The mysterious Russian soul (the national character of Russians and the peculiarities of communication). The mysterious Russian soul - what is it like?
Quite a lot is known about the life of our ancestors. Information collected by historians and archaeologists, chronicles and legends sufficiently recreate pictures of the past. There are many historical monuments which are writings describing a heroic past or everyday life. Among them there is evidence of traditional medicine, containing long-forgotten, little-known and little-studied recipes and advice that reflect the originality of the Russian people. All this represents findings of folk intuition, which were passed on from generation to generation, passing the test of time. Many of these pieces of advice from ancient Russian doctors have not lost their medical significance, and if you take them carefully, they can bring their “deep benefit,” as Peter the Great sometimes liked to say, according to eyewitnesses.
What were the patients of the doctors of that time like? According to legend, in the fifteenth century the Russian was a hardy, strong, surprisingly patient and unpretentious person in food. However, in his behavior he was distinguished by passivity, phlegmatism and even some lethargy. The people acted harshly, where there was no place for the weak and infirm. They died in infancy, and no one really tried to save them. But the survivors were particularly resistant to adverse circumstances. environment. Children were weaned very early. In the third month he was already switched to goat or cow's milk They were given a chewed crumb (“doll”) made of black bread, wrapped in a slobbery rag. After some time, the child was completely switched to eating the same foods that adults consumed. Such a child had no clothes other than a rough shirt. Half-naked and barefoot children rushed through the streets of villages until the very first snow. Very early age children began to work, doing hard peasant work.
Peasant lunch during the harvest. Artist Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky
The life of a Russian person was not conducive to excesses. The main diet included porridge, black rye bread, various roots, onions, fish and kvass. Many families often lacked food. Constantly observed religious fasts contributed to malnutrition. In search of land and better places to live, Russian people began traveling, exploring the eastern lands, enduring the cold and heat, robbed by the rulers of that time.
Despite his excellent and strong body, the average Russian was a peace-loving person and did not like to fight. Unlike the Germans, who were very often hired into various troops and took part in almost all European wars, the Russians were known as bad warriors.
Average duration life was not great. Frequent illnesses caused by unfavorable living conditions did not allow the river of life to flow to its fullest and carried away a different mass of the population into the world.
The illness caused by the cold was very often ignored. They called her “the brat” and it was believed that everything would go away on its own. Diseases associated with the nervous system were explained as damage, evil eye or slander. Among the diseases that often beset the common people were laryngeal, internal pain, swelling, tabes, stone disease, dumbness, deafness, gnawing (hernia), toothache, and so on.
A sick person first of all turned to healing through prayers. It was believed that God gave the disease as a test, which means that he will heal if he is convinced of the firm faith of his child. Prayers, strict fasting, touching miraculous icons and relics of saints - these were the main weapons against the diseases of the Russian people of that time. But along with such methods, there were also practical methods. They were the first evidence of the emergence of medicine in Rus'. Some methods were based on early advances in medicine and were practiced by monastic doctors. Others are folk healers who inherited them from pagan times. Many of these healers were recognized as having considerable power. There is evidence that in order to heal a patient using his own methods, the healer had to remove the pectoral cross. And only then could his efforts bring results. Most often, these healers were women. It was believed that the gift of sorcery and witchcraft is transmitted mainly through the female line, as the woman was the first to succumb to the devil's influence.
The Church had a negative attitude towards witchcraft, and it also took responsibility not only for the mental, but also the physical health of people. The very first hospitals appeared at church institutions. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery was especially famous in those days. The Monk Anthony was considered an excellent physician. Another healer Alimpiy distinguished himself by being able to raise an already half-dead man with leprosy to his feet.
But among the healers there were also many skilled healers. Some specialized in pulling teeth, others set hernias or bones, others “removed” damage, and some knew about healing herbs. There were unique people who relied only on their imagination in treatment. So one Moscow sorcerer relieved people of headaches with strong cracks. He argued that, having settled in the head, he would become frightened and go over to the patient’s enemies.
Herbalists were called herbalists. Even princes resorted to their services. Ancient sources say that once Boris Godunov himself turned to the services of such a “specialist”. A certain boyar’s wife boasted that her husband knew about herbs, and then the tsar ordered that this man be urgently delivered to him. He himself suffered greatly from attacks of gout. But the boyar became stubborn and began to claim that he did not know how to heal with herbs, and his wife deliberately set him up in this way. For his stubbornness, the healer was ordered to be flogged and, if he did not come to his senses after a while, to be chopped off. The frightened herbalist agreed to treat the king. Various herbs were delivered from his estate near Serpukhov, from which baths and decoctions were prepared. After taking all the procedures, the king suddenly felt healthy. Then he ordered the unfortunate healer to be flogged again for hiding his abilities and rewarded him with various gifts, including serfs.
Fedor Alekseev – Red Square
There were also foreign doctors in Rus'. They arrived mainly from Bohemia and England. They enjoyed great confidence among royalty, but they also had quite a few problems. They experienced particular difficulties when treating females, who could not be “seen without their full attire.” The diagnosis could only be made from the patient’s words, such as “it hurts in the very core,” “it’s pulling from the back,” “it’s tingling in the right side,” and the like. In addition, after taking it, an immediate effect was expected. And if this was not the case, then the drug was considered unsuitable for treatment and a demand was made that the doctor prepare another one. All failures were blamed on the doctor, who had to walk on a blade. Thus, the Bohemian healer Anton Ehrenstein, who came to Moscow under Ivan the Third, was unable to save the Tatar prince Karakucha, who was in the capital. For which he was handed over to his son, who, in revenge, cut off his head “like a sheep” right on the bank of the Moscow River. A certain “Mister Leon”, who failed in treating the son of Ivan the Third, lost his head on the scaffold erected on Bolvanovka. The execution took place amid cheers from Muscovites: “The thief deserves punishment!”
