Spiritual and moral system of values in ancient Russian literature. Old Russian literature in the development of spiritual and moral values of man Man and his values of ancient Russian literature
The role of ancient Russian literature in the spiritual and moral development of a child
INTRODUCTION
In modern conditions, literature as an academic subject is entrusted with a special mission - the education of a spiritual and moral personality with a high degree of self-awareness as a citizen of Russia. In the social atmosphere of today, when romanticism is not in fashion, when selflessness, mercy, kindness, patriotism have become in short supply, the spiritual and moral revival of man is a problem on the solution of which the future of the country depends
It is not always easy for our children to navigate such a multi-valued world. All this speaks to the need to improve educational work in literature lessons; use as much as possible all the possibilities of this subject to form a spiritually rich, harmoniously developed personality, with high moral ideals and aesthetic needs.
Russian literature has always been the pride, the conscience of the people, because our national psychology is characterized by increased attention to the soul, conscience, to a bright and apt word with which one can kill and resurrect, trample into the ground and lift to heaven. Literature in school study is multifunctional in its goals and objectives, polyphonic in content: it contains the voices of writers, historical eras and literary movements. Works of fiction raise questions of ethics, aesthetics, politics, and sometimes even strategy and tactics of military battles. But the most important thing is the problem of the soul and spirit of an individual and an entire nation.
The most important thing in our domestic literature is its Orthodox worldview, the religious nature of the reflection of reality. The religiosity of literature does not manifest itself in some connection with church life, but in a special way of viewing the world. The literature of modern times belongs to secular (secular) culture; it cannot be purely ecclesiastical. However, the literature of modern times adopted from the literature of the 10th – 17th centuries. its teaching character, its moral basis and its “philosophy”, i.e. the combination of philosophy with general cultural phenomena - art, science, etc. Domestic literature of the 10th – 17th centuries is called Old Russian literature.
Modern literature has preserved the most valuable things that were in the literature of Ancient Rus': a high level of moral principles, interest in ideological problems, richness of language.”
Old Russian literature saw its task and meaning of existence in kindling and maintaining spiritual fire in human hearts. This is where the recognition of conscience as the measure of all life values comes from. The writers of Ancient Rus' understood their work as a prophetic service. That is why the works of that time are an expression of the conscience of the people, their traditions, needs and aspirations, their soul. Revealing all the painful issues, she poses burning questions that require answers to society, teaches how to solve them through humane means, calls for kindness, mutual understanding and compassion, she cultivates the best qualities of a person.
Old Russian literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and patriotism. The specificity of its moral impact lies in the fact that the reader has the opportunity to get acquainted with the events of the ancient history of Rus', to compare his assessments of life with the wise assessments of the writers of that distant time. In the process of perceiving ancient Russian works, students can acquire complex ideological concepts about a person’s place in life, his goals and aspirations, become convinced of the truth of certain moral decisions, and gain experience in moral assessment.
Of course, spiritual and moral education is a long and painstaking process, but the entire system of working on a work of art, as well as extracurricular work, contributes to the formation of students’ spiritual values. The moral and aesthetic potential of ancient Russian culture and literature, the work of Avvakum, the chroniclers Nestor and Sylvester is very high, the degree of emotional impact on our students is exceptional, the depth of moral issues is inexhaustible. This is truly the “inexhaustible chalice” of our spirituality.
A return to age-old spiritual values and national traditions is an urgent need of our time. And whether this return will take place, whether it will become a reality, a personal need for everyone, and not just a tribute to fashion, depends largely (one would like to hope) on language teachers.
This is especially true in our time, when Russia is experiencing profound transformations, accompanied by serious spiritual losses. Children of the 90s are sitting at their school desks, having taken on their fragile shoulders all the consequences of political and social reforms, the stratification of society, and unemployment. We are responsible for them because they are to inherit the country; for their morality, since an immoral people is doomed to death and destruction.
A people is alive as long as its national culture is alive: language, customs, traditions, legends, art and, of course, literature. Therefore, the main tasks of the teacher are to enrich students with versatile and deep knowledge about their people, their past, traditions, and culture.
Only in the process of interaction, cooperation and co-creation between teacher and students is true immersion and comprehension of the spiritual and moral potential of ancient Russian literature - truly the “inexhaustible chalice” of our spirituality - possible.
Goal of the work:
Show the role of ancient Russian literature in the spiritual and moral development of a child by using various forms, methods and techniques in the study of literary monuments of the 10th – 17th centuries.
Job objectives:
Study the works of scientists in the field of ancient Russian literature.
Determine the prerequisites for the emergence, periodization and genre specificity of the literature of Ancient Rus'.
Reveal the most effective forms of work, techniques and methods when studying ancient Russian literature.
The experimental work was based on the analysis and generalization of the best practices of leading teachers and methodologists and personal pedagogical experience.
Chapter 1. Old Russian literature as part of culture.
. The emergence of ancient Russian literature.
At the end of the 10th century, the literature of Ancient Rus' arose, literature on the basis of which the literature of three fraternal peoples developed - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Old Russian literature arose along with the adoption of Christianity and was initially called upon to serve the needs of the church: to provide church ritual, disseminate information on the history of Christianity, and educate societies in the spirit of Christianity. These tasks determined both the genre system of literature and the features of its development. Literature arose in Rus' simultaneously with the adoption of Christianity. Its development undeniably demonstrates that both the Christianization of the country and the emergence of writing were determined, first of all, by state needs. Having adopted Christianity, Ancient Rus' simultaneously received writing and literature.
Old Russian scribes were faced with a very difficult task: it was necessary to provide the churches and monasteries created in Rus' with the books necessary for worship in the shortest possible time; it was necessary to acquaint newly converted Christians with Christian dogma, with the foundations of Christian morality, with Christian historiography in the broadest sense of the word: and with the history of the Universe, peoples and states, and with the history of the church, and, finally, with the history of the lives of Christian ascetics 1.
As a result, ancient Russian scribes, already during the first two centuries of the existence of their writing, became acquainted with all the main genres and main monuments of Byzantine literature.
It was necessary to talk about how, from a Christian point of view, the world works, to explain the meaning of nature expediently and wisely “arranged by God.” In short, it was necessary to immediately create literature devoted to the most complex ideological issues. The books brought from Bulgaria could not provide all these diverse needs of the young Christian state, and, therefore, it was necessary to translate, rewrite, and reproduce works of Christian literature. All the energy, all the strength, all the time of the ancient Russian scribes at first were absorbed in the implementation of these primary tasks.
The writing process was lengthy, the writing material (parchment) was expensive, and this not only made each book volume labor-intensive, but also gave it a special aura of value and significance. Literature was perceived as something very important, serious, intended to serve the highest spiritual needs.
Writing was necessary in all spheres of state and public life, in inter-princely and international relations, and in legal practice. The advent of writing stimulated the activity of translators and copyists, and most importantly, created opportunities for the emergence of original literature, both serving the needs and requirements of the church (teachings, solemn words, lives) and purely secular literature (chronicles). However, it is quite natural that in the minds of the ancient Russian people of that time, Christianization and the emergence of writing (literature) were considered as a single process.
In article 988 of the oldest Russian chronicle - “The Tale of Bygone Years”, immediately after the message about the adoption of Christianity, it is said that the Kiev prince Vladimir, “sent, began to take children from the deliberate children [of noble people], and began to give book learning” 2 .
In an article in 1037, characterizing the activities of Vladimir’s son, Prince Yaroslav, the chronicler noted that he “was diligent in books, and revered them [reading them], often at night and during the day. And the scribe collected many and translated from Greek into Slovenian writing [translating from Greek]. And having copied many books, in which people, having learned to be faithful, enjoy the teachings of God.” Further, the chronicler gives a kind of praise for the books: “Great is the benefit of the teaching of books: for by books we show and teach the ways of repentance [books instruct and teach us repentance], for we gain wisdom and abstinence from the words of books. These are the rivers that feed the universe, these are the origins [sources] of wisdom; there is infinite depth in books.” The first article from one of the oldest ancient Russian collections, “Izbornik 1076”, echoes these words of the chronicler; it states that, just as a ship cannot be built without nails, one cannot become a righteous person without reading books; advice is given to read slowly and thoughtfully: do not try to quickly read to the end of the chapter, but think about what you have read, re-read one three times and the same chapter until you understand its meaning.
Getting acquainted with ancient Russian manuscripts of the 11th-14th centuries, establishing the sources used by Russian writers - chroniclers, hagiographers (authors of lives), authors of solemn words or teachings, we are convinced that in the chronicle we do not have abstract declarations about the benefits of enlightenment; in the 10th and first half of the 11th century. in Rus', a huge amount of work was done: a huge amount of literature was copied from Bulgarian originals or translated from Greek 1 .
Old Russian literature can be considered as literature of one theme and one plot. This plot is world history, and this theme is the meaning of human life.
It’s not that all works are devoted to world history (although there are a lot of these works): that’s not the point! Each work, to some extent, finds its geographical place and its chronological milestone in the history of the world. All works can be placed in one row one after another in the order of events: we always know to what historical time they are attributed by the authors.
Literature tells, or at least strives to tell, not about the imagined, but about the real. Therefore, the real - world history, real geographical space - connects all individual works.
In fact, fiction in ancient Russian works is masked by truth. Open fiction is not allowed. All works are dedicated to events that happened, happened, or, although they did not exist, are seriously considered to have happened. Old Russian literature up to the 17th century. does not know or hardly knows the conventional characters. The names of the characters are historical: Boris and Gleb, Theodosius of Pechersk, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Sergius of Radonezh, Stefan of Perm... At the same time, ancient Russian literature talks mainly about those persons who played a significant role in historical events: be it Alexander the Great or Abraham of Smolensk.
One of the most popular books of Ancient Rus' is “The Six Days” by John Exarch of Bulgaria. This book tells about the world, arranging its story in the order of the biblical legend about the creation of the world in six days. On the first day light was created, on the second - the visible sky and waters, on the third - the sea, rivers, springs and seeds, on the fourth - the sun, moon and stars, on the fifth - fish, reptiles and birds, on the sixth - animals and humans . Each of the days described is a hymn to creation, the world, its beauty and wisdom, the consistency and diversity of the elements of the whole.
Ancient Russian literature is a cycle. A cycle that is many times superior to folklore ones. This is an epic telling the history of the universe and the history of Rus'.
None of the works of Ancient Rus' - translated or original - stands apart. They all complement each other in the picture of the world they create. Each story is a complete whole, and at the same time it is connected with others. This is only one chapter of the history of the world. Even such works as the translated story “Stephanit and Ikhnilat” (an ancient Russian version of the plot of “Kalila and Dimna”) or “The Tale of Dracula”, written on the basis of anecdotal oral stories, are included in collections and are not found in separate lists. They begin to appear in individual manuscripts only in the late tradition in the 17th and 18th centuries 2.
There is a kind of continuous cyclization going on. Even the notes of the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin about his “Walk across the Three Seas” were included in the chronicle. These notes become a historical composition - a story about the events of the trip to India. Such a fate is not uncommon for literary works of Ancient Rus': many of the stories over time begin to be perceived as historical, as documents or narratives about Russian history: be it the sermon of the abbot of the Vydubetsky Monastery Moses, delivered by him on the occasion of the construction of the monastery wall, or the life of a saint.
The works were built according to the “enfilade principle”. The life was supplemented over the centuries with services to the saint and descriptions of his posthumous miracles. It could grow with additional stories about the saint. Several lives of the same saint could be combined into a new single work. The chronicle could be supplemented with new information. The end of the chronicle seemed to be pushed back all the time, continuing with additional entries about new events (the chronicle grew along with history). Individual annual articles of the chronicle could be supplemented with new information from other chronicles; they could include new works. Chronographs and historical sermons were also supplemented in this way. Collections of words and teachings grew. That is why in ancient Russian literature there are so many huge works that unite individual narratives into a common “epic” about the world and its history.
Christian literature introduced Russian people to new standards of morality and morality, expanded their mental horizons and provided many information of a historical and geographical nature.
The circumstances of the emergence of Old Russian literature, its place and functions in the life of society determined the system of its original genres, that is, those genres within which the development of original Russian literature began.
At first, according to the expressive definition of D.S. Likhachev, it was literature of “one theme and one plot. This plot is world history, and this theme is the meaning of human life” 1. And indeed, all genres of ancient Russian literature were devoted to this topic and this plot.
There is no doubt that the Baptism of Rus' was an event of enormous historical importance, not only politically and socially, but also culturally. The history of ancient Russian literature began after Russia adopted Christianity, and the date of the Baptism of Rus' in 988 becomes the starting point for the national-historical development of Russia.
Since the Baptism of Rus', Russian culture has continually faced a difficult, dramatic, tragic choice of its path. From the point of view of cultural studies, it is important not only to date, but also to document this or that historical event.
1.2. Periods of the history of ancient literature.
The history of ancient Russian literature cannot but be considered in isolation from the history of the Russian people and the Russian state itself. The seven centuries (XI-XVIII centuries), during which ancient Russian literature developed, were full of significant events in the historical life of the Russian people. The literature of Ancient Rus' is evidence of life. History itself has established several periods of literary history.
The first period is the literature of the ancient Russian state, the period of the unity of literature. It lasts a century (XI and early XII centuries). This is the century of formation of the historical style of literature. Literature of this period developed in two centers: in the south of Kyiv and in the north of Novgorod. A characteristic feature of the literature of the first period is the leading role of Kyiv as the cultural center of the entire Russian land. Kyiv is the most important economic link on the world trade route. The Tale of Bygone Years belongs to this period.
Second period, mid-12th century. – first third of the 13th century. This is the period of the emergence of new literary centers: Vladimir Zalessky and Suzdal, Rostov and Smolensk, Galich and Vladimir Volynsky. During this period, local themes emerged in literature and different genres appeared. This is the period of the beginning of feudal fragmentation.
Next comes a short period of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. During this period, the stories “Words about the destruction of the Russian land” and “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” were created. During this period, one topic was discussed in the literature, the topic of the invasion of Mongol-Tatar troops in Rus'. This period is considered the shortest, but also the brightest.
The next period, the end of the 14th century. and the first half of the 15th century, this is a period of patriotic upsurge in literature, a period of chronicle writing and historical storytelling. This century coincides with the economic and cultural revival of the Russian land before and after the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. In the middle of the 15th century. New phenomena appear in literature: translated literature, “The Tale of Dracula”, “The Tale of Basarga” appear. All these periods, from the 13th century. to the 15th century can be combined into one period and defined as the period of feudal fragmentation and the unification of North-Eastern Rus'. Since the literature of the second period begins with the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders (1204), and when the main role of Kyiv has already ended and three fraternal peoples are formed from a single ancient Russian nation: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
The third period is the period of literature of the Russian centralized state of the XIV - XVII centuries. When the state plays an active role in the international relations of its time, and also reflects the further growth of the Russian centralized state. And since the 17th century. a new period of Russian history begins.
In ancient Russian literature there is a huge number of literary monuments written in the 11th-17th centuries. Works of ancient Russian literature were divided into “secular” and “spiritual”. The latter were supported and disseminated in every possible way, since they contained the enduring values of religious dogma, philosophy and ethics, and the main keepers and copyists of books in ancient Rus' were monks, and the former, with the exception of official legal and historical documents, were declared “vain.” Thanks to this, we present our ancient literature as more ecclesiastical than it actually was.
When starting to study ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to take into account its specific features, which are different from the literature of modern times.
A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence and distribution. Moreover, this or that work did not exist in the form of a separate, independent manuscript, but was part of various collections that pursued certain practical goals. “Everything that serves not for the sake of benefit, but for the sake of embellishment, is subject to the accusation of vanity.” These words of Basil the Great largely determined the attitude of ancient Russian society towards written works. The value of a particular handwritten book was assessed from the point of view of its practical purpose and usefulness. The works were rewritten, something of their own was added, so we can talk about the variability of ancient Russian works.
Another feature of our ancient literature is the anonymity and impersonality of its works. This was a consequence of the religious-Christian attitude of feudal society towards man, and in particular towards the work of a writer, artist, and architect. At best, we know the names of individual authors, “copywriters” of books, who modestly put their name either at the end of the manuscript, or in its margins, or (which is much less common) in the title of the work. At the same time, the writer will not accept to provide his name with such evaluative epithets as “thin”, “unworthy”, “many sinners”. In most cases, the author of the work prefers to remain unknown, and sometimes hide behind the authoritative name of one or another “father of the church” - John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, etc. 1
When considering the works of Ancient Rus', it is necessary to mention such a term as literary etiquette, i.e. in Ancient Rus', relationships between people were subject to special etiquette or tradition (life was clearly standardized). This term was introduced by academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. Etiquette also existed in art, especially in painting (images on icons were placed in strictly defined positions - growth depended on fame), events from the lives of saints were also subject to etiquette. The author of ancient Russian works glorified or condemned what is customary to glorify or condemn. He created in his works situations that were necessary according to etiquette (in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” the prince goes on a campaign, which means it is necessary to show his address to the squad, and his prayer to God, the prince signs in ceremonial positions; usually the Russian army is depicted as small in number, and the enemy's army is numerous to show the strength of the army, etc.). Literary etiquette is present in any work.
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Kuskov V.V. History of Old Russian Literature: Textbook. for philol. specialist. Universities/ V.V. Kuskov.- 7th ed.-M.: Higher. school, 2003.
1.3. Genre specificity of literature of Ancient Rus'.
Speaking about the system of genres of ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to note one more important circumstance: this literature for a long time, right up to the 17th century, did not allow literary fiction. Old Russian authors wrote and read only about what actually happened: about the history of the world, countries, peoples, about the generals and kings of antiquity, about holy ascetics. Even when conveying outright miracles, they believed that it could have happened, that there were fantastic creatures inhabiting unknown lands, through which Alexander the Great walked with his troops, that in the darkness of caves and cells demons appeared to holy hermits, then tempting them in the form of harlots , then frightening in the guise of animals and monsters.
When talking about historical events, ancient Russian authors could report different, sometimes mutually exclusive versions: some say this, the chronicler or chronicler will say, and others say otherwise. But in their eyes, this was just the ignorance of the informants, so to speak, a delusion from ignorance, however, the idea that this or that version could simply be invented, composed, and even more so composed for purely literary purposes - such a thought apparently appealed to older writers seemed implausible. This non-recognition of literary fiction also, in turn, determined the system of genres, the range of subjects and themes to which a work of literature could be devoted. The fictional hero will come to Russian literature relatively late - no earlier than the 15th century, although even at that time he would still masquerade as a hero of a distant country or an ancient time for a long time.
In ancient Russian literature, which knew no fiction, historical in large or small ways, the world itself was presented as something eternal, universal, where events and people’s actions are determined by the very system of the universe, where the forces of good and evil are forever fighting, a world whose history is well known ( after all, for each event mentioned in the chronicle, an exact date was indicated - the time that had passed since the “creation of the world”!) and even the future was destined: prophecies about the end of the world, the “second coming” of Christ and the Last Judgment awaiting all people on earth were widespread 1 .
To understand the peculiarity and originality of original Russian literature, to appreciate the courage with which Russian scribes created works such as “The Tale of Igor’s Host”, “Instruction” by Vladimir Monomakh, “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik and similar ones, for all this it is necessary to get acquainted with although with some examples of individual genres of ancient Russian literature.
A genre is a historically established type of literary work, an abstract pattern on the basis of which the texts of specific literary works are created. The system of genres of literature of Ancient Rus' differed significantly from the modern one. Old Russian literature developed largely under the influence of Byzantine literature and borrowed from it a system of genres, reworking them on a national basis: the specificity of the genres of Old Russian literature lies in their connection with traditional Russian folk art. The genres of ancient Russian literature are usually divided into primary and unifying.
Genres are called primary because they served as building material for unifying genres. Primary genres:
Chronicle
Teaching
Apocrypha
Life
Life is one of the most stable and traditional genres of Russian literature.
