Literary model for ancient Russian writers. Ancient Russian literature - what is it? Works of Old Russian Literature

The ideal hero in the annals was the prince. It was created by the chronicler in "monumental grandeur", as on mosaics and frescoes of the 11th-13th centuries. The chronicler was interested in the official image of the prince, his significant actions as a historical figure, and human qualities were left out of attention. brave, skillful in military affairs, courageous, crusher of enemies, guardian of the state) In such works ancient Russian literature, as a life, asceticism, the feat of serving the fatherland, the holiness and "lordship" of the life of Russian saints are also glorified. Their images combined an example of selflessness, passionate service to the idea, expressed the folk ideals of the spiritual beauty of the Russian people (Theodosius of the Caves, Sergius of Radonezh, etc.). In stories about saints, their greatness, their ideality is conveyed against an expressive-emotional background, which creates the expressive-emotional style of literature of the late 14th-15th centuries. This is especially evident in hagiographic literature, elevating the life of a saint to a lofty feat, to an ideal. In ancient literature, the saint is called the "warrior of Christ." He is an ascetic, the main thing in him is his feat, which he performs as a warrior. For example, Epiphanius the Wise calls Stephen of Perm "the courageous brave", i.e. hero. The image of Sergius of Radonezh is lofty and heroic. In the literature of the 11th-13th centuries, the epic style is also manifested in the depiction of heroes. It is especially noticeable in those works that are associated with oral folk art. As in folklore, the protagonists of the chronicle and the story are characterized "by one major act" ("The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu"). Both in the "Word" and in the "Tale" - a collective hero, folk hero- defender of the homeland. He is distinguished by strength and courage. The authors also transfer the exploits of his squad to him (Bui-Tur Vsevolod, Svyatoslav, Evpatiy Kolovrat). The image of a hero unites with a squad and grows into a hero - this is a collective image. Ancient literature created the heroic characters of women. These are images of wives, mothers, seeing off their loved ones on military campaigns and battles with enemies, widows mourning the dead. With love and warmth, Vladimir Monomakh writes about the widow of his murdered son, like a dove on a dry tree. The image of the wife of the Ryazan prince Fyodor Evpraksia, who threw herself from the wall with a baby (“The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu”), is beautiful. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". The image of Yaroslavna, a faithful, loving woman, was created in the song and folklore tradition.
So the image of the hero undergoes changes ancient literature and artistic ways of depicting it.

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Abstract on the topic:

Old Russian womentiya: monuments, heroes, evolution

Old Russian hagiographic literature was one of the most important means of religious education. The lives depicted the moral ideal of a man who conquered earthly passions and followed the Christian commandments. Although the hagiography seems to be stereotyped in terms of design and form, each Old Russian hagiography is distinctive and original, and each has its own hero.

“Defining a hagiographic genre as “high” implies the respect it evokes and the corresponding style, but by no means elitism ... hagiographic works are both “high” and mass: they are addressed to the whole people and themselves are influenced by the culture of the “silent majority”. (M.P. Odessky, article “A sick man” in ancient Russian literature”, “Old Russian literature”, Moscow, “Heritage”, 1995, p. 162).

Lives of saints occupied a large place in ancient Russian literature proper. They were a means of introducing Christian morality and the worldview characteristic of Christianity. In addition, they contained folk fantasy, a variety of historical, everyday and geographical information, which is interesting to the reader.

For many centuries, the "Life of Theodosius of the Caves" remained a model for hagiographic literature of the type of biographies, and of the type of stories about martyrdom - "The Tale of Boris and Gleb."

Russian lives differed from the canonical life of the Byzantine type. The appearance of original hagiographic literature is associated with the struggle of Russia for church independence. Therefore, in ancient Russian hagiographic literature there are journalistic, political and historical elements.

Princely lives became a variety of hagiographic works. One of them is "The Tale of Boris and Gleb". This work differs significantly from those typical for ancient Russian lives in that its main theme is not suffering and martyrdom for the faith, but princely strife, when a brother can kill a brother, can take possession of his “incredible existence” wife, when a brother can take revenge on his brother and shed his own blood.

The form of "The Tale of Boris and Gleb" resembles a historical story. It contains real facts of history, names, faces, events. It mentions the baptism of Russia, the raids of the Pechenegs; The heroes of The Tale of Boris and Gleb are Russian princes: Vladimir, Boris, Gleb, Svyatopolk the Accursed, Yaroslav.

The Tale of Boris and Gleb sanctifies the idea of ​​brotherly love and obedience of the younger to the elders: “Behold, I go to my brother and the river:“ You be my father - you are my brother and grow old. What do you command, my Lord? (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1978, p. 280).

“The behavior of Boris and Gleb, who did not raise their hands against their elder brother even in defense of their lives, sanctified the idea of ​​tribal seniority in the system of princely hierarchy: princes who did not violate this commandment became saints ... all princes are brothers, but the elders are obliged to protect the younger ones and patronize them and the younger selflessly submit to the elders. (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1978, commentary by L.A. Dmitriev).

In "The Tale of Boris and Gleb" there are many speeches of characters. Before their murder, both Gleb and Boris make long speeches - prayers, which reflect their humility, malice and submission to their brother Svyatopolk. Both brothers were defenders of Russia, both were simple and humble. Gleb said in prayer: “They kill me for no one knows what, no one knows for what fault ... my soul is ready to stand before you, Lord.” Boris, in his appeal to God, said: "Glory to you, that you have made me worthy to escape from the seductions of this deceitful life." Boris and Gleb - "Christ's saints".

A monument characteristic of the beginning of ancient Russian literature is The Life of Theodosius of the Caves.

"The Life of Theodosius of the Caves", written by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor in the 80s. XI century, plot and dynamic. It contains many everyday monastic and secular details, although the description of everyday life is restrained.

Theodosius, in the past a humble youth who runs away with strangers from home in order to serve God, puts cutting chains on his belt to the point of blood, bakes prosphora, wears beggarly clothes, sincerely wants to devote himself to faith, is repeatedly beaten by his mother and subjected to ridicule by his peers. Later, Theodosius (translated from Greek "Theodosius" means "given, dedicated to God") still manages to leave his mother, get to Kyiv and come to the "holiness" of Anthony the Great - a hermit, recognized by the church as the founder of monasticism.

Subsequently, Theodosius becomes the owner of the monastery, influences political life country, everyone reveres him for holiness and righteousness. “Our father Theodosius excelled everyone in humility and obedience, and diligence, and asceticism, and deeds, for he was powerful and strong in body and helped everyone with pleasure, carrying water and firewood from the forest on his shoulders, and at night he was awake, glorifying in prayers god." (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1978, p. 331).

The hagiographical genre requires the traditional components of the life story of the saint: the pious parents of the hero, his desire from childhood for God, special humility and obedience, asceticism, miracles, success in the fight against demons (which in The Life of Theodosius of the Caves either scatter flour, or leaven for baking spilled bread). These motives are present in this life. But at the same time there are deviations from the canon: Theodosius' mother does not want her son to devote himself to God, beats Theodosius, ties him up. And the monks of the Kiev Caves Monastery are completely earth people who, instead of prayers, talk among themselves in cells.

