Spiritual life of medieval Russia. Spiritual life of ancient Russia. Social thought and culture of ancient Russia Spiritual life in ancient Russia briefly

An important milestone in the history of Kievan Rus is the adoption of Christianity in 988. This event is of great historical significance: it had a significant impact on the further development of the Old Russian state. Christianity has strengthened the international prestige of Russia. With its adoption, it turned into one of the most developed states in Europe at that time. Political and economic ties with other Christian countries expanded significantly. Baptism strengthened the state power and territorial unity of the Kiev state. The adoption of Christianity played an important role in the development of Russian culture. It promoted the establishment of cultural ties with Western European states, raised the ancient Russian culture to a new, higher level of development.

In this regard, the question arises: what was the spiritual state of the Russian land of the pre-Christian period? Was Ancient Russia spiritually ready to accept Orthodoxy?

We consider the situation, which was noted, for example, by I.I. Lyapushkin and the essence of which boils down to the fact that "the spiritual life of the Slavs of the 8th - first half of the 9th century. Has not yet found reflection in the monuments known to us and remains inaccessible to us. To say anything about it, except that the Slavs buried the dead during the study period according to the rite of corpse burning and were pagans, nothing is allowed. "

In recent decades, the works of many scientists have reconstructed the manners and customs of the ancient Slavs. Some material about the spiritual culture of our distant ancestors contains archaeological data. There are also written sources that help to reconstruct the East Slavic antiquity. We are talking about texts written as if from the outside, from another system. These are various teachings against paganism, belonging to church authors, chronicles and insertions into translated texts, as well as notes by foreign writers and travelers.

Before proceeding with the consideration of the outlined issues, it is necessary to define the concepts of "spirituality", "spiritual culture", "spiritual life of society."

Currently in science there are many approaches to the problem of spirituality. But of all the variety, two main ones can be distinguished. The essence of the first boils down to the search for the roots of spirituality not only in the person himself and in the characteristics of his personality, but also in the products of his life: in creativity, ancient monuments, works of science and art. The spirituality of the subject is seen as the result of his introduction to universal values. Ethical standards are recognized as an important source of spirituality, which the subject is guided by in everyday life. In ethical, aesthetic, legal and other norms, samples of human culture are enshrined. And if the subject assimilates, experiences them as internally obligatory patterns of behavior, then he joins the highest spiritual values \u200b\u200bof being. Thus, the origins of spirituality lie in the deep sense of the actions of people and the products of their life, historical events etc.

The second approach to the problem (although historically it is the first) is the religious direction. It has clearly defined boundaries: in it the spiritual acts only as a Divine revelation: God is spirit, and spiritual life is life with God and in God. Those. spirituality is nothing but religiosity. The religious essence of spirituality is associated with faith in God, with the religious regulation of human behavior.

Thus, in the cultural and anthropological aspect, spirituality can be both secular and religious. However, these two approaches differ only on one point - in the question of the primary source of the spiritual (God or man). Otherwise, there are many similarities: the main subject of attention is the features of the inner world of a person, his self-awareness and subjective paths of ascent to the spiritual heights of being.

In our opinion, it is not entirely legitimate to reduce spirituality only to religious foundations. There is one "but" - unbelievers. Apparently, they cannot be denied spirituality either. Consequently, religion (as the history of culture shows) is not a complete and exhaustive source of spirituality. She is, rather, her level.

In our work, touching upon the problems of the spiritual development of Ancient Rus, we will proceed from the principles of both approaches, since they complement each other, and it is inappropriate to deny their relationship.

Spirituality is an all-encompassing concept included in the life of a person as a whole in its most diverse manifestations. Spirituality refers to generic definitions of the human way of life. It gives the meaning of life to an individual person, in it a person seeks and finds answers to questions: why does he live, what is his purpose in life, what is good and evil, truth and error, beautiful and ugly, etc. One of the dimensions of a person's spirituality is morality. A person is spiritual to the extent that he acts in accordance with the highest moral values \u200b\u200bof the human community, is able to act in accordance with them. So, from the point of view of V.I. Slobodchikova and E.I. Isaev, the spirituality of the subject is a natural acceptance and adherence to the highest standards of human culture, the experience of moral norms of community as an internal "categorical imperative", the acceptance of the highest values \u200b\u200bof human existence as their own.

