"Separate observations on the artistic specifics of ancient Russian literature were already in the works of F.I. Buslaev, I.S. Nekrasov, I.S. Tikhonravov, V.O. Klyuchevsky." Likhachev D.S. Poetics of ancient Russian literature, M., 1979, p. 5.
But only at the end of the 20th century did works appear that set out the general views of their authors on artistic specificity and on the artistic methods of ancient Russian literature. "These views can be traced in the works of I.P. Eremin, V.P. Andrianova-Peretz, D.S. Likhachev, S.N. Azbelev." Kuskov V.V. History of Old Russian Literature, M., 1989, p. 9.
D.S. Likhachev put forward a thesis about the diversity of artistic methods not only in all ancient Russian literature, but in this or that author, in this or that work.
"Any artistic method," the researcher distinguishes, "comprises a whole system of large and small means to achieve certain artistic goals. Therefore, each artistic method has many features, and these features are in a certain way correlated with each other." Likhachev D.S. To the study of artistic methods of Russian literature of the XI-XVII centuries // TODRL, M., L., 1964, v. 20, p.7.
The worldview of a medieval person absorbed, on the one hand, speculative religious ideas about the human world, and on the other hand, a specific vision of reality that followed from the labor practice of a person in a feudal society.
In his daily activities, a person is faced with reality: nature, social, economic and political relations. The world around man christian religion considered temporary, transient and sharply opposed to the eternal, imperishable world. The beginnings of the temporal and eternal are contained in man himself: his mortal body and immortal soul, the result of divine revelation allows a person to penetrate the secrets of the ideal world. The soul gives life to the body, spiritualizes it. The body is the source of carnal passions and the illnesses and sufferings resulting from them.
A person cognizes reality with the help of five senses - this is the lowest form sensory knowledge "visible world". The "invisible" world is comprehended through reflection. Only inner spiritual insight as a doubling of the world largely determined the specifics artistic method ancient Russian literature, its leading principle - symbolism. Medieval man was convinced that symbols are hidden in nature and in man himself, symbolic meaning filled with historical events. The symbol served as a means of revealing the meaning, finding the truth. As the signs of the visible world surrounding a person are ambiguous, so is the word: it can be interpreted both in direct and figurative meanings.
Religious Christian symbolism in the minds of ancient Russian people was closely intertwined with folk poetic. Both of them had common source - surrounding a person nature. And if the labor agricultural practice of the people gave earthly concreteness to this symbolism, then Christianity introduced elements of abstractness.
A characteristic feature of medieval thinking was retrospectiveness and traditionalism. Thus, the ancient Russian writer constantly refers to the texts of "scripture", which he interprets not only historically, but also allegorically, tropologically and analogously.
The Old Russian writer creates his work within the framework of an established tradition: he looks at patterns, canons, does not allow "self-thinking", i.e. fiction. His task is to convey the "image of truth." The medieval historicism of Old Russian literature is subordinated to this goal. All events occurring in the life of a person and society are considered as a manifestation of the divine will.
History is a constant arena of the struggle between good and evil. The source of good, good thoughts and deeds is God. The devil pushes people to evil. But ancient Russian literature does not remove responsibility from the person himself. He is free to choose either thorny path virtue, or the spacious road of sin. In the mind of the ancient Russian writer, the categories of ethical and aesthetic organically merged. The Old Russian writer usually builds his works on the contrast of good and evil, virtues and vices, ideal and bad guys. He shows that high moral qualities man - the result of hard work, moral feat.
The character of medieval literature is imprinted by the dominance of the estate-corporate principle. The heroes of her works, as a rule, are princes, rulers, generals or church hierarchies, "saints", famous for their deeds of piety. The behavior and actions of these heroes are determined by their social position.
Thus, symbolism, historicism, ritualism or etiquette and didacticism are the leading principles of the artistic method of ancient Russian literature, which incorporates two sides: strict factuality and the ideal transformation of reality.
Old Russian literature... How can it be of interest to us, people of the 21st century? First of all, keeping historical memory. It is also the source of all our spiritual life. Our written culture originates from literature Ancient Rus'. Much in modern life becomes clear if there is a historical retrospective. At the same time, a number of efforts must be made to understand what they believed in, what they dreamed about, what our distant ancestors wanted to do.
It is advisable to start a conversation with students with a description of the era.
