and religious picture of the world. The icon, this “window” into the world of spiritual, transcendental religions, was also one of the most important paths to God. At the same time, in Rus' not only the direction of this path from the bottom up (from man to " mountain world"), but also vice versa - from God to man. God was understood by medieval Russian consciousness as the focus of all positive properties and characteristics of the “earthly” understanding of good, virtue, moral and aesthetic perfection, brought to the limit of idealization, that is, acting as an ideal, extremely distant from human earthly existence. Among its main characteristics, holiness, “honesty”, purity, luminosity most often appear - the main values on which religion is based.
Another component of the traditional picture of the world - holiness - in the broadest Old Russian Orthodox understanding is sinlessness, and in the strict sense “God alone is holy.” In relation to a person, holiness means a state that is as far removed from sin as possible; It also means a state of special isolation of a person from the general mass. This singularity (or separateness) is manifested in extraordinary good deeds of the individual, in speeches marked by wisdom and insight, in amazing spiritual qualities. After accepting Christianity in ancient Russian spirituality Next to the holy heroes appear heroes of a very special kind - passion-bearers. The first Russian passion-bearers are Boris and Gleb. However, brothers, warrior princes do not perform valiant feats of arms. Moreover, in a moment of danger, they deliberately leave the sword in its sheath and voluntarily accept death. The images of the passion-bearing saints were, in the words of G.P. Fedotov, a genuine religious discovery of the newly baptized Russian people. Why?
Old Russian man I saw, first of all, in the behavior of Boris and Gleb, a readiness for the unconditional implementation of Christian ideals: humility, meekness, love for one’s neighbor, even to the point of self-sacrifice, revealed not in words, but in deeds.
Features of Old Russian literature.
Russian literature XI-XVII centuries. developed under unique conditions. It was entirely handwritten. Printing, which appeared in Moscow in the middle of the 16th century, very little changed the nature and methods of distributing literary works.
The handwritten nature of literature led to its variability. When rewriting, scribes made their own amendments, changes, abbreviations, or, conversely, developed and expanded the text. As a result, the monuments of ancient Russian literature for the most part did not have a stable text. New editions and new types of works appeared in response to new demands of life and arose under the influence of changes in literary tastes.
The reason for the free handling of monuments was also anonymity ancient Russian monuments. The concept of literary property and author's monopoly was absent in Ancient Rus'. Literary monuments were not signed, since the author considered himself only an executor of God's will. The literary monuments were not dated, but the time of writing of this or that work is established with an accuracy of five to ten years using the chronicle, where all the events of Russian history are accurately recorded, and this or that work, as a rule, appeared “hot on the heels of the events” of history itself .
Old Russian literature is traditional. Author literary work"dresses" this topic in a corresponding “literary outfit”. As a result, the works of Ancient Rus' are not fenced off from each other by strict boundaries, their text is not fixed by precise ideas about literary property. This creates some illusion of inhibition literary process. Old Russian literature developed strictly according to traditional genres: hagiography, apocryphal, circulation genre, teachings of the church fathers, historical stories, didactic literature. All these genres are translated. Along with translated genres, the first Russian original genre appeared in the 11th century - chronicle writing.
Ancient Russian literature is characterized by “medieval historicism”, therefore artistic generalization in Ancient Rus' is built on the basis of a single specific historical fact. The work is always attached to a specific historical person, while any historical event receives a purely church interpretation, that is, the outcome of the event depends on the will of God, who either has mercy or punishes. The “medieval historicism” of Russian literature of the 11th-17th centuries is in connection with another important feature of it that has been preserved and developed in Russian literature up to the present day - its citizenship and patriotism.
Called to consider reality, follow this reality and evaluate it, the ancient Russian writer already in the 11th century perceived his work as a work of service home country. Old Russian literature has always been particularly serious, trying to answer the basic questions of life, calling for its transformation, and possessing diverse and always high ideals.
Peculiarities.
1. Ancient literature is filled with deep patriotic content, heroic pathos of serving the Russian land, state, and homeland.
2. main topic Old Russian literature - world history and the meaning of human life.
3. Ancient literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian person, capable of sacrificing the most precious thing for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses a deep belief in the power, the ultimate triumph of good and the ability of man to elevate his spirit and defeat evil.
4. A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is historicism. The heroes are mainly historical figures. Literature strictly follows fact.