V.G. Fedotova believes that spirituality is "a qualitative characteristic of consciousness (as an act, deed, life) or, more precisely, a characteristic of its different quality. This characteristic reflects the dominant type of values \u200b\u200b...".

We are also inclined to define spirituality as a quality of a person's consciousness, indicating his ability to transcend, to go beyond the limits of his elemental subjectivity, the ability to attend to the problems of another, society and the universe as a whole.

As for the spiritual culture and the spiritual life of society, they represent, respectively, the process of reproduction of the above consciousness and the process of incarnation into reality of realizing one's attitude to the world and to oneself.

By the time Christianity was adopted, Ancient Russia had a centuries-old pagan culture. The term "paganism" in historical science denotes "a huge complex of primitive beliefs, views and rituals that have evolved over many millennia and served as the basis on which all world religions were formed."

The paganism of the ancient Russians was not only a set of religious beliefs, but also a system of spiritual and moral values.

As an ideological system of pre-Christian Russia, paganism reflected the dependence of people on the surrounding natural conditions. G.A. Nosova rightly notes that the pagan worldview reveals the consciousness of the inseparability, the fusion of "natural prerequisites" and the people themselves, that "identity of nature and man," to which K. Marx and F. Engels drew attention.

Nature, according to L.A. Shumikhina, was "an inexhaustible source of Russian spirituality and the foundation of those sociocultural factors that formed the originality of Russian spiritual processes." It is no coincidence that V.O. Klyuchevsky begins his "Course of Russian History" with reflections on the peculiarities of Russian nature and its influence on the formation of Russian character. The fact that natural (landscape, climatic, biospheric) factors were the basis for the birth of Russian spirituality was also noted by L.N. Gumilyov.

Thus, if we follow the logic of the reflections of these authors, nature was a kind of primary source of spirituality of the Russians, and one of the main factors in the formation of spiritual and moral principles among the ancient Slavs was precisely the relationship "man - nature".

The ancient Russians were characterized by confidence in the animality of the entire surrounding world - the Universe, nature, earth, animals, manifested in the form of animism, fetishism and other forms of primitive beliefs.

The Eastern Slavs worshiped rivers, lakes, wells, groves, individual trees, stones of an unusual shape, which were endowed with supernatural properties. The worship of the forces of nature is embodied in numerous fantastic creatures - goblin, water, mermaids. All Slavic gods symbolized the main natural elements: Perun - the god of thunder and lightning (later the god of war and weapons), Dazhdbog and Hora - solar deities, Stribog - the god of the winds, Mokosh - the deity of the feminine principle of nature and women's work, etc.

But the cult of nature did not free the ancient Slavs from fear of her, of her mysterious forces. And therefore, the life and spiritual and moral principles of our distant ancestors simultaneously reflect love for nature, a sense of the beauty of the surrounding world and fear of nature, the forces of which they opposed not a liberated human personality, but conspiracies, spells, a purely mystical ritual, faith in various deities and spirits ...

The land enjoyed special reverence, which was personified in the image of the female deity of fertility. She was called "wet nurse", "mother" ("mother of the cheese earth"). Farmers, before starting plowing, bowed to the earth, turned to it, as to a living being, with a request for a harvest. It was forbidden to hit the ground with a stick or anything else, to spit on it. It was believed that the earth does not tolerate untruth, punishing drought, crop failure for perjury, for lies and deceit. The person who committed the murder had to ask for forgiveness from the earth, since she, like the mother of the murdered man, can forgive the murderer. The custom of oathing with the earth and kissing the earth was widespread. D.S. Likhachev notes that "on faith in the land, on respect for the land, agriculture and military affairs, many ethical ideas were built."

