Old Russian literature is a conventional name, that is, the ancient period, the medieval period and the period of feudal fragmentation. This is the initial and historically natural stage in the development of Russian literature. Its emergence is associated with the process of formation of the early feudal state. Literature is subordinated to the strengthening of the feudal system and religion - Christianity, therefore, mainly church-religious genres developed.
Factors of the emergence of Old Russian literature:
- the emergence of writing
- the adoption of Christianity,
- the development of monasteries (which played a huge role in the spread of religion, literacy and writing; Cyril and Methodius - the Slavic alphabet; the proximity of the Old Russian language to the Old Bulgarian and Old Slavonic contributed to the spread of writing),
- folklore.
Old Russian literature has specific features that distinguish it from folklore and literature of the New Age:
1. The handwritten nature of the existence of distribution, and each work existed as part of various collections, and not in the form of separate manuscripts, these collections pursued practical goals. Basil the Great wrote: "Everything that serves not for the sake of benefit, but for the sake of beauty, is liable to be accused of vanity." The value of the book was judged in terms of usefulness. In The Tale of Bygone Years, under the year 1037, it is written: “Great is the benefit of the teaching of the book, through books we teach repentance, books are rivers that fill the Universe, help to refrain from bad deeds, if you look for wisdom, you will find benefit for the soul.”
Depending on the genre, on the sacred meaning of the work, this or that text underwent changes in accordance with the social, national, professional or personal sympathies of a person, therefore, “author, editor, scribe” for ancient Russian literature are very shaky concepts. In accordance with this, the works existed in several lists or editions, so we can talk about the relationship of ancient Russian literature and Russian folklore.
2. Anonymity is a very common phenomenon. Almost no information about the authors and scribes has been preserved. Anonymity was determined not only by historical reality, but also by the scarcity of information about the authors that has come down to us, which is associated with the religious-Christian attitude of feudal society to the work of a scribe. The church considered the creation and copying of books a charitable deed, the work of scribes required humility, they should not have been proud of their work, so names were rarely preserved. In addition, in medieval society, the concept of authorship was very poorly developed, there was no copyright at all, individual characteristics and personality were very poorly reflected in the texts.
The author's texts have not come down to us, but have been preserved in later lists, which sometimes separated from the time of the original by several centuries. So, for example, Nestor's "Tale" of 1113 has not been preserved, but has come down to us in a later edition; the edition of her by Sylvester 1116 is known only as part of the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377; "The word about Igor's regiment" of the 12th century has come down to us only in the collection of the 16th century in the list.
3. Lack of dating in most literary monuments. Therefore, historians resort to different methods to clarify the date of certain texts.
4. Until the 16th century, literature was closely connected with church and business writing, which is due to the fact that by that time literature had not yet emerged as an independent sphere of consciousness, but was associated with philosophy, science and religion. Gradually, it stands out from the general flow of writing, along with this, the secularization of literature and its democratization takes place, gradually literature is freed from the power of the church and the connection with church writing disappears.
5. Historicism: Heroes are predominantly heroic personalities; literature never allowed fiction, strictly followed the facts of life, and miracles were related to real phenomena, since the author referred to eyewitnesses of events. Fiction was equated with lies.
During the development of literature, the leading genres were historical, in the 17th century they began to be replaced by fiction genres (everyday stories, satirical stories and fairy tales appeared).
Historicism was of a medieval nature, that is, the course and development of historical events is often explained from a religious point of view, providentialism dominates (when God is always the source on earth).
Artistic generalization was very poorly developed; it was built on the basis of a single concrete historical fact or event, while such a single event was chosen that bore traces of prevalence. Tales of battles were widely circulated, based on specific historical events. But for Rus' it was important to prove the harm of strife. Princely crimes were very common and, accordingly, stories about them: “The Tale of the Blinding of Vasilko Terebovalsky” (the brothers blinded him, fearing his accession to the throne); as well as walking to the Holy Land (Jerusalem), for example, "The Walking of Hegumen Daniel". The heroes of the works are mainly princes, the highest church leaders and rulers.
6. The normativity of poetics (that is, the totality of artistic means) is manifested in the widespread use of “common places”, a certain “etiquette” was adopted, which was composed of the idea of how the course of events should have taken place, how the character should have behaved in accordance with his position in society, what words should describe the event. Thus, the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior, verbal etiquette were important. Verbal etiquette: stable verbal formulas; but there were also repeated situational formulas, similar descriptions of characteristics (situations of defeat, victory). In addition, the author's declarative statements about his ignorance, about his ignorance.
7. Genres and styles.
There is a clear division into church and secular genres, and there is a hierarchy (the highest genre is the books of Holy Scripture: the Bible, testaments). Church genres include solemn preaching genres (hymnographies), lives, menaions (monthly readings), patericons or pateriks (collections of short stories about the lives of saints).
Gradually, purely church genres were destroyed, secular material and folklore (weeping), as well as walking, appeared in them.
Secular works: chronicles, chronographs, military stories, historical stories.
The genre of teaching is something between the church and secular genres.
"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is a synthesis of genres.
Styles and genres are very closely related.
D.S. Likhachev presents the history of Russian literature in the interrelation of literary styles, genres and characters:
11th century - 12th century - the dominance of the style of monumental historicism and the epic style.
14th century - 15th century - the style of monumental historicism is replaced by an expressive-emotional style, although the traditions of the style of monumental historicism continue to be preserved.
16th century - the second monumentalism or idealizing biographism ("The Power Book of the Royal Genealogy").