The Life of Theodosius of the Caves mentions Prince Izyaslav Sr., son of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Duke Kyiv from 1054 to 1073 (he is shown as a Christ-loving), Nikon - a monk, hegumen, compiler of the chronicle preceding the Tale of Bygone Years, Prince Gleb - the son of Yaroslav Yaroslavich ...

Theodosius works miracles: he foresees the appearance of honey, wine, bread in the monastery. He teaches the monks not to worry about tomorrow. At the same time, Theodosius really helps people, as, for example, he helped a poor widow by the fact that, after talking with the judge, he saved her from harassment. “Theodosius was an intercessor for many before judges and princes, delivering those ... for no one dared to disobey him, knowing his righteousness and holiness.” (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1978, pp. 384 - 385).

“The life of a saint is a solemn parade of his life, honoring him by a writer” ... (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1978, introductory article by D.S. Likhachev, p. 11). “The life of Theodosius, although it was essentially the first Russian life, completed the biographical genre. The story about a person is conducted in this work by highlighting only some moments of his life: those in which he reaches, as it were, his highest self-manifestation. (Ibid., p. 19).

An example of hagiographic literature can be considered the work of the first half of the 13th century - "The Life of Abraham of Smolensk", written by his student Ephraim. It has a traditional introduction for life - the author's appeal to God, the author's own sinfulness emphasized: Ancient Russia”, XIII century, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1981, p. 96).

The hero of this life had all the positive qualities and was from a very decent family. He was well-read and educated, oratory, painted icons. He was popular in Smolensk, which caused envy among the clergy and Abraham was expelled from the city. When there was a drought in the city, he was remembered. Abraham performed a miracle by prayer: it rained. Abraham was appointed abbot in the monastery, where he lived to his end, being in asceticism, prayers, patience, humility, almsgiving and love.

A remarkable monument of ancient Russian literature is the Life of Alexander Nevsky. This work combines elements of a military story and life. This work is both a princely biography and a new type of church life - the life of a holy commander. The author glorifies the prince's military and political successes, emphasizing that "he was both a warrior and a saint, the defender of the land from the "non-believers" - the Swedes, Germans, Lithuanians, Chuds." (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, XIII century, commentary by V.I. Okhotnikova, p. 602). The main episodes of life are the Battle of the Neva, the ruin of Koporye, the liberation of Pskov, the Battle on the Ice. Main character- a wonderful warrior who "winning, but we will not win." He was also handsome “like no other, and his voice is like a trumpet among the people, his face is like the face of Joseph ... his strength was from the strength of Samson, and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon ...” (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia, XIII century , Moscow, "Fiction", 1981, p. 427). He was not seduced by wealth, erected churches and cities, judged in truth, and “God suffered hard, leave the earthly kingdom” (ibid., p. 438), became a monk, accepted the schema and gave his spirit to God in peace. Such is the content of this monument.

“During the period of the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow, the genre of hagiographic literature flourished. Talented writers Pachomius Logofet and Epifamy the Wise compiled biographies of the largest church leaders Russia: Metropolitan Peter, who transferred the center of the metropolis to Moscow, Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, who supported the great Moscow prince in the fight against the Horde, whose name is associated with the formation of Russian national identity. (“History of Russia”, Moscow, “Prospect”, 2002, p. 119).

Russian literature of the 14th-15th centuries, including hagiographic literature, inherited its publicism from Old Russian. So, at the heart of the Novgorod monument - "The Tale of the Life of Mikhail Klopsky" are local legends about the holy fool Michael. But this is not so much life as “one of the brightest manifestations of the ideological struggle of the late 70s. XV century". (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, the second half of the 15th century, commentary by L.A. Dmitrieva, p. 618). It shows the ideas of a promo-mosk orientation - Klopsky advocated the subordination of Novgorod to Moscow. Church preaching is combined with the idea of ​​the leading role of Moscow, an idea characteristic of Russian literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

In the 16th century, the hagiographic narrative undergoes changes due to the appearance of specific everyday sketches and the use of folklore material. Their amusing and democratic character is increasing. In this regard, the “Tale of Peter and Fevronia” is indicative, defined by the author as “The Tale from the Lives of the Saints…” Metropolitan Macarius did not include it in the collection of "spiritual" hagiographical literature - "Great Menaion" because the author - "a well-educated church writer, who was tasked with giving a life story of the saints, created a work that essentially has nothing to do with hagiographic genre." (“Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, XV - XVI centuries, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1984, commentary by R.P. Dmitrieva, p. 764). This work represents the beginning of the genre of secular household story.

The further development of hagiographic literature corresponded to the general evolution of medieval Russian literature, in which a further process of secularization, approaching the reader, was observed. The position of the hagiographer becomes clearer, bringing him closer to the memoirist. The views of the writer are more clearly manifested. In general, Russian literature of the 17th century was a transitional stage to the culture of the new time.

Life is a fairly stable genre, but even in the 17th century it acquired a secular, democratic direction, gradually turning into a biographical story. The most indicative in this regard is "The Tale of Ulyania Osoryina", written by the son of Ulyania

Osoryina - a real-life Murom landowner of the 16th century, from the 17th century revered saint of the city of Murom.

"The Tale of Ulyania Osorina" combined the features of a narrative everyday story and life. The peculiarity of this work is that it is the first biography of a noblewoman in Russian literature. An attractive image of a Russian woman, a hostess, has been created; she "stayed all night without sleep, in prayers and in needlework, and in spinning, and in the spinning business." This story is dominated by everyday details, there are historical facts (mention about the terrible famine during the reign of Boris Godunov). The heroine is ideal from the point of view of Christian morality: she spends her time in prayers, gives alms, feeds the hungry with bread, which was sweet with her prayer, although “She herself is dying starkly,” she was merciful to the servants. She was “from childhood meek and silent, unbuoyant and unwieldy, laughing and all sorts of games otgrebasheshsya” and at the same time, Ulyaniya is an ordinary woman, surrounded by family and life: she is “the house structure of the ruler”. She does not take the veil as a nun, although she has such a desire. She was not a martyr and a saint in the traditional hagiographical sense, although she followed the Christian commandments. "The Tale of Ulyania Osorina" is a new type of life - "people's life", far from hagiographic stencils.

The traditional forms of life were also destroyed by the ideologist of the Old Believers, Archpriest Avvakum, who became the founder of a new genre in Russian literature - the autobiography of confession. His "Life" became "the forerunner of the discovery of new artistic principles for depicting a person, mastered by Russian literature much later - during the development and formation of realistic prose." (N.S. Demnikova, commentary, p. 638, “Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia”, XVII century, book two, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1989).

The “life” of Archpriest Avvakum is close to the “folk life” - “the same accuracy, the same detailed life, everyday life, the same folk miracles to help people, the same everyday vernacular and everyday terminology. Except that everything in Avvakum is bolder, more talented, brighter, more significant, and life itself is sanctified by an ideological struggle, which is not in the folk lives of the 17th century. (D.S. Likhachev, introductory article "The Seventeenth Century in Russian Literature", PLDR, XVII century, book one, Moscow, "Fiction", 1988, p. 13).