Not knowing about the tough Moscow rules and hoping to earn extra money from foreign doctors, they found themselves in a difficult situation. If you wanted to return home to your homeland, you only needed permission from the king himself.
However ordinary people this was of little concern and “correct” medicine was not available to them. Under Mikhail Romanov, there was only one pharmacy in Moscow. To obtain medicine in it, you needed the permission of the sovereign himself. But foreign healers were not particularly popular, and being treated by them was considered a sin. Moscow especially disliked Jewish doctors, who exposed themselves to danger much more than other foreigners. A lot of time passed before people began to trust the professional qualities of the healer, not paying attention to his origin and religion.
The Russian educated appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth century. His name was Pyotr Vasilievich Posnikov. He successfully graduated from the University of Padua, and then became significantly famous in his homeland.
However, the development of modern medicine has not completely eclipsed the importance of ancient recipes. Over time, they began to be collected and recorded. Various “Herbalists” and “Healers” began to circulate among the people. There were also translations of foreign books. One of these books was published in 1580 by order of Voivode Serpukhov and was a translation from Polish. It contained information about herbs, alcohol tinctures, stone treatment, and the like. Unfortunately, the book burned in 1812, and evidence of its existence can be found in Karamzin.
For some time, the official church sharply opposed herbal treatment, but at the end of the seventeenth century the storm subsided, and the church healers themselves did not hesitate to use folk recipes.
On this day we decided to remember outstanding domestic doctors.
Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz (1780 - 1853)
Russian doctor of German origin, known as the "holy doctor". From 1806 he served as a doctor in the Russian service. In 1809 and 1810 he traveled around the Caucasus, where he studied mineral springs(now Caucasian Mineral Waters), explored the springs in Kislovodsk, discovered the springs of Zheleznovodsk, and was the first to report the springs in Essentuki. During the War of 1812 with Napoleon, he worked as a surgeon in the Russian Army.
Haaz was a member of the Moscow Prison Committee and the chief physician of Moscow prisons. He dedicated his life to easing the lot of prisoners and exiles. He ensured that the old and sick were freed from shackles, and abolished the iron rod in Moscow to which 12 exiles heading to Siberia were chained. He also achieved the abolition of shaving half of the head of women. On his initiative, a prison hospital and a school for the children of prisoners were opened.
In addition, Haaz fought for the abolition of the right of landowners to exile serfs, and received and supplied medicines to poor patients.
Dr. Haas's motto is: "Hasten to do good." The Federal State Medical Institution “Regional Hospital named after Dr. F. P. Gaaz” is named after the famous physician.
Grigory Antonovich Zakharyin (1829 - 1897)
Russian general practitioner, founder of the Moscow clinical school. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University, was a professor in the Department of Diagnostics of Moscow University, and later - director of the faculty therapeutic clinic. In 1894, Zakharyin treated Emperor Alexander III.
Zakharyin became one of the most outstanding clinical practitioners of his time and made a huge contribution to the creation of an anamnestic method for studying patients. He outlined his diagnostic techniques and views on treatment in “Clinical Lectures”.
The research methodology according to Zakharyin consisted of a multi-stage questioning of the patient by the doctor, which made it possible to get an idea of the course of the disease and risk factors. At the same time, Zakharyin paid little attention to objective research and did not recognize laboratory data.
Doctor Zakharyin was known for his difficult character and lack of restraint in dealing with patients.
Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov (1810 - 1881)
Surgeon and anatomist, naturalist and teacher, creator of the first atlas topographic anatomy, founder of military field surgery, founder of anesthesia. One of the founders of surgery as a scientific medical discipline. He developed a number of important operations and surgical techniques, was the first to propose rectal anesthesia and began to use ether anesthesia. For the first time in the world, he used anesthesia in military field surgery.
Pirogov was the first to widely use a plaster cast. Before this, gypsum was almost never used in medicine. The starch dressing had limited use; it dried slowly, became soaked with pus and blood, and was inconvenient in field conditions.
During the defense of Sevastopol, he involved women in caring for the wounded at the front. It was also he who first introduced mandatory primary sorting of the wounded into four groups. The mortally wounded were assisted by priests and nurses; the seriously wounded, requiring immediate assistance, were attended to by the doctor first. Those who did not require urgent surgery were sent to the rear. The slightly wounded, who could be quickly returned to duty, were treated by paramedics.
Even before the advent of antiseptics, Pirogov separated the wounded with purulent and gangrenous complications from those whose wounds were clean, which helped avoid the spread of infection.
As a teacher, Pirogov strove for the implementation of universal primary education and was the organizer of Sunday public schools. He also fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in the gymnasium.
Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky (1836 - 1904)
Honored Russian professor, surgeon, one of the founders of abdominal surgery (surgical treatment of female diseases, diseases of the stomach, liver and biliary tract, bladder), contributed to the introduction of the principles of antisepsis and asepsis, developed an original operation for connecting bones in false joints (“Russian castle”) . He made a significant contribution to the development of military field surgery, advocated bringing medical care closer to the battlefield, the principle of “saving treatment” of gunshot wounds, and the use of plaster casts as a means of immobilization for wounds of the extremities.