8. Old Russian literature is patriotic and carries a very deep civic principle.
9. High moral content: great attention was paid to the moral qualities of princes, and later of a person in general.
All these features change depending on the period and era.
The oldest translated literature
(late 10th - first half of 11th century)
These are biblical books, apocrypha, lives; secular translated novels (chronicles, historical novels, "scientific literature").
Christianity played a big role in the development of Russian culture. Kievan Rus is then promoted to the ranks of the advanced countries of Europe. Rus' drew literary monuments from Bulgaria, which adopted Christianity a little earlier. In Rus' there were no words for the new religion, so the first literary monuments were translated. Under Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise, many translations were made.
Bible books were the basis of teaching and understanding of the world. This is a collection of books of different genres, which was compiled from the 12th century BC. to 2-3 centuries AD Therefore, various and sometimes contradictory stories are concentrated in it: mythological, folk beliefs, religious journalism, lyrical and epic works, historical texts based on legends, original “stories” about the origin of the world and man. There is no unity and religious views in it, since here there is a cult of nature, and polytheism, and faith in magic, and faith in a single deity.
The Bible consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament books tell about the history of the Jewish people, their ancient fate and religion. The New Testament books are connected with the initial period of Christianity, they set forth the foundations of the Christian doctrine. The structure of the Bible is quite complex.
Scientists classify everything old testament books by 5 groups:
- historical,
- prophetic
-poetic,
- didactic,
- eschatological.
This classification is conditional.
Historical books: this is the Pentateuch of Moses, in which the history of the Jewish people unfolds before their occupation of Palestine in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Here inequality and the power of the king were justified.
prophetic books: The books of the prophets are writings that are attributed to the early prophets (the book of Joshua). It describes the history of the Jewish people from their settlement in Palestine to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, that is, until the end of the 6th century BC. There are also writings of later prophets, 12 minor prophets. These books are rather mournful, pathetically agitated sermons, denunciations, threats, lamentations, sorrowful reflections on the fate of the Jewish people and a prediction that they will receive complete freedom.
poetry books: These are the Psalter, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.
A psalter is a collection of psalms (hymns, prayers and songs of a religious and secular nature that were used in worship). This is one of the first books translated into Russian. Psalms are based on folklore genres (spells, wedding songs, laments, etc.). The special popularity of the Psalter in Rus' is explained by the lyricism of many psalms - religious lyricism.
The Song of Songs is a kind of love poem written in rhythmic phrases, its authorship is attributed to Solomon, and the love of Solomon and Shulamith is described.
Ecclesiastes - IV-III centuries BC The style makes it possible to judge what was created among professional scribes. It is based on pessimistic reasoning about the futility and vanity of human life. The main motive is the futility of man's intentions to subdue life; life is cyclical, stable, repeatable, so the preacher looks at life sadly.
Didactic books: the parables of Solomon are a book of aphorisms, a teaching setting is the need to know wisdom, the rules of prudence, justice. This part is very contradictory: on the one hand, there is hope in God, on the other, there is hope in man.
Eschatological books: these are books about the final destinies of the world. They develop the idea that earthly life is temporary, and the hour will come when it will be destroyed.
New Testament books can also be classified under the same categories. All books reflect a higher level of development of religious culture - Christianity. They include the gospel, the apostolic deeds and their epistles (Apostle) and the revelation or apocalypse of John the Evangelist.
Historical books:
The gospel - “the good news or the gospel” - the biography of Jesus Christ, told by his disciples: from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke, from John - this is the four gospel. Their narratives differ in individual facts, but in general this is a story about the life of Christ - historical events connected with the life of Christ.
Acts of the Apostles are stories about the disciples of Christ, a description of their deeds about the spread of Christianity.
Didactic books:
These are the epistles of the apostles, consisting of 21 canonical epistles of the disciples of Christ; their goal is to popularize, interpret the teachings of Christ, preach the teachings, therefore they are instructive in nature.
Eschatological books:
This is the Revelation of John the Evangelist (approximately 68 - 70 AD)
Revelation arose on the basis of Jewish literature, contains a statement of fantastic visions in which catastrophic events are predicted before the end of the world. These catastrophes will end with the second coming of Christ, who will finally defeat the enemy.
The Bible was translated into Russian from the Bulgarian language in the 10th-11th centuries in fragments. First of all, the Psalter was translated, it was in two versions - sensible and divinatory. The full text of the Old Testament was translated at the end of the 15th century in Novgorod on the initiative of Archbishop Gennady (Gennadiev Bible). The New Testament in the Kievan period was not fully translated.
Bible Meaning:
During the period of strengthening feudalism - to strengthen the system. From a moral point of view, it contains a certain moral code. From the point of view of literary and aesthetic value, the books were saturated with a lot of folklore material, there were also very vivid plot and conflict stories, they were distinguished by emotionality and imagery. Of particular importance is the language of the bible, the Psalms were taught to read. In addition, the biography of Christ influenced hagiographic literature in Rus'.
But the assimilation of the new Christian doctrine also went through the widespread use of the Apocrypha (in translation, it is secret, secret, not accessible to everyone). These are works designed primarily for a narrow circle of the elite. Later, heretics began to use them to criticize the official church, so the apocrypha was not recognized by the church.
Apocrypha are legendary-religious narratives that are close to the canonical books in terms of themes and images, but differ sharply in the interpretation of events and characters. They absorbed folk ideas and folklore techniques.
Thematically, the apocrypha are divided into Old Testament, New Testament and eschatological. In the Old Testament - the heroes are Adam, Eve, the forefathers, etc., the New Testament - are devoted to stories about Christ and the apostles, eschatological ones contain fantastic stories about the afterlife and the fate of the world.