5. A feature of the artistic creativity of the ancient Russian writer is the so-called “literary etiquette”. This is a special literary and aesthetic regulation, the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules, to establish once and for all what should be depicted and how.
6. Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing and is based on book Christian culture and developed forms of oral poetic creativity. At this time, literature and folklore were closely connected. Literature often perceived plots, artistic images, visual arts folk art.
7. The originality of ancient Russian literature in the depiction of the hero depends on the style and genre of the work. In relation to styles and genres, the hero is reproduced in the monuments of ancient literature, ideals are formed and created.
8. In ancient Russian literature, a system of genres was defined, within which the development of original Russian literature began. The main thing in their definition was the “use” of the genre, the “practical purpose” for which this or that work was intended.
The originality of ancient Russian literature:
Works of ancient Russian literature existed and were distributed in manuscripts. Moreover, this or that work did not exist in the form of a separate, independent manuscript, but was part of various collections. Another feature of medieval literature is the absence of copyright. We know of only a few individual authors, book writers, who modestly put their name at the end of the manuscript. At the same time, the writer supplied his name with such epithets as “thin”. But in most cases, the writer wished to remain anonymous. As a rule, the author’s texts have not reached us, but later lists of them have been preserved. Often, scribes acted as editors and co-authors. At the same time, they changed the ideological orientation of the work being copied, the nature of its style, shortened or distributed the text in accordance with the tastes and demands of the time. As a result, new editions of monuments were created. Thus, a researcher of ancient Russian literature must study all available lists of a particular work, establish the time and place of their writing by comparing various editions, variants of lists, and also determine in which edition the list most closely matches the original author's text. Such sciences as textual criticism and paleography (studies the external signs of handwritten monuments - handwriting, lettering, the nature of writing material) can come to help.
A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is historicism. Its heroes are predominantly historical figures; it allows almost no fiction and strictly follows the fact. Even numerous stories about “miracles” - phenomena that seemed supernatural to a medieval person, are not so much the invention of an ancient Russian writer, but rather accurate records of the stories of either eyewitnesses or the people themselves with whom the “miracle” happened. Old Russian literature, inextricably linked with the history of the development of the Russian state and the Russian people, is imbued with heroic and patriotic pathos. Another feature is anonymity.
Literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian person, capable of sacrificing what is most precious for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses deep faith in the power and ultimate triumph of good, in man's ability to elevate his spirit and defeat evil. The Old Russian writer was least of all inclined to an impartial presentation of facts, “listening to good and evil indifferently.” Any genre of ancient literature, be it a historical story or legend, hagiography or church sermon, as a rule, includes significant elements of journalism. Touching primarily on state-political or moral issues, the writer believes in the power of words, in the power of persuasion. He appeals not only to his contemporaries, but also to distant descendants with an appeal to ensure that the glorious deeds of their ancestors are preserved in the memory of generations and that descendants do not repeat the sad mistakes of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
The literature of Ancient Rus' expressed and defended the interests of the upper echelons of feudal society. However, it could not help but show an acute class struggle, which resulted either in the form of open spontaneous uprisings or in the forms of typically medieval religious heresies. The literature vividly reflected the struggle between progressive and reactionary groups within the ruling class, each of which sought support among the people. And since the progressive forces of feudal society reflected national interests, and these interests coincided with the interests of the people, we can talk about the nationality of ancient Russian literature.
In the 11th - first half of the 12th century, the main writing material was parchment, made from the skin of calves or lambs. Birch bark played the role of student notebooks.
To save writing material, the words in the line were not separated and only paragraphs of the manuscript were highlighted with red capital letters. Frequently used, well-known words were written abbreviated under a special superscript - title. The parchment was pre-lined. Handwriting with regular, almost square letters was called charter.
The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were bound into wooden boards.
Features of Old Russian works
1. The books were written in Old Russian. There were no punctuation marks, all words were written together.
2. Artistic images were influenced by the church. Mostly the exploits of saints were described.
3. Monks wrote books. The writers were very literate; they had to know the ancient Greek language and the Bible.
3. In ancient Russian literature there were a large number of genres: chronicles, historical stories, lives of saints, words. There were also translated works of a religious nature.
One of the most common genres is the chronicle.