Colloquial speech addressed to the interlocutor and reader (such as “Forgive me, I’ll talk to you about my ignorance”), denunciation of the authorities and church orders, a realistic depiction of one’s life, life, bright characteristics tsar and patriarch, skill in recreating Russian reality in the 50-70s. XVII century - all this makes Avvakum's "Life" one of the most interesting and original monuments of medieval Russian literature. This is a one of a kind, innovative work. It has a special structure: a chain of memories addressed to the spiritual father - the monk Epiphanius, united by a single storyline that tells about the choice life path and the vicissitudes of the fate of the hero, about the punishments for the fact that he "reproaches the heresy of Nikonov." Talking about the horrors of his life, Avvakum does not frighten the reader, but, on the contrary, inspires him with the idea that with god help everything can be overcome and that the only fear is “the fear of God”. Such is the hero of this monument.

Although in the "Life" of Avvakum there is traditional elements hagiographic genre (description of the hero's family, his childhood, the ability to heal the possessed), this work as a whole is already an autobiographical story in which human feelings are present.

So, over the centuries, the genre of the life turned from a strictly canonized work about the life of a saint into a story. But the genre of life itself did not die in further development Russian literature, which has already gone beyond the medieval Old Russian. In the 18th century, lives continued to be read, old ones were copied and new ones were created. The genre of life had its continuation in the nineteenth century. For example, in the work of N.S. Leskov: in his “The Enchanted Wanderer” there are hagiographic motifs. Life continued to live in church literature. Despite the fact that the Lives are somewhat edifying, they are still fascinating and entertaining reading.

FROMlist of used literature

1. "Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia" (PLDR), Moscow, "Fiction", 1978.

2. PLDR: XIII century, Moscow, "Fiction", 1981.

3. PLDR: the second half of the 15th century, Moscow, "Fiction".

4. PLDR: XVII century, second book, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1989.

5. PLDR: XVII century, Moscow, "Fiction", 1988.

6. "History of Russia", Moscow, "Prospect", 2002.

7. "Old Russian Literature", Moscow, "Heritage", 1995.

8. "Culture of Russia: IX - XX centuries", Moscow, "Prostor", 1996.

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Russian medieval literature is initial stage development of Russian literature. Its emergence is closely connected with the process of formation of the early feudal state. Subordinate to the political tasks of strengthening the foundations of the feudal system, it in its own way reflected the various periods in the development of public and social relations in Russia in the 11th-17th centuries. Old Russian literature is the literature of the emerging Great Russian people, gradually taking shape into a nation.

The question of the chronological boundaries of ancient Russian literature has not been finally resolved by our science. Ideas about the volume of ancient Russian literature still remain incomplete. Many works perished in the fire of countless fires, during the devastating raids of the steppe nomads, the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar invaders, the Polish-Swedish invaders! And at a later time, in 1737, the remains of the library of the Moscow tsars were destroyed by a fire that broke out in the Grand Kremlin Palace. In 1777, the Kyiv library was destroyed by fire. The works of ancient Russian literature were divided into "worldly" and "spiritual". The latter were supported and disseminated in every possible way, since they contained the enduring values ​​of religious dogma, philosophy and ethics, while the former, with the exception of official legal and historical documents, were declared "vain". Thanks to this, we present our ancient literature to a greater extent ecclesiastical than it really was. When embarking on the study of Old Russian literature, it is necessary to take into account its specific features, which differ from the literature of modern times. A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is handwritten nature of its existence and distribution. At the same time, 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 charge of vanity." These words of Basil the Great largely determined the attitude of the ancient Russian society to the works of writing. The value of this or that handwritten book was evaluated in terms of its practical purpose and usefulness. One of the characteristic features of ancient Russian literature is its connection with church and business writing, on the one hand, and oral poetic folk art, on the other. The nature of these connections at each historical stage in the development of literature and in its individual monuments was different. However, the wider and deeper literature used the artistic experience of folklore, the more vividly it reflected the phenomena of reality, the wider was the scope of its ideological and artistic influence.

A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is historicism. Her heroes are predominantly historical figures, she almost does not allow fiction and strictly follows the fact. Even numerous stories about "miracles" - phenomena that seem supernatural to a medieval person, are not so much the fiction of an ancient Russian writer, but accurate records of the stories of either eyewitnesses or the persons themselves with whom the "miracle" happened. Old Russian literature, inextricably linked with the history of the development of the Russian state, the Russian people, is imbued with heroic and patriotic pathos. Another feature is anonymity.

Literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian man, who is capable of giving up the most precious thing for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses a deep faith in the power and ultimate triumph of good, in the ability of a person to elevate his spirit and defeat evil. The Old Russian writer was least of all inclined to an impartial presentation of facts, "listening to good and evil indifferently." Any genre of ancient literature, be it a historical story or a legend, a life story or a church sermon, as a rule, includes significant elements of journalism. Concerning mainly state-political or moral issues, the writer believes in the power of the word, in the power of conviction. He appeals not only to his contemporaries, but also to distant descendants with a call to take care that the glorious deeds of their ancestors are preserved in the memory of generations and that descendants do not repeat the sad mistakes of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

The literature of Ancient Russia expressed and defended the interests of the upper classes of feudal society. However, it could not fail to show an acute class struggle, which resulted either in the form of open spontaneous uprisings, or in the forms of typical medieval religious heresies. Literature clearly reflected the struggle between progressive and reactionary groupings within the ruling class, each of which was looking for support among the people. And since the progressive forces of feudal society reflected the interests of the whole state, and these interests coincided with the interests of the people, we can talk about the folk character of ancient Russian literature.

periodization

According to the established tradition in the development of ancient Russian literature, there are three main stages associated with the periods of development of the Russian state:

I. Literature of the ancient Russian state of the XI - the first half of the XIII centuries. The literature of this period is often referred to as literature Kievan Rus. The central image is Kyiv and Kyiv princes, glorifies the unity of worldview, the patriotic principle. This period is characterized by the relative unity of literature, which is determined by the relationship between the two main cultural centers of the state - Kyiv and Novgorod. This is a period of apprenticeship, in the role of mentors Byzantium and Bulgaria. Translation literature prevails. It is first dominated by religious texts, and then secular literature appears. The main theme is the theme of the Russian land and its position in the family of Christian nations. The second half of the 11th century (before this period) - Ostromir Gospel, Izborniki, translation of Greek chronicles, based on cat. "Chronograph according to the great exposition", "Sermon about the Law and Grace of Hilarion". In the middle of the 11th - the first third of the 12th genres of the didactic word appeared

(Theodosius of the Caves, Luka Zhidyata), genre varieties of original lives (“The Tale” and “Reading” about Boris and Gleb, “The Life of Theodosius of the Caves”, “Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir”), historical legends, stories, legends that formed the basis of the chronicle , which at the beginning of the XII century. is called The Tale of Bygone Years. At the same time, the first “walking” appeared - the journey of Abbot Daniel and such an original work as “Instruction”

Vladimir Monomakh.