A special group is apocryphal lives(for example, the life of George the Victorious). The bulk of such literature came to us from Bulgaria and was connected with the heresy of the priest Bogomil. This heresy revised the orthodox monotheistic doctrine and proposed dualism - the domination in the world of two principles - good and evil.
In Rus', already in 10741, in the Tale of Bygone Years, one of the apocryphal legends was recorded, outlining the Bogomil ideas about the dual nature of man.
The apocrypha include the gospels of Nicodemus, James, Thomas, in which the person of Christ is more mundanely depicted. The eschatological apocrypha is the journey of Agapit to paradise, the journey of the Virgin through torments.
Hagiographic (hagiographic) translated literature
This is a church genre dedicated to saints. It arose at the end of the 11th century, came to us from Byzantium and existed as literature for reading.
In all hagiographies, a conditional idealized image of the saint is given, his life and exploits in the setting of a miracle. The peculiarity is that the lives depicted the moral church ideal of a person who achieved the complete triumph of the spirit over sinful flesh, this was a person who followed Christ in everything, therefore there is always an approximation to the moral image of Christ.
The Lives were popular because they combined the entertaining nature of storytelling with a certain dose of edification and panegyric.
Lives were built according to a certain scheme:
It began with an indication of the origin of the saint (from pious parents), then a description of childhood (he does not play games, secludes himself, learns to read and write early, reads the Bible), refuses marriage, retires to a deserted place, founds a monastery there, becomes a monk, to him brethren flock, he undergoes various temptations, predicts the day and hour of his death, instructs the brethren, dies, his body is incorruptible and emits a fragrance - evidence of holiness; then miracles happen. Then comes a brief praise, which lists all the virtues of the saint, sometimes there are laments.
It should be noted that the image of the hero of life was devoid of individual qualities of character, freed from everything random.
Lives of two kinds:
- lives-martiria - about the torment of the saint (life of St. Irene),
- the lives of saints who voluntarily accepted the feat of seclusion.
Lives circulated in two forms:
- in short - prologue lives, as part of collections of prologues, were used in worship,
- in a lengthy form - menaine readings - were intended for reading at monastic meals.
A special kind of hagiographic literature - pateriki or otemniks- these are collections in which only the most important from the point of view of holiness were placed the exploits of the saints, the events of their lives. This is a kind of legend novel. (Sinai patericon).
All patericons had entertaining plots that combined naive fantasy and everyday scenes.
In the 12th century, the lives of Nicholas the Wonderworker, Anthony the Great, John Chrysostom were already known in the lists. The life of Alexei, the man of God by an unknown author, gained particular popularity, which had a great influence on hagiographic literature and formed the basis of spiritual poems.
In addition, among the translated literature there are works of natural science - "Physiologist" (2-3 centuries AD about the world, plants and animals) and "Shestodnev" (about the creation of the world).
In the XII century, an adventure novel about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great "Alexandria" was translated from Greek.
All medieval states usually learned from the heir countries of ancient culture. For Rus', Bulgaria and Byzantium played a great role. The perception of foreign culture among the Eastern Slavs has always been creative, the works have always met the internal needs of developing Rus', in connection with which they acquired their own characteristics.
Any national literature has its distinctive (specific) features.
Old Russian literature (DRL) is doubly specific, since, in addition to national features, it carries the features of the Middle Ages (XI-XVII centuries), which had a decisive influence on the worldview and psychology of a person in Ancient Rus'.
Two blocks of specific features can be distinguished.
The first block can be called general cultural, the second is most closely connected with the inner world of the personality of a person of the Russian Middle Ages.
Let's talk about the first block very briefly. First, ancient Russian literature was handwritten. In the first centuries of the Russian literary process, the writing material was parchment (or parchment). It was made from the skin of calves or lambs, and therefore it was called "veal" in Rus'. Parchment was an expensive material, it was used extremely carefully and the most important things were written on it. Later, instead of parchment, paper appeared, which partly contributed, in the words of D. Likhachev, to “the breakthrough of literature to mass character”.
In Rus', three main types of writing successively replaced each other. The first (XI-XIV centuries) was called a charter, the second (XV-XVI centuries) - semi-charter, the third (XVII century) - cursive.
Since the writing material was expensive, the book's customers (large monasteries, princes, boyars) wanted the most interesting works of various subjects and the time of their creation to be collected under one cover.
Works of ancient Russian literature are usually called monuments.
Monuments in Ancient Rus' functioned in the form of collections.
Particular attention should be paid to the second block of specific features of the DRL.
1. The functioning of monuments in the form of collections is explained not only by the high price of the book. Ancient Russian man, in his desire to acquire knowledge about the world around him, strove for a kind of encyclopedia. Therefore, in the Old Russian collections there are often monuments of various subjects and problems.
2. In the first centuries of the development of the DRL, fiction had not yet emerged as an independent area of creativity and social consciousness. Therefore, one and the same monument was at the same time a monument of literature, and a monument of historical thought, and a monument of philosophy, which in Ancient Rus' existed in the form of theology. It is interesting to know that, for example, Russian chronicles up to the beginning of the 20th century were considered exclusively as historical literature. Only thanks to the efforts of Academician V. Adrianov-Peretz did the annals become an object of literary criticism.