Ancient Rus'… How do we imagine it? What is the peculiarity of the perception of man and the world of a certain era? What is the difficulty in understanding it? First of all, the reader, researcher or teacher faces the problems of adequate understanding of the era itself, and since the era is shown through the prism of a literary work, this is a problem of reading and interpretation. This task is especially complicated if the time about which in question, is several centuries away from the reader. Other times, other customs, other concepts... What should the reader do in order to understand the people of a distant time? Try to figure out the intricacies of this time period yourself.
What is the world of medieval man? To answer this question, it is necessary to deviate somewhat from the interpretation Medieval Rus' given in Soviet period. The fact is that the starting point of Soviet science was the pre-revolutionary book by P.N. Accordingly, in many works of Soviet researchers, the Middle Ages are presented as a time where senseless barbarian customs and mores reigned, and the domination of the church was perceived as evil.
Currently, a new direction in science is being developed - historical anthropology. In the center of her attention is a person with his inner world and the totality of the relationship of a person with the surrounding space, natural, public, domestic. Thus, the image of the world is revealed both as a microcosm (through the person of a given era himself) and as a macrocosm (through social and state relations). The teacher bears a great responsibility for the formation in the mind of the student of the image of the world of the Middle Ages. If the space of the past is distorted, then the space of the present is thereby distorted. Moreover, the historical past becomes an arena of ideological battles, where there is a distortion of facts, and juggling, and "fantastic reconstruction" that is so fashionable at the present time. That is why the position of the teacher in the process of teaching Old Russian literature is so important.
What should the reader pay attention to in order to understand the world of medieval Russian people, to learn to respect the significance and self-understanding of this world? It is important to understand that the meaning of some words and concepts for a person of the X-XV centuries is different than for Human XXI century. Accordingly, in the light of these meanings, some actions can be considered and evaluated quite differently. So, one of the basic concepts of the Middle Ages is the concept of truth. For a modern person, truth is “a sphere of deep feelings, artistic comprehension, eternal scientific searches. Medieval man was different in that his mood was different: the truth for him was already open and defined in the texts of Holy Scripture.
In addition to the concept of "truth", it is important to reveal the ancient meanings of the words "truth" and "faith". Under the "truth" in ancient Rus' was meant the Word of God. "Faith" is the Word of God in the flesh. This is the truth given in God's commandments, apostolic and sacred canons. In a narrower sense, "faith" is the ritual side of religion. Trying to translate this concept into modern language Let's say that "truth" is an idea, and "faith" is a technology for bringing this idea to life.
The task of the teacher is especially difficult, when he has to immerse himself not only in the past, which in itself is fraught with the danger of misunderstanding, but in another spiritual world, the world of the Church, where the opposite perspective is characteristic: the distant faces are larger than the near ones. The most important thing that a teacher should remember is the covenant handed down to us from the depths of the Middle Ages: “Let it not be merciful to lie against a saint!”
The images of the saints excited and excite now. However modern man it is difficult to understand the full depth of the deeds of these people. We must make efforts, devote time to this, and then the world of Russian holiness will appear before us.
Old Russian literature differs in many respects from modern literature. It contains a number of specific features, which determine its dissimilarity with the literature of our days:
1) historicism of the content;
2) syncretism;
3) voluntariness and didacticity;
4) etiquette of forms;
5) anonymity;
6) the handwritten nature of the narrative and existence.
In Ancient Rus', fiction was attributed to diabolical instigation, therefore only those events that actually happened and were known to the author were depicted. The historicism of the content is manifested in the fact that there were no fictional heroes, no events. All persons, all events referred to in the narrative are real, authentic, or the author believes in their authenticity.
Anonymity is inherent primarily in chronicles, lives, military stories. The author proceeded from the idea that it is immodest to put your signature when you talk about historical events or talk about the life, deeds and miracles of a saint. As for sermons, teachings, prayers, they most often have specific authors, because a very authoritative person, respected and revered by others, could pronounce or write them. The very genre of preaching and teaching made special demands on the author. His name, his righteous life influenced the listener and the reader.
In the Middle Ages, great importance was attached to the form of relations between people, scrupulous adherence to tradition, observance of ritual, detailed etiquette. Therefore, literary etiquette was predetermined by the world order and rigid limits of behavior. Literary etiquette presupposed how the course of events should have taken place, how actor what words to describe what happened. And if the behavior of any person did not correspond to the generally accepted norm, then it was or negative character, or it was necessary to remain silent about this fact.