The word "hagiography" literally corresponds to the Greek ("life"), the Latin vita. And in Byzantine literature, and in the Middle Ages in the West and here in Rus', this term began to designate a certain genre: biographies, biographies of famous bishops, patriarchs, monks - the founders of certain monasteries, but only those whom the church considered saints. The Lives, therefore, are the biography of saints. Hence, lives in science are often also designated by the term “hagiography” (from agios - “saint” and grafo - “I write”). Hagiography is all literature and art that is a plot narrative about a person whom the church elevated to the degree of “saint” for his exploits.
Lives describe the lives of holy princes and princesses, the highest hierarchs of the Russian church, then its subordinate servants, archimandrites, abbots, simple monks, most rarely people from the white clergy, most often the founders and ascetics of monasteries who came from different classes of ancient Russian society, including from peasants. 1
The people about whom the lives are narrated were all more or less historical figures who attracted the attention of contemporaries or the memories of immediate posterity, otherwise we would not have known about their existence. But a life is not a biography or a heroic epic. It differs from the latter in that it describes real life only with a certain selection of material, in the required typical, one might say stereotypical, manifestations. The hagiographer, the compiler of hagiography, has his own style, his own literary techniques, and his own special task. 2
The Life is a whole literary structure, in some details reminiscent of an architectural building. It usually begins with a lengthy, solemn preface, expressing a view of the significance of holy lives for human society 3 .
Then the activity of the saint is narrated, destined from infancy, sometimes even before birth, to become God's chosen vessel of high talents; this activity is accompanied by miracles during life, and is sealed by miracles after the death of the saint. The life ends with a word of praise to the saint, usually expressing gratitude to the Lord God for sending down to the world a new lamp that illuminated the path of life for sinful people. All these parts are combined into something solemn, liturgical: the life was intended to be read in church at the all-night vigil on the eve of the saint’s memorial day. The Life is addressed not to the listener or reader, but to the one praying. It more than teaches: teaching, it tunes, strives to turn a soulful moment into a prayerful inclination. It describes an individual personality, personal life, but this chance is valued not in itself, not as one of the diverse manifestations of human nature, but only as the embodiment of an eternal ideal. 4
Byzantine lives served as a model for Russian hagiography, but already in the initial period of the development of Old Russian literature, two types of hagiographic texts appeared: princely lives and monastic lives. Princely lives generally gravitate towards a hagiographical scheme. This is, for example, created at the beginning of the 12th century. monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, life entitled “Reading about Boris and Gleb.” This work was written according to the strict requirements of classical Byzantine hagiography. Nestor, following tradition, spoke about the childhood of princes Boris and Gleb, about Boris’s marriage, about how the brothers prayed to God.
The purpose of life is to clearly show in individual existence that everything that the commandments require of a person is not only doable, but has been fulfilled more than once, and therefore is obligatory for conscience, for of all the demands of goodness, only the impossible is not necessary for conscience. A work of art in its literary form, a life, treats its subject didactically: it is edification in living persons, and therefore living persons are instructive types in it. The Life is not a biography, but an edifying panegyric within the framework of a biography, just as the image of a saint in the Life is not a portrait, but an icon. Therefore, among the main sources of ancient Russian history, the lives of the saints of Ancient Rus' occupy their special place. 5
Life was built according to certain canons, from which they did not deviate until the 15-16 centuries.
CANON (Greek - norm, rule) - a set of rules that predetermine the form and content of medieval art; a sign-model of the incomprehensible spiritual world, i.e. specific implementation of the principle of dissimilar similarity (image). On a practical level, the canon acts as a structural model of a work of art, as a principle for constructing a known set of works in a given era. 1 In relation to books of the hagiographic genre, the word “canon” is used to denote the inspiration of a certain collection of books that make up the Holy Bible.
The life of a saint is a narrative about the life of a saint, the creation of which is necessarily accompanied by official recognition of his holiness (canonization). As a rule, the life reports about the main events of the life of the saint, his Christian deeds (pious life, martyrdom, if any), as well as special evidence of Divine grace with which this person was noted (these include, in particular, intravital and posthumous miracles). The lives of saints are written according to special rules (canons). Thus, it is believed that the birth of a child marked by grace most often occurs in the family of pious parents (although there were cases when parents, guided, as it seemed to them, by good intentions, interfered with the feat of their children, condemned them - see, for example, the life of St. Theodosius Pechersky, St. Alexy the man of God). Most often, a saint from an early age leads a strict, righteous life (although sometimes repentant sinners, for example St. Mary of Egypt, achieved holiness). In the “Tale” of Ermolai-Erasmus, some features of the saint can be traced more likely in Prince Peter than in his wife, who, moreover, as follows from the text, performs her miraculous healings rather by her own art than by the will of God. 2
Hagiographic literature, together with Orthodoxy, came to Rus' from Byzantium. There, by the end of the 1st millennium, the canons of this literature were developed, the implementation of which was mandatory. They included the following:
Only “historical” facts were presented.
Only Orthodox saints could be heroes of lives.
The life had a standard plot structure:
a) introduction;
b) the hero’s pious parents;
c) the hero’s solitude and study of holy scripture;
d) refusal of marriage or, if impossible, preservation of “physical purity” in marriage;
e) teacher or mentor;
f) leaving for a “hermitage” or a monastery;
g) the fight against demons (described using lengthy monologues);
h) the founding of one’s monastery, the arrival of “brethren” in the monastery;
i) predicting one’s own death;
j) pious death;
k) posthumous miracles;
m) praise
It was also necessary to follow the canons because these canons were developed by the centuries-old history of the hagiographic genre and gave the lives an abstract rhetorical character.
4. Saints were portrayed as ideally positive, enemies - ideally negative. The translated lives that came to Rus' were used for a dual purpose:
a) for home reading (Mineaion);
b) for divine services (Prologues, Synaxariums) 3
Synaxariums are non-liturgical church meetings that were dedicated to psalmody and pious reading (mainly hagiographic literature); were widespread in the early Christian era. The same name was given to a special collection, which contained selected passages from the lives of saints, arranged in order of calendar commemoration, and was intended for reading in such meetings. 1
It was this dual use that caused the first serious controversy. If you make a complete canonical description of the saint’s life, then the canons will be observed, but reading such a life will greatly delay the service. If we shorten the description of the saint’s life, then its reading will fit within the usual time of the service, but the canons will be violated. Or at the level of physical contradiction: the life must be long in order to comply with the canons, and must be short so as not to prolong the service.
The contradiction was resolved by the transition to a bisystem. Each life was written in two versions: short (prologue) and long (minain). The short version was read quickly in church, and the long version was then read aloud in the evenings with the whole family. 2
The short versions of the lives turned out to be so convenient that they won the sympathy of the clergy. (Now they would say they became bestsellers.) They became shorter and shorter. It became possible to read several lives during one service. And then their similarity and monotony became obvious.
There should be a canonical part of the lives that is common to all, in order to preserve the canon, and there should not be, so as not to delay the reading.
This contradiction was resolved by moving to a supersystem. The canonical part was preserved, but made common to all lives. And only the exploits of different monks were different. The so-called Patericon arose - stories about the actual exploits. Gradually, the general canonical part becomes less and less significant and eventually disappears, goes into the “iceberg”. What remains are simply entertaining stories about the exploits of the monks. 3
Lives shaped the views of ancient Russian readers on the ideal of holiness, on the possibility of salvation, nurtured philological culture (in its best examples), created ideal forms of expressing the feat of the saint in the form in which it appeared to his contemporaries and, in turn, formed the views of believers of subsequent generations on feat. 4
War story
A story is a text of an epic nature, telling about princes, military exploits, and princely crimes.
Military stories were imbued with patriotic pathos and the noble idea of serving the Motherland. Using numerous examples of the most dramatic events of history, a special type of hero was created here - an ideal warrior prince, whose meaning of life was the fight for the freedom of Rus'. Military stories, regardless of the time of their writing, are characterized by their own aesthetics, inherent only to this type of historical fiction, their own type of ideals, their own principles in the selection of real historical material. The plots of military stories (like hagiographies and other genres of ancient Russian literature) were “composed” from materials of two types: facts taken from reality, and formulas and episodes borrowed from various sources. Borrowed material in the plot of works performed no less important function than material taken directly from life: most often it was a kind of “key” to understanding the events of our time. Military stories had “individual” attributes (primarily a set of stable military formulas) and principles for selecting facts to be depicted. They realized a special type of providential plot with unique (different than, for example, hagiographies) principles of construction. The “leading components” of military stories are the following situations: “1. Description of the army preparing for battle; 2. The night before the battle; 3. The leader’s speech before the battle addressed to the soldiers; 4. The battle itself and its end (victory - in this case, pursuit of the enemy - or defeat); 5. Calculation of losses."
Most Russian military stories tell about events in Russian history. Less often, authors were interested in what was happening outside the Russian principalities. One of the few foreign states that were always in the sight of Russian chroniclers was Byzantium, with the history of which, from the chronicles translated in the first centuries of Christianity in Rus', they were no less familiar, and perhaps even better, than with the history of their own state. So, in the 13th century. Russian chroniclers responded to the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders with a detailed, and most importantly, reliable “Tale of the Capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.” It was created shortly after the event itself and was preserved in the oldest (XIII century) Novgorod I chronicle. The story is written in the simple and expressive language of the chronicle, is accurate in its presentation of events, and is impartial in assessing the actions of the Crusaders and the Greeks besieged by them.
Military stories told about battles with enemies of the Russian land or about internecine wars. Medieval authors saw their task as interpreting their meaning. For this purpose, they turned to more distant times and almost always tried to explain the present with the help of the past. Therefore, the most important task of the author was to find analogues to the events and heroes of his time in the past. The authors of military stories sought and found such parallels in world (primarily biblical) and Russian history.
Functionally, military stories were intended not so much for preserving reliable information, but for a biased, dosed familiarization of a wide range of readers with the events of the distant and recent past of the Russian state. All Russian military stories are characterized by a rigid determinism of the plot, due to the national (or specific-princely) political position of the author, which predetermined both the tendentious selection of factual material and its tendentious interpretation.
Depending on the outcome of the central event of the work - the war - the stories can be divided into two thematic groups. The first group will consist of works about the defeats of the Christian (Russian) army, the second - about its victories. The defeat of the united Russian and Polovtsian army by the Tatars in 1223 is described in the “Tale of the Battle of the Kalka River”; in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” (hereinafter PR) - about the destruction of the Russian city of Ryazan in 1237; in “The Tale of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks” - about the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, etc. The Life of Alexander Nevsky (hereinafter ZHAN) is dedicated to the victories over the enemies of Rus' of the Novgorod prince Alexander, the defeat of the Tatars in 1380 on the Kulikovo Field - The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev, etc. All these events - both victories and defeats - were used by medieval Russian authors to create a single ideological concept, logically justified by the entire course of Russian history.
The main stages in the formation of the genre of military stories can be presented as follows. Its origins lie in legends about the first Russian princes. The only written source of these legends is the Tale of Bygone Years, which contains a few and laconic legendary “stories” about the military campaigns of the pagan princes Askold, Dir, Oleg, Svyatoslav, Igor and many others. These legends record only the most outstanding events of the first centuries of the existence of the Russian state and the deeds of the first Russian princes: their campaigns against Byzantium, battles with Cuman enemies, internecine wars. The absence of other Russian sources does not allow us to verify how accurate these chronicle legends were in reflecting real events.
Chronicle
Chronicles are usually called “monuments of historical writing and literature of Ancient Rus'. The narration in them was carried out year by year in chronological order (the story about the events of each year began with the words “in the summer:” - hence the name “chronicle”.
Chronicles are the focus of the history of Ancient Rus', its ideology, understanding of its place in world history - they are one of the most important monuments of writing, literature, history, and culture in general. Only the most literate, knowledgeable, wise people took on the task of compiling chronicles, that is, weather reports of events, capable of not only setting out various affairs year after year, but also giving them an appropriate explanation, leaving for posterity a vision of the era as the chroniclers understood it.
The chronicle was a state matter, a princely matter. Therefore, the order to compile a chronicle was given not just to the most literate and intelligent person, but also to the one who would be able to implement ideas close to this or that princely branch, this or that princely house. Thus, the chronicler’s objectivity and honesty came into conflict with what we call “social order.” If the chronicler did not satisfy the tastes of his customer, they parted with him and transferred the compilation of the chronicle to another, more reliable, more obedient author. Alas, work for the needs of power arose already at the dawn of writing, and not only in Rus', but also in other countries.
Each chronicle list has its own conventional name. Most often, it was given according to the place of storage (Ipatievsky, Koenigsberg, Academic, Synodal, Archaeographic lists, etc.) or by the name of the previous owner (Radzivilovsky list, Obolensky list, Khrushchev list, etc.). Sometimes chronicles are named by the name of their customer, compiler, editor or copyist (Laurentian List, Nikon Chronicle) or by the chronicle center in which they were created (Novgorod Chronicle, Moscow Code of 1486). However, the latter names are usually given not to individual lists, but to entire editions into which a number of bishops are united. 1
Chronicles appeared in Rus' shortly after the introduction of Christianity. The first chronicle may have been compiled at the end of the 10th century. It was intended to reflect the history of Russia from the time the new Rurik dynasty appeared there until the reign of Vladimir with his impressive victories, with the introduction of Christianity in Russia. From this time on, the right and duty to keep chronicles were given to church leaders. It was in churches and monasteries that the most literate, well-prepared and trained people were found - priests and monks. They had a rich book heritage, translated literature, Russian records of ancient tales, legends, epics, traditions; They also had the grand ducal archives at their disposal. The best thing for them was to carry out this responsible and important work: to create a written historical monument of the era in which they lived and worked, connecting it with past times, with deep historical origins.
Scientists believe that before chronicles appeared - large-scale historical works covering several centuries of Russian history, there were separate records, including church, oral stories, which initially served as the basis for the first generalizing works. These were stories about Kiev and the founding of Kiev, about the campaigns of Russian troops against Byzantium, about the journey of Princess Olga to Constantinople, about the wars of Svyatoslav, the legend about the murder of Boris and Gleb, as well as epics, lives of saints, sermons, traditions, songs, various kinds of legends .
The second chronicle was created under Yaroslav the Wise at the time when he united Rus' and founded the Church of Hagia Sophia. This chronicle absorbed the previous chronicle and other materials.
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Literature and culture of Ancient Rus': Dictionary-reference book / Ed. V.V. Kuskova.-M., 1994.
Later, already during the existence of the chronicles, more and more new stories were added to them, tales about impressive events in Rus', such as the famous feud of 1097 and the blinding of the young prince Vasilko, or about the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians in 1111. The chronicle included in its composition and Vladimir Monomakh’s memoirs about life - his “Teachings to Children.”
Already at the first stage of creating chronicles, it became obvious that they represent collective creativity, are a collection of previous chronicles, documents, and various types of oral and written historical evidence. Compiler of the next
of the chronicle, he acted not only as the author of the corresponding newly written parts of the chronicle, but also as a compiler and editor. This and his ability to direct the idea of the arch in the right direction were highly valued by the Kyiv princes.
The next chronicle Code was created by the famous Hilarion, who wrote it, apparently under the name of the monk Nikon, in the 60-70s of the 11th century, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. And then the Code appeared already during the time of Svyatopolk in the 90s of the 11th century.
The vault, which was taken up by the monk of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery Nestor and which entered our history under the name “The Tale of Bygone Years,” thus turned out to be at least the fifth in a row and was created in the first decade of the 12th century. at the court of Prince Svyatopolk. And each collection was enriched with more and more new materials, and each author contributed to it his talent, his knowledge, his erudition. Nestor's codex was in this sense the pinnacle of early Russian chronicle writing.
In the first lines of his chronicle, Nestor posed the question “Where did the Russian land come from, who was the first to reign in Kyiv, and where did the Russian land come from?” Thus, already in these first words of the chronicle it speaks of the large-scale goals that the author set for himself. And indeed, the chronicle did not become an ordinary chronicle, of which there were many in the world at that time - dry, dispassionately recording facts, but an excited story of the then historian, introducing philosophical and religious generalizations into the narrative, his own figurative system, temperament, his own style. Nestor depicts the origin of Rus', as we have already said, against the backdrop of the development of the entire world history. Rus' is one of the European nations.
Using previous codes and documentary materials, including, for example, treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, the chronicler unfolds a wide panorama of historical events that cover both the internal history of Rus' - the formation of all-Russian statehood with its center in Kiev, and the international relations of Rus' with the outside world. A whole gallery of historical figures passes through the pages of the Nestor Chronicle - princes, boyars, mayors, thousands, merchants, church leaders. He talks about military campaigns, the organization of monasteries, the foundation of new churches and the opening of schools, religious disputes and reforms of internal Russian life. Nestor constantly concerns the life of the people as a whole, their moods, expressions of dissatisfaction with the princely policies. On the pages of the chronicle we read about uprisings, murders of princes and boyars, and brutal social battles. The author describes all this thoughtfully and calmly, trying to be objective, as objective as a deeply religious person can be, guided in his assessments by the concepts of Christian virtue and sin. But, frankly speaking, his religious assessments are very close to universal human assessments. Nestor condemns murder, betrayal, deception, perjury uncompromisingly, but extols honesty, courage, loyalty, nobility, and other wonderful human qualities. The entire chronicle was imbued with a sense of the unity of Rus' and a patriotic mood. All the main events in it were assessed not only from the point of view of religious concepts, but also from the standpoint of these all-Russian state ideals. This motive sounded especially significant on the eve of the beginning of the political collapse.
In 1116-1118 the chronicle was rewritten again. Vladimir Monomakh, who was then reigning in Kyiv, and his son Mstislav were dissatisfied with the way Nestor showed the role of Svyatopolk in Russian history, on whose order the “Tale of Bygone Years” was written in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Monomakh took the chronicle from the Pechersk monks and transferred it to his ancestral Vydubitsky monastery. His abbot Sylvester became the author of the new Code.
Later, with the political collapse of Rus' and the rise of individual Russian centers, the chronicle began to fragment. In addition to Kyiv and Novgorod, their own chronicle collections appeared in Smolensk, Pskov, Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Ryazan, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Russky. Each of them reflected the peculiarities of the history of its region, bringing its own princes to the fore. Thus, the Vladimir-Suzdal chronicles showed the history of the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest; Galician chronicle of the beginning of the 13th century. became essentially a biography of the famous warrior prince Daniil Galitsky; the Chernigov branch of the Rurikovichs was mainly narrated in the Chernigov Chronicle. And yet, even in the local chronicles, all-Russian cultural origins were clearly visible. The history of each land was compared with the entire Russian history.
The preservation of the all-Russian chronicle tradition was shown by the Vladimir-Suzdal chronicle code of the beginning of the 13th century, which covered the history of the country from the legendary Kiy to Vsevolod the Big Nest.
Walking
This genre - the genre of walks - descriptions of medieval journeys - began its development with pilgrim walks. Travel notes and walks were especially popular in Ancient Rus'. They passed from one generation to another in handwritten collections; they were read with interest in princely chambers and in the houses of townspeople, in monastery cells and boyar chambers. Their former popularity is evidenced by the large number of works of this genre that have come down to us, as well as their lists compiled in various classes of feudal Rus'. The earliest example of works of ancient Russian sketch literature was a description of a journey to holy places, made at the beginning of the 12th century. abbot of one of the Chernigov monasteries, Daniel.
When ancient Russian literature arose, the main variety of this genre was precisely pilgrimage.
Walking as a literary genre was distinguished by a certain subject of narration, structure, some linguistic originality and a special type of narrator-traveler.
In the history of the genre of ancient Russian travel notes, three works occupy a special place. These are truly innovative works. These include the walks of Abbot Daniel, Ignatius Smolnyanin and Afanasy Nikitin.