II. Literature of the period of feudal fragmentation and the struggle for the unification of northeastern Russia (the second half of the 13th - the first half of the 15th centuries). The rise of books. Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. "The Tale of the Tatar-Mongolian Invasion", a cycle of stories about the Battle of Kulikovo. In the regional centers, local chronicles, hagiography, genres of travel, historical stories are created. "Kiev-Pechersk Patericon", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "The Tale" by Daniil Zatochnik and "The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land". In the 14th century, fictional legends "The Tale of Babylon City" appear. "The Tale of the Mutyansk Governor Dracula". B15 c. Appeared "Journey beyond three seas" by Afanasy Nikitin.

III. Literature of the period of creation and development of the centralized Russian state (XVI-XVII centuries). Fight against heresy, liberation from spiritual illness. Satire appears, a household story.

The historical significance of the Battle of Kulikovo and its reflection in the literature of the late 14th-15th centuries \ annalistic story, "Zadonshchina", "The Tale of the Life and Death of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich", "The Tale of the Mamaev Massacre".

In 1380, the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich rallied almost the entire North-Eastern Russia under his banners and dealt a crushing blow to the Golden Horde. The victory showed that the Russian people have the strength to decisively fight the enemy, but these forces can only be united by the centralized power of the Grand Duke. After the victory at the Kulikovo field, the question of the final overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke was only a matter of time. The historical events of 1380 were reflected in the oral folk art and works of literature: the chronicle story, "Zadonshchina", "The Tale of the Life and Death of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich", "The Tale of the Mamaev Massacre".

Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo. The chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo has come down to us in two versions: short and lengthy. The story not only sets out the main facts: the gathering of enemy forces and Russian troops, the battle on the Nepryadva River, the return of the Grand Duke to Moscow with a victory, the death of Mamai, but also gives an emotionally expressive journalistic assessment of these facts. The central character of the chronicle story is the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich. He "Christ-loving" and "God-loving" the prince is an ideal Christian, constantly turning to God with prayers, at the same time a brave warrior who fights on the Kulikovo field "ahead". The battle itself is depicted using techniques characteristic of a military story: “Swiftly the battle is great and the battle is strong and the coward is great zeal ... shedding blood like a rain cloud of both ... fall the corpse on the corpse, and fall the Tatar body on the body of the peasants.”

The main goal of the chronicle story is to show the superiority of the courage of the Russian troops over arrogance and ferocity "raw eaters" "godless Tatars" and "foul Lithuania" stigmatize the betrayal of Oleg Ryazansky.

The short story was included in the "Rogozhsky chronicler" and is a work of an informative type, with a traditional 3-part structure. A significant place is given to the 3rd part - the consequences of the battle. But new details also appear: a list of the dead at the end of the story; methods of stringing homogeneous paths (“the godless evil prince of the Horde, Mamai is filthy”) and connecting tautological turns (“the dead are countless”). The lengthy story has been preserved as part of the Novgorod Chronicle 4. The composition of the factual information is the same as in the summary, but since this is a story of an event type, the author increased the number of compositional elements characterizing the characters. The number of prayers of the protagonist increases: before the battle - 3, after the battle - a prayer of thanksgiving. Another lyrical fragment also appears, which has not been used before - the lament of Russian wives. A variety of figurative and expressive means are also used, especially bright in relation to enemies: “dark raw-eater Mamai”, apostate Oleg Ryazansky, “soul-destroying”, “peasant blood-drinker”. The descriptions of the Battle of Kulikovo itself in all stories are distinguished by emotionality, which is created by the author's exclamations and the inclusion in the text of landscape elements that were not previously used. All these features make the narrative more plot-motivated and emotionally intense.

The composition of the "Tales" structurally follows the tradition of a military story, but the narrative consists of a number of separate episodes-microplots, interconnected by plot-motivated or chronological inserts, which is an innovation. Also, the new is manifested in the author's desire to show the personality of each hero individually and show his role throughout the story. The characters are divided into main (Dmitry Ivanovich, Vladimir Andreevich and Mamai), secondary (Sergius of Radonezh, Dmitry Bobrok, Oleg Ryazansky, etc.) and episodic (Metropolitan Cyprian, Foma Katsibey, etc.). Also, a compositional feature is a lot of lyrical fragments (prayers, lamentation) and natural descriptions. Vision also appears in the text. A new descriptive element appears - the image of the Russian army, as the princes saw it from the hill. Along with the preservation of military formulas, many epithets and comparisons are used, the role of metaphors emphasizing the experiences of the characters is enhanced. The author of "Zadonshchina" took "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" as a model. In the introduction, Boyan is also mentioned, and at the end the time of the event is set (“And from the Kalat rati to Mamaev, the battle is 160 years old”). The rest of the text is generally traditional - 3-part structure. But within each part, the narrative is built on the basis of individual episodes-pictures, alternating with the author's digressions. The story has documentary elements, the use of digital data, enumerations. There are minor deviations from the chronology, which is unconventional for a military story. Lyrical fragments are not numerous, according to the canons of the military story. There are no detailed descriptions of the characters (except for Dmitry Ivanovich), and the enemies are described quite schematically. Folklore influence can be seen in the use of negative comparisons (“Those were not gray wolves, but having come to the defilement of the Tatars, they want to go through the whole Russian land fighting”). "Zadonshchina" is a monument created at the intersection of traditions: folklore, military story and "Words". But the leading one should still recognize the tradition of a military story.

"Zadonshchina". Zadonshchina" came to us in six lists, the earliest of which (the Euphrosynus list) dates back to the 1470s, and the latest to the end of the 17th century. "Zadonshchina" is the name of the work in question in the Euphrosynus list. In other lists, it is called "The Tale of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich and his brother Prince Vladimir Andreevich." The Efrosinovsky list is an abbreviated revision of the original lengthy text that did not reach, in the rest of the lists the text is full of errors and distortions.

In "Zadonshchina" the poetic attitude of the author to the events of the Battle of Kulikovo is expressed. His story (as in The Tale of Igor's Campaign) is transferred from one place to another: from Moscow to Kulikovo Field, again to Moscow, to Novgorod, again to Kulikovo Field. The present is intertwined with memories of the past. The author himself described his work as “pity and praise to Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich and his brother, Prince Vladimir Ondreevich”, “Pity” is lamentation for the dead, “Praise” is glory to the courage and military prowess of the Russians.

The first part of "Zadonshchina" - "a pity" describes the gathering of Russian troops, their campaign, the first battle and defeat. Nature in the "Zadonshchina" is on the side of the Russians and portends defeat "nasty": the birds are crying, the sun is shining on Dmitry Donskoy. The fallen warriors are haunted by their wives: princesses and noblewomen. Their laments are built, like the lament of Yaroslavna, on the appeal to the wind, the Don, the Moscow River.

The second part of "Zadonshchina" - "praise" glorifies the victory won by the Russians when the regiment of Dmitry Bobrok Volynets stepped out of the ambush. The enemies fled, and the Russians got rich booty, and now Russian wives put on the clothes and jewelry of women from the Horde.