Sklifosovsky owns more than seventy scientific works on surgery, the development of asepsis and surgery in general.
The Moscow Research Institute of Emergency Medicine was named after Sklifosovsky.
The black spot in Sklifosovsky’s biography was the fate of his family. The only son of the legendary doctor committed suicide. Vladimir shot himself shortly before October revolution. He was a member of a terrorist organization and was supposed to kill the Poltava governor, however, he could not shoot the man with whom his family was friends.
In 1919, Cossacks of a pro-Bolshevik detachment brutally killed the wife of Nikolai Vasilyevich and his eldest daughter. Moreover, the document signed by Lenin, which stated that repressions would not apply to the family of the famous surgeon, could not save them from reprisals.
Sergei Petrovich Botkin
(1832 — 1889)
Russian physician-therapist, founder of the doctrine of the integrity of the human body, public figure. Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University, was a participant Crimean War, worked in the Simferopol hospital. He also worked in clinics in Konigsberg, Berlin, Vienna, England, and Paris.
In 1860, Sergei Botkin moved to St. Petersburg, where he defended his doctoral dissertation and received the title of professor of medicine.
Botkin became one of the founders of women's medical education, organized a school for female paramedics, as well as women's medical courses. For the first time in Russia, he created an experimental laboratory where he studied the physiological and pharmacological effects of medicinal substances. He created a new direction in medicine called nervism. It was he who established the infectious nature of such a disease as viral hepatitis and developed the diagnosis and clinic of the wandering kidney.
In 1861 he opened the first free outpatient clinic in the history of clinical treatment of patients, and achieved the construction of a free hospital, opened in 1880 (Alexandrovskaya Barracks Hospital, now the S.P. Botkin Hospital). Among Botkin’s students there are 85 doctors of science, including A. A. Nechaev, M. V. Yanovsky, N. Ya. Chistovich, I. P. Pavlov, A. G. Polotebnov, T. P. Pavlov, N. P. Simanovsky.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
(1849 — 1936)
Pavlov Ivan Petrovich is one of the most authoritative scientists in Russia, a physiologist, the creator of the science of higher nervous activity and ideas about the processes of regulation of digestion. He is the founder of the largest Russian physiological school and winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1904 “for his work on the physiology of digestion.”
The main directions of Pavlov’s scientific activity are the study of the physiology of blood circulation, digestion and higher nervous activity. The scientist developed methods of surgical operations to create an “isolated ventricle” and used a new “chronic experiment” for his time, which made it possible to conduct observations on healthy animals under conditions as close as possible to natural ones.
As a result of his work, a new scientific discipline was formed - the science of higher nervous activity, which was based on the idea of dividing reflexes into conditioned and unconditioned. Pavlov and his colleagues discovered the laws of formation and extinction of conditioned reflexes, they were studied different types and types of inhibition, the laws of basic nervous processes were discovered, sleep problems were studied and its phases were established, and much more.
Pavlov became widely known for his doctrine of the types of the nervous system, which is based on ideas about the relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition, and the doctrine of signaling systems.
Pavlov's scientific work influenced the development of related fields of medicine and biology, including psychiatry. Under the influence of his ideas, major scientific schools in therapy, surgery, psychiatry, neuropathology.
Sergei Sergeevich Yudin (1891 - 1954)
A prominent Soviet surgeon and scientist, chief surgeon of the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky, Director of the Research Institute of Surgery named after. A. V. Vishnevsky.
Yudin developed techniques for gastric resection for peptic ulcers, perforated gastric ulcers and gastric bleeding, and operations for creating an artificial esophagus.
Sergei Sergeevich Yuin wrote 15 monographs and published 181 scientific papers.
In 1948, he was arrested by the NKVD on false charges as “an enemy of the Soviet state who supplied British intelligence with spy information about our country.” While in prison, he wrote the book “Reflections of a Surgeon.” From 1952 until his release in September 1953, he was in exile, during which he worked as a surgeon in Berdsk. The doctor was released only after Stalin's death, in 1953.
Professional healers emerged mainly from among magi, sorcerers, sorcerers, healers, and sorcerers - this was facilitated by natural observation, the desire to find a solution to natural phenomena, the secrets of the human body. Many early chronicles are imbued with respect for the natural science knowledge of the Magi.
The Magi were experts in “potions”, i.e. medicinal plants. The Magi successfully acted as children's doctors, provided assistance to women with infertility, they were invited to the homes of patients suffering from contagious diseases, to the wounded and “ulcer” patients.
IN early monuments written language is dominated by a complete lack of differentiation of the concepts “magician”, “doctor”, “healer”, “green man”, “sorcerer”. By ancient Russian idea, magic is a high art, skill (“magical cunning”), and a sorcerer is “wise,” a person with great experience and knowledge.
To show the special depth of medical knowledge among doctors, Old Russian literature assigned them the epithets of “wise”, “cunning”, “philosophers”.
Medicine in Novgorod as an example of medicine in Rus'
In terms of its sanitary culture and improvement, Novgorod ranked first among the largest cities in Northern Europe.
Here, before wooden pavements appeared on squares and streets in Paris and London, an extensive underground drainage network of wooden pipes operated.
Novgorodians, before the Kievites (at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries), began to build wooden huts.
Bathhouse in Ancient Rus' was much more widespread than in any European country. Novgorod healers well understood the healing power of baths.