Despite all the modesty of the ancient Russian writer, his image is clearly read in his works. And the first thing to note is that he largely embodies folk qualities. This is not a contemplative, striving for solitude, fencing off from the outside world. This is not a moralist preacher calling for ascetic abstinence from everyday temptations. A travel writer is a strong-willed and restless person. He is guided in life by the parable of the lazy slave, widespread in Ancient Rus', which is often quoted by the authors of walks from the good hand of the founder of this genre, Abbot Daniel. He is also convinced that it is not worthy to consign to oblivion everything instructive that he saw in foreign countries. He, a Russian person, is alien to a disdainful and arrogant attitude towards other peoples, their beliefs, customs, morals and culture. Possessing self-respect, he writes with respect about foreigners. He adheres to that primordial Russian rule of life, which was formulated by Theodosius of Pechersk in the 11th century: “If you see naked, or hungry, or overcome by winter or misfortune, will there still be a Jew, or a Sracin, or a Bulgarian, or a heretic, or a Latin, or from all the filthy - have mercy on everyone and deliver them from trouble as much as you can.”
However, such tolerance did not mean that Russian travel writers were indifferent to religious beliefs, which, as already mentioned, in the Middle Ages were a form of expression of national, philosophical, ideological and state interests. The narrators in the walks are bright representatives of their time, their people, exponents of their ideological and aesthetic ideas and ideals.
With the development of historical life, the Russian traveler-narrator also changed. In Kievan Rus and during the period of feudal fragmentation and the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the typical traveler was a pilgrim to the places of Christian attractions in the Middle East. Of course, during this historical era there were trade and diplomatic travels to various countries, but they were not clearly reflected in literature.
During the period of the unification of North-Eastern Rus', along with pilgrims to Eastern Christian countries, a new type of traveler appeared, more enterprising and inquisitive - an ambassador for state-church affairs and a trade guest. During this era, travel notes about Western Europe, the Muslim East and distant India appeared. The traveler is surprised by foreign wonders, enthusiastically and busily writes about phenomena of economics, trade, culture, everyday life, nature that are unusual for Russian people, tries on what foreign things are suitable and what is not suitable for Russian life. But the pages of manuscripts say that no temptations or innovations seen in other countries, even to a small extent, at all times dulled the feelings of affection and love for their native land among Russian travelers.
In the 16th-18th centuries, a traveler appeared - an explorer, discovering new paths and uninhabited lands on the northern and eastern borders of Rus'. The explorers somewhat resemble the appearance of Afanasy Nikitin. They did not go to unknown lands and countries for the sake of profit or glory. People's inquisitiveness, daring, and love of freedom forced them to embark on risky journeys. And it is clear that the explorers were mainly from the lower social classes, especially from among the restless Cossacks.
The authors of the circulations of the 11th-15th centuries belonged to the clergy, merchants and “service people” (bureaucrats), but some of their representatives, despite their social class affiliation, did not lose touch with the people. The walks of Abbot Daniel, Anonymous, Ignatius Smolnyanin and especially Afanasy Nikitin in ideological positions and in the form of narration are firmly connected with popular views and ideas.
The strict, canonical requirements for the genre, so characteristic of ancient Russian literature, narrowed, but did not destroy the creative possibilities of the writer. The walks differ in the originality of their content and style. Even when visiting the same places, when describing the same “shrines,” travel writers did not repeat each other. In each walk, the individual moral character of the writer is visible, the degree of his literary talent and depth of thought is reflected.
The narration in the walks is in the first person. This manner of presentation follows from the nature of the genre. The monologue speech of the narrator underlies the construction of the walks: the sketches in the walks are united not only by the logic of the journey itself, but also by a single monologue narrative, smooth and leisurely, epically majestic.
In general, ancient Russian literature pays great tribute to traditions. And the walks begin with a traditional introduction, which is designed to suit the tastes and demands of contemporaries. According to tradition, in the introduction, winning the reader’s trust, the author assures him of his piety and that everything he talks about is not fiction, but the truth, and that the traveler himself saw everything told “with his sinner’s eyes.”
In some introductions, brief ones, the name of the traveler is indicated (but many walks are nameless), sometimes his class affiliation and it is reported where and why he traveled (the walks of the guest Vasily, Barsanuphius, Afanasy Nikitin).
Other introductions are more detailed. They reveal the circumstances in which the journey took place, the reasons that prompted the author to write “his sinful walk”, and give moral and religious instructions to the reader (the walks of Daniel, Zosima, Ignatius Smolnyanin).
Following the introduction there is a chain of descriptions or sketches, occasionally accompanied by restrained lyrical inserts or brief, meager evaluative remarks. The feeling of modesty as a requirement of the era left its mark on the lyrical digressions and the author’s assessments of what he saw along the way. All the author’s attention is directed to an objective description of events, objects and persons. The sequence of descriptions is based, as a rule, on one of two principles - spatial or temporal. The first compositional principle usually underlay pilgrimage walks, in which descriptions of Christian cultural monuments and “shrines” were correlated with the topography of the area.
The principle of temporal sequence was the basis of “secular”, that is, trade and diplomatic, circulation. The descriptions in them were placed in accordance with the time of the trip, often with the dating of the traveler’s stay in certain places, meetings with people and events that took place. This compositional principle is largely dependent on the original diary entries, which were often kept by travelers and which were subsequently revised.
The composition of pilgrimage walks is also different in that they contain inserted episodes of legendary biblical content, which is not found in diplomatic and trade walks. Typically, these writers correlate legendary and biblical episodes either with geographical places or with “shrines” and monuments of Christian culture.
The tasks of the genre required ancient Russian travel writers to develop a system of stylistic techniques for describing what they saw. This system is not complicated, it was often violated in particulars, but its basic principles were respected. As a rule, descriptions were based on several basic techniques, used in various combinations and with preference for one of them.
Another traditional stylistic device is interesting, which can be called “stringing”. It was used in the description of a complex object. First, a more voluminous object was named, followed by a chain of objects with decreasing volume. The origins of this technique lie deep in folk art, it is reminiscent of toy “nesting dolls” and a fairy-tale technique such as: oak, on the oak tree there is a chest, in the chest there is a duck, in the duck there is an egg, in the egg there is a needle. This technique is widespread in Novgorod walks.
An anonymous author, using this technique, talks about the cultural monuments of Constantinople, destroyed by the crusaders: “Ottol to the Tsar’s Court at noon: there is the Tsar’s Court of Constantine above the sea above the Great; There is a pattern in the Tsar’s yard. A pillar of cameos is placed high above the pestilence, and on the pillar there are 4 pillars of stone, and on those pillars there are cameos of a blue adder, and in those stones are carved winged dogs and winged eagles, stones and borana stones; The horns of the Borans are broken and the pillars are upholstered...”
These techniques are simple, lapidary and traditional.
The language of walking is basically folk, colloquial. In terms of their syntactic structure and lexical composition, the best works of this genre (the walks of Daniel, Anonymous, Stefan Novgorod, Ignatius, Afanasy Nikitin, etc.) were accessible to the widest circle of readers - their language is so simple, precise and at the same time expressive.
Old Russian circulations as a genre, as an established literary form, do not disappear without a trace in the literature of modern times. They grow into Russian travel literature of the first half of the 18th century and, transforming, take on new genre qualities in the last quarter of the 18th century (“Letters of a Russian Traveler” by Karamzin, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by Radishchev). There is reason to assert that at the end of the 18th century, not only under the influence of Western European literature, but also on the rich basis of national centuries-old traditions, various forms of domestic “travel” literature took shape. And, of course, the genre of the modern travel essay, widespread in Soviet literature, has its roots in the depths of centuries.
Word
The word is a type of genre of ancient Russian eloquence. An example of the political variety of ancient Russian eloquence is “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” This work is the subject of much controversy regarding its authenticity. This is because the original text of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” has not been preserved. It was destroyed by fire in 1812. Only copies have survived. From that time on, it became fashionable to refute its authenticity. The word tells about the military campaign of Prince Igor against the Polovtsians, which took place in history in 1185. Researchers suggest that the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was one of the participants in the described campaign. Disputes about the authenticity of this work were conducted in particular because it stands out from the system of genres of ancient Russian literature due to the unusualness of the artistic means and techniques used in it. The traditional chronological principle of narration is violated here: the author is transported to the past, then returns to the present (this was not typical for ancient Russian literature), the author makes lyrical digressions, inserted episodes appear (Svyatoslav’s dream, Yaroslavna’s cry). The word contains a lot of elements of traditional oral folk art and symbols. One can clearly feel the influence of a fairy tale, an epic. The political background of the work is obvious: in the fight against a common enemy, Russian princes must be united, disunity leads to death and defeat.
Another example of political eloquence is the “Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land,” which was created immediately after the Mongol-Tatars came to Rus'. The author glorifies the bright past and mourns the present.
An example of the solemn variety of ancient Russian eloquence is the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, which was created in the first third of the 11th century. The word was written by Metropolitan Hilarion on the occasion of the completion of the construction of military fortifications in Kyiv. The word conveys the idea of the political and military independence of Rus' from Byzantium. By “Law” Hilarion understands the Old Testament, which was given to the Jews, but it does not suit the Russian and other peoples. Therefore, God gave the New Testament, which is called “Grace.” In Byzantium, Emperor Constantine is revered, who contributed to the spread and establishment of Christianity there. Hilarion says that Prince Vladimir the Red Sun, who baptized Rus', is no worse than the Byzantine emperor and should also be revered by the Russian people. The work of Prince Vladimir is continued by Yaroslav the Wise. The main idea of “The Word of Law and Grace” is that Rus' is as good as Byzantium.
Teaching
Teaching is a type of genre of ancient Russian eloquence. Teaching is a genre in which ancient Russian chroniclers tried to present a model of behavior for any ancient Russian person: both for the prince and for the commoner. The most striking example of this genre is the “Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh” included in the Tale of Bygone Years. In the Tale of Bygone Years, the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh are dated 1096. At this time, the strife between the princes in the battle for the throne reached its climax. In his teaching, Vladimir Monomakh gives advice on how to organize your life. He says that there is no need to seek the salvation of the soul in seclusion. It is necessary to serve God by helping those in need. When going to war, you should pray - God will definitely help. Monomakh confirms these words with an example from his life: he took part in many battles - and God protected him. Monomakh says that one should look at how the natural world works and try to organize social relations according to the model of a harmonious world order. The teaching of Vladimir Monomakh is addressed to descendants.
Apocrypha
The apocrypha - legends about biblical characters that were not included in the canonical (recognized by the church) biblical books, discussions on topics that worried medieval readers: about the struggle in the world of good and evil, about the ultimate fate of humanity, descriptions of heaven and hell or unknown lands “at the end of the world.”
Most of the apocrypha are entertaining plot stories that captured the imagination of readers either with unknown everyday details about the life of Christ, the apostles, and prophets, or with miracles and fantastic visions. The Church tried to fight apocryphal literature. Special lists of prohibited books – indices – were compiled. However, in judgments about which works are definitely “renounced books,” that is, unacceptable for reading by true Christians, and which are only apocryphal (literally apocryphal - secret, hidden, that is, designed for a reader experienced in theological matters), the medieval censors did not there was unity.
The indices varied in composition; in collections, sometimes very authoritative, we also find apocryphal texts next to the canonical biblical books and lives. Sometimes, however, even here they were overtaken by the hand of zealots of piety: in some collections the sheets with the text of the apocrypha were torn out or their text was crossed out. Nevertheless, there were a lot of apocryphal works, and they continued to be rewritten throughout the centuries-old history of ancient Russian literature.
Chapter 2. History of the study of monuments of ancient Russian literature
Russian literature before the 18th century. traditionally called "ancient". During this time, the historical life of Russia passed through the ancient period of its existence, then the medieval period, and from about the 17th century, according to V.I. Lenin, it entered a new period of its development. Thus, the name of Russian literature until the 18th century. “ancient”, which is not consistent with the chronological division of the Russian historical process into periods, is largely conditional, meaning only that it is characterized by significant qualitative features that distinguish it from subsequent literature, which we call new.
In the development of our literary heritage, which is part of the general cultural heritage, ancient Russian literature has a significant place, determined primarily by the fact that it was the initial stage in the development of great Russian literature, which has acquired global significance. The high ideological level inherent in new Russian literature, its nationality, and its living connection with pressing issues of social life also characterize ancient Russian literature in its most significant achievements. Ancient Russian literature, like the new one, was mainly journalistic and topical in its orientation due to the fact that it took a very direct part in the ideological and political struggle of its time, which reflected the class struggle in Russian society.
The very concept of fiction as a field formally autonomous and delimited from other areas of culture did not exist in ancient times, at least if we mean written literature and not oral creativity. This circumstance especially clearly allows us to reveal the historical and social connections that existed between ancient Russian literary monuments and the era that gave birth to them. 1
The collection of monuments of ancient Russian writing begins in the 18th century. V. Tatishchev, G. Miller, A. Shletser pay a lot of attention to their study. The remarkable work of V.N. Tatishchev “Russian History from Ancient Times” has not lost its source study significance even today. Its creator used a number of such materials, which were then irretrievably lost.
In the second half of the 18th century. The publication of some monuments of ancient writing begins. I. Novikov includes individual works of our ancient literature in his “Ancient Russian Vifliofika” II (the first edition was published in 1773-1774 in 10 parts, the second in 1778-1791 in 20 parts). He also owned the “Experience of a Historical Dictionary of Russian Writers” (1772), which collected information about the life and work of more than three hundred writers of the 11th-18th centuries.
An important event in the history of the study of ancient Russian literature was the publication in 1800 of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” which awakened a keen interest in the past in Russian society. “Columbus of ancient Russia,” as defined by A. S. Pushkin, was N. M. Karamzin. His “History of the Russian State” was created based on the study of handwritten sources, and the commentaries included precious extracts from these sources, some of which were then lost (for example, the Trinity Chronicle).
In the first third of the last century, the circle of Count N. Rumyantsev played a major role in collecting, publishing and studying monuments of ancient Russian writing.
Members of the Rumyantsev circle published a number of valuable scientific materials. In 1818, K. Kalaidovich published “Ancient Russian Poems of Kirsha Danilov,” in 1821, “Monuments of Russian Literature of the 12th Century,” and in 1824, the study “John the Exarch of Bulgaria” was published.
Evgeniy Bolkhovitinov took upon himself the colossal work of creating bibliographic reference books. Based on the study of handwritten material, in 1818 he published the “Historical Dictionary of the clergy of the Greek-Russian Church who were in Russia,” in 2 volumes,
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including 238 names (the Dictionary was republished in 1827 and in 1995). His second work - “Dictionary of Russian secular writers, compatriots and foreigners who wrote in Russia” - was published posthumously: the beginning of the “Dictionary” - in 1838, and in its entirety - in 1845 by M. P. Pogodin (reprint reprint 1971 G.).
The scientific description of manuscripts began with A. Vostokov, who published “Description of Russian and Slovenian manuscripts of the Rumyantsev Museum” in 1842.
By the end of the 30s of the XIX century. enthusiastic scientists collected a huge amount of handwritten material. To study, process and publication, an Archaeographic Commission was created at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1834. This commission began the publication of the most important monuments: a complete collection of Russian chronicles (from the 40s of the last century to the present day, 39 volumes have been published), legal, hagiographic monuments, in particular, the publication of the “Great Chetya-Menya” of Metropolitan Macarius began.
In the 40s of the XIX century. At Moscow University, the “Society of Russian History and Antiquities” is active, publishing its materials in special “Readings” (CHOIDR). The “Society of Lovers of Ancient Literature” emerges in St. Petersburg. The works of members of these societies are used to publish the series “Monuments of Ancient Writing” and “Russian Historical Library”.
The first attempt to systematize historical and literary material was made in 1822 by N. I. Grech in “An Experience in a Brief History of Russian Literature.”
A significant step forward was “The History of Ancient Russian Literature” (1838) by M. A. Maksimovich, a professor at Kyiv University. Here is a periodization of literature in accordance with the periodization of civil history. The main part of the book is devoted to the presentation of general bibliographic information about the composition of the written language of this period.
The popularization of works of ancient Russian literature and folk literature was facilitated by the publication of I. P. Sakharov’s “Tales of the Russian People” in the second half of the 30s and early 40s. The nature of this publication was thoroughly reviewed on the pages of Otechestvennye Zapiski by V. G. Belinsky. 1
A special course of lectures was devoted to Old Russian literature, given at Moscow University by Professor S.P. Shevyrev. This course, entitled “History of Russian Literature,” first saw the light in the second half of the 40s and was then republished twice: in 1858-1860. in 1887 S.P. Shevyrev collected a large amount of factual material, but approached its interpretation from a Slavophile position. However, his course summarized everything that had been accumulated by researchers by the 1940s. The systematic study of ancient Russian literature begins in the middle of the last century. Russian philological science at this time was represented by outstanding scientists F.I. Buslaev, A.N. Pypin, N.S. Tikhonravov, A. N. Veselovsky.
The most significant works of F. I. Buslaev in the field of ancient writing are “Historical Reader of the Church Slavonic and Old Russian Languages” (1861) and “Historical Sketches of Russian Folk Literature and Art” in 2 volumes (1861).
The anthology of F.I. Buslaev became an outstanding phenomenon not only of its time. It contained the texts of many monuments of ancient writing based on manuscripts with their variants. The scientist tried to present ancient Russian writing in all the diversity of its genre forms, and included monuments of business and church writing in the anthology with literary works.
“Historical Sketches” is devoted to the study of works of oral folk literature (volume 1) and ancient Russian literature and art (volume 2). Sharing a point of view
the so-called “historical school” created by the brothers Grimm and Bopp, Buslaev, however, went further than his teachers. In works of folklore and ancient literature, he is not
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1 Belinsky V.G. Full collection cit.: In 13 volumes. M., 1954.
He only looked for their “historical” - mythological - basis, but also connected their analysis with specific historical phenomena of Russian life, everyday life, and the geographical environment.
Buslaev was one of the first in our science to raise the question of the need for an aesthetic study of works of ancient Russian literature. He drew attention to the nature of her poetic imagery, noting the leading role of the symbol. Many interesting observations were made by the scientist in the field of relationships between ancient literature and folklore, literature and fine arts; he tried in a new way to solve the issue of the nationality of ancient Russian literature.
By the 70s, Buslaev moved away from the “historical” school and began to share the positions of the “borrowing” school, the theoretical provisions of which were developed by T. Benfey in “Panchatantra”. F. I. Buslaev sets out his new theoretical position in the article “Passing Stories” (1874), considering the historical and literary process as the history of borrowing plots and motifs that pass from one people to another.
A. N. Pypin began his scientific career with the study of ancient Russian literature. In 1858, he published his master's thesis “Essay on the literary history of ancient Russian stories and fairy tales,” devoted to the consideration of mainly translated ancient Russian stories.
Then the attention of A. N. Pypin was attracted to the apocrypha, and he was the first to introduce this most interesting type of ancient Russian writing into scientific circulation, devoting a number of scientific articles to the apocrypha and publishing them in the third issue of “Monuments of Ancient Russian Literature”, published by Kushelev-Bezborodko, “False and renounced books of Russian antiquity."
A. N. Pypin summed up the results of his many years of study of Russian literature in the four-volume “History of Russian Literature,” the first edition of which was published in 1898-1899. (the first two volumes were devoted to ancient Russian literature).
Sharing the views of the cultural-historical school, A. N. Pypin does not actually distinguish literature from general culture. He refuses the chronological distribution of monuments by century, arguing that “due to the conditions in which our writing was formed, it knows almost no chronology.” In his classification of monuments, A. N. Pypin strives to “combine what is homogeneous, although different in origin.”
In the development of scientific textual criticism not only of ancient, but also of new Russian literature, the works of Academician N. S. Tikhonravov are of great importance. From 1859 to 1863, he published seven editions of the Chronicles of Russian Literature and Antiquities, in which a number of monuments were published. In 1863, N. S. Tikhonravov published 2 volumes of “Monuments of Renounced Russian Literature,” which compares favorably in completeness and quality of textual work with the publication of A. N. Pypin. Tikhonravov began studying the history of Russian theater and dramaturgy of the late 17th - first quarter of the 18th centuries, which resulted in the publication in 1874 of the texts of Russian dramatic works of 1672-1725. in 2 volumes.