At the same time, the special philosophical saturation of ancient Russian literature in the subsequent centuries of Russian literary development will not only be preserved, but will actively develop and become one of the defining national features of Russian literature as such. This will allow Academician A. Losev to state with all certainty: “Fiction is a storehouse of original Russian philosophy. In the prose writings of Zhukovsky and Gogol, in the works of Tyutchev, Fet, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky<...>often the main philosophical problems are developed, of course, in their specifically Russian, exclusively practical, life-oriented form. And these problems are resolved here in such a way that an open-minded and knowledgeable judge will call these solutions not just "literary" or "artistic", but philosophical and ingenious.
3. Ancient Russian literature had an anonymous (impersonal) character, which is inextricably linked with another characteristic feature - the collectivity of creativity. The authors of Ancient Rus' (often referred to as scribes) did not seek to leave their name to the centuries, firstly, by virtue of the Christian tradition (scribe-monks often call themselves "unreasonable", "sinful" monks who dared to become creators of the artistic word); secondly, due to the understanding of their work as part of an all-Russian, collective cause.
At first glance, this feature seems to indicate a poorly developed personal beginning in the Old Russian author in comparison with the Western European masters of the artistic word. Even the name of the author of the brilliant Tale of Igor's Campaign is still unknown, while Western European medieval literature can "boast" of hundreds of great names. However, there can be no question of the "backwardness" of ancient Russian literature or its "impersonality". We can talk about its special national quality. Once D. Likhachev very accurately compared Western European literature with a group of soloists, and Old Russian literature with a choir. Is choral singing less beautiful than the performances of individual soloists? Does it lack the manifestation of a human personality?
4. The main character of ancient Russian literature is the Russian land. We agree with D. Likhachev, who emphasized that the literature of the pre-Mongolian period is the literature of one theme - the theme of the Russian land. This does not mean at all that the ancient Russian authors "refuse" to depict the experiences of an individual human personality, "fixate" on the Russian land, depriving themselves of their individuality and sharply limiting the "universal" significance of DRL.
Firstly, ancient Russian authors always, even in the most tragic moments of Russian history, for example, in the first decades of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, sought to join the highest achievements of the culture of other peoples and civilizations through the richest Byzantine literature. Thus, in the 13th century, the medieval encyclopedias Melissa (Bee) and Physiologist were translated into Old Russian.
Secondly, and most importantly, it must be borne in mind that the personality of a Russian person and the personality of a Western European is formed on different worldview foundations: a Western European personality is individualistic, it is affirmed due to its special significance, exclusivity. This is connected with the special course of Western European history, with the development of the Western Christian Church (Catholicism). A Russian person, by virtue of his Orthodoxy (belonging to Eastern Christianity - Orthodoxy), denies the individualistic (egoistic) principle as destructive both for the person himself and for his environment. Russian classical literature - from the nameless scribes of Ancient Rus' to Pushkin and Gogol, A. Ostrovsky and Dostoevsky, V. Rasputin and V. Belov - depicts the tragedy of an individualistic personality and establishes its heroes on the path to overcoming the evil of individualism.
5. Old Russian literature did not know fiction. This refers to a conscious mindset. The author and the reader absolutely believe in the truth of the artistic word, even if it is fiction from the point of view of a secular person.
The conscious attitude to fiction will come later. This will happen at the end of the 15th century, during the period of intensification of the political struggle for leadership in the process of unification of the original Russian lands. The rulers will also appeal to the absolute authority of the written word. This is how the genre of political legend arose. In Moscow there will appear: the eschatological theory "Moscow - the Third Rome", which naturally took on a topical political coloring, as well as "The Legend of the Princes of Vladimir". In Veliky Novgorod - "The Legend of the Novgorod White Klobuk".
6. In the first centuries, DRL tried not to depict everyday life for the following reasons. The first (religious) way of life is sinful, its image prevents an earthly person from directing his aspirations to the salvation of the soul. Second (psychological): life seemed unchanged. Both the grandfather, and the father, and the son wore the same clothes, weapons did not change, etc.
Over time, under the influence of the process of secularization, everyday life more and more penetrates the pages of Russian books. This will lead to the emergence in the 16th century of the genre of everyday story (“The Tale of Ulyania Osorgina”), and in the 17th century the genre of everyday story will become the most popular.
7. DRL is characterized by a special attitude to history. The past is not only not separated from the present, but is actively present in it, and also determines the fate of the future. An example of this is "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Story of the Crime of the Ryazan Princes", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", etc.
8. Old Russian literature wore instructive character. This means that the ancient Russian scribes sought, first of all, to enlighten the souls of their readers with the light of Christianity. In DRL, unlike Western medieval literature, there was never a desire to lure the reader with a wonderful fiction, to lead away from life's difficulties. Adventurous translated stories will gradually penetrate into Russia from the beginning of the 17th century, when the Western European influence on Russian life becomes obvious.
So, we see that some specific features of DID will be gradually lost over time. However, those characteristics of Russian national literature, which determine the core of its ideological orientation, will remain unchanged up to the present time.
Old Russian literature, like any medieval literature, has a number of features that distinguish it from modern literature. A characteristic feature of the literature of the medieval type is a broad interpretation of the concept of "literature" as a written word with the obligatory inclusion of functional genres in it, usually performing religious, ritual or business functions. Attention should be paid to the fact that in the Middle Ages the genre system was based on functional genres, which had special non-literary functions. On the contrary, genres with reduced functionality are on the periphery of this system. In the transitional period from the Middle Ages to the culture of modern times, a reverse process occurs: genres with weakened functionality move to the center of the system, while functional genres are pushed to the periphery.
Thus, DRL is a complex conglomeration of artistic and business memorabilia (1). This feature was due to its close connection with history, the Christian religion and writing in general.