The entire text of the "Zadonshchina" is correlated with the "Tale of Igor's Campaign": here is the repetition of entire passages from the "Lay", and the same characteristics, and similar poetic devices. But the appeal of the author of "Zadonshchina" to "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is creative, not mechanical. The victory of the Grand Duke of Moscow over Mamai is perceived by the author of Z. as revenge for the defeat suffered by Igor on Kayala. The Christian element is significantly strengthened in the "Zadonshchina" and there are no pagan images at all.

It is generally accepted that "Zadonshchina" was written by Zephanius Ryazanets: this name, like the name of its author, is named in the title of two works. However, Zephanius Ryazanets is also called the author of the "Tale of the Mamaev Battle" in a number of lists of the main edition of the "Tale". The name of Zephanius Ryazanets is also mentioned in the very text of the “Zadonshchina”, and the nature of this mention is such that in Zephanius Ryazanets one should most likely see not the author of the “Zadonshchina”, but the author of some poetic work about the Battle of Kulikovo that has not come down to us, who, regardless from each other, both the author of "Zadonshina" and the author of "The Tale of the Battle of Mamaev" took advantage . We do not have any information about Zephanius Ryazanets, except for the mention of his name in the "Zadonshchina" and in the "Tale of the Mamai Battle".

"Zadonshchina" is an interesting literary monument, created as a direct response to the most important event in the history of the country. This work is also remarkable in that it reflected the advanced political idea of ​​its time: Moscow should be at the head of all Russian lands and the unity of Russian princes under the rule of the Moscow Grand Duke serves as a guarantee of the liberation of the Russian land from Mongol-Tatar domination.

"The Legend of the Mamaev Battle". "The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev" is the most extensive monument of the Kulikovo cycle, written in the middle of the 15th century. This is not only a literary monument, but also the most important historical source. In it, the most detailed account of the events of the Battle of Kulikovo has come down to us. The "Tale" describes the preparation for the campaign and the "training" of the regiments, the distribution of forces and the setting of their military task before the detachments. The Tale describes in detail the movement of the Russian troops from Moscow through Kolomna to the Kulikovo field. Here is a listing of the princes and governors who took part in the battle, tells about the crossing of Russian forces across the Don. Only from the Tale do we know that the outcome of the battle was decided by the regiment led by Prince Vladimir Serpukhovsky: before the start of the battle, he was ambushed and an unexpected attack from the flanks and rear on the enemy who broke into the Russian disposition inflicted a crushing defeat on him. From the "Tale" we learn that the Grand Duke was shell-shocked and found unconscious after the end of the battle. These details and a number of others, including legendary epic ones (the story of the duel before the start of the battle between the monk-hero Peresvet and the Tatar hero, episodes telling about the help of Russian saints, etc.), were brought to us only by the “Legend of Mamaev's massacre.

The "Tale" was repeatedly rewritten and revised, up to the beginning of the 18th century, and has come down to us in eight editions and a large number of options. O popularity The monument of the medieval reader as the “fourth” (intended for individual reading) work is evidenced by a large number of obverse (illustrated with miniatures) lists of it.

The protagonist of the Tale is Dmitry Donskoy. "The Tale" is not only a story about the Battle of Kulikovo, but also a work dedicated to the praise of the Grand Duke of Moscow. The author portrays Dmitry as a wise and courageous commander, emphasizing his military prowess and courage. All other characters of the work are grouped around Dmitry Donskoy. Dmitry is the eldest among the Russian princes, all of them are his faithful assistants, vassals, his younger brothers. The image of Dmitry Donskoy still mostly bears the features of idealization, but future tendencies of turning to the personal principle are also visible in it - the author sometimes talks about the special emotions of DD (sadness, rage, etc.)

In the Tale, Metropolitan Cyprian blesses Dmitry Ivanovich's campaign. In fact, Cyprian was not in Moscow in 1380. This is not the mistake of the author of the Tale, but. For journalistic reasons, the author of the Tale, who set himself the task of drawing an ideal image of the Grand Duke of Moscow, the ruler and head of all Russian forces, had to illustrate the strong alliance of the Moscow prince with the Metropolitan of All Russia. And in a literary work, he could, contrary to historical truth, tell about the blessing of Dmitry and his army by Metropolitan Cyprian, especially since formally Cyprian really was at that time the Metropolitan of All Russia.

During the Battle of Kulikovo, the Ryazan prince Oleg and the Lithuanian prince Jagiello, the son of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd, who died in 1377, entered into an alliance with Mamai. In the Tale, which describes the event of 1380, Olgerd is named Lithuanian ally of Mamai. As in the case of Cyprian, this is not a mistake, but a conscious literary and journalistic reception. For a Russian person of the late XIV - early XV centuries, and especially for Muscovites, the name of Olgerd was associated with memories of his campaigns against the Moscow principality. It was an insidious and dangerous enemy of Russia, whose military cunning was reported in an obituary chronicle article about his death. Therefore, they could call Olgerd an ally of Mamai instead of Jogail only at a time when this name was still well remembered as the name of a dangerous enemy of Moscow. At a later time, such a change of names did not make sense. .

Mamai, the enemy of the Russian land, is portrayed by the author of the Tale in sharply negative tones. There is a contrast: if Dmitry is a bright beginning, the head of a good deed, the deeds of which are led by God, then Mamai is the personification of darkness and evil - the devil stands behind him. Heroic character the event depicted in the "Tale" determined appeal author to oral tradition about the Mamaev massacre. Most likely, the episode of single combat before the start of the general battle of the monk of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery of Peresvet with the Tatar hero goes back to oral traditions. The epic basis is felt in the story about the "test of signs" by Dmitry Volynets; On the night before the battle, the experienced voivode Dmitry Volynets and the Grand Duke leave for the field between the Russian and Tatar troops, and Volynets hears the earth crying “in two” - about the Tatar and Russian soldiers: there will be many killed, but still the Russians will prevail. Oral tradition, probably, also underlies the message of the Tale that Dmitry, before the battle, put on princely armor on his beloved governor, and himself in the clothes of a simple warrior with an iron club was the first to rush into battle. In the weeping of Evdokia, notes of folkloric lamentation also sound.

Descriptions of the Russian army are bright and imaginative pictures. In the descriptions of pictures of nature, a certain lyricism and the desire to connect these descriptions with the mood of events can be noted. Some of the author's remarks are deeply emotional and not devoid of vital veracity. Telling, for example, about the farewell to the wives of the soldiers leaving Moscow for the battle, the author writes that the wives “in tears and exclamations of the heart cannot utter a word,” and adds that “the great prince himself was a little dreadful from tears, without choking shed tears for the sake of the people.

The “Legend of the Battle of Mamaev” was of interest to readers already because it described in detail all the circumstances of the Battle of Kulikovo. However, this is not the only attraction of the work. Despite a significant touch of rhetoric, "The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev" has a pronounced plot character. Not only the event itself, but also fate of individuals, the development of the vicissitudes of the plot made readers worry and empathize with what is being described. And in a number of editions of the monument, plot episodes become more complicated and increase in number. All this made "The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev" not only a historical and journalistic monument, but also a plot-fascinating work.