A huge contribution to Russian philological science was made by Academician A. N. Veselovsky. He paid great attention to the relationship between literature and folklore, devoting to them such interesting works as “Experiments on the history of the development of the Christian legend” (1875 -1877) and “Research in the field of Russian spiritual verse” (1879-1891). In his last work, he applied the principle of sociological study of literary phenomena, which became the leading principle in the most significant theoretical works of the scientist.
Veselovsky’s general literary concept was idealistic in nature, but it contained many rational grains, many correct observations, which were then used by Soviet literary criticism. Speaking about the history of the study of ancient Russian literature at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, one cannot help but talk about such a wonderful Russian philologist and historian as Academician A. A. Shakhmatov. The breadth of knowledge, extraordinary philological talent, and scrupulous textual analysis made it possible to achieve brilliant results in the study of the fate of the most ancient Russian chronicles.
The successes achieved by Russian philological science in the field of studying ancient writing by the beginning of the 20th century were consolidated in the historical and literary courses of P. Vladimirov “Ancient Russian literature of the Kyiv period (XI-XIII centuries)” (Kiev, 1901), A.S. Arkhangelsky “From lectures on the history of Russian literature” (vol. 1, 1916), E. V. Petukhov “Russian literature. Ancient period" (3rd ed. Pg., 1916), M. N. Speransky "History of ancient Russian literature" (3rd ed. M., 1920). Here it is appropriate to mention the book by V.N. Perets "A Brief Essay on the Methodology of the History of Russian Literature", last published in 1922.
All these works, distinguished by the great content of the factual material contained in them, gave only a static idea of ancient Russian literature. The history of ancient literature was considered as a history of changing influences: Byzantine, first South Slavic, second South Slavic, Western European (Polish). No class analysis was applied to literary phenomena. Such important facts of the development of democratic literature of the 17th century as satire were not considered at all.
The works of academicians A. S. Orlov and N. K. Gudziya were of great importance in the creation of the scientific history of ancient Russian literature. “Ancient Russian literature of the XI-XVI centuries. (course of lectures)" by A. S. Orlov (the book was expanded, republished and called "Ancient Russian Literature of the XI-XVII Centuries" /1945/) and "The History of Ancient Russian Literature" by N. K. Gudziya (from 1938 to 1966). the book went through seven editions) combined a historicist approach to literary phenomena with their class and sociological analysis, and paid attention, especially the book by A. S. Orlov, to the artistic specificity of monuments. Each section of N.K. Gudziya’s textbook was supplied with rich reference bibliographic material, which was systematically updated by the author.
In recent years, the central problem of studying the artistic specifics of ancient Russian literature: method, style, genre system, relationships with the fine arts has been put forward. A major contribution to the development of these issues was made by V. P. Adrianova-Peretz, N. K. Gudziem, O. A Derzhavina, L. A. Dmitriev, I. P. Eremin, V. D. Kuzmina, N. A. Meshchersky, A. V. Pozdneev, N. I. Prokofiev, V. F. Rzhiga.
The merits of D. S. Likhachev in the development of these problems are immeasurable. Dmitry Sergeevich has said more than once that ancient Russian literature is “still silent” and has not yet become well known and understandable to the modern reader. Indeed, those studying the history of their native writing and literature at school might have thought that apart from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” there is almost nothing in ancient Russian literature or almost nothing has survived from it. Therefore, for millions of his fellow citizens (not to mention foreign readers), Dmitry Sergeevich became one of the pioneers of ancient Russian literature - this huge cultural continent, which the scientist himself considered the spiritual homeland of all Russian culture.
Academician D.S. Likhachev considered the greatest value of ancient Russian literature to be that in ancient Rus' it “was more than literature.” In the article “Miscellaneous about Literature,” he makes stunning conclusions: “In no country in the world, from the very beginning of its emergence, has literature played such a huge state and social role as among the Eastern Slavs.” “At a time of decline in political unity and military weakening, literature replaced the state. Hence, from the very beginning and throughout all centuries, the enormous social responsibility of our literatures - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian."
“Literature rose above Russia like a huge protective dome - it became a shield of its unity, a moral shield.” 1
As a scientist, Dmitry Sergeevich tried to understand the spiritual origins and literary sources of this great feat-phenomenon: why was ancient Russian literature able to carry out such an important mission, what made such a high service possible? Considering the merits of Russian literature of the New Time, the scientist gave the following answer: “The literature of the New Time took over from the Old Russian its teaching character, its moral basis and its “philosophy,” i.e. the connection of philosophy with general cultural phenomena - art, science, etc.
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1 Likhachev D.S. Miscellaneous about literature // Notes and observations: from notebooks of different years. - L.: Sov. writer. Leningr. department, 1989.
The literature of modern times has preserved the most valuable things that were in the literature of Ancient Rus': a high level of moral principles, interest in ideological problems, richness of language.”
“Someday, when Russian readers become more interested in their past, the greatness of the literary feat of Russian literature will become completely clear to them and the ignorant denunciation of Rus' will be replaced by an informed respect for its moral and aesthetic values.”
Love for the Motherland, which nourished both joy and pain in Ancient Rus', defense of good and opposition to evil, the desire to preserve one’s national traditions and thirst for the new - all this, according to the scientist, “was the great glory of ancient Russian literature, which created good soil for the dawn new literature. In essence,” wrote Dmitry Sergeevich, “all the works of ancient Russian literature, due to the unity of their focus and commitment to the historical basis (“historicism”), together represented a single huge work - about humanity and the meaning of its existence.”
Old Russian literature appears as if suddenly, believes D.S. Likhachev. “We immediately see before us works of literature that are mature and perfect, complex and deep in content, testifying to a developed national and historical self-awareness.”
The scientist is referring to the sudden, at first glance, “appearance of such works of ancient Russian literature as Metropolitan Hilarion’s “The Word of Law and Grace,” as “The Initial Chronicle” with a different range of works included in it, as “The Teachings of Theodosius of Pechersk,” as “The Teachings of Prince Vladimir Monomakh”, “The Lives of Boris and Gleb”, “The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk”, etc.” 1
Another theoretical problem worried D.S. Likhachev and repeatedly attracted his attention - this is the problem of the genre system of Old Russian literature and, more broadly, of all Slavic literatures of the Middle Ages. This problem was posed and developed by him in reports at international congresses of Slavists “The System of Literary Genres of Ancient Rus'” (1963), “Old Slavic Literatures as a System” (1968) and “The Origin and Development of Genres of Old Russian Literature” (1973). In them, for the first time, the panorama of genre diversity was presented in all its complexity, the hierarchy of genres was identified and explored, and the problem of the close interdependence of genres and stylistic devices in ancient Slavic literatures was posed.
The history of literature faces a special task: to study not only individual genres, but also the principles on which genre divisions are carried out, to study their history and the system itself, designed to serve certain literary and non-literary needs and possessing a certain internal stability. The broad plan for studying the system of genres of the 11th–17th centuries, developed by Dmitry Sergeevich, also includes clarification of the relationship of literary genres with folklore, the connection of literature with other types of arts, literature and business writing. The importance of Dmitry Sergeevich’s work lies precisely in the fact that he clearly formulated the main objectives of the study and the originality of the very concept of “genre” as applied to the literature of Ancient Rus'.
He studied chronicles, their growth and changes in chronicle writing methods, their dependence on the uniqueness of the Russian historical process. This revealed a deep interest in the problem of artistic mastery of ancient Russian literature, characteristic of all the work of Dmitry Sergeevich, and he considers the style of literature and fine art as a manifestation of the unity of artistic consciousness. He presents in a new way the connection between the chronicles of the 11th and 12th centuries. with folk poetry and the living Russian language; as part of the chronicles of the 12th–13th centuries. reveals a special genre of “stories about feudal crimes”; notes the peculiar revival in North-Eastern Rus' of the political and cultural heritage of the ancient Russian state after the Kulikovo victory; shows the relationship between individual spheres of Russian culture in the 15th–16th centuries. with the historical situation of that time and with the struggle to build
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1 Likhachev D.S. The emergence of Russian literature. M., 1952.
centralized Russian state.
The cycle of works by D.S. Likhachev dedicated to Russian chronicles is valuable, first of all, because they gave the right direction to the study of artistic elements
chronicles at different stages of its development; they finally established the chronicles’ place of honor among the literary monuments of the historical genre. In addition, a thorough study of the features of the chronicle narrative allowed Dmitry Sergeevich to develop the question of forms of creativity bordering on literature - about military and veche speeches, about business forms of writing, about the symbolism of etiquette, which arises in everyday life, but significantly influences literature itself.
D.S. Likhachev was primarily interested in ways of depicting a person - his character and inner world. 1
In 1958, D.S. Likhachev published the book “Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus'.” In this book, the “problem of character” is explored not only on the material of historical genres: from the end of the 14th century. hagiography is involved; The “new” in the development of this problem is widely shown in examples of various types of democratic literature of the 17th century. and Baroque style. Naturally, the author could not exhaust all literary sources in one study, but within the limits of the studied material he reflected the historical development of such basic concepts as character, type, literary fiction. He clearly showed what a difficult path Russian literature went through before turning to depicting the inner world of a person, his character, i.e. to artistic generalization, leading from idealization to typification.
The book “Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus'” is a serious contribution not only to the study of the history of ancient Russian literature. The method of scientific research that underlies it and the important generalizations that it contains are of great interest both for an art critic, and for a researcher of new Russian literature, and for a theorist of literature and aesthetics in the broad sense of the word.
Literature is not a natural science theory, not a teaching, and not an ideology. Literature teaches us to live by depicting. She teaches to see, to see the world and man. This means that ancient Russian literature taught to see a person capable of good, taught to see the world as a place for the application of human kindness, as a world that can change for the better. Therefore, one of Dmitry Sergeevich’s spiritual and moral commandments says: “Be conscientious: all morality is in conscience.” 2
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1 Likhachev D.S. Man in the literature of Ancient Rus'. M., 1958
2 Monuments of renounced Russian literature / Collected and published by N. Tikhonravov. T. I. St. Petersburg, 1863; T. II. M., 1863
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
In practical work, I systematized and generalized all the knowledge obtained from the methodological works given above. The work below analyzes existing literature programs and provides experience in teaching Old Russian literature.
ABOUT ANCIENT RUSSIAN LITERATURE AT SCHOOL
Ancient literature is endowed with high moral principles; it glorifies the ideals of human spiritual beauty, the ideals of asceticism, heroism and the greatness of the Russian land. This is a powerful source of moral education, instilling a sense of national pride and faith in the creative forces of the Russian people. “By becoming more fully aware of the past, we understand the present, descending deeper into the meaning of the past - we reveal the meaning of the future; looking back, we step forward” (A.I. Herzen).
The study of artistic monuments allows us to trace the traditions of ancient Russian literature in the literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, and helps to resolve the most important problems of the literary process - the problem of identity and national specificity, the problem of interaction between literature and folklore. And the diversity of literary monuments testifies to the emergence during this period of a number of literary forms (hagiography, rhetoric, walking-travelling, journalism, short stories, poetry, drama).
The study of ancient literature has a number of features. First of all, we must keep in mind that the literary monuments of the ancient period were handwritten and have not been preserved in full. The manuscript tradition led to the creation of a large number of variants, for the scribe usually arbitrarily changed the text, adapting it to the needs and tastes of his time and his environment. If during the rewriting the deviations from the original were insignificant, then only a new list appeared. More significant changes that concerned the ideological content, style or composition of the work led to the emergence of a new edition of the literary monument. The question of authorship is also complicated. The names of most of the authors of monuments of ancient literature have not reached us. This deprives us of an important factor in the study of literature - acquaintance with the biography of the writer, his life and work. The presence of lists and editions created at different times, the anonymity of monuments make it difficult to chronologically assign many works of ancient Rus'.
In 1988, academician D.S. Likhachev wrote: “I am surprised how little time is spent in school on studying ancient Russian culture.” “Due to insufficient familiarity with Russian culture, there is a widespread opinion among young people that everything Russian is uninteresting, secondary, borrowed, superficial. The systematic teaching of literature is intended to destroy this misconception.” 1
Until the early nineties, only one work of literature from Ancient Rus' - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - was studied in school, and the transition of the school curriculum from this great monument straight to the 19th century created a feeling of failure in time and space of literature and Russian culture. The conclusion made by Likhachev summarized what was urgent and prompted action. A few years later, school practice increasingly included the study of works of ancient literature. They are represented by different genres in literature programs edited by T.F. Kurdyumova, A.G. Kutuzova, V.Ya. Korovina, V.G. Marantzman. However, the range of texts in them is the same and only varies. The works are recommended both for study in class and for introductory reading, independent reading followed by discussion, extracurricular
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1 Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. - M., 1979
reading. Texts for memorization are determined. The teacher and student are given the right to choose works.
In most literature programs in secondary schools, works of ancient Russian literature are studied from grades 5 to 9, and a meager number of teaching hours are allocated to this literature. There is no information about ancient Russian literature in the syllabus for grades 10-11.
For a more realistic idea of the study of ancient Russian literature, you can analyze current literature programs.
1. Brief analysis of the literature program by V.Ya. Korovina:
If you carefully analyze the literature program of V.Ya. Korovina, then we will see that 7 hours are allocated for the study of medieval Russian literature. The study begins in 5th grade and ends in 9th grade.
The Tale of Bygone Years is being studied; the program edited by V.Ya. Korovina addresses it three times:
5th grade - schoolchildren read “The Feat of a Youth from Kiev and the Cunning of Governor Pretich”;
6th grade – “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “The Tale of Kozhemyak”, “The Tale of Belgorod Kisel”, acquaintance with Russian chronicles;
7th grade - “On the benefits of books”, “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh” (excerpt) and “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”;
8th grade – “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”;
Grade 9 – review topic “Literature of Ancient Rus'” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
2. Brief analysis of the literature program by A.G. Kutuzova:
5th grade - Bible, New Testament, Tales and traditions about Jesus Christ, “The Life of Boris and Gleb”;
7th grade - “The Life of Sergius of Radonezh”, “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, Analysis of the Old Russian text;
8th grade - “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “Where did the Russian Land come from...”, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh”, “Letter of Ambrose of Optina...”;
Grade 10 - Periodization of Russian literature. Old Russian literature: basic aesthetic principles, genre system. Traditions of Old Russian literature in the works of writers of the 18th century. Ancient and new Russian literature: general and special.
3. Brief analysis of the literature program by T.F. Kurdyumova:
5th grade – Bible;
8th grade - “The Tale of Bygone Years”, The Story of Oleg’s Death in the “Elementary Chronicle”, “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, “The Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky”, “Reverend Sergius of Radonezh”;
9th grade – “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
4. Brief analysis of the literature program by V.G. Marantsman:
6th grade – Biblical tales, the story of Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople;
7th grade – “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”;
8th grade - “The Life of Peter and Fevronia” or “The Life of Sergius of Radonezh”, extracurricular reading - “The Tale of Basarga”, “The Tale of Dracula”;
9th grade - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
In such conditions, the issue that comes first is not the quantity of works being studied, but the quality of the content of the educational material.
How do we study ancient Russian literature now? The main problem in the study of ancient Russian literature as a whole is the hermeneutic problem, that is, the task of reading, interpreting and interpreting texts. The most important elements of hermeneutic analysis are the identification of the author’s intention and the reconstruction of the reading of this work by the author’s contemporaries. This is not always possible. The texts of ancient Russian literature are difficult for schoolchildren to understand. One of the reasons for the misunderstanding is Russians' poor knowledge of their history. Another reason is the change in the mentality of modern man. Stereotypes of social consciousness, norms of behavior, human thinking have changed, old words have acquired a new meaning, actions have been filled with a different content.
When studying ancient Russian literature, it is important to imagine what the world of medieval man was like?
For a long time, the impression was created of the Russian Middle Ages as a time in which senselessly barbaric customs and morals reigned, which it was necessary to get rid of, since the domination of the church and lack of freedom were clearly perceived as evil.
Currently, researchers are developing a new direction - historical anthropology. The attention of scientists is focused not on political or economic development, but on a person with his inner world, the totality of a person’s relationships to the cultural space around him, in other words, on the image of the world. When including ancient Russian literature in the school curriculum, we must understand that the texts chosen for study are complete sources for children. We must realize all the responsibility for what the student's first experience of contact with a medieval source will be. In essence, we are creating a precedent for a child to communicate with representatives of another culture, bearers of a different worldview. The formation of the students’ position in relation to our time, to the role of modern cultural tradition in the process of human development, largely depends on how thoughtful and meaningful the teacher’s attempt to introduce students into the world of someone else’s consciousness is.
In the Russian Middle Ages, one of the central concepts was the concept of truth. The medieval man was distinguished by the fact that his attitude was different: the truth for him was already open and defined in the texts of the Holy Scriptures. Medieval culture was guided by the ideal embodied in the Holy Scriptures. We look forward to the future with optimism. In Ancient Rus', the future carried the idea of the End of the World, the inevitable Last Judgment. The state in the understanding of contemporaries of the 15th - 17th centuries. - the main means of collective salvation. The attitude towards the state is the attitude towards the sovereign, prince or king, who bears the main responsibility for the salvation of the people entrusted to him by the Lord. The sovereign fulfills the commandments of the Lord on earth; any of his actions and decisions, including executions and torture, are sanctified by the church. Treason to the sovereign was regarded as betrayal of God, as a violation of the commandments of Christ and an appeal to the Antichrist.
Man in ancient Russian literature is a creation of God and a servant of the Lord; faith and service to God does not humiliate, but elevates a person, calling him to follow the path of high moral, social and patriotic ideals. The awareness of Rus' as the successor of Orthodox Byzantium forced the Russian people to defend from enemies not just their native land, but also the shrine of Christian Orthodox culture.
In ancient Russian culture, the Word was perceived as a sacred phenomenon. New times brought with them a different, secular attitude towards the Word. When turning to the works of ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to remember that the Word of man was sanctified by the Word of God. Speech itself, as Christians believed, was given to man for communication with God, and it was a sin to desecrate God’s gift with an unworthy topic.
Old Russian literature is the light that illuminates our spiritual life. It is not only an integral part of Russian history, but also inscribed in the context of world artistic culture. The teacher must imagine the richness and beauty of the ancient Word, the diverse connections of each work with the phenomena of history and culture, and must implant in the minds of children an idea of the deep roots of their native literature, of the great origins of the Russian soul.
Unlike general education programs in literature, the educational program “Old Russian Literature” that I developed includes not only a more detailed study of the genre specifics of Old Russian literature, a large number of carefully selected texts and a deep analysis of each of them, but a close relationship between literature and Orthodoxy. After all, as you know, literature in Rus' began to develop only after the adoption of Christianity.
The study of the literary process is chronological: at the same time, during the lesson, literature is supplemented with historical references of a given period. Such a spiral-shaped comprehension of the material ensures systematic learning and its continuity: the knowledge acquired at one educational level is in demand at each of the subsequent ones and, thanks to the emergence of ever new semantic perspectives, is continuously enriched and deepened. (Appendices No. I “Synchronistic table of the 9th-17th centuries.” , “Main lines of study of ancient Russian literature”)
To attract people to the study of Old Russian literature and more effectively perceive the material, I use such lesson forms as a research lesson, a debate lesson, a round table, and correspondence conference excursions. (Appendix No. II “Motives for children to join the Old Russian Literature Association”)
Mental actions that make lessons more effective include analysis of a literary text (plot and composition of the work, genre specifics, features of stylistic means), as well as the correct determination of the place of the work in the historical-literary and historical-cultural process of its time, in the spiritual context of the era , its influence on subsequent literary tradition, laboratory work, work on expressive reading, on dates. The study of a word in its artistic specificity does not exclude serious dictionary work on unfamiliar, new words, their meaning, and origin.
Reading texts from ancient Russian literature plays a huge role. Children must be taught to listen to the rhythm and music of words, to study the construction of phrases, and to visually imagine the events depicted in the work. Old Russian texts educate children in the spirit of high morality and love for their Motherland.