In this article we will look at the features of Old Russian literature. The literature of Ancient Rus' was primarily church. After all, book culture in Rus' appeared with the adoption of Christianity. Monasteries became centers of writing, and the first literary monuments These are mainly works of a religious nature. Thus, one of the first original (that is, not translated, but written by a Russian author) works was the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion. The author proves the superiority of Grace (the image of Jesus Christ is associated with it) over the Law, which, according to the preacher, is conservative and nationally limited.
Literature was created not for entertainment, but for teaching. Considering the features of ancient Russian literature, it should be noted that it is instructive. She teaches to love God and her Russian land; she creates images of ideal people: saints, princes, faithful wives.
Let us note one seemingly insignificant feature of ancient Russian literature: it was handwritten. Books were created in a single copy and only then copied by hand when it was necessary to make a copy or the original text became unusable over time. This gave the book special value and generated respect for it. In addition, for the Old Russian reader, all books traced their origins to the main one - the Holy Scriptures.
Since the literature of Ancient Rus' was fundamentally religious, the book was seen as a storehouse of wisdom, a textbook of righteous life. Old Russian literature is not fiction, but modern meaning this word. She goes out of her way avoids fiction and strictly follows the facts. The author does not show his individuality; he hides behind the narrative form. He does not strive for originality; for an ancient Russian writer it is more important to stay within the framework of tradition, not to break it. Therefore, all lives are similar to one another, all biographies of princes or military stories are compiled according to overall plan, in compliance with the "rules". When “The Tale of Bygone Years” tells us about Oleg’s death from his horse, this beautiful poetic legend sounds like a historical document; the author really believes that everything happened that way.
The hero of ancient Russian literature does not have no personality, no character in our view today. Man's destiny is in the hands of God. And at the same time, his soul acts as an arena for the struggle between good and evil. The first will win only when a person lives according to moral rules given once and for all.
Of course, in Russian medieval works we will not find either individual characters or psychologism - not because ancient Russian writers did not know how to do this. In the same way, icon painters created planar rather than three-dimensional images, not because they could not write “better”, but because they were faced with other artistic tasks: the face of Christ cannot be similar to the usual human face. An icon is a sign of holiness, not a depiction of a saint.
The literature of Ancient Rus' adheres to the same aesthetic principles: it creates faces, not faces, gives the reader sample correct behavior rather than depicting a person's character. Vladimir Monomakh behaves like a prince, Sergius of Radonezh behaves like a saint. Idealization is one of the key principles of ancient Russian art.
Old Russian literature in every possible way avoids mundaneness: she does not describe, but narrates. Moreover, the author does not narrate on his own behalf, he only conveys what is written in the sacred books, what he read, heard or saw. There can be nothing personal in this narrative: no manifestation of feelings, no individual manner. (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in this sense is one of the few exceptions.) Therefore, many works of the Russian Middle Ages anonymous, the authors do not even assume such immodesty - to put your name. And the ancient reader cannot even imagine that the word is not from God. And if God speaks through the mouth of the author, then why does he need a name, a biography? That is why the information available to us about ancient authors is so scarce.
At the same time, in ancient Russian literature a special national ideal of beauty, captured by ancient scribes. First of all, this is spiritual beauty, the beauty of the Christian soul. In Russian medieval literature, in contrast to Western European literature of the same era, the knightly ideal of beauty - the beauty of weapons, armor, and victorious battle - is much less represented. The Russian knight (prince) wages war for the sake of peace, and not for the sake of glory. War for the sake of glory and profit is condemned, and this is clearly seen in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Peace is assessed as an unconditional good. The ancient Russian ideal of beauty presupposes a wide expanse, an immense, “decorated” earth, and it is decorated with temples, because they were created specifically for the exaltation of the spirit, and not for practical purposes.
The attitude of ancient Russian literature is also connected with the theme of beauty to oral and poetic creativity, folklore. On the one hand, folklore had pagan origin, therefore, did not fit into the framework of the new, Christian worldview. On the other hand, he could not help but penetrate literature. After all, the written language in Rus' from the very beginning was Russian, and not Latin, as in Western Europe, and there was no impassable border between the book and the spoken word. Folk ideas about beauty and goodness also generally coincided with Christian ideas; Christianity penetrated folklore almost unhindered. Therefore, the heroic epic (epics), which began to take shape in the pagan era, presents its heroes both as patriotic warriors and as defenders of the Christian faith, surrounded by “filthy” pagans. Just as easily, sometimes almost unconsciously, ancient Russian writers use folklore images and stories.