In general, all written works in Old Russian literature are voluntarily and didactic. The author writes his works with the idea that he will certainly convince the reader, have an emotional and volitional impact and lead him to the generally accepted norms of morality and morality. This is typical for translated literature, including scientific literature. So "Physiologist", a translated monument, known even to Vladimir Monomakh, introduced real and mythical animals. At the same time, this text is an insistence to readers: “The lion has three properties. When the lioness gives birth, she brings a dead and blind cub, she sits and guards until three days. Three days later, a lion comes, blows into his nostrils and the cub comes to life. The same with faithful peoples. Before baptism they are dead, but after baptism they are cleansed by the holy spirit.” Synthesis of science and religious beliefs combined in one text.
The original written works in Old Russian literature, as a rule, belonged to the genres of the journalistic style. Life, preaching, teaching as a genre predetermined the vector of thought, showed moral standards and taught the rules of conduct. Thus, the works of Metropolitan Hilarion are theological treatises in content, sermons in form. In them, he cares about the prosperity of the Russian people, about their morality and morality. Hilarion has a very definite idea of what the people need, for he became a teacher and shepherd "by the grace of a philanthropic God."
The syncretism of genres is generally characteristic of the era of the emergence of art and literature. It appears in two forms. Firstly, a vivid manifestation of syncretism can be traced in the chronicles. They also contain military tale, and legends, and samples of contracts, and reflections on religious topics. Secondly, syncretism is associated with underdevelopment genre forms. In the Journeys, for example, there are also descriptions of specific geographical and historical sites and preaching and teaching. Elements of military stories can be introduced into life. And military stories can end with teachings or religious reflections.
In order to understand the peculiarities of the culture of Ancient Rus', it is also necessary to say about the significance of Byzantine culture and literature for the formation of Old Russian literature. Along with baptism, books came to Rus'. The most famous and revered were the works of the Byzantine theologians John Chrysostom (344-407), Basil the Great (330-379), Gregory the Theologian (320-390), Ephrem the Syrian (died 343). They interpreted the foundations of Christianity, people were instructed in Christian virtues.
Of the translated stories and novels, the most popular was the novel "Alexandria", which tells about the life of Alexander the Great. This novel about historical events with an entertaining plot, with interweaving of fictional events and fantastic inserts, with a colorful description of India and Persia, was a favorite work in medieval Europe. The Russian translator dealt with this novel quite freely, he supplemented it with episodes from other sources, adapting it to the tastes of Russian readers. Moreover, he believed that all the events of the novel are genuine, and not fictional.
In addition to these books, Russian people were interested in The Tale of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Josephus Flavius, the story of Basil Digenis Akritus (it was known to ancient Russian readers as the Deed of Devgen), the story of the Trojan deeds, the story of Akira the Wise. Even a simple enumeration gives an understanding of the breadth of interests of the translators of Ancient Rus': they introduce historical events in Jerusalem, admire the exploits of a warrior guarding the eastern borders Byzantine Empire, show history Trojan War and tell about the distant past, about the life of the wise adviser to the Assyrian and Nineveh king Sennacherib-Akihara (Akira).
Translators are also interested in works about the natural world. These books included "The Six Days" with information about the Universe, "Physiologist", which described real and imaginary animals, fantastic stones and amazing trees, and "Christian topography of Cosmas Indikoplova", "sailor to India".
Middle Ages by tragic accident appear dark, harsh, and unproductive. It seems that people thought differently, imagined the world in a different way, which did not correspond to great achievements literary works. Chronicles, teachings, lives and prayers... Will it all be interesting? After all, now other times, other customs. But could there be another view native land? In his prayer, Metropolitan Hilarion asks the Savior to “show meekness and mercy” to the Russian people: “… cast out enemies, establish the world, pacify tongues, quench famines, create our rulers with the threat of tongues, make wise the boyar, spread cities, grow your Church, keep your heritage save husbands and wives with babies who are in slavery, in captivity, in captivity on the way, in swimming, in dungeons, in hunger and thirst and nakedness - have mercy on everyone, grant consolation to everyone, rejoice everyone, giving them joy and bodily, and sincere!
Despite the peculiarities of the vision of the world, the attitude towards God and man, the form of expression of thought remains almost the same for people of the 10th and 21st centuries. We convey thought by the same substances of language. Types of speech and genres exist in time, changing and adapting to a particular era in content rather than in form.