"A word about the life and death of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, Tsar of Russia"

"A word about the life and death of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, Tsar of Russia" in its style can be attributed to hagiographic monuments of expressive-emotional style.

it praise deeds of Dmitry Donskoy, about which the author of the "Lay" with genre-specific self-abasement declares at the end of his work that he is not worthy to describe the deeds of the master.

Stylistically and compositionally, the "Word" is close to the works of Epiphanius the Wise.

Book traditions of military biography and folklore traditions are combined (Eudokia's lamentation is filled with f. images).

The time of writing the Lay is dated in different ways. Most researchers attributed its creation to the 90s. XIV century, believing that it was written by an eyewitness to the death and burial of the prince (died in 1389).

He has a traditional structure of life (characteristics of DD, his father and mother), but at the same time, another hypostasis of the DI is intertwined - a statesman.

Accurate biographical information about Dmitry Donskoy and historical data are of little interest to the author. At the beginning, the continuity of Dmitry in relation to the Grand Duke Vladir I and the fact that he is a “relative” of the holy princes Boris and Gleb are emphasized. The battle on the Vozha and the Mamaev battle are mentioned. Both in these parts of the "Word of Life", and in others, where some specific events are implied; it is not so much a story about them that is given as their generalized characteristic. "Word" - a chain of praise to Dmitry and philosophical, very complex thoughts of the author about the greatness of the prince, in which biographical details are wedged. Comparing his hero with biblical characters (Adam, Noah, Moses), the writer emphasizes the superiority of his hero over them. In the same series of comparisons, Dmitry appears as the greatest ruler of all known world history.

Highlighted in the "Word" crying wife of Dmitry Donskoy, Princess Evdokia, imbued with deep lyricism. It reflected the influence of the people's widow's tale: Evdokia addresses the deceased as if he were alive, as if talking to them, are characteristic of folklore and the comparison of the deceased with the sun, the moon, the setting star. However, lamentation also glorifies the Christian virtues of the prince.

The “Word about Life” pursued a clear political goal: to glorify the Moscow prince, the winner of Mamai, as the ruler of the entire Russian land, the heir to the Kyiv state, to surround the prince’s power with an aura of holiness and raise his political authority to an unattainable height.

Old Russian literature is that solid foundation on which the majestic building of the national Russian artistic culture of the 18th-20th centuries is being erected.

It is based on high moral ideals, faith in a person, in his possibility of unlimited moral perfection, faith in the power of the word, his ability to transform inner world man, the patriotic pathos of serving the Russian land - the state - the Motherland, faith in the final triumph of good over the forces of evil, the all-world unity of people and its victory over hated strife.

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 creativity

N. V. Gogol, the moral quest of L. N. Tolstoy, the philosophical depth of F. M. Dostoevsky, the originality of Russian symbolism, the verbal quest of the futurists.

Chronological boundaries of ancient Russian literature and its specific features.

Russian medieval literature is the initial stage in the development of Russian literature. Its emergence is closely connected with the process of formation of the early feudal state.

Subordinate to the political tasks of strengthening the foundations of the feudal system, it in its own way reflected the various periods in the development of public and social relations in Russia in the 11th-17th centuries. Old Russian literature is the literature of the emerging Great Russian people, gradually taking shape into a nation.

The question of the chronological boundaries of ancient Russian literature has not been finally resolved by our science. Ideas about the volume of ancient Russian literature still remain incomplete.

Many works perished in the fire of countless fires, during the devastating raids of the steppe nomads, the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar invaders, the Polish-Swedish invaders! And at a later time, in 1737, the remains of the library of the Moscow tsars were destroyed by a fire that broke out in the Grand Kremlin Palace.

In 1777, the Kyiv library was destroyed by fire. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the manuscript collections of Musin-Pushkin, Buturlin, Bause, Demidov, and the Moscow Society of Russian Literature Lovers burned down in Moscow.

The main keepers and copyists of books in Ancient Russia, as a rule, were monks, who were least of all interested in storing and copying books of worldly (secular) content. And this largely explains why the vast majority of the works of Old Russian literature that have come down to us are of a church nature.

The works of ancient Russian literature were divided into "worldly" and "spiritual". The latter were supported and disseminated in every possible way, as they contained the enduring values ​​of religious dogma, philosophy and ethics, and the former, with the exception of official legal and historical documents, were declared "vain". Thanks to this, we present our ancient literature to a greater extent ecclesiastical than it really was.

When embarking on the study of Old Russian literature, it is necessary to take into account its specific features, which differ from the literature of modern times.

A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence and distribution. At the same time, 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 charge of vanity.” These words of Basil the Great largely determined the attitude of the ancient Russian society to the works of writing. The value of this or that handwritten book was evaluated in terms of its practical purpose and usefulness.

“Great is the crawl from the teachings of the book, with books we show and teach us the way of repentance, we gain wisdom and restraint from the words of the book; this is the essence of the river, soldering the universe, this is the essence of the source of wisdom, the books have an inexhaustible depth, with these we are comforted in sorrow, these are the bridle of restraint ... If you diligently look for wisdom in the books, then you will find a great crawl of your soul ... "- teaches the chronicler under 1037.

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 to man, and in particular to the work of a writer, artist, and architect.

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 (which is much less common) in the title of the work. At the same time, the writer will not accept to supply his name with such evaluative epithets as "thin", "unworthy", "sinful".

Biographical information about the ancient Russian writers known to us, the scope of their work, the nature of social activities very, very scarce. Therefore, if in the study of literature of the XVIII-XX centuries. literary scholars widely draw on biographical material, reveal the nature of the political, philosophical, aesthetic views of a particular writer, using author's manuscripts, trace the history of the creation of works, reveal the creative individuality of the writer, then the monuments of ancient Russian literature have to be approached differently.

In medieval society, there was no concept of copyright, the individual characteristics of the personality of the writer did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. Scribes often acted as editors and co-authors, rather than mere copyists of the text. They changed the ideological orientation of the rewritten work, the nature of its style, shortened or extended the text in accordance with the tastes and demands of their time.

As a result, new editions of monuments were created. And even when the scribe simply copied the text, his list was always somewhat different from the original: he made mistakes, omissions of words and letters, involuntarily reflected the features of his native dialect in the language. In connection with this, there is a special term in science - "revision" (manuscript of the Pskov-Novgorod edition, Moscow, or - more broadly - Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.).

As a rule, the author's texts of works have not come down to us, but their later lists have been preserved, sometimes separated from the time of writing the original by a hundred, two hundred or more years. For example, The Tale of Bygone Years, created by Nestor in 1111-1113, has not survived at all, and the edition of Sylvester's "Tale" (1116) is known only as part of the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377. The Tale of Igor's Campaign, written at the end of 80 -s of the 12th century, was found in the list of the 16th century.