In literature classes, I turn to feedback techniques: interviews after lessons, a quiz at the beginning of the lesson, preceding home reading, lesson notes in a notebook, compiling a dictionary of the topic, continuing to read an excerpt from a work, writing essays of different genres, conducting a correspondence tour of the cities of Ancient Rus', monasteries and cells of Russian Saints, drawing up a plan on the topic for the lesson, during the lesson, after the lesson.
During the school year, the knowledge, skills and abilities of students in the association “Old Russian Literature” are tested three times - at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the year. (Appendix No. III “Analysis of the knowledge, skills and abilities of students in the association “Old Russian Literature”)
After analyzing the diagnostics of knowledge, skills, abilities, we can conclude about positive results.
At the beginning of the school year, out of 20 students in the first year of study, there were 55% with a high level of knowledge, skills and abilities, with an average level of 30% and with a low level of 15%. In the middle of the school year, they changed significantly, although not significantly: with a high level - 65%, with an average level of 25%, with a low level -10%.
For 42 second-year students, the indicators at the beginning of the school year were as follows: with a high level - 55%, with an average level - 30%, with a low level - 15%. In the middle of the school year, the indicators changed significantly: high level - 85%, average level - 15%.
Basic techniques, forms and methods of study
ancient Russian literature
1 year of study
Students get acquainted with ancient Russian literature through photographs and ancient books themselves and literary scholars - this is N.K. Gudziy, D.S. Likhachev, V.V. Kuskov, V.P. Adrianova-Peretz, N.I. Prokofiev and others, their statements are given. With the help of maps of the ancient Russian state in the 9th century, children get acquainted with the Slavic tribes and their settlement throughout Ancient Rus'. (Appendix No. IV “Map of the settlement of Slavic peoples in the 9th century)
Before directly turning to the works of ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to turn to the history of the adoption of Christianity by the Russian people, thanks to which Ancient Rus' learned writing and literature. (Appendix No. IV “Literacy of Ancient Rus'”, “Life of Russian people in the XIV - XV centuries.”)
Using maps, paintings and illustrations, the features of the development of the culture of the ancient Russian state (10th -17th centuries) are revealed:
main historical and political events in Russia;
development of ancient Russian art:
a) architecture: an idea of the wooden architecture of Ancient Rus' is given from illustrations: peasant huts, a princely palace. Stone architecture.
b) painting: iconography, frescoes, mosaics, temple painting. Using illustrations based on the example of the decoration of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, I talk about mosaics, frescoes, and smalt. Icons could always be seen in an Orthodox church. Icons appear during early Christianity. Evangelist Luke, an artist by profession, painted several images of the Mother of God. Iconography is the art of depicting saints according to strictly defined canons. The first icons came to Rus' from Byzantium.
The icon should always be present in the lesson. Lessons devoted to the study of icon painting can be conducted in the form of an excursion, either by correspondence or to a temple. Students, in the role of guides, introduce the history of painting icons, types of icons of the Mother of God and the iconostasis, icon painters and their creations. During the course of the entire course of study, students must learn to read from icons - who is depicted on them - a martyr, a prince, a stylite, a saint and, of course, know the icons of the saints they are studying. To do this, you can use not only original icons, but also templates that children can paint in a color characteristic of writing icons.
(Appendix No. IV “Copybook of icons”)
For a more detailed idea of the formation of the ancient Russian state, its political and cultural flourishing, the “Tale of Bygone Years” is studied. This outstanding historical and literary monument was created in the 12th century. The focus of the chronicle is the Russian land and its historical fate from its inception to the end of the 12th century. It was a time of princely civil strife and frequent raids on Rus'. With pain and anxiety, the chronicler monks peered into the disintegrating fatherland, tormented by both its princes and enemies. It was necessary to figure it out, to understand why the former power was lost, why things became peaceful on Russian soil and why the enemies grew bolder again. To do this, it was necessary to remember what Rus' was like under the old princes, “fathers and grandfathers”, etc., in order to “teach” the contemporary princes political state wisdom and rational government. This prompted the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery to become historians. “The Tale of Bygone Years” is not the history of princes, but the history of the state, the history of the Russian land. Therefore, no matter how great the role of an individual person, a prince, he is of interest to chroniclers not in himself, but only as a participant in the history of the state, the history of the Russian land.” The idea of the Tale: “The need for peace, and an agreement, a “row” between princes and a successful fight against external enemies." (Appendix No. IV “Map of the reign of Grand Duke Svyatoslav X century”, “Map of the Old Russian state XI - XIII centuries”, “Invasion of the Mongol Khan Batu XIII century”, “Map of military campaigns of the princes of the Old Russian state”)
In order for schoolchildren to touch the true history already in the first lesson, you can show a reproduction of the first page of “The Tale ...”, and if possible, show ancient books. An elegant ornament built from geometric shapes, interlacing lines, turning into the image of a bird similar to an eagle. Pay attention to how letters, words, and the charter font were written. Using illustrations and reproductions of paintings, we get acquainted with the chroniclers - Nikon, Sylvester and Nestor, as well as with the monasteries and cells of the chronicler monks. At the end of studying this memo, children must answer the question: Why was it so important for our ancestors to write down that “in the summer” such and such events happened? Because life, thus, acquired universal significance, the Russian land was comprehended in system of the world, Russian history became part of the history of mankind. The Tale of Bygone Years begins with the Flood, the chronicler talks about the origin of the Slavs from Japheth, one of the sons of Noah. Thus, Russian history is understood as a continuation of Sacred history. At the same time, the chronicler asserts the right of every nation to have its own customs, passed on from fathers to children. This is how the author’s patriotism and at the same time his universal ideals are manifested.
From the pages of the "Tale" children will learn about the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery and the icon painter Alimpia.
At the same time, while studying “The Tale of Bygone Years” » There is a detailed acquaintance with the first rulers of Ancient Rus'. (Appendix No. IV “The First Rulers of Ancient Rus'”) A special place in the gallery of the first rulers is occupied by Prince Vladimir and his sons Boris and Gleb, as the founders of Orthodoxy in Rus'. When studying the personality of Prince Vladimir, I use worksheets for students on this topic, with the emphasis being on Prince Vladimir’s choice of the main religion of Rus' - Orthodoxy. (Appendix No. IV “Prince Vladimir”, “Baptism of Rus'”).
With further study of ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to create a family tree of the Rurikovichs, where the dominant place will be occupied by the baptist of Ancient Russia, Prince Vladimir. (Appendix No. IV “Genealogical tree of the Rurikovichs”).
Using this development, learning the material will be more effective. This is especially evident when getting acquainted with the genres of ancient Russian literature, where special attention is paid to the genre of hagiography. Works of this genre give us an example of the correct (i.e. righteous) life, telling about people who steadily followed the commandments of Christ, walking along the path indicated by Him. Lives convince us that every person can live righteously. The heroes of the lives were a variety of people: monks, peasants, townspeople and princes. In the lessons there are 2 types of lives - monastic and princely. When analyzing hagiographic works, the structure of the canonical hagiography is used. (Appendix No. IIV “Structure of the canonical hagiography”)
An example of the first type is the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In these lessons, we recall the Gospel parable about talents: how did the reverend fathers increase the “talent” given to them by God? Children need to constantly repeat the idea that any hagiographic hero is, first of all, a moral example of a person in Ancient Rus'. It would be appropriate to draw parallels with our time: what spiritual qualities were valued by our ancestors, what was their ideal and what constitutes the object of aspiration of a perfect person. Who is he, a modern hero? The possibilities for conversations on moral education are truly endless.
The conversation about St. Sergius can be completed with a lesson in which you can take a correspondence excursion to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. It will be useful to remember the names of the saint’s disciples who founded holy monasteries in all corners of the Russian land. The theme of discipleship, spiritual succession, learning from the good experience of personal life, love will be the main one in this lesson. It is necessary to emphasize the connection between the spiritual feat of St. Sergius and the revival of Rus' in our time.
In lessons studying the lives of princes (for example, the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky, saints Boris and Gleb), it is necessary to emphasize the spiritual meaning of princely service, ask the children to comment on the words of the prophet Isaiah, spoken to him on behalf of the Lord: “I establish princes, they are sacred, and I lead them." An icon and a variety of paintings will help to comprehend and understand the character of Alexander Nevsky (his military exploits and moral merits) (it is important not to forget about them, reproductions of paintings, look at them and compare them, think about whether this is how students imagined the appearance of Alexander Nevsky). You can use a comparison of A. Maykov’s poem “The Death of Alexander Nevsky and the text of the Life.
No less interesting for students are the thoughts of literary scholars about the importance of literary and historical commentary, which helps to truly comprehend what they read.
“Only comprehensive knowledge of the era,” the scientist writes, “helps us perceive the individual, understand a monument of art not superficially, but deeply... A historical, historical-cultural, historical-literary commentary on a monument is the dictionary with which only one can read it for its comprehensive understanding."
Studying “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, the range of issues being studied is highlighted, which is associated with different aspects of the “Tale”. It is necessary to talk about the prerequisites for writing “The Lay,” which are directly related to the idea of the work - the unity of the Russian land. The images of the main characters - Igor, Svyatoslav and Yaroslavna - require consideration, since they combine the features of ordinary people and representatives of the princely family, they are ambiguous, each in their own way reflects the main idea of the work. Turning to A. Borodin’s opera “Prince Igor” and paintings by Russian artists about the prince will help to reveal the images more clearly. All lessons involve working with the text “Words”, since it contains answers to many questions related to the study of “Words”. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the features of the genre, the composition of the work in inextricable connection with its plot. Also, children need to be introduced to various translations of the “Word” (by Likhachev, Zhukovsky, Maykov and Zabolotsky).
During the study of the work, students are asked to fill out the table
| I want to know | ||
| 1. The main characters are historical figures. | ||
| 2. Other historical figures mentioned in the Lay. | ||
| 5.Historical events. | ||
| 6. Omens. | ||
| 7.The idea of the “Word” |
After studying the Lay, children should have an idea of this work as the greatest monument of ancient Russian literature.
Starting to read the texts of ancient Russian literature: “Out of praise to Prince Yaroslav and the books » , “Teaching” by Vladimir Monomakh,” it is important that students master this material slowly, experiencing the special style of the ancient literature of our Fatherland, realizing the high moral principles and the peculiar mood of the teachings and leisurely stories. That is why I would like a short passage about the benefits of books to be read to the children in Church Slavonic.
Before reading the “Teachings” of Vladimir Monomakh, it is necessary to talk about Vladimir Monomakh himself, who was an outstanding figure of Ancient Rus', a prominent statesman, a man of “great intelligence and literary talent. He earned devoted love for himself and great respect from his contemporaries and posterity.”
It is necessary to reflect with the students, imagine Vladimir Monomakh, a prominent statesman, according to legend, a man of deep intelligence, who left important humane advice to the younger generation. What kind of advice is this? Could they have been useful only in the distant past?
Try to read slowly the texts in translation and in Church Slavonic, commenting on all unclear words (dictionary work) and answer questions. What is the meaning of the “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh? Why does the author ask to take the “letter” “into your heart”? How do you understand this request? What advice from the “blessed prince” seems useful to you? How do you understand the phrase: “Beware of lies and drunkenness, from this the soul and body perish”? Why does the author turn to the Psalter, its role in achieving psychological expressiveness in describing difficult life situations in the “Instruction”.
By retelling a short lesson close to the text, using its vocabulary, students themselves will be able to prepare “teachings” for their younger brothers on the topic of how to take care of a book, how to rationally spend their free time, how to treat elders, etc.
During the study of works of the 1st year of study, test tasks and crossword puzzles are used to consolidate the material. (Appendix No. IV “Test tasks”, “Crosswords”)
At the end of the first year of study, students are given a literary game, which includes questions and assignments of all the material covered.
What do you know about the emergence of ancient Russian literature? What can you tell us about her first monument?
Children talk about the origins of ancient Russian literature - oral folk art, about its connection with world artistic culture and the first book that came to us with the baptism of Rus' from Byzantium, they talk about the “Tale of Bygone Years”, about the variety of genres of works included in it.
During a conversation about the book, samples of frames and spreads of the first ancient Russian books are shown.
The conversation focuses the children's attention on key points: the origins of ancient Russian literature (oral folk art); its connection with world artistic culture (the Bible, Byzantine culture); its traditions in the literature of modern times (the relay of wisdom passed on from generation to generation); genres (stories, legends, walks, teachings, stories, messages, lives, epics, legends). I would like to note that the schoolchildren have already become quite familiar with the concept of the genre of a literary work. Each of them has a dictionary, a kind of guide to the topic “Old Russian Literature.” It contains not only the interpretation of literary terms, but also their own interpretation of such concepts as morality, memory, etc.
The next point of the lesson is about the leading themes of ancient Russian literature.
What do the wise ancient books tell us about? What does the written word capture? What did it convey to us? (Appendix No. IV “Questions and assignments for students of 1st year of study”).
After listening to the answers, I read fragments from D. S. Likhachev’s preface to the book “Stories of Russian Chronicles of the XII-XIV centuries”:
“I love Ancient Rus'.
I love this era very much, because I see in it struggle, people’s suffering... It’s this side of ancient Russian life: the fight for a better life, the fight for correction... it attracts me.” 1
2nd year of study
At the beginning of the second academic year, students are asked to recall works of ancient Russian literature that are familiar to them (“The Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh,” the lives of Saints Boris and Gleb, “The Feat of the Kiev Youth and the Cunning of Governor Pretich” and, perhaps, other works read independently).
Students will name the works, the names of the characters, and briefly convey the plots of previously read works. You can offer individual assignments in advance and prepare students for such a conversation. After the conversation, it is necessary to tell the students again about the features of ancient Russian literature, about what works they will get acquainted with this year. If necessary, icon copybooks are used. (Appendix No. V “Copybook of icons”)
prepare answers to questions, think about what they read, prepare a story about the characters, expressive reading of the text. The same course of work is possible for another text - “Shemyakin Court”.
A few words from the teacher about the military stories of ancient Russian literature and you can remember the story about Alexander Nevsky before reading the text, which begins in class by the teacher and students. It would be good if the entire text was read in class. Schoolchildren at home Moreover, if, when discussing the first work, schoolchildren tell the content of what they read and characterize the main character, then during the discussion of the second text it can be productive to read by roles or dramatize it in order to more clearly show the ugliness of the characters and the author’s condemning attitude towards them.
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1 Likhachev D.S. Stories from Russian chronicles of the XII-XIV centuries. M., 1968
This is the general direction of the lessons on these texts. It is important that students gradually become more familiar with the texts of works of ancient Russian literature, discover new heroes, learn to read and retell these texts, get used to analyzing the actions of heroes of an era distant from them, learn to understand and evaluate these characters, relate the events of distant times with the present day . A special place in the study of literature of the late 15th and early 16th centuries is given to “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”. We usually start a conversation about Peter and Fevronia in class by finding out
for which these saints were glorified by God. Saints Peter and Fevronia are an example of an ideal Christian family. Their life for more than 8 centuries serves as an example of the proper attitude towards church marriage and towards each other. This is exactly what we focus on when studying “The Tale...”. Starting a lesson dedicated to this story, the teacher will talk about ancient Russian stories, drawing attention to the connection of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” with works of oral folk art, to the abundance of folklore motifs in it. Then read the story or invite schoolchildren to listen to it performed by an actor, if there is a recording. “The story of Peter and Fevronia is replete with folklore motifs: a werewolf serpent who enters into a relationship with a married woman who asks him what could cause him death, a wonderful treasure sword from which the serpent dies, a wise maiden who speaks in riddles and averts impossible demands by the same impossible demands made on her part, miraculous transformations, such as the transformation of bread crumbs into incense in our story, and upon exile, receiving a husband as the most expensive gift. The plot of the story was largely used in Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous opera “The Tale of the City of Kitezh,” writes N. K. Gudziy. 1
At home, students will draw up a plan for retelling the story, prepare an expressive reading of one of the fragments (to choose from), a selective retelling on a given topic, for example, “The Story of Fevronia,” a retelling from the perspective of one of the characters, a short retelling of the text. Then they will think about the questions asked and prepare a story about one of the heroes.
It is also possible to distribute tasks: one group of students prepares a selective retelling, another - a short retelling, a third - a retelling from another person, the fourth group prepares a characterization of one of the characters. Then discussion of the completed work, review. The result of the work is the essay “My attitude towards the characters of the story,” drawings and illustrations, feedback on the actor’s reading of the text, dramatization, and the creation of film scripts.
The main thing in a teacher’s work is for children to feel the strength and beauty of the heroes, to be imbued with respect and love, sympathy and compassion for them.
What feelings are permeated throughout the story? Who are its main characters? How are they different from other characters in the story? “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is one of the most poetic works of ancient Russian literature about love, devotion and selflessness.
Having met the married couple Peter and Fevronia, who lived according to the traditions of the Orthodox Church, I move on to studying Domostroy. At the beginning of the lesson, I find out what associations the word “house building” evokes in children? In the course of inferences, we come to the final conclusion that “domostroy” is the rules of life that have been developed by people’s experience and consciousness. Next, I introduce students to the book “Domostroy”, using illustrations from books on the history of Russian life. Then the children read excerpts from Domostroy, making notes. What suits their life and what doesn't. At the end of the lesson, students draw a verbal portrait of a Russian man from the Middle Ages, presented on the pages of Domostroi.
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1 Gudziy N.K. History of ancient Russian literature. - 7th ed. - M., 1966
When considering the literature of the 17th century, the genre of chronicle occupies. It is important to convey to children the importance of studying and reading chronicles. Reading the chronicle, we hear the living voice of distant ancestors. Works of the past seem to destroy the barriers between eras. It is this feeling of involvement in history that a young reader should experience. But it is not easy to perceive the art of antiquity; it cannot be approached with the same attitudes as a modern work. Therefore, it is very important to introduce the topic, in which the teacher will try to show the originality of ancient literature, to create in the children a feeling of authenticity of touching the very origins of our culture.
To accomplish this task, it is necessary to explain what a chronicle is, when it began
chronicle, and who was the first chronicler. It is necessary to recall the first chronicle of the 12th century, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” which was studied earlier.
When studying the Gospel parables, we consider what a parable is, the specifics of this literary genre and their classification. (Appendix No. V “Gospel parables”)
It is advisable to prepare a lecture-presentation outlining the main theses: the history of the parable genre, the distinctive features of the Gospel parable.
The parable as a genre directly aimed at understanding the meaning of life, which was to be drawn from itself, was interpreted differently in different historical eras. Parables are allegorical moralizing stories that encourage reflection, arouse curiosity and, in most cases, require serious and deep
clarification. Getting to know this genre is useful at any age, so that every person, especially young people, thinks about their moral position.
In the parable, it is as if two plans were combined - visible and invisible, as in the entire gospel narrative, as in the life of Christ. Everyone can see the external plan, rarely does the secret, internal one, hidden from eyes and ears, be revealed to anyone.
The main characters in the Gospel parable are usually God the Father or God the Son, sometimes both, as in the parable of the evil husbandmen (Mark 12:1-12). And the lessons of the parable concern not only the characters in this particular story, but all people in the world... Yes, not everyone learned the lessons, few understood the meaning of the parable both in those distant times and later... True, the authors of the works of Ancient Rus' more often compared the lives of their heroes with the Gospel word, writers of modern times - less often... 1
When considering the main features of the Gospel parable, the parable of the sower is used -
Matthew 13:3-23; 13, 24-30.
The emphasis is placed on the parable of the prodigal son; one can compare this parable with the work of A.S. Pushkin "Blizzard". The use of Gospel parables in the literature of the 20th century is analyzed.
To test my understanding of the material, I use test tasks and crossword puzzles. (Appendix No. V “Crosswords”)
When organizing a lesson that completes the study of ancient Russian literature in the second year, you can use test tasks “Close Ancient Rus'”, a conversation or a children's conference. (Appendix No. V “Questions and assignments for students of the second year of study”)
“The theme of the Motherland and the theme of moral improvement of man - the most important themes of ancient Russian literature, so relevant for me as a teacher and educator - determined the range of works chosen for the conversation.