The handwritten nature of the existence of the works of the DRL (2) fundamentally distinguishes it from modern literature. The work, as a rule, existed not in one, but in several lists. The scribe sometimes simply copied the manuscript, creating a new one. list, but often changed its ideological orientation in accordance with the requirements of the time, shortened or expanded the text, changed the style of the monument. In this case, we are talking about a new editions works. The author's list of text is called autographed. In the process of processing the work, its editions. Since the essay in the DRL existed for several centuries and in different regions, there could be several editions. The list that turns out to be the basis for revisions is called protographer. They may not always be the author's version. Researchers of the movement and development of texts in DRL - textologists and paleographers– they consider the types of handwriting of scribes-scribes, the features of spelling, grammar, identify individual language differences and, on the basis of this, draw up a hypothetical scheme for the development and distribution of editions of the monument. Textology and paleography are auxiliary disciplines that help in the study of handwritten texts. Textology deals with the study of the text itself, and paleography examines the material on which and with the help of which a handwritten monument was created.
Anonymity (3) most of the works of DRL is its other distinctive feature associated with the Christian concept of the human personality, according to which pride was considered one of the greatest sins, and humility the height of virtue. Because of this, the individual characteristics of the writer's personality in medieval literature did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. However, anonymity should not be confused with impersonality. It has long been proven that the individual authorial principle existed in DRL, but the forms of its expression were different than in the literature familiar to us. The attitude towards copyright in the DRL was quite different. Anonymity allowed the authors to use parts of "foreign" texts to compose their own. Exceptions were made only for authoritative works - texts of Holy Scripture and Tradition, writings of the Church Fathers, state documents. References were necessarily made to the names of their creators. However, authoritative church texts were recognizable due to their wide popularity.
Medieval historicism (4). DRL began as literature devoid of fiction. The scribe strictly followed the fact, connected his work with a specific historical event or person. Even when we are talking about supernatural phenomena, about persons and events that, from our point of view, did not exist or are impossible in reality, all the same, both the compiler of the work and the reader in Ancient Rus' perceived everything written as real. And this attitude to the written text persisted for a very long time. Perhaps only in the XVII century, this tradition was destroyed.
The principle of historicism is associated with providentialism (5), that is, the idea of predestination. So, any hero of hagiographic literature, even in childhood, shows a penchant for a holy life. If he begins his life sinfully, then his belief, the change in the quality of his spiritual state is inevitable, predetermined from above. The suffering of the Russian people “for our sins” is also predetermined in the stories about the Tatar-Mongol invasion.
The peculiarities of the worldview of a medieval person are due to the authoritarian thinking of the ancient Russian scribe and authoritarianism (6) as a feature of the artistic method of DRL. A reference to historical, literary or political authority is very important for an ancient Russian person (this has already been mentioned above). Often, new compositions were signed with the names of the church fathers, hierarchs of past years, only to give them greater weight. The reader, who first gets acquainted with the monuments of the DRL, pays attention to the abundance of direct quotations and indirect references to the texts of the New and Old Testament, numerous references to the works of authoritative church writers. In these quotations, the author, as it were, consolidated his moral, didactic, political and aesthetic assessment of a fact, event, person, affirmed its universal significance and universal recognition.
Closely related to authoritarian thinking principle of retrospective historical analogy (7) , which is the most important means of the author's assessment of a particular historical event. Here is what V.V. writes about this. Kuskov: “A retrospective historical analogy allows us to reveal more deeply the meaning of a particular historical event, assess the behavior of its participants, glorify them or condemn them, establish a kind of typological commonality between the events of Ancient Rus' and the events of world history, and thereby indicate their certain pattern.” Using the material of the Kulikovo cycle monuments, the researcher shows how a continuous chain of victories won by the Russian princes Yaroslav the Wise, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy is established. “Traditional reception,” continues V.V. Kuskov, - a retrospective historical analogy with biblical characters in the "Tale of the Battle of Mame" emphasizes the significance of the victory won on the Kulikovo field. It is equated with the victory of Gideon over Midian, Moses over Amalek and Pharaoh, David over Goliath. The troops of the Moscow prince are like the army of Alexander the Great, the courage of the Russian soldiers is like Gideon's allies. And the heavenly powers help Dmitry just as they once helped Tsar Constantine in his fight against the wicked. The regiments of Dmitry Volynets are like the youths of Davidov, “whoever has hearts, like lions, like lyuti vljtsi on the flock of sheep.” In his prayers, Dmitry asks God to help him in the same way as Ezekiah - to tame the heart of the ferocious beast Mamai.
Authority dominated in the field of artistic form. DRL can be called exemplary literature, sustainable etiquette literature. Traditional (8) covers not only the content of works, but also their form: the principles of depicting a person, plot, composition, language. The traditionalism of medieval literature should not be taken as the result of the "childish spontaneity", inability or "incompetence" of the scribe. This is a phenomenon of the era, the urgent need of the time, the fact of the moral consciousness of man, without which he could not explain the world and navigate in it.
The authoritarianism of the DRL reflects the class-corporate principle of the existence of an ancient Russian person. A clear awareness of the impossibility of breaking the class-corporate principle leaves an imprint on literature. If you are a prince, then you must be one and behave in accordance with the idea of \u200b\u200bworthy princely behavior. “Just as a cauldron cannot escape blackness and burning, so a serf cannot escape servility” (“Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik). Human behavior in medieval society is determined by rank. Likhachev called this feature of life etiquette. But it is more accurate to use the terms chivalry and orderliness. Even the clothing of a medieval person is a sign of rank. Order is order. Disorder, disorder, disorder. A person must take his place in the general row. Order, rows become indicators of the structure of the world. In the work of the 17th century "The constable of the falconer's way", created not without the participation of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the creed of human behavior and order is clearly formulated. The ancient Russian "rank" as a literary concept corresponds to some extent to the modern concept of "rhythm", for it is the measured adherence to order, ceremoniality that creates the vital basis for the ceremoniality of Russian literature.