The religious literature of Rus' quickly outgrew its narrow church framework and became truly spiritual literature, which created a whole system of genres. Thus, “The Sermon on Law and Grace” belongs to the genre of a solemn sermon delivered in church, but Hilarion not only proves the Grace of Christianity, but also glorifies the Russian land, combining religious pathos with patriotic ones.
Genre of life
The most important genre for ancient Russian literature was the hagiography, the biography of a saint. At the same time, the task was pursued, by telling about the earthly life of a saint canonized by the church, to create an image ideal person for the edification of all people.
IN " Lives of the Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb"Prince Gleb appeals to his killers with a request to spare him: “Do not cut the ear, which is not yet ripe, filled with the milk of goodness! Do not cut the vine, which is not yet fully grown, but bears fruit!” Abandoned by his squad, Boris in his tent “cries with a broken heart, but is joyful in his soul”: he is afraid of death and at the same time he realizes that he is repeating the fate of many saints who accepted martyrdom for their faith.
IN " Lives of Sergius of Radonezh“It is said that the future saint in his adolescence had difficulty comprehending literacy, lagged behind his peers in learning, which caused him a lot of suffering; when Sergius retired into the desert, a bear began to visit him, with whom the hermit shared his meager food, it happened that the saint gave the last piece of bread to the beast.
In the traditions of life in the 16th century, “ The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, but it already sharply diverged from the canons (norms, requirements) of the genre and therefore was not included in the collection of lives of the “Great Chet-Minea” along with other biographies. Peter and Fevronia are real historical figures who reigned in Murom in the 13th century, Russian saints. The author of the 16th century produced not a hagiography, but an entertaining story, built on fairy-tale motifs, glorifying the love and loyalty of the heroes, and not just their Christian deeds.
A " Life of Archpriest Avvakum", written by himself in the 17th century, turned into a bright autobiographical work filled with authentic events and real people, living details, feelings and experiences of the hero-narrator, behind which stands the bright character of one of the spiritual leaders of the Old Believers.
Genre of teaching
Since religious literature was intended to educate true Christian, one of the genres was teaching. Although this is a church genre, close to a sermon, it was also used in secular (secular) literature, since the ideas of the people of that time about the correct, righteous life did not differ from the church ones. You know" Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh", written by him around 1117 "while sitting on a sleigh" (shortly before his death) and addressed to children.
The ideal appears before us Old Russian prince. He cares about the welfare of the state and each of his subjects, guided by Christian morality. The prince's other concern is about the church. All earthly life should be considered as work to save the soul. This is the work of mercy and kindness, and military work, and mental work. Hard work is the main virtue in Monomakh’s life. He made eighty-three large campaigns, signed twenty peace treaties, studied five languages, he himself did what his servants and warriors did.
Chronicles
A significant, if not the largest, part of ancient Russian literature is works of historical genres that were included in the chronicles. The first Russian chronicle - "The Tale of Bygone Years""created in beginning of XII century. Its significance is extremely great: it was proof of Rus'’s right to state independence and independence. But if the chroniclers could record recent events “according to the epics of this time”, reliably, then the events of pre-Christian history had to be reconstructed according to oral sources: traditions, legends, sayings, geographical names. Therefore, the chroniclers turn to folklore. These are the legends about the death of Oleg, about Olga’s revenge on the Drevlyans, about Belgorod jelly, etc.
Already in The Tale of Bygone Years two the most important features Old Russian literature: patriotism and connection with folklore. Book-Christian and folklore-pagan traditions are closely intertwined in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
Elements of fiction and satire
Of course, ancient Russian literature was not unchanged throughout all seven centuries. We saw that over time it became more secular, elements of fiction intensified, and satirical motifs increasingly penetrated into literature, especially in the 16th-17th centuries. These are, for example, " The Tale of Misfortune", showing what troubles disobedience and the desire to “live as he pleases,” and not as his elders teach, can bring a person, and “ The Tale of Ersha Ershovich", ridiculing the so-called "voivode's court" in the tradition of a folk tale.
But in general, we can talk about the literature of Ancient Rus' as a single phenomenon, with its own end-to-end ideas and motives that have passed through 700 years, with its general aesthetic principles, with a stable system of genres.