The Tale of Bygone Years; Oleg's campaign against Tsar Grad; Oleg's death from his horse; Praise to Yaroslav - the enlightener of Rus'; Death of Yaroslav and instructions to his sons; Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh; The story of the ruin of Ryazan by Batu; A word about the destruction of the Russian land; Zadonshchina; Walking beyond three seas by Afanasy Nikitin; The Tale of Woe-Misfortune (XVII century).
We must be grateful sons of our great mother - Ancient Rus'. The past must serve the present."
It is hardly worth organizing a speech development lesson at the end of studying the topic, but an extracurricular reading lesson should be held by including in the reading circle “Admonition of the Tver Bishop
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1 Davydova N.V. The Gospel and Old Russian Literature: A textbook for middle-aged students. Ser.: Old Russian literature at school. - M.: MIROS, 1992. P.139.
Seeds" from the book "We Read, Think, Argue..." and the text "The Prayer of Daniel the Imprisoner", testing the knowledge and impressions of students using questions and crossword puzzles.
3rd year of study
The material of the third year helps the development of culture and love for the native word - the basis of the spiritual life of the people of study, thus introducing children to universal moral norms, developing the ability to see the world holistically and comprehensively, promoting understanding of Christian values, passing on traditions from generation to generation, and is introduced into the circle of traditional main holidays of the Russian Orthodox Church, getting acquainted with their close and organic connection with folk life, art and creativity.
Using the example of texts from ancient Russian literature studied in the first two years of study, students learn the correct attitude towards other people: mercy, love, generosity, courage, hard work, tolerance, simplicity, and strive to know the truth. They deepen and expand the scope of such concepts as truth, conscience, humility, patience, chastity, mercy, selflessness, love, fidelity, pity, compassion, patriotism, courage, duty, honor, dignity, family, marriage, parents, etc. P.
The following works of ancient Russian literature are considered: “The Works of St. Fathers: John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Athanasius the Great", "On Law and Grace" by St. Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv, “Teaching” by Vladimir Monomakh, “Message” by Priest Sylvester of the Annunciation, “Life of St. Sergius of Radonezh”, “Domostroy”.
The following topics are raised: the moral structure of man in Ancient Rus', the spiritual and moral attitude towards other people, the exposure of basic human vices in ancient Russian literature, the attitude towards the priesthood and monasticism in the literature of Ancient Rus'. The main value and focus of the life of ancient Russian people was the family. The life of the patriarchal Russian family was literally intertwined with the life of the Church: this included the obligatory participation of everyone in church services, festivities and sacraments; and pious home rituals; and pilgrimages to holy places, etc.
In “Domostroy” you can find recommendations, “How to venerate saints, also priests and monks” (chapter 5); “How to visit in monasteries and in hospitals, and in prisons, and everyone in sorrow” (chapter 6); “How can a husband and wife pray in the Church, maintain purity and not do any evil” (chapter 13), how to live according to a “Clean Conscience”, how to respect and honor your parents. The Commandments of the Lord can be compared with individual excerpts from Domostroy. When studying these topics, it is necessary to consider the positions of the clergy of the Church of Christ, the Sacraments that they perform in churches. (Appendix No. VI “Vestments of the Clergy,” “Temple”)
In the "Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh" children will find the Grand Duke's recommendations to take an oath only if it is possible to keep it, and having sworn, to keep the oath so as not to destroy the soul, to save the soul in a monastery or fasting, but only through repentance, tears and alms. Advises to protect all disadvantaged people. Monomakh calls his readers to an active life, to constant work, and convinces them never to remain in laziness or indulge in debauchery.
Biblical books, the Old Testament, are also one of the monuments of ancient Russian literature. By reading the Old Testament, children become acquainted with Christian family and ancestral values: loyalty to the traditions of their ancestors, religious veneration of ancestors, love for members of their clan and obedience to elders, caring attitude towards the land, nature, wealth, which was practically owned by the clan or family. The most serious crime was the murder of a relative. Not returning evil for evil is the main idea of a number of lives, where the saint endures undeserved insults without reproach. The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon (11th-13th centuries) tells about Isaac, the first holy fool in Rus', who works in a cookery, where they laugh and mock him, but he humbly endures everything.
The main feature of Christian saints is to live according to the will of God, even if this deviates greatly from generally accepted norms and values.
Studying the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, children see the contrast between the Old and New Testaments - Law and Grace. The law is identified with the Old Testament, it is conservative and nationally limited. The author uses the technique of comparison when speaking about the Law.
Law is contrasted with Grace, with which Hilarion associates the image of Jesus. The Old Testament is slavery, the New is freedom. The preacher compares Grace to the sun, light and warmth.
Using this work as an example, you can talk about the apostles Peter and Paul, after finishing the lesson, remembering Prince Vladimir, the teacher of the Russian land.
At the end of the course of ancient Russian literature, the poetics of literature of the 11th-17th centuries is studied. for a complete analysis of the works. The analysis must begin with what distinguishes ancient Russian literature from modern literature. It is necessary to dwell primarily on the differences, but scientific study should be based on the conviction of the knowability of the cultural values of the past, on the conviction of the possibility of their aesthetic development. Artistic analysis inevitably involves an analysis of all aspects of literature: the totality of its aspirations, its connections with reality. Any work taken from its historical surroundings loses its aesthetic value, just like a brick taken from the building of a great architect. A monument of the past, in order to become truly understood in its artistic essence, must be explained in detail; all its seemingly “non-artistic” sides. An aesthetic analysis of a literary monument of the past must be based on a huge amount of real commentary. You need to know the era, the biographies of writers, the art of that time, the laws of the historical-literary process, the literary language in its relationship to the non-literary, etc., etc. Therefore, the study of poetics should be based on the study of the historical-literary process in all its complexity and in all its diverse connections with reality.
The final lesson on the study of ancient Russian literature can be held in the form of a children's creative conference, at which children will present their research works. (Appendix No. VII “Research Works”)
Penetrating into the aesthetic consciousness of other eras and other nations, we must, first of all, study their differences among themselves and their differences from our aesthetic consciousness, from the aesthetic consciousness of modern times. We must, first of all, study the peculiar and unique, the “individuality” of peoples and past eras. It is in the diversity of aesthetic consciousnesses that they are especially instructive, their richness and the guarantee of the possibility of their use in modern artistic creativity. To approach old art and the art of other countries only from the point of view of modern aesthetic norms, to look only for what is close to ourselves, means to extremely impoverish the aesthetic heritage.
Conclusion
The question of the role of ancient Russian literature in the spiritual and moral development of a child leads us to comprehend the aesthetic development of past cultures. We must put the cultural monuments of the past at the service of the future. The values of the past must become active participants in the life of the present, our comrades-in-arms. Issues of interpretation of cultures and individual civilizations are now attracting the attention of historians and philosophers, art historians and literary scholars all over the world.
The appearance of literature in the life of a people decisively changes its historical and moral self-awareness.
The first historical works allow the people to understand themselves in the historical process, think about their role in world history, understand the roots of modern events and their responsibility to the future.
The first moral works, socio-political works, clarify social norms of behavior, allow the ideas of everyone’s responsibility for the fate of the people and the country to be more widely disseminated, and cultivate patriotism and at the same time respect for other peoples.
The question arises: could the role of literature be so significant given the extreme lack of widespread literacy itself? The answer to this question cannot be clear and simple.
Firstly, the number of literate people in all levels of society in the XI-XVII centuries. was not at all as small as it seemed in the 19th century.
The discovery of birch bark letters clearly demonstrated the presence of literate peasants, literate artisans, not to mention literate merchants and boyars. There is no doubt that the clergy were mostly literate. The degree of literacy of the population depends on its level of well-being. The growth of peasant enslavement led to a decline in literacy. Therefore, in the 16th century. the number of literate people may have been lower than in the 14th and 15th centuries. Many signs point to this possibility. Secondly, the influence of literature affected not only the literate sections of the population. Reading aloud was common. This is indicated by some monastic customs and the very text of ancient Russian works, designed for oral reproduction. If we take into account that the most literate people also had the greatest social authority, it is clear that the influence of literature on the social life of the people was far from small. Many facts, large and small, confirm this influence. That is why princes and kings themselves take up the pen or support scribes, chroniclers, copyists, and encourage them to write works and disseminate them. Let us remember Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh and his son Mstislav the Great, Ivan the Terrible or Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
Literature has become a part of Russian history - and an extremely important part.
What significance does ancient literature have for us? It is clear that we must consider its role in the past, but why should we study it now? Is the literature of Ancient Rus' relevant?
Yes, it is relevant - and how! Monuments of culture and history in Ancient Rus' were mainly historical and moral and educational, and in combination with these two main trends in Old Russian literature, they were highly patriotic.
Caring for the past is caring for the future. We save the past for the future. We can look far into the future if we can only look into the past. Any modern experience is at the same time an experience of history. The more clearly we see the past, the more clearly we see the future.
The roots of modernity run deep into our native soil. Our modernity is enormous, and it requires special care for the roots of our culture. The moral consciousness of people requires moral settledness; we must know our history, the past of our culture, in order to be aware of the connections between the people of our people, between different nations, to feel our “rootedness” in our homeland, not to be a grass without roots - a tumbleweed.
And finally, the most important thing. To understand the wealth of ideas of modern literature, the great humanistic Russian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, its high ideals and high skill, knowledge of ancient Russian literature is absolutely necessary. The richness of the Russian language is the result of almost a thousand years of development of Russian literature.
And already in ancient Russian literature we find works amazing in the accuracy and expressiveness of their language. Already in ancient Russian literature we find highly moral ideas - ideas that have not lost their meaning for us, ideas of deep patriotism, consciousness of high civic duty. And they are expressed with such force of which only a great people - a people of enormous spiritual potential - was capable.
In ancient Russian literature we find works, the reading of which gives us both moral and aesthetic satisfaction. In Ancient Rus' there was beauty of moral depth, moral subtlety and at the same time moral power.
It is no coincidence that the roots of the creativity of Pushkin, Derzhavin, Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Gorky and many, many great and small Russian writers go back to the most ancient layers of Russian literature.
To become familiar with ancient Russian literature is great happiness and great joy.
Bibliography
Belinsky V.G. Full collection cit.: In 13 volumes. M., 1954.
Gladysheva E.V., Nersesyan L.V. Dictionary-index of names and concepts on ancient Russian art, Almanac "Strange World", Moscow 1991.
Gudziy N.K. History of ancient Russian literature. - 7th ed. - M., 1966
Davydova N.V. The Gospel and Old Russian Literature: A textbook for middle-aged students. – M., 1992 – Series “Old Russian Literature at School”.
Demin A.S. Old Russian literature: Experience of typology from the 11th to the mid-18th centuries. from Illarion to Lomonosov.-M., 2003.
Dmitriev L.A. Literary destinies of the genre of ancient Russian lives // Slavic literature. - M., 1973.
Eremina O.A. Lesson planning in ancient Russian literature: grades 5-9/O.A. Eremina.-M., 2004.
Source study of the literature of Ancient Rus'. L., 1980.
9. Klyuchevsky V.O. Old Russian lives of saints as a historical source. M., 1988.
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student / Ed. G.A.Obernikhina.-M.: Humanit. ed. VLADOS center, 2001.
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1 Polyakov L.V. Book centers of Ancient Rus'. - L., 1991.
2 Tale of Bygone Years // Monuments of literature of Ancient Rus'. The beginning of Russian literature. X - beginning of the XII century. – M., 1978.
1 Likhachev D. S. Textology. Based on the material of Russian literature of the X-XVII centuries. – M.-L., 1962; Textology. Brief essay. M.-L., 1964.
2 Likhachev D. S. Great Heritage // Likhachev D. S. Selected works in three volumes. Volume 2. – L.: Khudozh. lit., 1987.
1 Likhachev V.D., Likhachev D.S. The artistic heritage of Ancient Rus' and modernity. – L., 1971.
1 Tolstoy N.I. History and structure of Slavic literary languages. M., 1988.
2 Source study of the literature of Ancient Rus'. L., 1980.
3 Nedospasova T. Russian foolishness X1-XV11th centuries. M., 1999.
4 Klyuchevsky V.O. Old Russian lives of saints as a historical source. M., 1988.
5 Rozov N.N. Book of ancient Rus'. XI-XIV centuries M., 1977.
1 Gladysheva E.V., Nersesyan L.V. Dictionary-index of names and concepts on ancient Russian art, Almanac "Strange World", Moscow 1991.
2 Nasonov A.N. History of Russian chronicles. M., 1969.
3 Yagich I.V.. Monuments of the Old Russian language. T. 1, LXXII.
1 Gladysheva E.V., Nersesyan L.V. Dictionary-index of names and concepts on ancient Russian art, Almanac "Strange World", Moscow 1991
2 Rybakov B.A. From the cultural history of Ancient Rus': research and notes. M., 1984.
3 Fedotov G., Saints of Ancient Rus', M, Svyatichi, 1998.
4 Dmitriev L.A. Literary destinies of the genre of ancient Russian lives // Slavic literature. - M., 1973.
Slide 1
The presentation was prepared by a teacher of Russian language and literature of the Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 32” in Orenburg, Ivashchenko A.V. Spiritual and moral system of values in ancient Russian literatureSlide 2
For an Orthodox person, a hero of ancient Russian literature, the most important thing is spiritual, inner life. The Russian people were convinced that it was internal, spiritual qualities that determined the degree of perfection to which one should strive. By asserting that the internal, spiritual determines the external, Orthodoxy thereby builds a certain system of values in which the spiritual is more important than the physical.
Slide 3
Russian Orthodoxy oriented people toward spiritual transformation and stimulated the desire for self-improvement and closer approach to Christian ideals. This contributed to the spread and establishment of spirituality. Its main basis: unceasing prayer, peace and concentration - gathering the soul.
Slide 4
Sergius of Radonezh established the standard of morality in Russian life. At a turning point in the history of our people, when their national identity was being formed, Saint Sergius became the inspirer of state and cultural construction, a spiritual teacher, and a symbol of Russia.
Slide 5
The life of Sergius of Radonezh allows you to get acquainted with the spiritual values that are especially revered by the Russian people
Slide 6
Love for God From his youth, Sergius of Radonezh set himself the goal of improving his soul in order to get closer to God, and devoted his whole life to this, reaching the heights of holiness.
Slide 7
Love for people The power of love of Sergius of Radonezh worked miracles: in his life there is an example of the resurrection of a dead boy by a saint.
Slide 8
Doing good deeds - helping all those in need not only with deeds, but also with kind words, advice, and sympathy. Saint Sergius constantly provided help to everyone who came to him.
Slide 9
Diligence The saint did physical labor every day: he worked in the garden, was a carpenter, carried water, baked bread, and sewed clothes.
Slide 10
Humility is non-judgment of others, refusal of fame and honors. Sergius of Radonezh never condemned anyone. He did not want power and honor: he refused to be abbot in the founded monastery, and did not accept the rank of archbishop.
Slide 11
Refusal of earthly goods and riches The saint never cared about excess food or clothing, realizing that a person’s main wealth is his immortal soul.
Slide 12
Sergius of Radonezh became the ideological inspirer of the opposition to Mamai. He blessed Prince Dmitry Ivanovich to defend the Russian land and predicted victory in the Battle of Kulikovo
Slide 13
Such an ascetic life of Sergius of Radonezh was and is perceived by the Russian people as an ideal. It is not for nothing that the author of the “Life...” Epiphanius the Wise calls him an “earthly angel.”
Slide 14
“For his friends and for the Russian land” Prince Alexander Nevsky performed a great spiritual feat of humility, sacrificing “earthly vanity to power” for the sake of his country and its people. Being a Great Commander who won many valiant victories, he took the oath to the khans of the Golden Horde in order to save at least the remnants of the people for future revival. Thus, he showed himself not only to be a great warrior, but also a wise politician and diplomat.
Slide 15
Saints Cyril and Methodius put deep spiritual meaning into the Slavic alphabet they created.
Slide 16
Its division into two parts - rightism and leftism - means two paths in the life of a person who has to make a choice towards good or evil.
Slide 17
On the right side of the alphabet, the letters are euphonious, and the entry under them teaches people piety: “Initially, be the first: know the teaching; speak - act kindly; live by nature; love the earth deeply; our spiritual brother..."
Slide 18
The left side is a mirror image of the right. The sounds are dissonant, the graphics of the letters resemble shackles and prison bars in their design. This side is the path of spiritual fall. Therefore, it ends with the words: “Beginninglessly empty... thieves; drunkards... accept your bitter share...” The Fall of Buki the Empty Letters Words Nicknames Buki (0) Countless spawn, rootless, violent. Buki the Empty Shebarsha is an empty-headed, empty-mouthed one. A whisperer is a scoundrel, a sneaker. Shui - left. Shuinitsa - left hand. Shkota - damage, laziness. Pinching and flaunting. Shcha - spare, spare; mercilessly, mercilessly - cruelly, mercilessly. “And they are given over to cruel deaths without mercy.” ShkodnikType "Gon" - Filthy spawn Era - a rogue, a swindler, a thief. Eryga is a connecting rod, a reveler, a drunkard. Erik is a renegade; heretic - an apostate, a sorcerer who imposes Bonds - chains, shackles, shackles; bridle, knot, knots - knit. Convict Prison - jail, prison, dungeon. Prisoner A special kind - Ardent enemy - Prisoner - imprisonment. Scabby\Beheading - death penalty, end. Ugly corpse Demon spawn
Slide 19
The ABC explained that the meaning of a person’s spiritual life is in the constant struggle in his soul of good and evil, divine and devilish forces.
Slide 20
The books of ancient Rus' introduced the virtues that a person should possess. Virtue means regular, constant doing of good, which becomes a habit, a good skill. 7 cardinal virtues: 1 Abstinence (from excess). 2.Chastity (storage of feelings, modesty, purity). 3. Non-covetousness (satisfaction with what is necessary). 4. Meekness (avoidance of rage and anger, gentleness, patience). 5. Sobriety (zeal for every good deed, keeping oneself from laziness). 6. Humility (silence before those who offend, fear of God) 7. Love (towards the Lord and neighbors).
Slide 21
The beloved Russian saints Boris and Gleb were distinguished by humility, meekness, and obedience. Boris and Gleb are the first Russian saints. They were the youngest sons of Prince Vladimir. They were born before the baptism of Rus', but were raised in Christian piety. The brothers imitated their father in everything, who was responsive to the poor, sick and disadvantaged.
Slide 22
After the death of Prince Vladimir, his eldest son Svyatopolk treacherously deceived his brothers and sent assassins to them. The brothers were warned, but did not resist and accepted martyrdom.
Slide 23
What is the point in dying without resistance at the hands of murderers? The lives of the holy princes were sacrificed to the main Christian commandment - love. They were the first in Rus' to show that one cannot repay evil with evil, even on pain of death.
Slide 24
Family values always play a big role for a person. Peter and Fevronia of Murom are spouses, saints, the brightest personalities of Holy Rus', who with their lives reflected its spiritual values and ideals. They revealed to pious hearts the beauty and height of the Orthodox family.
Slide 25
The Lord, through sorrow and illness, pointed His finger to Prince Peter at the peasant girl Fevronia. She healed the young prince from a serious illness.
Morality is the same in all ages and for all people. By reading about obsolescence in detail, we can find a lot for ourselves.
D.S. Likhachev
Spirituality and morality are the most important, basic characteristics of a person. Spirituality in the most general sense is the totality of manifestations of the spirit in the world and in man. The process of learning spirituality is associated with a systematic understanding of significant truths in all spheres of culture: in science, in philosophy, in education, in religions, and in art. Moreover, the principles of openness, honesty, freedom, equality, collectivism are the basis and environment for the creation and preservation of spirituality. Spirituality is the unity of truth, goodness and beauty. Spirituality is what contributes to the development of man and humanity.