Genre - primary speech form the existence of a language. If speech genres did not exist, then they would have to be created anew at the moment of speech. This would impede communication, impede the transfer of information. Each time creating a genre for the first time, and not using its form, would be very difficult. M.M. Bakhtin in the book "Aesthetics verbal creativity» determined the following criteria speech genre: subject content, stylistic decision and speech will of the speaker. All these moments are interconnected and determine the specifics of the genre. However, the genre is not only a speech statement, but at the same time a historically formed type of literary work, which has the features distinctive features and laws.
The genre is determined not only by the laws of language, but also by the paradigm of consciousness and the paradigm of behavior. Therefore, the primary genres are those that reflect the simplest things: a biography, a memorial speech, a sermon as a reasoning on moral and religious topics, a lesson as a reasoning on moral and ethical topics, a parable, a description of a journey. Genres at the beginning of their appearance exist as some kind of unity, distinguished by a rigid structure of the presentation of dominant views. As a result of rethinking life, changing semantic values, the genre also changes. There is no unity of content, and the form of presentation of the material is also destroyed.
Genres are not stable in and of themselves. They interact with each other, enriching each other. They can change, can form new combinations.
For certain period the genre is changing, acquiring new features. We can trace the features of the development of such a genre as the description of travel over the centuries. "Journeys", pilgrimages are religious description travel to the Holy Land, to Constantinople, to Palestine. "Journey Beyond Three Seas" by Afanasy Nikitin is already a secular description, to some extent geographical. In the future, trips of scientific, artistic and journalistic styles are distinguished. In the latter style, the travel essay genre is especially common.
Of course, in ancient Russian literature, the subject content depended on the religious worldview and historical events. The theocentric vision of the world largely determined the self-consciousness of man. human personality- nothing before the power and majesty of the Lord. Thus, the style decision was determined by the place of a person in the world. The author's beginning should not play any role. The image of historical figures should initially be far from reality. Absence original style should have been the rule rather than the exception. But all this did not become a dogma for ancient Russian literature. In it, on the contrary, we see works filled with the author's worldview, pain for the fate of the country, they give preference to certain events and people. The chronicler is proud, elevates or brings down and condemns his princes, he is not an impartial observer.
In the works of this period, the reader is introduced to religious wisdom. That is why fiction is not allowed, but only facts are transmitted, on their basis Christian truths are revealed. The speech will of the speaker in the works of that time was subordinated to the state and religious idea.
Parameters defining genre features speech utterance are considered at several levels: at the subject-semantic, at the structural-compositional, at the level of style and language design.
The thematic content of any speech statement is determined by "subject-semantic exhaustion". The author of the speech statement thinks over how the subject of speech will be presented in the texts and what needs to be said in order for the topic to be revealed within these genre frameworks.
The structural-compositional level prescribes a rather rigid genre scheme. The parable has its own structure, oratory does not look like a lesson, and the lives of the saints - like military stories. The compositional organization is the external and internal manifestations textual material is its division into semantic parts. The genres of Old Russian literature were created according to a certain canon, which largely dictated a rigid structure and characteristic composition.
Speech utterance requires special stylistic resources. Firstly, it is the style of the era, in this case, Old Russian. Secondly, the style of the genre, parables, walks, etc. The genre itself determines what style features priority in this work. And, thirdly, the author's style. The monk does not speak as the prince speaks.
The genre nature of any statement is specific, therefore, in each genre, one can single out the unique, original, characteristic only for this type. The content depends on the speech will of the speaker, i.e. the subject of speech, the idea, how this subject of speech is defined and what is the attitude of the author to it, and the style in which all this is presented. This unity determines the genre of a literary and journalistic work, including Old Russian literature.
In ancient Russian literature, there was a division of genres into secular and state-religious.
Secular works are works of oral art. In ancient Russian society, folklore was not limited by class or class. Epics, fairy tales, songs were of interest to everyone, and they were listened to both in the princely palace and in the dwelling of the smerd. Oral creativity filled the aesthetic needs in the artistic word.
Written literature was publicistic. She responded to religious, moral, ethical needs. These are parables, lives of saints, walks, prayers and teachings, chronicles, military and historical stories.
Therefore, oral and written literature covered all spheres of human activity, showed him inner world satisfied religious, moral, ethical and aesthetic needs.