All this requires an unusually thorough and painstaking textual work from a researcher of Old Russian literature: studying all the available lists of a particular monument, establishing the time and place of their writing by comparing different editions, variants of the lists, as well as determining which edition of the list most closely matches original author's text. These questions are dealt with by a special branch of philological science - textual criticism.

Solving difficult questions about the time of writing a particular monument, its lists, the researcher turns to such an auxiliary historical and philological science as paleography.

According to the peculiarities of lettering, handwriting, the nature of the writing material, paper watermarks, the nature of headpieces, ornaments, miniatures illustrating the text of the manuscript, paleography makes it possible to relatively accurately determine the time of creation of a particular manuscript, the number of scribes who wrote it.

In the XI-first half of the XIV century. The main writing material was parchment, made from the skin of calves. In Russia, parchment was often called "veal", or "haratya". This expensive material was, of course, available only to the propertied classes, and artisans and merchants used birch bark for their ice correspondence. Birch bark also served as student notebooks. This is evidenced by the remarkable archaeological discoveries of Novgorod birch bark writings.

To save writing material, the words in the line were not separated, and only the paragraphs of the manuscript were highlighted with a red cinnabar initial - the initial, the title - "red line" in the literal sense of this word. Frequently used, well-known words were abbreviated under a special superscript sign - title. For example, glet (verb - says), bg (god), btsa (mother of God).

The parchment was preliminarily lined by the scribe using a ruler with a chain. The scribe would then lay him on his knees and carefully write out each letter. The handwriting with the correct almost square lettering was called the charter.

The work on the manuscript required painstaking work and great art, therefore, when the scribe completed his hard work, he celebrated it with joy. “The merchant rejoices, having made the bribe and the helmsman in peace, the bailiff and the wanderer has come to his fatherland, so the book writer rejoices, having reached the end of the books ...” - we read at the end of the Laurentian Chronicle.

The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were bound into wooden boards. Hence the phraseological turn - "read the book from board to board." The binding boards were covered with leather, and sometimes they were clothed in special salaries made of silver and gold. A remarkable example of jewelry art is, for example, the frame of the Mstislav Gospel (beginning of the 12th century).

In the XIV century. parchment was replaced by paper. This cheaper writing material clung to and accelerated the writing process. The statutory letter is replaced by an oblique, rounded handwriting with a large number of external superscripts - a semi-charter. In the monuments of business writing, cursive writing appears, which gradually replaces the semi-ustav and occupies a dominant position in the manuscripts of the 17th century.

A huge role in the development of Russian culture was played by the emergence of printing in the middle of the 16th century. However, until the beginning of the XVIII century. mainly church books were printed, while secular, artistic works continued to exist and were distributed in manuscripts.

When studying ancient Russian literature, one very important circumstance should be taken into account: in the medieval period, fiction had not yet emerged as an independent area of ​​​​social consciousness, it was inextricably linked with philosophy, science, and religion.

In this connection, it is impossible to mechanically apply to ancient Russian literature those criteria of artistry with which we approach when evaluating the phenomena of the literary development of modern times.

The process of historical development of ancient Russian literature is a process of gradual crystallization fiction, its separation from the general flow of writing, its democratization and "secularization", i.e., release from the tutelage of the church.

One of the characteristic features of ancient Russian literature is its connection with church and business writing, on the one hand, and oral poetic folk art, on the other. The nature of these connections at each historical stage in the development of literature and in its individual monuments was different.

However, the wider and deeper literature used the artistic experience of folklore, the more vividly it reflected the phenomena of reality, the wider was the scope of its ideological and artistic influence.

A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is historicism. Her heroes are predominantly historical figures, she almost does not allow fiction and strictly follows the fact. Even numerous stories about "miracles" - phenomena that seem supernatural to a medieval person, are not so much the fiction of an ancient Russian writer, but accurate records of the stories of either eyewitnesses or the persons themselves with whom the "miracle" happened.

The historicism of Old Russian literature has a specifically medieval character. Progress and development historical events explained by God's will, the will of providence.

The heroes of the works are princes, rulers of the state, standing at the top of the hierarchical ladder of feudal society. However, having discarded the religious shell, the modern reader can easily discover that living historical reality, the true creator of which was the Russian people.

Kuskov V.V. History of ancient Russian literature. - M., 1998

The literature of Ancient Russia arose in the 11th century. and developed over the course of seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature is a single entity with all the variety of genres, themes, and images. This literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and patriotism. On the pages of these works, there are conversations about the most important philosophical, moral problems that heroes of all centuries think about, talk about, and meditate on. The works form love for the Fatherland and their people, show the beauty of the Russian land, therefore these works touch the innermost strings of our hearts.

The significance of Old Russian literature as the basis for the development of new Russian literature is very great. So images, ideas, even the style of compositions were inherited by A.S. Pushkin, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.

Old Russian literature did not arise from scratch. Its appearance was prepared by the development of language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria and is due to the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. First literary works, which appeared in Russia, translated. Those books that were necessary for worship were translated.

The very first original compositions, i.e., written by themselves Eastern Slavs, belong to the end of the XI-beginning of the XII century. in. The formation of Russian national literature took place, its traditions, features that determined its specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days, took shape.

The purpose of this work is to show the features of Old Russian literature and its main genres.

Features of Old Russian literature

1. Historicism of content.

Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's fiction. The authors of works of art, even if they describe the true events of real people, conjecture a lot. But in ancient Russia, everything was completely different. The Old Russian scribe told only about what, according to his ideas, really happened. Only in the XVII century. Everyday stories appeared in Russia with fictional characters and plots.

Both the ancient Russian scribe and his readers firmly believed that the events described actually happened. So the chronicles were a kind of legal document for the people of Ancient Russia. After the death in 1425 of the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich and son Vasily Vasilyevich began to argue about their rights to the throne. Both princes turned to the Tatar Khan to judge their dispute. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich, defending his rights to reign in Moscow, referred to ancient chronicles, which reported that power had previously passed from the prince-father not to his son, but to his brother.

2. Handwritten nature of existence.

Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of existence. Even the appearance of the printing press in Russia did little to change the situation until the middle of the 18th century. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special reverence for the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to the instability of ancient Russian works of literature. Those writings that have come down to us are the result of the work of many, many people: the author, editor, copyist, and the work itself could continue for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as "manuscript" (handwritten text) and "list" (rewritten work). A manuscript may contain lists of various works and may be written by the author himself or by scribes. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term "redaction", i.e., the purposeful processing of a monument caused by social and political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.

The existence of a work in manuscripts is closely related to such a specific feature of Old Russian literature as the problem of authorship.

The authorial principle in ancient Russian literature is muted, implicit; Old Russian scribes were not careful with other people's texts. When rewriting the texts, they were reworked: some phrases or episodes were excluded from them or some episodes were inserted into them, stylistic "decorations" were added. Sometimes the ideas and assessments of the author were even replaced by the opposite ones. Lists of one work differed significantly from each other.