The earliest evidence of land worship among the Eastern Slavs is "seen" in the Russian insert in a polemical article against the Latins, entered into the chronicle at the end of the 11th century. (read under 988): "But the packs and the earth speak matter. And if they have the earth of their mother, then their father is heaven, from time immemorial God bore heaven, also earth."

ON. Berdyaev emphasizes such a feature of Russian culture, national Russian self-awareness as "mysticism of the earth", a kind of national and natural flavor of the Russian people. "The Russians," he wrote, "have a different sense of the earth, and the earth itself is different from that of the West. The mysticism of race and blood is alien to the Russians, but the mysticism of the earth is very close."

According to L. Lebedev, the veneration of "mother earth" by Russian pagans is by no means naivety, but evidence of a high level of development of religious consciousness.

Hence, the transition in the later popular consciousness of the mythological image of "mother earth" to the image of the Mother of God the Intercessor is quite logical.

The high level of religious consciousness of the ancient Russians is also evidenced by the fact that all the pagan gods of Ancient Russia were associated only with heavenly unearthly existence. Another argument in favor of the stated position is the presence of several levels (a kind of hierarchy) of mythological characters.

The highest level is characterized by the most generalized type of functions of the gods, as well as their connection with the official cult. The highest level included two deities - Perun and Veles. These deities embody military and economic-natural functions, respectively. In addition to the named gods, the full composition of the Proto-Slavic gods of the highest level could include Svarog (god of fire) and Dazhdbog (solar deity).

The lower, middle, human world was represented by deities associated with economic cycles and seasonal rituals - Rod, Chur, etc. Most female deities, for example, Mokosh, as well as the spirits of ancestors - good (grandfathers) and evil ( ghouls).

The lower level included various classes of non-individualized evil spirits, spirits, animals: brownies, goblin, mermaids, water, etc. Fairy-tale characters - baba-yaga, kashchey, miracle-yudo, forest king, sea king - were, apparently, the leaders of those classes of creatures who themselves belonged to the lower level.

An attempt to fix the highest circle of pagan deities at the national level was first undertaken by Prince Vladimir in 980 "... And Vladimir began to reign in Kiev alone, and put idols on the hill behind the terem courtyard: a wooden Perun with a silver head and a golden mustache, then Khorsa , Dazhdbog, Striboga, Simargla and Mokosh ". The main deities of the pantheon were the thunderer Perun and the "cattle god" Veles (Volos), opposing each other topographically (the idol of Perun towered on the hill, the idol of Veles was below - on the Kiev Podol.) And along social function (Perun is the god of the princely squad, Veles is the god of all the rest of Russia.) Historians explain this position of Veles in the hierarchy of gods by the fact that "from the very beginning Vladimir had in mind to abandon the old practice of his ancestors - overseas campaigns associated with trade affairs." The only female character in the Kiev pantheon, Mokosh, was associated with characteristic female occupations (especially spinning). Other gods of this pantheon were related to the most common natural functions: Stribog was associated with the winds, Dazhdbog and Hora - with the sun. The functions of the last god are not entirely clear, I mean Simargl. Some researchers consider this character to be borrowed from Iranian mythology (Simurg in Iranian mythology is a prophetic bird.); others interpret him as a character uniting all the gods of the pantheon.

The connections between the gods within the pantheon and their hierarchy are revealed when analyzing the patterns of listing the gods in the annalistic lists: the connection of Perun with Veles, Stribog with Dazhdbog and Svarog, the peripheral place of Simargl and Mokosh is revealed.

As noted by many researchers of the history and culture of Ancient Rus, by the time Christianity was adopted, paganism was at a level close to monotheism. In this respect, Rod's position is very indicative, the question of which is still open. Some authors consider him the patron saint of family relations, the god of the hearth, almost a brownie. B.A. Rybakov, on the other hand, suggested interpreting Rod as a deity belonging to the host of powerful gods, as the Creator of all that exists, giving life, fertility, and longevity. According to B.A. Rybakov, "Rod is the god of the sky and rain, blowing life into people. He seems to unite in himself all the other gods." This circumstance gave rise to I.Ya. Froyanova to call Rod "the equivalent of the Christian god."