Soap at that time was imported from abroad and was available. Beautiful and comfortable clothes are not only a manifestation of tastes and fashion different eras, but also a kind of indicator of the sanitary culture of the population. Novgorodians in the XI - XIII centuries. dressed in clothes that retain heat well and reliably protect the skin from mechanical damage, dust, dirt, insect bites, and do not hinder movement.
To wash clothes and wash the body, Novgorodians used easily soapy soils and minerals that contained fat and ash. The laundry was boiled in barrels of ash water.
Novgorodians were strong people. Physical labor, simple, healthy food, long stays fresh air increased their resistance to the destructive effects of microorganisms.
But the cruel scourge of hunger and epidemics claimed many lives. From the middle of the 12th to the beginning of the 18th century. plague, smallpox, anthrax, typhus - 17 times became the cause of devastating epidemics for Novgorod. Everyone who was capable fled the city, leaving it in the care of secular and monastic doctors.
At constant risk to their lives, they walked around courtyards and streets. They fed the sick by passing food to them through the flames of the fire. The dead were taken to distant cemeteries.
The first hospitals were founded mainly in monasteries. Wooden hospital buildings were usually located inside a quadrangular space formed by the monastery walls. In large monasteries, along with hospitals, baths and “svitoshnye” (laundries) were built.
Since the 15th century. hearths with a hole in the ceiling instead of a chimney were replaced by stoves, which were eventually replaced by a system of in-wall pipes with hot air circulating through them. The windows were covered with mica plates. The patients slept on wooden planks. Instead of mattresses, dry moss, straw, and reeds were used.
The widespread use of medicines of plant and animal origin was complemented by techniques from the arsenal of surgical art.
“Cutters” (surgeons) were held in high esteem in ancient Novgorod. Using belladonna extract and opium tincture, they performed quite complex operations such as amputation of limbs, craniotomy, and abdominal dissection.
In some chronicles you can find a description of medical actions. So, judging by the “Selections of Svyatoslav” (1073, 1076), the doctor had to, first of all, be a cutter (surgeon - M.M.), able to cut tissue, amputate limbs, perform therapeutic cauterizations with a hot iron, i.e. to those who use metal: “Iron doesn’t know what it does, but the doctor knows the action of iron.” In other chronicles, peculiar illustrations on medical topics. Thus, the “Front Chronicle”, covering the period from the “creation of the world” to 1567, contains drawings of ancient Russian prostheses called “drevyanitsa” or “toyagi”. They were intended for amputees. Crutches, also wooden, sometimes with complex devices, were used to support the shoulder and knee. In the “Vault” there was even a miniature illustrating the process of making an iron fastening for a crutch in a forge.
Medical information in ancient Russian chronicles were most often associated with diseases powerful of the world this. Thus, the Tale of Bygone Years (1044) talks about a permanent bandage on the crown of Prince Vseslav’s head due to a congenital cerebral hernia. The Ipatiev Chronicle (1289) contains a documentary and colorful description of the illness of Prince Vladimir Vasilyevich Volynsky, thanks to which a modern physician can recognize the disease in question: most likely, it was cancer of the lower lip. Unfortunately, the Ipatiev Chronicle does not report how the prince was treated - perhaps also because the outcome of the treatment turned out to be fatal.
The chronicler covers the disease of Vasily III (father of Ivan the Terrible) in much more detail and skillfully, giving an almost clinical description of the course of the disease, which was, in all likelihood, a purulent inflammation hip joint(purulent arthritis).
The peculiar “case histories” of the Russian princes recorded in the chronicles testify to the use of various surgical methods treatment Thus, the Nikon Chronicle describes how in the “summer of 6949″ (i.e. in 1441), the long-ill Prince Dmitry Yuryevich the Red, during communion, was provided with qualified medical assistance by his confessor, the doctor-monk Father Hosea: with severe bleeding, he successfully used the tamponade method.
Old Russian historians reported the use of the cauterization method (using burning tinder). According to the Nikon Chronicle, in the “summer of 6970” (in 1462), in the treatment of Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, who suffered from “dry disease,” the then generally accepted method of treatment was used - cauterization. Unfortunately, the method used did not help.
One of the few famous names is the legendary Eupraxia (1108-1180), granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh, daughter of Prince Mstislav. In 1122, she was married to the son of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei Komnenos and was named Zoe at the coronation. In Byzantium she studied Greek language and “she studied a lot in her favorite field of healing, perhaps she re-read the medical works available to her (Hippocrates, Galen, etc.) and as a result she herself wrote a manual on medicine.
This manual is one of the oldest Russian medical books, “Masi” (“Alimma”): the only surviving copy of this manual was kept in Florence, in the library of Lorenzo Medici. IN late XIX century, Russian historian Kh.M. Loparev discovered this work in Florence and acquired a copy of the Greek manuscript “Alimma”. The manuscript, which consisted of five parts, was given in a certain system various scattered medical information, in particular, “external diseases” are described and recipes for various medications recommended for diseases of the skin and teeth are given, and heart and stomach diseases are described. All kinds of ointments were listed in the manuscript as the most common medicines, which is probably why the entire work received the name “Alimma”. This work, which summarized a number of medical observations of that time and was attributed to Zoya, was obviously familiar and used by the doctors of Ancient Rus'. What was the “medical class” of Ancient Rus'?
Educated monastic doctors and professionals in their field worked in the monastery and church hospitals that existed at that time. Of course, the main occupation of the scholar-monks, who then represented a very thin layer of intellectual culture carriers, was most likely not healing the sick or studying and corresponding ancient literature, but theology, which absorbed the main intellectual aspirations of the clergy. But still, as evidenced historical sources, many of them included so-called monastery doctors.