The literature of Ancient Rus' arose in the 11th century. and developed over the course of seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature is a single entity with all the variety 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 issues about which the heroes of all centuries think, talk, and meditate. The works form love for the Fatherland and their people, show the beauty of the Russian land, therefore 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. So images, ideas, even the style of compositions were inherited by A.S. Pushkin, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.
Old Russian literature did not arise from scratch. Its appearance was prepared by the development of language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria and is due to the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. The first literary works that appeared in Rus' were translated. Those books that were necessary for worship were translated.
The very first original compositions, i.e., written by themselves Eastern Slavs, belong to the end of the XI-beginning of the XII century. V. There was a formation of Russian national literature, its traditions were formed, features that determine 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.
Features of Old Russian literature
1. Historicism of content.
Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's fiction. Authors works of art, even if they describe real events real faces, conjecture a lot. But in ancient Rus', everything was completely different. The Old Russian scribe told only about what, according to his ideas, really happened. Only in the XVII century. Everyday stories appeared in Rus' with fictional characters and plots.
Both the ancient Russian scribe and his readers firmly believed that the events described actually happened. So the chronicles were a kind of legal document for the people of Ancient Rus'. After the death in 1425 of the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich and son Vasily Vasilyevich began to argue about their rights to the throne. Both princes turned to the Tatar Khan to judge their dispute. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich, defending his rights to reign in Moscow, referred to ancient chronicles, which reported that power had previously passed from the prince-father not to his son, but to his brother.
2. Handwritten nature of existence.
Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of existence. Even the appearance of the printing press in Rus' did little to change the situation until mid-eighteenth V. Existence literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special reverence for the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to instability Old Russian works literature. Those writings 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 continue for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as "manuscript" (handwritten text) and "list" (rewritten work). The manuscript may contain lists different compositions and can be written both by the author himself and by scribes. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term "redaction", i.e., the purposeful processing of a monument caused by social and political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.
The existence of a work in manuscripts is closely related to such a specific feature of Old Russian literature as the problem of authorship.
The authorial principle in ancient Russian literature is muted, implicit; Old Russian scribes were not careful with other people's texts. When rewriting the texts, they were reworked: some phrases or episodes were excluded from them or some episodes were inserted into them, stylistic "decorations" were added. Sometimes the ideas and assessments of the author were even replaced by the opposite ones. Lists of one work differed significantly from each other.
Old Russian scribes did not at all seek to reveal their involvement in literary writing. Very many monuments remained anonymous, the authorship of others was established by researchers on indirect grounds. 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 epistles is inimitable, impudently mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of a simple conversation.
It happens that in the manuscript one or another text was signed by the name of an authoritative scribe, which may equally correspond or not correspond to reality. So among the works attributed to the famous preacher St. Cyril of Turov, many, apparently, do not belong to him: the name of Cyril of Turov gave additional authority to these works.
The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the Old Russian "writer" consciously did not 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.
4. Literary etiquette.
Well-known literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature academician D.S. Likhachev proposed special term to designate the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - "literary etiquette".
Literary etiquette is composed of:
From the idea of how this or that course of an event should have taken place;
From ideas about how the actor should have behaved in accordance with his position;
From the ideas of what words the writer had to describe what is happening.
Before us is the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and verbal etiquette. The hero is supposed to behave in this way, and the author is supposed to describe the hero only in appropriate terms.
The main genres of ancient Russian literature
The literature of modern times is subject to the laws of the "poetics of the genre". 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 number of studies have been devoted to the genre originality of Old Russian literature, but there is still no clear classification of genres. However, some genres immediately stood out in ancient Russian literature.
1. Hagiographic genre.
Life is a description of the life of a saint.
Russian hagiographic literature has hundreds of works, the first of them were written in the XI century. 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 polished for centuries. High topic- a story about a life that embodies the ideal service to the world and God - determines the image of the author and the style of narration. The author of the life narrates with excitement, he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic, admiration for his righteous life. The emotionality of the author, his excitement paint the whole story 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) had to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of the correct life should be three-part: an introduction, a story about the life and deeds of a saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author apologizes to the readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narration, etc. The life itself followed the introduction. 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, random. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates, exact geographical names, names historical figures. The action of life takes place, as it were, outside historical time and concrete space, it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of hagiographic style.