Morality is a set of general principles of human behavior in relation to each other and society. In this regard, the modern humanistic ideal actualizes such personal qualities as patriotism, citizenship, service to the Fatherland, and family traditions. The concepts of “spirituality” and “morality” are universal human values.
They say that Russia is the soul of the world, and the literature of Rus' reflects the internal potential that the Russian people have. Without knowing the history of ancient Russian literature, we will not understand the full depth of the work of A. S. Pushkin, the spiritual essence of the work of N. V. Gogol, the moral quest of L. N. Tolstoy, the philosophical depth of F. M. Dostoevsky.
Old Russian literature carries within itself a very great moral force. Good and evil, love for the Motherland, the ability to sacrifice everything for a good cause, family values are the main ideas of ancient Russian literature. Old Russian literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and morality. In addition, one of the main leitmotifs of these works is faith in God, which supports the heroes in all trials.
Works of ancient Russian literature reveal complex ideological concepts about a person’s place in life, his goals and aspirations, and provide an opportunity to gain experience in moral assessment of events and phenomena in the world around us. This is especially true in our time, when Russia is experiencing profound transformations, accompanied by serious spiritual losses. The revival of spirituality and education in spirituality is what we need today.
Many Soviet and Russian scientists considered the works of ancient Russian literature in the context of educating spiritual and moral values. It is not easy for a modern person to understand the works of Old Russian literature, therefore the school curriculum includes works of Old Russian literature for studying: The Tale of Bygone Years (fragments), The Tale of Igor's Campaign, the Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu (fragments), The Life of Boris and Gleb, The Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh, The Legend about Peter and Fevronia of Murom, Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, Life of Archpriest Avvakum.
Spiritual and moral values in the works of ancient Russian literature are the leitmotif and basis of the plot, and therefore today it is necessary to turn to these works in the process of education and upbringing both in the family and at school due to their enduring significance.
The emergence of Old Russian literature is associated with the emergence of the state, writing and is based on book Christian culture and developed forms of oral poetic creativity. Literature often perceived plots, artistic images, and visual means of folk art. The adoption of Christianity also played a positive role in the development of ancient Russian literature. The fact that the new religion came from Byzantium, the center of Christian culture, had a great positive significance for the culture of Ancient Rus'.
Speaking about the features of Old Russian literature, it is worth highlighting several of its main characteristics: 1) it religious literature, the main value for a person in Ancient Rus' was his faith; 2) handwritten character its existence and distribution; Moreover, this or that work did not exist in the form of a separate, independent manuscript, but was part of various collections that pursued certain practical goals, it means that all her works were a kind of instructions on HOW to live righteously; 3) anonymity, impersonality of her works(at best, we know the names of individual authors, “writers” of books, who modestly put their name either at the end of the manuscript, or in its margins, or in the title of the work); 4) connection with church and business writing, On the one side, and oral poetic folk art- with another; 5) historicism: its heroes are mainly historical figures, it almost does not allow fiction and strictly follows the fact.
The main themes of ancient Russian literature are inextricably linked with the history of the development of the Russian state, the Russian people, and therefore are imbued with heroic and patriotic pathos. It contains a sharp voice of condemnation of the policies of the princes, who sowed bloody feudal strife and weakened the political and military power of the state. Literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian person, capable of sacrificing what is most precious for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses deep faith in the power and ultimate triumph of good, in man's ability to elevate his spirit and defeat evil. I would like to end the conversation about the uniqueness of ancient Russian literature with the words of D.S. Likhachev: “Literature rose above Russia like a huge protective dome - it became a shield of its unity, a moral shield.”
Genre They call a historically established type of literary work, an abstract sample on the basis of which the texts of specific literary works are created. Old Russian genres are closely related to the way of life, everyday life, and differ in what they are intended for. The main thing for the genres of ancient Russian literature was the “practical purpose” for which this or that work was intended.
Therefore, it presented following genres: 1) Life: the genre of hagiography was borrowed from Byzantium. This is the most widespread and beloved genre of ancient Russian literature. Life was always created after the death of a person. It did huge educational function, because the life of the saint was perceived as an example of a righteous life that must be imitated; 2) Old Russian eloquence: this genre was borrowed by ancient Russian literature from Byzantium, where eloquence was a form of oratory; 3) Lesson: This is a type of genre of ancient Russian eloquence. Teaching is a genre in which ancient Russian chroniclers tried to present model of behavior for any Old Russian person: both for the prince and for the commoner; 4) Word: is a type of genre of ancient Russian eloquence. There are a lot of traditional elements in the word oral folk art, symbols, there is a clear influence of a fairy tale, epic; 5) Story: this is the text epic character, telling about princes, military exploits, princely crimes; 6) Chronicle: a narrative of historical events. This is the most ancient genre of ancient Russian literature. In Ancient Rus', the chronicle played a very important role; it not only reported on historical events of the past, but was also a political and legal document, indicating how to act in certain situations.
Thus, considering the specifics of various genres, it should be noted that, despite the uniqueness of each genre of ancient Russian literature, they are all based on spiritual and moral sources - righteousness, morality, patriotism.
Don't look at my outer, look at my inner.
From the prayer of Daniil Zatochnik
Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev emphasized the important mission of ancient Russian literature and noted the moral basis of these works, reflecting the cultural, historical and spiritual and moral path of many generations of our ancestors. The paths of “Good” have eternal guidelines, the same for all times, and, one might say, tested not only by time, but by eternity itself.
Let us analyze three works of ancient Russian literature from the point of view of the paths of “Good”.
1. “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh"
Justice is above all, but mercy is above justice.
Olga Brileva
The “Instruction” unites three different works of Monomakh, among which, in addition to the “Instruction” itself, there is also the autobiography of the prince himself and his letter to his enemy Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich for the great grief that he brought with his fratricidal wars to the Russian land. It is addressed to the princes - the children and grandchildren of Monomakh and, in general, to all Russian princes. An important feature of the “Teaching” is its humanistic orientation, its appeal to Man, his spiritual world, which is closely related to the humanistic nature of the author’s worldview. In its content, it is highly patriotic and partial to the fate of the Russian land as a whole and each person individually, be it a prince, a clergyman or any layman.
Citing excerpts from Christian holy books, Vladimir Monomakh suggests that all Russian princes, in order to improve their situation and achieve peaceful success, first of all, learn justice, compassion, and even “compliance”: “Eat and drink without great noise, ... listen to the wise, obey your elders, ... do not be fierce with your words, ... keep your eyes down, and your soul up ... do not place universal honor at anything.”
In it you can also find advice on how to live as a Christian in the world. A lot is written in Christian literature about monastic life, but one rarely comes across teachings on how to be saved outside of monasteries. Monomakh writes: “Just as a father, loving his child, beats him and again draws him to himself, so our Lord showed us victory over our enemies, how to get rid of them and defeat them with three good deeds: repentance, tears and almsgiving.”
Moreover, based on these three good deeds - repentance, tears and alms, the author develops the doctrine of small things good deeds. He says that the Lord does not require great feats from us, because many people, seeing the burden of such labor, do nothing at all. The Lord only needs our heart. Monomakh directly advises princes (hereditary warriors and rulers!) to be meek, not to strive to seize other people’s estates, to be content with little and to seek success and prosperity not through force and violence over others, but through a righteous life: “What is better and more beautiful than to live brothers together... The devil quarrels with us because he does not want good for the human race.”
“The autobiography of Monomakh,” notes Likhachev, “is subject to the same idea of peace. In the chronicle of his campaigns, Vladimir Monomakh gives an expressive example of the prince’s love of peace.” His voluntary compliance with his sworn enemy, Prince Oleg Ryazansky, is also indicative. But Monomakh’s own “Letter” to the same Oleg Ryazansky, the murderer of the son of Vladimir Monomakh, who at that time was defeated and fled outside of Rus', embodies the ideal of the “Teaching” even more strongly. This letter shocked the researcher with its moral force. Monomakh forgives the murderer of his son (!). Moreover, he consoles him. He invites him to return to the Russian land and receive the principality due to inheritance, asks him to forget the grievances. .
When the princes came to Monomakh, he stood with all his heart against the new internecine wars: “Don’t forget the poor, but, as much as possible, feed the orphans as much as you can, and don’t let the strong destroy a person. Kill neither the right nor the guilty, and do not command him to be killed; even if you are guilty of death, then do not destroy any Christian soul.”
And having begun to write his “Teaching” to children and “others who will hear it,” Vladimir Monomakh constantly quotes the Psalter as the basis of spiritual and moral laws. So, for example, the answer to the proposals of warlike princes: “Do not compete with the evil ones, do not envy those who do lawlessness, for the evil ones will be destroyed, but those who obey the Lord will rule the earth.” During your campaigns, you need to water and feed the beggars who will meet along the way, to honor the guest, no matter where he comes from: he is a commoner, a noble or an ambassador. At the same time, it is also taken into account that such actions acquire a good name for a person.
The author especially rebels against laziness, which destroys all good undertakings, and calls for hard work: Laziness is the mother of everything: “what someone knows how to do, he will forget, and what he doesn’t know how to do, he will not learn. When doing good, do not be lazy about anything good, first of all to the church: don’t let the sun find you in bed.”
So, the origins of the “Teaching” are the following values on the path of “Good”: Faith in God, patriotism, love for one's neighbor, humanism, peacefulness, righteousness, good deeds, spiritual and moral education of descendants. Therefore, the personal and the universal are intertwined in the “Instruction” so closely, which makes it a brilliant human document that can excite the soul even today.
2. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”
Only the heart is vigilant. You can't see the most important thing with your eyes
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” was a favorite reading of the Russian people from tsars to commoners, and now this work is called “the pearl of ancient Russian literature.” Let's try to figure out why this story was so popular in Rus'.
Peter and Fevronia of Murom are Orthodox patrons of family and marriage, whose marital union is considered a model of Christian marriage. The spouses turn to Prince Peter of Murom and his wife Fevronia with prayers for family happiness. The blessed Prince Peter was the second son of Murom Prince Yuri Vladimirovich. He ascended the Murom throne in 1203. Several years earlier, Peter fell ill with leprosy. In a sleepy vision, it was revealed to the prince that he could be healed by the daughter of the “tree climber”, a beekeeper who extracted wild honey, Fevronia, a peasant woman from the village of Laskovoy in the Ryazan land.
Virgin Fevronia was wise, wild animals obeyed her, she knew the properties of herbs and knew how to treat ailments, she was a beautiful, pious and kind girl. D.S. was undoubtedly right. Likhachev, calling the main feature of Fevronia’s character “psychological tranquility” and drawing a parallel between her image and the faces of A. Rublev’s saints, who carried within themselves the “quiet” light of contemplation, the highest moral principle, and the ideal of self-sacrifice. Convincing parallels between Rublev’s art and “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” are drawn by Dmitry Sergeevich in the fifth chapter of his book “Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus'.
One of the highest cultural achievements of Ancient Rus' was the ideal of man, created in the paintings of Andrei Rublev and artists of his circle, and Academician Likhachev compares Fevronia with Rublev’s quiet angels. But she is ready for a feat.
The first appearance in the story of the girl Fevronia is captured in a visually distinct image. She is found in a simple peasant hut by an envoy of the Murom prince Peter, who fell ill from the poisonous blood of the snake he killed. In a poor peasant dress, Fevronia sat at the loom and was engaged in a “quiet” task - weaving linen, and a hare was jumping in front of her, as if symbolizing her merging with nature. Her questions and answers, her quiet and wise conversation clearly show that “Rublev’s thoughtfulness” is not thoughtless. She amazes the messenger with her prophetic answers and promises to help the prince. The prince promised to marry her after healing. Fevronia healed the prince, but he did not keep his word. The illness resumed, Fevronia cured him again and married him.
When he inherited the reign after his brother, the boyars did not want to have a princess of simple rank, telling him: “Either let go of your wife, who insults noble ladies with her origin, or leave her as Murom.” The prince took Fevronia, got into a boat with her and sailed along the Oka. They began to live as simple people, rejoicing in being together, and God helped them. “Peter did not want to break God’s commandments…. After all, it is said that if someone drives away his wife, who is not accused of adultery, and marries another, he himself commits adultery.”
In Murom, unrest began, many began to seek the vacated throne, and murders began. Then the boyars came to their senses, gathered a council and decided to call Prince Peter back. The prince and princess returned, and Fevronia managed to earn the love of the townspeople. “They had equal love for everyone... they did not love corruptible wealth, but grew rich in God's wealth... And they ruled the city with justice and meekness, and not with rage. They welcomed the stranger, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and delivered the poor from misfortune.”
In their old age, having taken monastic vows in different monasteries, they prayed to God so that they would die on the same day. They died on the same day and hour (June 25 (July 8 according to the new style) 1228).
Thus, the spiritual and moral source of this story is the example Christian family values and commandments as milestones on the path of “Good”: faith in God, kindness, self-denial in the name of love, mercy, devotion, spiritual and moral education.
3. “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”
Patriotism does not mean only love for one’s homeland. It's much more than that. This is the consciousness of one’s inalienability from the homeland and an integral experience with it of its happy and unhappy days.
Tolstoy A. N.
Alexander Nevsky is the second son of the Pereyaslavl prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. In 1240, on June 15, in a battle with Swedish knights with a small squad, Prince Alexander won a brilliant victory. Hence Alexander’s nickname - Nevsky. To this day, the name of Alexander Nevsky is a symbol of unity, part of a common national idea.
It is generally accepted that the work was written no later than the 80s of the 13th century in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vladimir, where Prince Alexander Nevsky was buried. The author of the story was probably, according to researchers, a scribe from the circle of Vladimir Metropolitan Kirill, who came from Galicia-Volyn Rus' in 1246.
“Life” highlights the main points of Alexander’s biography, connecting them with victorious battles, and biblical memories are combined here with Russian historical tradition, literary traditions with real observations of the battle. According to I.P. Eremina, Alexander appears before us in the image of either a king-military leader of biblical antiquity, or a brave knight of a book epic, or an iconographic “righteous man”. This is another enthusiastic tribute to the blessed memory of the late prince.
Alexander's courage was admired not only by his comrades, but also by his enemies. One day Batu ordered the prince to come to him if he wanted to save Rus' from submission. The king was sure that Alexander would be afraid, but he arrived. And Batu said to his nobles: “They told me the truth, there is no prince like him in his fatherland.” And he released him with great honor."
Having chosen to describe two victorious battles of the Russian army under the command of Alexander - a picture of the battles of the Russians with the Swedes on the Neva River and with the German knights on the ice of Lake Peipus, the author tried to present the descendants of the Grand Duke and his army as endowed with heroism, dedication and perseverance in the name of the interests of the Russian people of mythical warriors - heroes. The exaltation of the Russian people, the development of a sense of patriotism and hatred of enemies, and the maintenance of the authority of military leaders will echo throughout the history of Russia right up to the present day.
He is full of church virtues - quiet, meek, humble, at the same time - a courageous and invincible warrior, swift in battle, selfless and merciless towards the enemy. This is how the ideal of a wise prince, ruler and brave commander is created. “There was great violence then from the filthy pagans: they drove Christians away, ordering them to go on campaigns with them. Grand Duke Alexander went to the king to pray people out of trouble.”
One of the episodes of the fight against enemies is described as follows: the prince had a small squad before the battle with the Swedes, and there was nowhere to expect help from. But there was a strong faith in God’s help. The main book of Alexander's childhood was the Bible. He knew it well, and much later he retold it and quoted it. Alexander went to the Church of St. Sophia, “fell on his knee before the altar and began to pray to God with tears... He remembered the psalm song and said: “Judge, Lord, and judge my quarrel with those who offend me, overcome those who fight with me.” Having finished the prayer and received the blessing of Archbishop Spiridon, the prince, strengthened in spirit, went out to his squad. Encouraging her, instilling courage in her and infecting her with his own example, Alexander told the Russians: “God is not in power, but in truth.” With a small squad, Prince Alexander met the enemy, fought fearlessly, knowing that he was fighting for a just cause, defending his native land.
So, the spiritual and moral sources of the “Life” are the following values : faith in God, patriotism, sense of duty to the Motherland, heroism, selflessness, perseverance, mercy.
Let's present a comparative table reflecting the general and special in three works:
|
Work |
Main characters |
|
|
"The Tale" about Peter and Fevronia of Murom |
Peter and Fevronia Muromsky |
Faith in God, family as a Christian value, affirmation of love as a great all-conquering feeling; family traditions, spiritual and moral education, devotion, dedication and trust in marriage, kindness, self-denial in the name of love, mercy, devotion, spiritual and moral education |
|
"Life" of Alexander Nevsky |
Alexander |
Faith in God, patriotism, sense of duty to the Motherland, heroism, selflessness, perseverance, kindness, good deeds, mercy |
|
"Teaching" by Vladimir Monomakh |
Vladimir |
Faith in God, patriotism, love for one’s neighbor, humanism, peacefulness, righteousness, good deeds, spiritual and moral education of descendants: “don’t be lazy”, “give water and feed the one who asks”, “do not kill the right or the wrong”, “do not have pride in the heart and in the mind”, “honor the old as a father”, “visit the sick” (and so on) |
It was interesting to trace the differences between two works - “Teaching” by Vladimir Monomakh and “Life” by Alexander Nevsky. Both of them were commanders, both defended their native land, both were merciful. Although, reading the Life, it may seem (sometimes) that Alexander supposedly simply wanted to conquer foreign lands and win, but this is not so. "Life" tells about Alexander as a commander and warrior, ruler and diplomat. It opens with the “glory” of the hero, which is likened to the glory of all the world-famous heroes of antiquity. Prince Alexander, on the one hand, was a glorious commander, on the other, a righteous (living in truth, fulfilling Christian commandments) ruler. Despite his youth, as it is written in the Life, Prince Alexander “won everywhere, was invincible.” This speaks of him as a skillful, brave commander. And one more interesting detail - Alexander, while fighting his enemies, was still a merciful man: “...the same ones came again from the western country and built a city in the land of Alexandrova. Grand Duke Alexander immediately went against them, razed the city to the ground, beat some, brought others with him, and pardoned others and released them, for he was merciful beyond measure.”
So you can let down result: These works, despite the originality of various genres and literary features, are interconnected by themes that reveal the spiritual beauty and moral strength of the hero, that is, commonality of their content is as follows: faith in God, patriotism and a sense of duty to the Motherland; fortitude and mercy, selflessness and love, kindness and good deeds.
Peculiarity: 1) family and family values are the main source in “The Tale of Peter and Fevronya of Murom”, but it seems that this is also common in the sense that the Motherland is like a big family, and love for the Motherland is also in the other two works is a shared value; 2) in Monomakh’s “Instruction” much attention is paid to the education and instruction of the young. But this can also be attributed to the general content of three different works, since the actions themselves of both Monomakh and Alexander represent a role model, and there is no need to give verbal instructions to the readers, that is, education by personal example, and this is the basis of spiritual moral education.
In these works of ancient Russian literature, common values are identified for all three works: 1) faith in God; 2) patriotism and sense of duty to the Motherland; 3) fortitude and mercy; 3) family values; 4) kindness and good deeds; 5) dedication and love.
In conclusion, I would like to note that ancient Russian literature provides a chance to understand life values in the modern world and compare them with the priorities of people from the times of Ancient Rus'. This allows us to conclude that the works of ancient Russian literature are the source of spiritual and moral development for any person and, moreover, for humanity as a whole, since they are based: on high moral ideals, on faith in man in the possibilities of his limitless moral improvement, on faith in the power of the word and its ability to transform a person’s inner world. Therefore, their ideals remain relevant today.
I would like to finish the work with the words “Teaching”: “What you can do well, don’t forget; what you can’t do, learn.” Read ancient Russian literature, find in it the origins of our soul!
Bibliography:
1 . Eremin I.P. Life of Alexander Nevsky / I.P. Eremin. Lectures and articles on the history of ancient Russian literature. - Leningrad: Leningrad University Publishing House, 1987. - pp. 141-143. .