Tradition becomes a type of medieval creativity, the most important factor in the intellectual assimilation of reality. It rests on a deep conviction that there is only one correct worldview in the world - the Christian ideology. The traditionalism of ideological and artistic thinking, reflecting medieval ideas about the new as heretical, did not allow a different approach to assessing the phenomenon, regarding any other point of view as coming from the devil.
The Old Russian writer creates within a certain tradition. The true value of medieval art is seen by him in strict adherence to the model. The highest standard and highest truth is, of course, the authority of Holy Scripture.
D.S. Likhachev introduced the concept literary etiquette (9) , by which we will understand the system of canonical literary devices - compositional, the system of images, language, stylistic clichés, etc., necessary to create works of certain genres, images of certain characters.
An essential feature of DRL is its direct and more stable connection with ideology (10) . A.N. Robinson explains this by the fact that in the Middle Ages, "artistic literary creativity did not develop independently (as a special form of ideology), but as if "inside" or as part of various practically purposeful genres of writing (for example, both in chronicle writing and in a solemn sermon). , and in hagiography, etc.) ... Such combined and practically purposeful functions of literature delayed the separation of artistic creativity proper from writing and caused a more direct (than in modern literature) dependence of aesthetics on ideology as a whole. It also follows from this didacticism DRL. The author has always set practical and didactic goals for his work, because medieval literature is utilitarian, it is created for the benefit of the soul. Even history is always an edifying lesson.
The process of creating a literary work in Ancient Rus' was closely connected with the process of cognition, which in turn was due to the peculiarities of the worldview of a medieval person. The worldview of the Old Russian scribe is characterized by binary, contrasting the real with the unreal, the temporal with the eternal. These features of the vision of the world also affected the theory of knowledge: the surrounding reality, everyday things, the scribe comprehends “bodily eyes”. The secrets of the ideal world are revealed to a person through spiritual insight, divine revelation, therefore knowledge of the heavenly is possible only with “spiritual eyes”.
From the point of view of a medieval person, divine forces could manifest themselves in life either directly or indirectly, with the help of various hints. Perceiving reality as a symbol of the ideal world, a person perceived any phenomenon, any object of the real world as a sign expressing the sacred essence of this phenomenon or object. On the basis of such a vision of the world is actively developing symbolism (11) - one of the most characteristic features of medieval literature. The emergence of symbolism in the DRL should not be associated exclusively with the dominance of Christian ideology. It is inherent in art and pre-Christian eras. So, A.N. Veselovsky distinguished between pagan symbolism and Christian symbolism. In his opinion, in paganism "the symbol came out of life", while in Christianity "life begins to be determined by the mental material introduced into it."
Medieval literature and art is built on symbols. Dionysius the Areopagite states: "Things that are revealed are images of invisible things." Every thing is a symbol of the invisible. In medieval consciousness, the world doubles. The real world below is a symbol and prototype of the ideal, heavenly world. Only those who have gained perfection through inner contemplation can penetrate into the heavenly world, then the inner gazes open and prophets are born. Note that literature does not forget anything. Based on the principle of doubling the world in romantic aesthetics, images of prophetic poets appear.
Events are also doubled. They have analogues in the past, primarily in biblical and gospel history, which is conceived as a reality. It is important to find a hidden meaning in a historical event. God is a smart and wise mentor who tries to educate humanity with his batog. Please note that symbolism, as well as DRL historicism, turns out to be associated with the idea of predestination, providentialism. Symbolic items. The sword is a symbol of power and justice, the shield is protection, defense. The church is a symbol of heaven, the earthly sky, the ark of salvation (just as God saved Noah in the ark, so the temple saves a person). Gold symbolizes eternity and Christ. The cross is salvation, the torment of the cross. It should be noted that the symbolism of the DRL gave rise to the predominance of the parable genre, which was the fundamental basis of genre systems.
Of course, all these features of DPD could not remain unchanged for seven centuries, they gradually transformed as literature developed.
Any national literature has its distinctive (specific) features.
Old Russian literature (DRL) is doubly specific, because, in addition to national features, it contains features of the Middle Ages (XI-XVII centuries), which had a decisive influence on the worldview and psychology of a person in Ancient Rus'.
Two blocks of specific features can be distinguished.
The first block can be called general cultural, the second is most closely connected with the inner world of the personality of a person of the Russian Middle Ages.
Let's talk about the first block very briefly. First, ancient Russian literature was handwritten. In the first centuries of the Russian literary process, the writing material was parchment (or parchment). It was made from the skin of calves or lambs, and therefore it was called "veal" in Rus'. Parchment was an expensive material, it was used extremely carefully and the most important things were written on it. Later, instead of parchment, paper appeared, which partly contributed, in the words of D. Likhachev, to “the breakthrough of literature to mass character”.
In Rus', three main types of writing successively replaced each other. The first (XI - XIV centuries) was called a charter, the second (XV - XVI centuries) - semi-charter, the third (XVII century) - cursive.
Since the writing material was expensive, the book's customers (large monasteries, princes, boyars) wanted the most interesting works of various subjects and the time of their creation to be collected under one cover.