In addition to educated (to one degree or another) monastic doctors who used their patients in monasteries, medieval Russia There were numerous lay doctors, professional healers who learned the basics of their profession through apprenticeship, often in the families of hereditary healers. Among them, specialists of a “therapeutic” profile predominated - Kamchuzhnye (for the treatment of aches, in modern understanding- rheumatism), full-time (they treated eye diseases), chepuchinnye (specialists in syphilis), those who treated for “damage” (the ancestors of modern psychoneurologists), etc.
It can be said quite definitely that in medieval Russia treatment by a surgeon was commonplace. these methods were used in practice. Medical, incl. surgical assistance to the common people, in particular the treatment of wounds, was to some extent provided by law
Among the worldly doctors there were also doctors of a “surgical” profile - cutters: among them there were chiropractors (“traumatologists”), stone cutters (specialists in the treatment of bladder diseases), keel masters (engaged in the treatment of clubroot, i.e. hernia), and chichuy ( treated for hemorrhoids). Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, contemporaries’ testimonies also mention alchemists, “healers of the Polish breed,” students of general medicine, etc.
True, very little is said about their affairs, about their practice, about their methods of treatment in ancient Russian chronicles. There were probably several reasons for this, for example, the chroniclers’ ignorance of medicine; but the main reason, perhaps, was the initially skeptical attitude of the church towards these healers, who, along with the methods of ancient and traditional medicine, also used methods of sorcery, severely persecuted by Orthodoxy, which came from pagan times. However, we cannot exclude an element of some kind of competition with monastic doctors and monastic medicine.
Pharmacology in Rus'
Thus, our ancient colleagues defeated the disease that modern doctors call scurvy with rosehip infusion, garlic, and onions. By the way, onions were considered a universal remedy; there was even a saying about them: “Onions cure seven ailments.” Tar helped against skin diseases, carrots helped against anemia, and pumpkin seeds drove out worms. There is an opinion that there was even a complex decoction that included mercury: it was used for “sticky” (venereal) diseases. The use of some medicinal products had to be accompanied by conspiracies. Since the end of the 17th century, in medical books there have been an extremely large number of “medical” prayers and witchcraft spells, borrowed partly from folk epic antiquity, partly from apocryphal books: all these prayers and spells were, of course, a kind of psychotherapeutic medicines and sometimes helped the sick.
Theriac - every doctor who has left a mark in history has a reference to this panacea for all ills, starting from Galen, ending with Avicenna, and further - right up to modern times. Theriac is included in the arsenal of Tibetan medicine and, more broadly, medicine throughout the East.
Historians and doctors are trying to find a recipe for this drug in ancient sources of information, but so far without success. But it would be interesting to learn more about it and, perhaps (why not?) bring it back to life. There is a suspicion that theriac is still in the arsenal of reliable traditional medicine.
In Rus' they were also known side effects the use of mercury - stomatitis, as well as ways to prevent them.
Old Russian healers also used minerals to treat diseases.
Lapis lazuli was used as a laxative and to treat intermittent fevers.
Diamond was used to lubricate the edges of purulent wounds and ulcers, as well as to treat gums with scurvy.
The use of agate is mentioned in Svyatoslav’s Collection. In Ancient Rus', vessels were made from it for transporting and storing medicines. Already in those days, agate was considered a medicine. It was used as a powder or ointment for bite wounds. The medical book describes a type of agate - onyx, which was used to make instruments for bloodletting. Amethyst was highly valued in Rus'. It was used as an antidote for alcohol poisoning.
In Ancient Rus', there was a widespread method of treating diseases with the help of certain organs, bile, animal juices, bird eggs, and extracts from insect bodies. Raw materials for such medicines were mined in Rus' and brought from other countries. A lot of raw materials were brought from eastern countries.
The most popular remedy for any stomach upset was considered the “bezoar stone,” which was found in the intestines of many animals.
There is another remedy of animal origin that was used in Rus' - the secretion of the musk deer gland - a source of musk. It was used for heart disease, as well as for epilepsy, mentally ill people with depression, and was used to treat binge drinking.
Antler “rubbings”—antlers of sika deer—were extremely popular among doctors in the Moscow state. In Rus', antler “scrubs” were prescribed for epilepsy), stomach and uterine bleeding, and paralysis. Patients drank them with wine and water for heart disease.
In Rus', substances that had a beneficial effect on the heart, calmed the nerves, and gave vigor were especially valued. In ancient Russian medical books they were called by gentle pet names: “lyubka”, “sweet potion”, “gift of heaven” and so on.
But the main place in ancient Russian medicine was occupied by herbal medicines. Currently, they have been better studied, and many of them are successfully used by modern doctors. Thus, cloves were recommended for weak vision, diseases of the stomach, liver, and heart. Pepper (black) was considered by Russian doctors to be a real panacea for all diseases. They also treated rheumatic diseases. Ginger was given as a cold remedy. It was taken in vinegar at night.
Nutmeg and nutmeg, which were brought from India, were also popular. They were used as a diuretic and to excite chronic patients.
Wormwood, wild rosemary, etc. were used as disinfectants in Ancient Rus'. The “Kievo-Pechersk Patericon” (16th century) mentions senna and rhubarb, which were used as laxatives.