Old Russian scribes did not at all seek to reveal their involvement in literary writing. Very many monuments remained anonymous, the authorship of others was established by researchers on indirect grounds. So it is impossible to attribute to someone else the writings of Epiphanius the Wise, with his sophisticated "weaving of words." The style of Ivan the Terrible's epistles is inimitable, impudently mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of a simple conversation.

It happens that in the manuscript one or another text was signed by the name of an authoritative scribe, which may equally correspond or not correspond to reality. So among the works attributed to the famous preacher St. Cyril of Turov, many apparently do not belong to him: the name of Cyril of Turov gave additional authority to these works.

The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the Old Russian "writer" consciously did not try to be original, but tried to show himself as traditional as possible, that is, to comply with all the rules and regulations of the established canon.

4. Literary etiquette.

Well-known literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature academician D.S. Likhachev proposed a special term for the designation of the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - "literary etiquette".

Literary etiquette is composed of:

From the idea of ​​how this or that course of an event should have taken place;

From ideas about how the actor should have behaved in accordance with his position;

From the ideas of what words the writer had to describe what is happening.

Before us is the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and verbal etiquette. The hero is supposed to behave in this way, and the author is supposed to describe the hero only in appropriate terms.

The main genres of ancient Russian literature

The literature of modern times is subject to the laws of the "poetics of the genre". It was this category that began to dictate the ways of creating a new text. But in ancient Russian literature, the genre did not play such an important role.

A sufficient number of studies have been devoted to the genre originality of Old Russian literature, but there is still no clear classification of genres. However, some genres immediately stood out in ancient Russian literature.

1. Hagiographic genre.

Life is a description of the life of a saint.

Russian hagiographic literature includes hundreds of works, the first of which were written already in the 11th century. Life, which came to Russia from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of ancient Russian literature, the literary form in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Russia were clothed.

The compositional and verbal forms of life have been polished for centuries. A lofty theme - a story about a life that embodies the ideal service to the world and God - determines the image of the author and the style of narration. The author of the life narrates with excitement, he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic, admiration for his righteous life. The emotionality of the author, his excitement paint the whole story in lyrical tones and contribute to the creation of a solemn mood. This atmosphere is also created by the style of narration - high solemn, full of quotations from the Holy Scriptures.

When writing a life, the hagiographer (the author of the life) had to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of the correct life should be three-part: an introduction, a story about the life and deeds of a saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author apologizes to the readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narration, etc. The life itself followed the introduction. It cannot be called a "biography" of a saint in the full sense of the word. The author of the life selects from his life only those facts that do not contradict the ideals of holiness. The story about the life of a saint is freed from everything everyday, concrete, random. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates that are exact geographical names, names of historical persons. The action of life takes place, as it were, outside historical time and concrete space, it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of hagiographic style.

At the conclusion of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, requiring great literary art, a good knowledge of rhetoric.

The oldest Russian hagiographic monuments are two lives of princes Boris and Gleb and The Life of Theodosius of Pechora.

2. Eloquence.

Eloquence is an area of ​​creativity characteristic of the most ancient period in the development of our literature. Monuments of church and secular eloquence are divided into two types: instructive and solemn.

Solemn eloquence required depth of conception and great literary skill. The orator needed the ability to effectively build a speech in order to capture the listener, set it up in a high way, corresponding to the topic, shake him with pathos. There was a special term for solemn speech - "word". (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. A military story could also be called a "Word".) Speeches were not only delivered, but written and distributed in numerous copies.

Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrowly practical goals, it required the formulation of problems of a wide social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for the creation of "words" are theological issues, issues of war and peace, defense of the borders of the Russian land, domestic and foreign policy, the struggle for cultural and political independence.

The oldest monument of solemn eloquence is Metropolitan Hilarion's Sermon on Law and Grace, written between 1037 and 1050.

Teaching eloquence is teachings and conversations. They are usually small in volume, often devoid of rhetorical embellishments, written in the Old Russian language, which was generally accessible to the people of that time. Teachings could be given by church leaders, princes.

Teachings and conversations have purely practical purposes, they contain the information necessary for a person. "Instruction to the brethren" by Luke Zhidyata, Bishop of Novgorod from 1036 to 1059, contains a list of rules of conduct that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not say "shameful" words. Go to church and behave in it quietly, honor elders, judge by the truth, honor your prince, do not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.

Theodosius of Pechersk, founder of the Kiev Caves Monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: do not be late for church, put three bow to the ground, observe deanery and order when singing prayers and psalms, bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechorsky demands a complete renunciation of the world, abstinence, constant prayer and vigil. The abbot severely denounces idleness, money-grubbing, intemperance in food.

3. Chronicle.

Chronicles were called weather (by "years" - by "years") records. The annual record began with the words: "In the summer." After that, there was a story about events and incidents that, from the point of view of the chronicler, were worthy of the attention of posterity. These could be military campaigns, raids by steppe nomads, natural disasters: droughts, crop failures, etc., as well as simply unusual incidents.

It is thanks to the work of chroniclers in modern historians there is an amazing opportunity to look into the distant past.

Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk, who sometimes spent many years compiling the chronicle. In those days, it was customary to start a story about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had first of all to find, put in order, and often rewrite the work of his predecessors. If the compiler of the annals had at his disposal not one, but several annalistic texts at once, then he had to “reduce” them, that is, combine them, choosing from each one that he considered necessary to include in his own work. When the materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler proceeded to present the incidents of his time. This great work became a chronicle. After some time, this code was continued by other chroniclers.

Apparently, the first major monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing was the annalistic code, compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this code is believed to have been the abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).

Nikon's work formed the basis of another annalistic code, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. In the scientific literature, he received the conditional name "Initial Code". Its nameless compiler supplemented Nikon's code not only with news last years, but also chronicle information from other Russian cities.

"The Tale of Bygone Years"

Based on the annals of the tradition of the 11th century. The greatest annalistic monument of the era of Kievan Rus - "The Tale of Bygone Years" - was born.

It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th c. According to some historians, its likely compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, also known for his other writings. When creating The Tale of Bygone Years, its compiler drew on numerous materials with which he supplemented the Primary Code. Among these materials were Byzantine chronicles, texts of treaties between Russia and Byzantium, monuments of translated and ancient Russian literature, and oral traditions.

The compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years set as his goal not only to tell about the past of Russia, but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among European and Asian peoples.

The chronicler tells in detail about the settlement of the Slavic peoples in antiquity, about the settlement by the Eastern Slavs of the territories that would later become part of the Old Russian state, about the customs and customs of different tribes. The "Tale of Bygone Years" emphasizes not only the antiquities of the Slavic peoples, but also the unity of their culture, language and writing, created in the 9th century. brothers Cyril and Methodius.

The chronicler considers the adoption of Christianity to be the most important event in the history of Russia. The story about the first Russian Christians, about the baptism of Russia, about the spread of a new faith, the construction of churches, the emergence of monasticism, the success of Christian enlightenment occupies a central place in the Tale.

The wealth of historical and political ideas reflected in The Tale of Bygone Years suggests that its compiler was not just an editor, but also a talented historian, a deep thinker, and a bright publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the "Tale", sought to imitate him and almost always placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle collection.