Works of ancient Russian literature are usually called monuments.
Monuments in Ancient Rus' functioned in the form of collections.
Particular attention should be paid to the second block of specific features of the DRL.
1. The functioning of monuments in the form of collections is explained not only by the high price of the book. Ancient Russian man, in his desire to acquire knowledge about the world around him, strove for a kind of encyclopedia. Therefore, in the Old Russian collections there are often monuments of various subjects and problems.
2. In the first centuries of the development of the DRL, fiction had not yet emerged as an independent area of creativity and social consciousness. Therefore, one and the same monument was at the same time a monument of literature, and a monument of historical thought, and a monument of philosophy, which in Ancient Rus' existed in the form of theology. It is interesting to know that, for example, Russian chronicles up to the beginning of the 20th century were considered exclusively as historical literature. Only thanks to the efforts of Academician V. Adrianov-Peretz did the annals become an object of literary criticism.
At the same time, the special philosophical saturation of ancient Russian literature in the subsequent centuries of Russian literary development will not only be preserved, but will actively develop and become one of the defining national features of Russian literature as such. This will allow Academician A. Losev to state with all certainty: “Fiction is a storehouse of original Russian philosophy. In the prose writings of Zhukovsky and Gogol, in the works of Tyutchev, Fet, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky<...>often the main philosophical problems are developed, of course, in their specifically Russian, exclusively practical, life-oriented form. And these problems are resolved here in such a way that an open-minded and knowledgeable judge will call these solutions not just "literary" or "artistic", but philosophical and ingenious.
3. Ancient Russian literature had an anonymous (impersonal) character, which is inextricably linked with another characteristic feature - the collectivity of creativity. The authors of Ancient Rus' (often referred to as scribes) did not seek to leave their name to the centuries, firstly, by virtue of the Christian tradition (scribe-monks often call themselves "unreasonable", "sinful" monks who dared to become creators of the artistic word); secondly, due to the understanding of their work as part of an all-Russian, collective cause.
At first glance, this feature seems to indicate a poorly developed personal beginning in the Old Russian author in comparison with the Western European masters of the artistic word. Even the name of the author of the brilliant Tale of Igor's Campaign is still unknown, while Western European medieval literature can "boast" of hundreds of great names. However, there can be no question of the "backwardness" of ancient Russian literature or its "impersonality". We can talk about its special national quality. Once D. Likhachev very accurately compared Western European literature with a group of soloists, and Old Russian literature with a choir. Is choral singing less beautiful than the performances of individual soloists? Does it lack the manifestation of a human personality?
4. The main character of ancient Russian literature is the Russian land. We agree with D. Likhachev, who emphasized that the literature of the pre-Mongolian period is the literature of one theme - the theme of the Russian land. This does not mean at all that the ancient Russian authors "refuse" to depict the experiences of an individual human personality, "fixate" on the Russian land, depriving themselves of their individuality and sharply limiting the "universal" significance of DRL.
Firstly, ancient Russian authors always, even in the most tragic moments of Russian history, for example, in the first decades of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, sought to join the highest achievements of the culture of other peoples and civilizations through the richest Byzantine literature. Thus, in the 13th century, the medieval encyclopedias Melissa (Bee) and Physiologist were translated into Old Russian.
Secondly, and most importantly, it must be borne in mind that the personality of a Russian person and the personality of a Western European is formed on different worldview foundations: a Western European personality is individualistic, it is affirmed due to its special significance, exclusivity. This is connected with the special course of Western European history, with the development of the Western Christian Church (Catholicism). A Russian person, by virtue of his Orthodoxy (belonging to Eastern Christianity - Orthodoxy), denies the individualistic (egoistic) principle as destructive both for the person himself and for his environment. Russian classical literature - from the nameless scribes of Ancient Rus' to Pushkin and Gogol, A. Ostrovsky and Dostoevsky, V. Rasputin and V. Belov - depicts the tragedy of an individualistic personality and establishes its heroes on the path to overcoming the evil of individualism.
5. Old Russian literature did not know fiction. This refers to a conscious mindset. The author and the reader absolutely believe in the truth of the artistic word, even if it is fiction from the point of view of a secular person.
The conscious attitude to fiction will come later. This will happen at the end of the 15th century, during the period of intensification of the political struggle for leadership in the process of unification of the original Russian lands. The rulers will also appeal to the absolute authority of the written word. This is how the genre of political legend arose. In Moscow there will appear: the eschatological theory "Moscow - the Third Rome", which naturally took on a topical political coloring, as well as "The Legend of the Princes of Vladimir". In Veliky Novgorod - "The Legend of the Novgorod White Klobuk".
6. In the first centuries, DRL tried not to depict everyday life for the following reasons. The first (religious) way of life is sinful, its image prevents an earthly person from directing his aspirations to the salvation of the soul. Second (psychological): life seemed unchanged. Both the grandfather, and the father, and the son wore the same clothes, weapons did not change, etc.
Over time, under the influence of the process of secularization, everyday life more and more penetrates the pages of Russian books. This will lead to the emergence in the 16th century of the genre of everyday story (“The Tale of Ulyaniya Osorgina”), and in the 17th century the genre of everyday story will become the most popular.
7. DRL is characterized by a special attitude to history. The past is not only not separated from the present, but is actively present in it, and also determines the fate of the future. An example of this is "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Story of the Crime of the Ryazan Princes", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", etc.