However, it was not easy to preserve medicines and herbalists. It was not safe to keep them at home. They could write a denunciation against such a person, put him on trial, take all his property to the treasury, and send the person to some remote monastery. And there were many such cases in Rus'.
Despite this, medicines and herbalists continued to be kept secretly in many homes, thanks to which we have an idea of many elements of folk medicine of Ancient Rus'.
Plants are of great importance in Russian medicine. The procurement of medicinal plants comes to the forefront through the introduction of natural labor, as well as thanks to the expeditions of herbalists of the apothecary order. The entire onion family, and especially garlic and onions, had a special “authority”. Ancient herbalists noted their ability to stimulate skin regeneration in case of burns, bruises, and wounds.
Surgery of Rus'
In handwritten medical books, wounds were distinguished as “shot”, “cut” and “stabbed”, and Special attention addressed not to “fresh” wounds, but to frequently encountered complications - “old” wounds that had not healed for a long time. Conservative methods of treatment, using various ointments, prevailed. For dressing, either dried fungal mycelia, “sprinkler lips”, or “tree moss”, collected mainly “from fragrant trees” were used: this moss was also considered a good hemostatic agent. Wounds and ulcers were irrigated with various healing liquids. Lotions and washes were used.
They used powders and fumigated wounds with smoke. Deep wounds(“fistulas”) were subjected to douching.
N. Kostomarov
Russians generally went to the bathhouse very often: it was the first need in home life, both for cleanliness and for some kind of pleasure. Almost every wealthy house had its own soap shop […]; Moreover, for the common people and for visitors, there were public or royal soap shops everywhere in the cities, where money was paid for entrance, which constituted a branch of the royal income throughout the state. According to Koshikhin, up to two thousand rubles were collected in this way every year from all the soap houses under the administration of the stable yard. Soaphouses were generally heated once, and sometimes twice, every week. In the summer heat, it was forbidden to drown them to prevent fires, with some exceptions for the sick and postpartum women, at the will of the governor. It was then that the royal soap houses were especially filled; however, the prohibition to drown one’s own concerned more townspeople and peasants; people of higher importance have always enjoyed exceptions. A bathhouse was such a necessity for Russians that, due to the ban on heating them, residents threatened the government to disperse from their homes.
We usually went to the soap shop after lunch, without fear of it harmful consequences. The heat was unbearable. Hay was spread on the benches and shelves, which was covered with linen. The Russian lay down on it and ordered himself to be beaten until he was tired, then he ran out into the air and threw himself into a lake or river in the summer, near which soap houses were usually built, and in the winter he rolled in the snow or doused himself with cold water in the cold. Anyone who went to the soap shop always took a steam bath: it was a universal custom. The public soap houses had two sections: men's and women's; they were separated from one another by partitions, but there was one entrance to both; both men and women, entering and leaving through the same door, met each other naked, covered themselves with brooms and talked to each other without much confusion, and sometimes ran out of the soap shop at once and rolled around in the snow together. In more distant times, it was customary for both men and women to wash in the same soap bath, and even monks and chernets washed and steamed together.
[…] The bathhouse was the most important cure for all sorts of illnesses: as soon as a Russian feels unwell, he immediately drinks vodka with garlic or pepper, eats onions and goes to the bathhouse to steam.
For common people The bathhouse was a school of that amazing insensitivity to all extremes of temperature that Russians were distinguished by, surprising foreigners with this. But as for the upper classes of society, during a sedentary life, baths gave rise to inactivity and effeminacy; especially women of higher status were distinguished by this and seemed frail and obese.
[…] With the ability and readiness to endure labor and hardship, the Russian people, although not distinguished by longevity, generally enjoyed good health. Of the diseases, only epidemic ones sometimes caused significant devastation, because measures against them were weak and limited to inept efforts to prevent the infection from spreading from place to place. Pestilence often left terrible traces throughout Russia. Among the common diseases to which Russians were most often exposed were hemariodal diseases, so characteristic of our climate, mentioned in the old days under various names of attacks of headache, bleeding, constipation, back pain and the like. Nervous diseases, if they were not too frequent, did attract attention with their phenomena: epileptic, cataleptic, hysterical seizures were attributed to corruption and the influence of mysterious forces through the mediation of evil spirits; these diseases had different popular names, such as: kamchyug, frenchug, madness, relaxation, shaking, hiccups, etc.; some cases occurred from real illnesses, others from imagination. In the 16th century, syphilitic disease (secret decay) was brought into Russia, and in the next century it spread quite widely and caused devastation among the black people. Colds rarely affected Russians, accustomed to changes in air and temperature. As special cases, they were mentioned in the old days: stone disease, edema, tabes, hernia, toothache , deafness, dumbness, blindness, scoundrels, resulting from untidiness, which often gave rise to other diseases, for example, had a harmful effect on vision. In general, they looked for remedies for illnesses most of all in church rituals and also resorted to herbalists, who made up the class of self-taught doctors, and often surrendered to them with extreme gullibility. Medical scientists were foreigners and were found only at the royal court, and then in small numbers. Under Ivan Vasilyevich, a foreign doctor was a necessary person for the tsar, but private individuals could only be treated by him except by submitting a petition about it. This was also observed for a long time later, when the number of doctors at court increased. Under Mikhail Fedorovich, there was one pharmacy in Moscow, from which medicines were dispensed based on petitions, and, moreover, in such a way that those who were not very significant were dispensed based on petitions not what they needed, but what was cheaper, without paying attention, they could whether it will bring real benefit. Sometimes doctors went to war with medicine and, in general, did little good there. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, there were two pharmacies in Moscow, but only one sold medicine to residents, and then at high prices, and therefore this pharmacy brought much less income to the treasury than the tavern that stood next to it. Of course, the doctors called from abroad were not always good, and at the call of the Russian Tsar, charlatans bravely rushed to Russia. For this reason, it was determined that a doctor coming to Russia should first show the extent of his skill in a border town and cure someone. The doctors who lived at court were extremely constrained by customs and prejudices. In their studies, science was not respected, and their art was not valued above that of healers. Often the kings themselves turned to herbalists and healers, as if in reproach to the doctors who were at their court. When a physician used a female member of the royal family, the strict Eastern ceremonies that always surrounded this person were not violated. The doctor had to take advantage of the patient and guess the disease without seeing her in person, but only following the stories of the servant. If he makes a mistake with this method of treatment, he is blamed for the mistake. He was not allowed to find out the effect of the medicine on the patient’s body: if the disease did not improve after one dose, according to Russians, this meant that the medicine would not help, the doctor was ordered to give another and was not allowed to repeat the same thing several times. As for the people, in general they did not trust foreign doctors. The clergy recognized it as a sin to be treated by a person of non-Orthodox faith and especially took up arms against Jewish doctors, so that in the 16th century a Russian, for resorting to the benefits of a Jew, was excommunicated from the church. Time, however, took its toll in this regard: under Alexei Mikhailovich, under such a devout tsar, one of the court physicians was a Jew.