At the conclusion of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, which required a lot of literary art, good knowledge rhetoric.
The oldest Russian hagiographic monuments are two lives of princes Boris and Gleb and The Life of Theodosius of Pechora.
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: instructive and solemn.
Solemn eloquence required depth of conception and great literary skill. The orator needed the ability to effectively build a speech in order to capture the listener, set it up in a high way, corresponding to the topic, shake him with pathos. There was special term to denote a solemn speech - "word". (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. A military story could also be called a “Word.”) Speeches were not only delivered, but written and distributed in numerous copies.
Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrowly practical goals, it required the formulation of problems of a wide social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for the creation of "words" are theological issues, issues of war and peace, defense of the borders of the Russian land, internal and foreign policy, the struggle for cultural and political independence.
The oldest monument of solemn eloquence is Metropolitan Hilarion's Sermon on Law and Grace, written between 1037 and 1050.
Teaching eloquence is teachings and conversations. They are usually small in volume, often devoid of rhetorical embellishments, written in a language that was generally accessible to people of that time. Old Russian. Teachings could be given by church leaders, princes.
Teachings and conversations have purely practical purposes, they contain the 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 conduct that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not say "shameful" words. Go to church and behave in it quietly, honor elders, judge by the truth, honor your prince, do not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.
Theodosius Pechorsky - founder Kievo-Pechersky monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: do not be late for church, make three bows to the earth, observe deanery and order when singing prayers and psalms, and bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechorsky demands a complete renunciation of the world, abstinence, constant prayer and vigil. The abbot severely denounces idleness, money-grubbing, intemperance in food.
3. Chronicle.
Chronicles were called weather (by "years" - by "years") records. The annual record began with the words: "In the summer." After that, 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 an amazing opportunity to 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 a story about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had first of all to 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 one that he considered necessary to include in his own work. When the materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler proceeded to present the incidents of his time. The result of this great work was the annalistic code. After some time, this code was continued by other chroniclers.
Apparently the first major monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing became an annalistic code compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this code is believed to have been the abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).
Nikon's work formed the basis of another annalistic code, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. IN scientific literature he received the conditional name "Initial Code". Its nameless compiler supplemented Nikon's code not only with news last years, but also chronicle information from other Russian cities.
"The Tale of Bygone Years"
Based on the annals of the tradition of the 11th century. The greatest chronicle monument of the era was born Kievan Rus- "The Tale of Bygone Years".
It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th c. According to some historians, its likely compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, also known for his other writings. When creating The Tale of Bygone Years, its compiler drew on numerous materials with which he supplemented the Primary Code. Among these materials were 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 only to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among European and Asian peoples.
The chronicler tells in detail about the resettlement Slavic peoples in antiquity, about the settlement by the Eastern Slavs of territories that would later become part of Old Russian state, about the customs and customs of different tribes. The "Tale of Bygone Years" emphasizes not only the antiquities 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 about the first Russian Christians, about the baptism of Rus', about the spread new faith, the construction of temples, the emergence of monasticism, the success of Christian enlightenment occupies a central place in the Tale.
A 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 bright publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the "Tale", sought to imitate him and almost always placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle collection.
- Ancient literature is filled with deep patriotic content, heroic pathos of service to the Russian land, state, and homeland.
- The main theme of ancient Russian literature is world history and the meaning of human life.
- Ancient literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian man, who is capable of sacrificing the most precious thing for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses a deep belief in strength, the ultimate triumph of good, and the ability of man to elevate his spirit and conquer evil.
- A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is historicism. The heroes are mostly historical figures. The literature strictly follows the fact.
- feature artistic creativity 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.
- Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing, and is based on Christian book culture and developed forms of oral poetic creativity. At this time, literature and folklore were closely connected. Literature has often taken stories artistic images, figurative means folk art.
- The originality of ancient Russian literature in the image of the hero depends on the style and genre of the work. In relation to styles and genres, it is reproduced in monuments ancient literature hero, ideals are formed and created.
- 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 traditions of ancient Russian literature are found in the work of Russian writers of the 18th-20th centuries.
CONTROL QUESTIONS AND TASKS
- As academician D.S. Likhachev ancient Russian literature? Why does he call it “one grandiose whole, one colossal work”?
- To what does Likhachev compare ancient literature, and why?
- What are the main virtues of ancient literature?