8. Old Russian literature wore instructive character. This means that the ancient Russian scribes sought, first of all, to enlighten the souls of their readers with the light of Christianity. In DRL, unlike Western medieval literature, there was never a desire to lure the reader with a wonderful fiction, to lead away from life's difficulties. Adventurous translated stories will gradually penetrate into Russia from the beginning of the 17th century, when the Western European influence on Russian life becomes obvious.
So, we see that some specific features of DID will be gradually lost over time. However, those characteristics of Russian national literature, which determine the core of its ideological orientation, will remain unchanged up to the present time.
The problem of the authorship of literary monuments of Ancient Rus' is directly related to the national specifics of the first centuries of the development of the Russian literary process. “The author's principle,” noted D.S. Likhachev, “was muted in ancient literature.<…>The absence of great names in ancient Russian literature seems like a death sentence.<…>We biasedly proceed from our ideas about the development of literature - ideas brought up<…>for centuries when it blossomed individual, personal art is the art of individual geniuses.<…>The literature of Ancient Rus' was not the literature of individual writers: it, like folk art, was a supra-individual art. It was an art that was created through the accumulation of collective experience and made a huge impression with the wisdom of traditions and the unity of everything - mostly unnamed- writing.<…>Old Russian writers are not architects of separate buildings. These are city planners.<…>Any literature creates its own world, embodying the world of ideas of contemporary society. Hence, anonymous (impersonal) the nature of the work of ancient Russian authors is a manifestation of the national identity of Russian literature and in this regard namelessness"Words about Igor's Campaign" is not a problem.
Representatives of the skeptical literary school (the first half of the 19th century) proceeded from the fact that the “backward” Ancient Rus' could not “give birth” to a monument of such a level of artistic perfection as “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”.
Philologist-orientalist O.I. Senkovsky, for example, was sure that the creator of the Lay was imitating the samples of Polish poetry of the 16th-17th centuries, that the work itself could not be older than the time of Peter I, that the author of the Lay was a Galician who moved to Russia or was educated in Kiev. The creators of the "Word" were also called A.I. Musin-Pushkin (the owner of the collection with the text "Words"), and Ioliy Bykovsky (the one from whom the collection was purchased), and N.M. Karamzin as the most gifted Russian writer of the late 18th century.
Thus, The Lay was presented as a literary hoax in the spirit of J. Macpherson, who allegedly discovered in the middle of the 18th century the works of the legendary Celtic warrior and singer Ossian, who, according to legend, lived in the 3rd century AD. in Ireland.
The traditions of the skeptical school in the 20th century were continued by the French Slavist A. Mazon, who initially believed that the “Word” was supposedly created by A.I. Musin-Pushkin to justify the aggressive policy of Catherine II in the Black Sea: "We have a case here when history and literature deliver their evidence at the right time." In many ways, the Soviet historian A. Zimin was in solidarity with A. Mazon, who called Ioliy Bykovsky the creator of the Lay.
The arguments of the supporters of the authenticity of the Lay were very convincing. A.S. Pushkin: the authenticity of the monument is proved by “the spirit of antiquity, under which it is impossible to fake. Which of our writers in the 18th century could have had enough talent for that? VK Küchelbecker: “In terms of talent, this deceiver would have surpassed almost all the then Russian poets, taken together.”
“Surprises of skepticism,” V.A. rightly emphasized. Chivilikhin - were to some extent even useful - they revived the scientific and public interest in the Lay, encouraged scientists to look more sharply into the depths of time, gave rise to research done with scientific thoroughness, academic objectivity and thoroughness.
After disputes related to the time of creation of the Lay and Zadonshchina, the vast majority of researchers, even, ultimately, A. Mazon, came to the conclusion that the Lay is a monument of the 12th century. Now the search for the author of the Lay focused on the circle of contemporaries of the tragic campaign of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich, which took place in the spring of 1185.
V.A. Chivilikhin in the novel-essay "Memory" gives the most complete list of alleged authors of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" and indicates the names of the researchers who put forward these assumptions: "they called a certain "Greek" (N. Aksakov), the Galician "wise scribe" Timofey (N. Golovin), "folk singer" (D. Likhachev), Timofey Raguilovich (writer I. Novikov), "Verbal singer Mitus" (writer A. Yugov), "thousand Raguil Dobrynich" (V. Fedorov), some unknown courtier the singer close to the Grand Duchess of Kiev Maria Vasilkovna (A. Soloviev), the "singer Igor" (A. Petrushevich), the "mercy" of the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich chronicle Kochkar (American researcher S. Tarasov), the unknown "wandering book singer" (I. Malyshevsky), Belovolod Prosovich (anonymous Munich translator of the Lay), Chernigov governor Olstin Aleksich (M. Sokol), Kiev boyar Pyotr Borislavich (B. Rybakov), probable heir to the family singer Boyan (A. Robinson), unnamed grandson of Boyan (M .Shchepkin), in relation to a significant part of the text - Boyan himself (A. Nikitin), mentor, adviser to Igor (P. Okhrimenko), an unknown Polovtsian storyteller (O. Suleimenov)<…>».
V.A. himself Chivilikhin is sure that Prince Igor was the creator of the word. At the same time, the researcher refers to an old and, in his opinion, undeservedly forgotten report by the famous zoologist and at the same time a specialist in the Lay N.V. Charlemagne (1952). One of the main arguments of V. Chivilikhin is the following: “it was not for the singer and not for the combatant to judge the princes of his time, to indicate what they should do; this is the prerogative of a person who stands on the same social level with those to whom he addressed"
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 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 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. 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. 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 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 "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 a special term for the designation of 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 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. A lofty theme - 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 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.
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, questions 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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.