Essay on the home life and morals of the Great Russian people in the 16th and XVII centuries. St. Petersburg, I860. pp. 98-103.
Miniature: Ryabushkin Andrey Petrovich. A merchant's family in the 17th century.
The Savior once said about Christians: “If you were of this world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of this world, because I took you out of the world, the world hates you.” These same words can also be applied to the Russian people, into whose flesh and blood Christianity was most deeply absorbed.
Today we are often faced with open Russophobia and hatred from other states. But this is not a reason to panic, it did not start today and will not end tomorrow - it will always be like this.
The world hates us, but it itself does not suspect how much he himself needs the Russian people. If the Russian people disappear, then from the world soul taken out and he will lose the very meaning of his existence!
That is why the Lord protects us and Russians exist, despite all the tragedies and trials: Napoleon, Batu and Hitler, revolution, perestroika and troubled times, drugs, the decline of morals and the crisis of responsibility...
We will live and develop as long as we ourselves remain relevant, as long as the Russian people retain the character traits inherent in our people.
Caring “friends” often remind us of those inherent characteristics of us that can be classified as bad, trying to make us hate ourselves and self-destruct... We will look at positive features Russian soul, to remember what gifts the Lord has generously endowed us with and what we must always remain.
So, TOP 10 best qualities of a Russian person:
1. Strong faith
The Russian people believe in God at a deep level, have a strong inner sense of conscience, a concept of good and evil, worthy and unworthy, due and not due. Even the communists believed in their “Moral Code.”
It is the Russian person who views his entire life from the perspective son of God — The Father will like it or it will upset him. To act according to the law or according to conscience (according to the commandments of God) is a purely Russian problem.
A Russian person also believes in people, constantly doing good to them and even beyond that. sacrificing personal for the good of one's neighbor. A Russian person sees in another person first of all Image of God, sees equal, recognizes the dignity of another person. This is precisely the secret of the victorious power of Russian civilization, our gigantic spaces and multinational unity.
Russian people believe in themselves as the bearer of Truth. Hence the strength of our actions and the legendary Russian survival. Not a single conqueror in the world could destroy us. Only we ourselves can kill the Russian people if we believe in the negative image of the Russian people that is being imposed on us.
2. Heightened sense of justice
We cannot live in comfort while lies are rampant in the world. “We’ll put together a strong coffin for the scum of humanity!” from the song “Holy War” - it’s about us.
We for a long time fought with the Turks for the freedom of our Slavic brothers, we saved the poor from the bais and their extortions Central Asia, stopped the genocide of the Chinese by the Japanese army and saved the Jews from the Holocaust.
As soon as a Russian person believes that a threat to all of humanity comes from somewhere, Napoleon, Hitler, Mamai or anyone else immediately disappears from the historical canvas.
The same rule applies in inner life- our riots and revolutions are just attempts to build just society, punish those who have gone too far and alleviate the lot of the poor (naturally, if we consider the motivation of ordinary workers and peasants, and not the cynical leaders of the revolution).
You can rely on us - because we keep our word and do not betray our allies. The concept of honor, unlike the Anglo-Saxons, is not only familiar to Russian people, but also deeply inherent.
3. Love for the Motherland
All peoples love their homeland. Even Americans, a people of emigrants, treat their national symbols and traditions.
But a Russian person loves his homeland more than others! White emigrants fled the country under threat of death. It would seem that they should have hated Russia and quickly assimilated where they came. But what really happened?
They were so nostalgic that they taught their sons and grandchildren the Russian language, they were so homesick for their homeland that they created thousands of little Russias around them - they founded Russian institutes and seminaries, built Orthodox churches, taught Russian culture and language to thousands of Brazilians, Moroccans, Americans, French, Germans, Chinese...
They died not from old age, but from longing for their Fatherland and cried when the USSR authorities allowed them to return. They infected those around them with their love, and today Spaniards and Danes, Syrians and Greeks, Vietnamese, Filipinos and Africans come to live in Russia.
4. Unique generosity
Russian people are generous and generous in everything: both in material gifts and in great ideas and the expression of feelings.