2. Ermolai-Erasmus. The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom (translation by L. Dmitriev) / Old Russian literature / Comp., preface. and comment. M.P. Odessa. - M.: SLOVO / Slovo, 2004. - P.508-518.
3. Life of Alexander Nevsky (translation by I.P. Eremin) / Old Russian literature. - M.: Olimp; LLC Publishing House AST-LTD, 1997. - P.140-147.
4 .Kuskov V.V. History of Old Russian Literature: http://sbiblio.com/biblio/archive/kuskov_istorija/00.asp (access date 01/11/2014).
5 . Likhachev D.S. Great legacy. Classic works of literature. M., 1975.
6. Likhachev D.S. Chapter 5. Psychological peace. XV century /Likhachev D.S. Man in the literature of Ancient Rus'. : http://www.lihachev.ru/nauka/istoriya/biblio/1859/ (date accessed 12/12/2013).
7 . Likhachev D.S. Russian culture. M.: “Iskusstvo”, 2000.
8 . Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh (translation by D. Likhachev) / Old Russian literature / Comp., preface. and comment. M.P. Odessa. - M.: SLOVO / Slovo, 2004. - P. 213-223.
Old Russian literature- “the beginning of all beginnings”, the origins and roots of Russian classical literature, national Russian artistic culture. Its spiritual, moral values and ideals are great. It is filled with patriotic pathos of service to the Russian land, state, and homeland.
To feel the spiritual riches of ancient Russian literature, you need to look at it through the eyes of its contemporaries, to feel like a participant in that life and those events. Literature is part of reality; it occupies a certain place in the history of the people and fulfills enormous social responsibilities.
Academician D.S. Likhachev invites readers of ancient Russian literature to mentally transport themselves to the initial period of the life of Rus', to the era of the inseparable existence of the East Slavic tribes, to the 11th-13th centuries.
The Russian land is huge, settlements in it are rare. A person feels lost among impenetrable forests or, on the contrary, among the endless expanses of steppes that are too easily accessible to his enemies: “the unknown land,” “the wild field,” as our ancestors called them. To cross the Russian land from end to end, you need to spend many days on a horse or in a boat. Off-road conditions in spring and late autumn take months and make it difficult for people to communicate.
In boundless spaces, man was especially drawn to communication and sought to mark his existence. Tall, bright churches on hills or on steep river banks mark settlement sites from afar. These structures are distinguished by a surprisingly laconic architecture - they are designed to be visible from many points and serve as beacons on the roads. Churches seem to be sculpted by a caring hand, keeping the warmth and caress of human fingers in the unevenness of their walls. In such conditions, hospitality becomes one of the basic human virtues. The Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh calls in his “Teaching” to “welcome” the guest. Frequent moving from place to place belongs to considerable virtues, and in other cases even turns into a passion for vagrancy. The dances and songs reflect the same desire to conquer space. It is well said about Russian drawn-out songs in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”: “... the davitsi sing on the Danube, - the voices curl across the sea to Kyiv.” In Rus', even a designation was born for a special type of courage associated with space and movement - “prowess”.
In the vast expanses, people with particular acuteness felt and valued their unity - and, first of all, the unity of the language in which they spoke, in which they sang, in which they told legends of deep antiquity, again testifying to their integrity and indivisibility. Under the conditions of that time, even the word “language” itself takes on the meaning of “people”, “nation”. The role of literature becomes especially significant. It serves the same purpose of unification, expresses the national consciousness of unity. She is the keeper of history and legends, and these latter were a kind of means of developing space, marking the holiness and significance of a particular place: a tract, a mound, a village, etc. Legends also imparted historical depth to the country; they were the “fourth dimension” within which the entire vast Russian land, its history, its national identity were perceived and became “visible.” The same role was played by chronicles and lives of saints, historical stories and stories about the founding of monasteries.
All ancient Russian literature, up to the 17th century, was distinguished by deep historicism, rooted in the land that the Russian people occupied and developed for centuries. Literature and the Russian land, literature and Russian history were closely connected. Literature was one of the ways to master the surrounding world. It is not for nothing that the author of praise for books and Yaroslav the Wise wrote in the chronicle: “These are the rivers that water the universe.” He compared Prince Vladimir with a farmer who plowed the land, and Yaroslav with a sower who “sowed” the earth with “bookish words.” Writing books is cultivating the land, and we already know which one - Russian, inhabited by the Russian "language", i.e. Russian people. And, like the work of a farmer, the copying of books has always been a sacred task in Rus'. Here and there sprouts of life, grains, were thrown into the ground, the shoots of which were to be reaped by future generations.
Since rewriting books is a sacred task, books could only be on the most important topics. All of them, to one degree or another, represented “book teaching.” Literature was not of an entertaining nature, it was a school, and its individual works were, to one degree or another, teachings.
What did ancient Russian literature teach? Let's leave aside those religious and church issues with which she was busy. The secular element of ancient Russian literature was deeply patriotic. She taught active love for the homeland, fostered citizenship, and strived to correct the shortcomings of society.
If in the first centuries of Russian literature, in the 11th-13th centuries, she called on the princes to stop discord and firmly fulfill their duty of defending their homeland, then in the subsequent centuries - in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries - she no longer cares only about protecting the homeland, but also about reasonable government system. At the same time, throughout its development, literature was closely connected with history. And she not only reported historical information, but sought to determine the place of Russian history in world history, to discover the meaning of the existence of man and humanity, to discover the purpose of the Russian state.
Russian history and the Russian land itself united all works of Russian literature into a single whole. In essence, all the monuments of Russian literature, thanks to their historical themes, were much more closely connected with each other than in modern times. They could be arranged in chronological order, and as a whole they set out one story - Russian and at the same time world. The works were more closely connected with each other as a result of the absence of a strong authorial principle in ancient Russian literature. Literature was traditional, new things were created as a continuation of what already existed and based on the same aesthetic principles. The works were rewritten and reworked. They reflected more strongly the reader's tastes and requirements than the literature of modern times. Books and their readers were closer to each other, and the collective principle was more strongly represented in the works. Ancient literature, by the nature of its existence and creation, was closer to folklore than to the personal creativity of modern times. The work, once created by the author, was then changed by countless copyists, altered, in different environments acquired various ideological colors, supplemented, acquired new episodes.
“The role of literature is enormous, and happy are those people who have great literature in their native language... In order to perceive cultural values in their entirety, it is necessary to know their origin, the process of their creation and historical change, the cultural memory embedded in them. In order to deeply and accurately To perceive a work of art, we need to know by whom, how and under what circumstances it was created. In the same way, we will truly understand literature as a whole when we know how it was created, shaped and participated in the life of the people.
It is as difficult to imagine Russian history without Russian literature as it is to imagine Russia without Russian nature or without its historical cities and villages. No matter how much the appearance of our cities and villages, architectural monuments and Russian culture as a whole changes, their existence in history is eternal and indestructible" 2 .
Without ancient Russian literature there is and could not be the work of A.S. Pushkina, N.V. Gogol, moral quests of L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky. Russian medieval literature is the initial stage in the development of Russian literature. She passed on to subsequent art the richest experience of observations and discoveries, as well as literary language. It combined ideological and national characteristics, and created lasting values: chronicles, works of oratory, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” “The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon,” “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom,” “The Tale of Misfortune,” "The Works of Archpriest Avvakum" and many other monuments.
Russian literature is one of the most ancient literatures. Its historical roots date back to the second half of the 10th century. As noted by D.S. Likhachev, of this great millennium, more than seven hundred years belong to the period that is commonly called Old Russian literature.
“Before us is literature that rises above its seven centuries, as a single grandiose whole, as one colossal work, striking us with its subordination to one theme, a single struggle of ideas, contrasts that enter into a unique combination. Old Russian writers are not architects of separate buildings. city planners. They worked on one common grandiose ensemble. They had a remarkable “sense of shoulder”, created cycles, vaults and ensembles of works, which in turn formed a single building of literature...
This is a kind of medieval cathedral, in the construction of which thousands of free masons took part over several centuries..." 3.
Ancient literature is a collection of great historical monuments, created mostly by nameless masters of words. Information about the authors of ancient literature is very scanty. Here are the names of some of them: Nestor, Daniil Zatochnik, Safoniy Ryazanets, Ermolai Erasmus, etc.
The names of the characters in the works are mainly historical: Theodosius of Pechersky, Boris and Gleb, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Sergius of Radonezh. These people played a significant role in the history of Rus'.
The adoption of Christianity by pagan Russia at the end of the 10th century was an act of the greatest progressive significance. Thanks to Christianity, Rus' joined the advanced culture of Byzantium and entered as an equal Christian sovereign power into the family of European nations, becoming “known and followed” in all corners of the earth, as the first ancient Russian rhetorician 4 and publicist 5 known to us, Metropolitan Hilarion, said in “The Tale of the Law” and Grace" (monument from the mid-11th century).
The emerging and growing monasteries played a major role in the spread of Christian culture. The first schools were created in them, respect and love for books, “book teaching and veneration” were cultivated, book depositories and libraries were created, chronicles were written, and translated collections of moralizing and philosophical works were copied. Here the ideal of a Russian monk-ascetic who devoted himself to serving God, moral improvement, liberation from base, vicious passions, and serving the high idea of civic duty, goodness, justice, and public good was created and surrounded by the aura of a pious legend.
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Essay on the topic of man and his spiritual values of ancient Russian literature
Portrayal of a hero in ancient Russian literature
“The first historical works allow the people to realize themselves in the historical process, think about their role in world history, understand the roots of modern events and their responsibility to the future.”
Academician D. S. Likhachev
Old Russian literature, which includes epics, fairy tales, lives of saints and (later) stories, is not just a cultural monument. This is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the life, everyday life, spiritual world and moral principles of our distant ancestors, a kind of bridge connecting modernity and antiquity.
So, what is he like, the ancient Russian hero of literature?
The first thing that should be noted is that the depiction of man in general in ancient Russian literature is very peculiar. The author deliberately avoids precision, certainty, and detail that indicate a specific character. Professional activity or belonging to a certain social category determines personality. If we have a monk in front of us, his monastic qualities are important, if a prince - princely, if a hero - heroic. The life of the saints is depicted specifically outside of time and space, being a standard of ethical standards.
The character of the hero of the story is revealed through a description of his actions (deeds, exploits). The author does not pay attention to the reasons that prompted the hero to this or that action; the motivation remains behind the scenes.
The Old Russian hero is an integral and uncompromising personality who lives by the principle: “I see the goal, I don’t notice the obstacles, I believe in myself.” His image seems to be carved out of a granite monolith; his actions are based on unshakable confidence in the rightness of his cause. His activities are aimed at the benefit of his native land, for the benefit of his fellow citizens. The epic hero, for example, is a collective image of the defender of the Motherland, albeit endowed with certain supernatural abilities, a model of civil behavior.
Whoever the hero is, he is courageous, honest, kind, generous, devoted to his homeland and people, never seeks his own benefit, an Orthodox Christian. This is a strong, proud and unusually stubborn man. Obviously, this fantastic stubbornness, so superbly described by N.V. Gogol in the story “Taras Bulba,” allows a person to achieve the task he has defined for himself. For example, St. Sergius of Radonezh flatly refuses to become a metropolitan, Fevronia, despite her social status, becomes a princess, Ilya of Muromets not only defends Kyiv, but in his own way destroys the enemies of the Russian land.
A characteristic feature of the hero of ancient Russian literature is the absence of chauvinism, a humane attitude towards people of different nationalities. Despite all the patriotism, there is no aggressiveness. Thus, in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the fight against the Polovtsy is seen as the defense of the Russian people from unexpected predatory raids. In the epic “The Tale of the March of the Kyiv Heroes to Constantinople” “...they release the young Tugarin to Constantinople and teach him to conjure so that they will not come to Rus' for centuries.”
Saint Sergius of Radonezh, blessing Prince Dmitry for the battle with Mamai, says: “Go against the barbarians, rejecting great doubt, and God will help you. You will defeat your enemies and return healthy to your fatherland.”
Female images of ancient Russian literature convey creativity, the warmth of the family hearth, love and fidelity. These are unusually subtle and intelligent representatives of the fair half of humanity, who know how to achieve their goals not by force, but by reason.
The man of ancient Rus' is inextricably linked with the nature around him. And even though in ancient Russian literature there is no description of the landscape in the familiar understanding of this word to modern people, the presence of living, animate forests and fields, rivers and lakes, flowers and herbs, animals and birds create the impression of an inextricable connection between people and the living world around them.
The description of nature is most clearly expressed in “The Word...9”, where natural phenomena and the animal world empathize with the hero:
"...The night has passed, and the bloody dawns
They announce disaster in the morning.
A cloud is moving in from the sea
For four princely tents....."
In all other works, the landscape is drawn extremely poorly, sometimes there is almost no landscape at all.
However, St. Sergius seeks solitude among virgin forests, and Fevronia turns tree stumps into large trees with branches and foliage.
In general, we understand the language in which ancient Russian works of literature were written, because, although it is ancient, it is still Russian!
There are certainly outdated words there (guni - outerwear, eliko - only, monk - monk, adamant - diamond, span - measure of length, incense - incense), the meaning of which is difficult to guess right away, but in the context of the work you can understand their meaning (prayer - worship, zegzica - cuckoo). Old Russian literature uses very bright, lively and figurative language. There is a lot of dialogic speech, and colloquial vocabulary is used accordingly, making these works unusually folk. In ancient Russian literature there are many epithets (silver shores, pearly soul) and comparisons (galloped like an ermine, swam like a white goldeneye, flew like a falcon, ran like a wolf like a cuckoo, calls to the Jurassic). Literary works are melodious, musical and unhurried due to the large number of vowels and sonorous sounds.
It is worth mentioning that the author does not use such an important thing as a portrait, without which we cannot imagine modern literature. Perhaps in those days the idea of a particular hero was general, and there was no need to describe his appearance, since it (the idea) was unspoken.
Also, a means of artistic expression is epic hyperbolization and idealization.
The technique of hyperbolization is widely used in epics; the capabilities of many heroes and objects are exaggerated, enlivening and emphasizing events. (For example, the description of Idol Skoropeevich in “The Heroic Word”:
"And he is tall, not according to custom,
Between his eyes the arrow goes well,
Between his shoulders there is a large fathom,
His eyes are like bowls
And his head is like a beer cauldron.)
The technique of idealization is a method of artistic generalization that allows the author to create an image based on his ideas about what he should be (saints are ideal, family values are unshakable).
All elements of the composition (Prologue => Plot of action => Development of action => Climax => Denouement => Epilogue) are present only in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, and in epics, stories and lives there is no prologue, and the starting point of the action is the plot.
The spiritual values defended by the heroes of ancient Russian literature are still relevant today, almost a thousand years later. National independence, cohesion and unity of the nation, family values, Christian values (= universal human values) are close and understandable to every citizen of Russia. The connection of times is obvious.
The first moral works, socio-political works, clarify social norms of behavior, allow the ideas of everyone’s responsibility for the fate of the people and the country to be more widely disseminated, and cultivate patriotism and at the same time respect for other peoples.
The richness of the Russian language is the result of almost a thousand years of development of Russian literature.
In Ancient Rus' there was beauty of moral depth, moral subtlety and at the same time moral power.
To become familiar with ancient Russian literature is great happiness and great joy.
B.A. Rybakov "World of History" 1984
D.S. Likhachev "Anthology of Old Russian Literature"
Attention, TODAY only!For an Orthodox person, a hero of ancient Russian literature, the most important thing is spiritual, inner life. The Russian people were convinced that it was internal, spiritual qualities that determined the degree of perfection to which one should strive. By asserting that the internal, spiritual determines the external, Orthodoxy thereby builds a certain system of values in which the spiritual is more important than the physical.
Russian Orthodoxy oriented people toward spiritual transformation and stimulated the desire for self-improvement and closer approach to Christian ideals. This contributed to the spread and establishment of spirituality. Its main basis: unceasing prayer, peace and concentration - gathering the soul.
Sergius of Radonezh established the standard of morality in Russian life. At a turning point in the history of our people, when their national identity was being formed, Saint Sergius became the inspirer of state and cultural construction, a spiritual teacher, and a symbol of Russia.
“For his friends and for the Russian land” Prince Alexander Nevsky performed a great spiritual feat of humility, sacrificing “earthly vanity to power” for the sake of his country and its people. Being a Great Commander who won many valiant victories, he took the oath to the khans of the Golden Horde in order to save at least the remnants of the people for future revival. Thus, he showed himself not only to be a great warrior, but also a wise politician and diplomat.
The left side is a mirror image of the right. The sounds are dissonant, the graphics of the letters resemble shackles and prison bars in their design. This side is the path of spiritual fall. Therefore, it ends with the words: “Beginninglessly empty... thieves; drunkards... accept your bitter share...” The Fall of Buki the Empty Letters Words Nicknames Buki (0) Countless spawn, rootless, violent. Buki the Empty Shebarsha is an empty bastard, an empty talker. A whisperer is a scoundrel, a sneaker. Shui - left. Shuinitsa - left hand. Shkota - damage, laziness. Pinching and flaunting. Shcha - spare, spare; mercilessly, mercilessly - cruelly, mercilessly. “And they are given over to cruel deaths without mercy.” ShkodnikType "Gon" - Filthy spawn Era - a rogue, a swindler, a thief. Eryga is a connecting rod, a reveler, a drunkard. Erik is a renegade; heretic - an apostate, a sorcerer who imposes Bonds - chains, shackles, shackles; bridle, knot, knots - knit. Convict Prison - jail, prison, dungeon. Prisoner A special kind - Ardent enemy - Prisoner - imprisonment. Scabby\Beheading - death penalty, end. Ugly corpse Demon spawn
The books of ancient Rus' introduced the virtues that a person should possess. Virtue means regular, constant doing of good, which becomes a habit, a good skill. 7 cardinal virtues: 1 Abstinence (from excess). 2.Chastity (storage of feelings, modesty, purity). 3. Non-covetousness (satisfaction with what is necessary). 4. Meekness (avoidance of rage and anger, gentleness, patience). 5. Sobriety (zeal for every good deed, keeping oneself from laziness). 6. Humility (silence before those who offend, fear of God) 7. Love (towards the Lord and neighbors).
The beloved Russian saints Boris and Gleb were distinguished by humility, meekness, and obedience. Boris and Gleb are the first Russian saints. They were the youngest sons of Prince Vladimir. They were born before the baptism of Rus', but were raised in Christian piety. The brothers imitated their father in everything, who was responsive to the poor, sick and disadvantaged.
Family values always play a big role for a person. Peter and Fevronia of Murom are spouses, saints, the brightest personalities of Holy Rus', who with their lives reflected its spiritual values and ideals. They revealed to pious hearts the beauty and height of the Orthodox family.
And the couple began to live and live well and make good money. Peter and Fevronia made good money not in their chests, but in their souls they built crystal castles. Human envy does not tolerate other people's happiness. But the faithful spouses endured the slander with meekness and humility. Princess Fevronia consoled and supported her husband, Prince Peter took care of his wife. They loved each other with Christian love, they were one flesh, a worthy example of a true Christian family. And when the end of their earthly life came, they left it in one day.
In family life, much attention was paid to the worthy upbringing of children. The Great Russian Duke Vladimir Monomakh wrote “Instruction”, wanting to protect his children from mistakes, to help them realize the power and value of the only path worthy of a person. What is the prince calling for?
The prince teaches children the rules of relationships with people: “Don’t let a person pass without greeting him, and say a kind word to him. Visit the patient. Give drink and food to the one who asks. Don't forget the poor, give to the orphans. Honor the old as your father, and the young as your brothers. Honor the guest above all else; if you cannot honor him with a gift, then treat him with food and drink.”
Old Russian literature is not only a wonderful monument of antiquity, but also the foundation on which the spirituality of Russian people was built. By reading works of ancient Russian literature, we have the opportunity to get acquainted with the events of the ancient history of our homeland, compare our assessments of life with the wise assessments of writers of that distant time, learn complex concepts about a person’s place in life, his goals and aspirations, and become convinced of the truth of spiritual and moral values of the Russian people.