- Why would the artistic discoveries of the literature of subsequent centuries be impossible without the works of ancient literature? (Think about what qualities of ancient literature were assimilated by Russian literature of modern times. Give examples from the works of Russian classics known to you.)
- What did Russian poets and prose writers appreciate and what did they perceive from ancient literature? What did A.S. write about her? Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, A.I. Herzen, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, D.N. Mom-Siberian?
- What does ancient literature say about the benefits of books? Give examples of "praise to books" known in ancient Russian literature.
- Why were there high ideas about the power of the word in ancient literature? What were they connected with, what did they rely on?
- What is said about the word in the Gospel?
- What do writers compare books to and why? Why are books rivers, sources of wisdom, and what do the words mean: “If you diligently seek wisdom in books, you will find great benefit for your soul”?
- Name the monuments of ancient Russian literature known to you and the names of their scribes.
- Tell us about the way of writing and the nature of ancient manuscripts.
- Name the historical prerequisites for the emergence of ancient Russian literature and its specific features, in contrast to the literature of modern times.
- What is the role of folklore in the formation of ancient literature?
- Using vocabulary and reference material, briefly retell the history of the study of ancient monuments, write down the names of scientists involved in their study, and the stages of study.
- What is the image of the world and man in the view of Russian scribes?
- Tell us about the image of a person in ancient Russian literature.
- Name the topics of ancient literature, using vocabulary and reference material, describe its genres.
- List the main stages in the development of ancient literature.
Read also the articles in the section " national identity ancient literature, its origin and development.
The literature of Ancient Rus' arose in the 11th century. and developed over the course of seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature is a single entity with all the variety 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 that heroes of all centuries think about, talk about, meditate on. The works form love for the Fatherland and their people, show the beauty of the Russian land, therefore 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. So the images, ideas, even the style of compositions were inherited by A. S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy.
Old Russian literature did not arise from scratch. Its appearance was prepared by the development of the language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria, and was conditioned by the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. The first literary works that appeared in Rus' were translated. Those books that were necessary for worship were translated.
The very first original works, that is, written by the Eastern Slavs themselves, belong to the end of the 11th-beginning of the 12th century. V. There was a formation of Russian national literature, its traditions were formed, features that determine its specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days.
The purpose of this work is to show the features of ancient Russian literature and its main genres.
II. Features of ancient Russian literature.
2. 1. Historicism of content.
Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's fiction. The authors of works of art, even if they describe the true events of real people, conjecture a lot. But in ancient Rus', everything was completely different. The Old Russian scribe told only about what, according to his ideas, really happened. Only in the XVII century. Everyday stories appeared in Rus' with fictional characters and plots.
Both the ancient Russian scribe and his readers firmly believed that the events described actually happened. So the chronicles were a kind of legal document for the people of Ancient Rus'. After the death in 1425 of the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich and son Vasily Vasilyevich began to argue about their rights to the throne. Both princes turned to the Tatar Khan to judge their dispute. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich, defending his rights to reign in Moscow, 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. Manuscript nature of existence.
Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of existence. Even the appearance of the printing press in Rus' did little to change the situation until the middle of the 18th century. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special reverence for the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to the instability of ancient Russian works of literature. Those writings 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 continue for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as "manuscript" (handwritten text) and "list" (rewritten work). A manuscript may contain lists of various works and may be written by the author himself or by scribes. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term "edition", i.e. purposeful processing of the monument, caused by socio-political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.
The existence of a work in manuscripts is closely related to such a specific feature of Old Russian literature as the problem of authorship.
The authorial principle in ancient Russian literature is muted, implicit; Old Russian scribes were not careful with other people's texts. When rewriting the texts, they were reworked: some phrases or episodes were excluded from them or some episodes were inserted into them, stylistic “decorations” were added. Sometimes the ideas and assessments of the author were even replaced by the opposite ones. Lists of one work differed significantly from each other.
Old Russian scribes did not at all seek to reveal their involvement in literary writing. Very many monuments remained anonymous, the authorship of others was established by researchers on indirect grounds. 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 epistles is inimitable, impudently mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of a simple conversation.
It happens that in the manuscript one or another text was signed by the name of an authoritative scribe, which may equally correspond or not correspond to reality. So among the works attributed to the famous preacher St. Cyril of Turov, many, apparently, do not belong to him: the name of Cyril of Turov gave additional authority to these works.