The word “generosity” in ancient times meant mercy, mercy. This quality is deeply rooted in the Russian character.
It is completely unnatural for a Russian person to spend 5% or 2% of his salary on charity. If a friend is in trouble, then the Russian will not bargain and gain something for himself, he will give his friend all the cash, and if it is not enough, he will throw his hat around or take off and sell his last shirt for him.
Half of the inventions in the world were made by Russian “Kulibins”, and patented by cunning foreigners. But Russians are not offended by this, since their ideas are also generosity, a gift from our people to humanity.
The Russian soul does not accept half measures and knows no prejudices. If in Russia someone was once called a friend, then they will die for him, if he is an enemy, then he will certainly be destroyed. At the same time, it doesn’t matter at all who our counterpart is, what race, nation, religion, age or gender he is - the attitude towards him will depend only on his personal qualities.
5. Incredible hard work
“The Russians are very lazy people,” Goebbels’ propagandists preached and their followers today continue to repeat. But that's not true.
We are often compared to bears, and this comparison is very apt - we have similar biological rhythms: summer in Russia is short and you have to work hard to have time to harvest, and winter is long and relatively idle - chop wood, heat the stove, remove snow, and collect crafts . In fact, we work a lot, just unevenly.
Russian people have always worked diligently and conscientiously. In our fairy tales and proverbs positive image The hero is inextricably linked with skill, hard work and ingenuity: “The sun paints the earth, but labor paints man.”
Since ancient times, labor has been famous and revered among peasants and artisans, scribes and merchants, warriors and monks, and has always been deeply linked to the cause of defending the Fatherland and increasing its glory.
6. The ability to see and appreciate beauty
The Russian people live in extremely picturesque places. In our country you can find big rivers and steppes, mountains and seas, tropical forests and tundra, taiga and deserts. Therefore, the sense of beauty is heightened in the Russian soul.
Russian culture was formed over a thousand years, absorbing parts of the cultures of many Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes, as well as accepting and creatively processing the heritage of Byzantium and the Golden Horde and hundreds of small nations. Therefore, in terms of richness of content, it cannot be compared with no other culture in the world.
The awareness of the immensity of his own wealth, material and spiritual, made the Russian person friendly and understanding towards other peoples of the Earth.
A Russian person, like no one else, is able to highlight the beauty in the culture of another people, admire it and recognize the greatness of achievements. For him there are no backward or underdeveloped peoples, he has no need to treat anyone with disdain out of awareness of his own inferiority. Even from the Papuans and Indians, Russians will always find something to learn.
7. Hospitality
This national character trait is associated with our vast spaces, where it was rare to meet a person on the road. Hence the joy from such meetings - intense and sincere.
If a guest comes to a Russian person, a laid table, the best dishes, festive food and a warm overnight stay await him. And all this is done free of charge, since it is not customary for us to see in a person only a “wallet with ears” and treat him as a consumer.
Our man knows that a guest in the house should not be bored. Therefore, a foreigner who comes to us, when leaving, can hardly put together the memories of how they sang, danced, rode, fed him to the full and watered him to amazement...
8. Patience
The Russian people are amazingly patient. But this patience is not reduced to banal passivity or “slavery”; it is intertwined with sacrifice. Russian people are by no means stupid and always endure in the name of something, in the name of a meaningful goal.
If he realizes that he is being deceived, a rebellion begins - the same merciless revolt in the flames of which all the moneylenders and careless managers perish.
But when a Russian person knows for what purpose he endures difficulties and works tirelessly, then national patience gives incredible positive results. For us to cut down an entire fleet in five years and win world war or industrialization is the order of the day.
Russian patience is also a kind of strategy for non-aggressive interaction with the world, solving life’s problems not through violence against nature and consumption of its resources, but mainly through internal, spiritual efforts. We do not plunder the property given to us by God, but slightly moderate our appetites.
9. Sincerity
Another of the main features of the Russian character is sincerity in the manifestation of feelings.
A Russian person is bad at forcing a smile, he does not like pretense and ritual politeness, he gets irritated by insincere “thank you for your purchase, come again” and does not shake hands with a person whom he considers a scoundrel, even if this could bring benefits.
If a person doesn’t evoke emotions in you, then you don’t need to express anything - just walk in without stopping. Acting in Russia is not held in high esteem (unless it is a profession) and those who are most respected are those who speak and act as they think and feel as God put it on my soul.
10. Collectivism, conciliarity
A Russian person is not a loner. He loves and knows how to live in society, which is reflected in the sayings: “in the world even death is red,” “alone in the field is not a warrior.”
Since ancient times, nature itself, with its severity, has encouraged Russians to unite into groups - communities, artels, partnerships, squads and brotherhoods.
Hence the “imperialism” of Russians, that is, their indifference to the fate of a relative, neighbor, friend and, ultimately, the entire Fatherland. It was because of conciliarism that for a long time there were no homeless children in Rus' - orphans were always sorted into families and raised by the entire village.
Russian conciliarity, according to the definition of the Slavophile Khomyakov, is “a holistic combination of freedom and unity of many people based on their common love for the same absolute values,” Christian values.
The West was unable to create such a powerful state as Russia, united on spiritual principles, because it did not achieve conciliarity, and to unite peoples it was forced to use, first of all, violence.
Russia has always been united on the basis of mutual respect and mutual consideration of interests. The unity of the people in peace, love and mutual assistance has always been one of the basic values of the Russian people.
Andrey Szegeda
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