The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the Old Russian “writer” deliberately did not 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.
A well-known literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature, academician D.S. Likhachev proposed a special term for designating the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - “literary etiquette”.
Literary etiquette is composed of:
From the idea of how this or that course of an event should have taken place;
From ideas about how the actor should have behaved in accordance with his position;
From the ideas of what words the writer had to describe what is happening.
Before us is the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and verbal etiquette. The hero is supposed to behave in 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 the "poetics of the genre". 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 number of studies have been devoted to the genre originality 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. Life, which came to Rus' from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of ancient Russian literature, the literary form in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Rus' were clothed.
The compositional and verbal forms of life have been polished for centuries. High theme - story about a life that embodies the ideal service to the world and God - determines the image of the author and the style of narration. The author of the life narrates with excitement, he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic, admiration for his righteous life. The emotionality of the author, his excitement paint the whole story 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) had to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of the correct life should be three-part: an introduction, a story about the life and deeds of a saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author apologizes to the readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narration, etc. The life itself followed the introduction. 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, random. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates, exact geographical names, names of historical persons. The action of life takes place, as it were, outside historical time and concrete space, it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of hagiographic style.
At the conclusion of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, requiring great literary art, a 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 the most ancient period in the development of our literature. Monuments of church and secular eloquence are divided into two types: instructive and solemn.
Solemn eloquence required depth of conception and great literary skill. The orator needed the ability to effectively build a speech in order to capture the listener, set it up in a high way, corresponding to the topic, shake him with pathos. There was a special term for solemn speech - "word". (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. A military story could also be called a "Word".) Speeches were not only delivered, but written and distributed in numerous copies.
Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrowly practical goals, it required the formulation of problems of a wide social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for the creation of "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 oldest monument of solemn eloquence is Metropolitan Hilarion's Sermon on Law and Grace, written between 1037 and 1050.
Teaching eloquence is teachings and conversations. They are usually small in volume, often devoid of rhetorical embellishments, written in the Old Russian language, which was generally accessible to the people of that time. Teachings could be given by church leaders, princes.
Teachings and conversations have purely practical purposes, they contain the information necessary for a person. "Instruction to the brethren" by Luka Zhidyata, Bishop of Novgorod from 1036 to 1059, contains a list of rules of conduct that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not say "shameful" words. Go to church and behave in it quietly, honor elders, judge by the truth, honor your prince, do not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.
Theodosius of Pechersk, founder of the Kiev Caves Monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: do not be late for church, make three bows to the earth, observe deanery and order when singing prayers and psalms, and bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechorsky demands a complete renunciation of the world, abstinence, constant prayer and vigil. The abbot severely denounces idleness, money-grubbing, intemperance in food.
3. 3. Chronicle.
Chronicles were called weather records (according to "years" - according to "years"). The annual entry began with the words: "In the summer." After that, 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 an amazing opportunity to look into the distant past.
Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk, who sometimes spent many years compiling the chronicle. In those days, it was customary to start a story about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had first of all to 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 one that he considered necessary to include in his own work. When the materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler proceeded to present the incidents of his time. The result of this great work was the annalistic code. After some time, this code was continued by other chroniclers.
Apparently, the first major monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing was the annalistic code, compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this code is believed to have been the abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).
Nikon's work formed the basis of another annalistic code, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. In the scientific literature, he received the conditional name "Initial Code". Its unnamed compiler supplemented Nikon's collection not only with news of recent years, but also with chronicle information from other Russian cities.
"The Tale of Bygone Years"
Based on the annals of the tradition of the 11th century. The greatest annalistic monument of the era of Kievan Rus - "The Tale of Bygone Years" was born.
It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th c. According to some historians, its likely compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, also known for his other writings. When creating The Tale of Bygone Years, its compiler drew on numerous materials with which he supplemented the Initial Code. Among these materials were 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 only to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among European and Asian peoples.
The chronicler tells in detail about the settlement of the Slavic peoples in antiquity, about the settlement by the Eastern Slavs of the territories that would later become part of the Old Russian state, about the customs and customs of different tribes. The "Tale of Bygone Years" emphasizes not only the antiquities 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 about the first Russian Christians, about the baptism of Rus', about the spread of a new faith, the construction of churches, the emergence of monasticism, 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 bright publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the "Tale", sought to imitate him and almost always placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle collection.