In ancient times, the cult of ancestors arose in Russia. It was based on the belief that a person's life continues after physical death, but in a slightly different capacity. The importance of those problems that were associated with the death of a relative, according to V.Ya. Petrukhin, confirm the physical efforts that the ancient Russian society spent on the construction of burial mounds - monuments to their ancestors.

The Eastern Slavs divided the dead into two categories: "clean" dead, who died a natural death, who were called "parents", and "unclean", who died an unnatural death. The last category included suicides, opoyans, sorcerers. The attitude to both was different. "Unclean" dead people caused superstitious fear, they were attributed to dangerous, harmful properties. "Parents" were revered as good patrons of the family. The fate of the descendants was directly dependent on the favor of the "grandfathers". It was believed that ancestors constantly exercise moral tutelage over the living.

The veneration of deceased ancestors was widespread in pagan Russia everywhere. Lavish funerals were arranged for them, they were honored on special days of the year. With the establishment of Christianity, memorial days were assigned by the church to certain dates of the Orthodox calendar and were called "parental" days.

Faith in brownies was an element of the ancestor cult. Often the "brownie" was thought of as a deceased ancestor. And to this day, the "brownie" is called the "master", which dates back to very ancient times.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe other world was closely connected with the cult of ancestors. In the minds of the ancient Russians, he was within the boundaries of space-time being. Life behind the "coffin" seemed like a continuation or parallel to earthly existence.

The Rusichi also had an idea of \u200b\u200bparadise, which was called "iriy" or "vyri". It was thought of as "the eternal blissful existence of dead people", as "a beautiful garden in the visible sky or somewhere in unknown, warm eastern countries (lands), from which birds fly to people every spring." We find confirmation of this in Vladimir Monomakh's "Instruction": "And we will marvel at how the birds of the air come from the Irya ..."

"Sending" a person to paradise, the Russian pagans supplied him with everything that is necessary in earthly life: they put clothes, shoes, utensils in the coffin. Despite the fact that the custom of burning the dead in the Slavs persisted for quite a long time, as Nestor says, describing the funeral rites of the Radimichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, and Northerners ( they burned the dead man on this deck, and then, after collecting the bones, put them in a small vessel and put them on the pillars by the roads "). It should be noted here that special attention was paid to the correct observance of the funeral rite, since it guarded the separation of the living and the dead. Items that served the deceased were left by his relatives at the turn, on the border of the village. This is due to the fact that the pagans identified death with the border, it was located on the border of the world of the living and the world of the dead. They were afraid of her, being wary of the actions of evil forces. At the same time, in the ancient Slavic pagan cult, death was not included in the circle of knowable phenomena. Vyach. V. Ivanov and V.V. Axes are noted among the Slavs "an abundance of riddles about death."

If the funeral rites were violated, then the souls of the dead began to visit the living. Hence, numerous legends, legends, fairy tales, beliefs in werewolves, etc. The world of the living defended itself from this invasion. East Slavic pagans have always sought to protect themselves from death. Here is how A.N. Afanasyev: "In Russia, whoever touched the corpse of a dead person should not sow, because the seeds thrown by his hand will die and will not bear fruit; if someone dies during sowing, then in some villages they do not dare to sow until then until the funeral takes place ... On the other hand, since the grain, the seed is a symbol of life, then after taking out the dead, the shop where he was lying is sprinkled with rye and the whole hut is sprinkled with rye. Then the gates are locked and tied to prevent the disastrous blows The pot from which the deceased was washed, the straw that was laid under him, and the comb with which they combed his head, are taken from home and left at the border with another village or thrown into the river, believing that thus death is removed from the tribal (rural) domain or descends down the water. All those present at the burial are obliged, upon returning home, to look into the dough or put their hands on the hearth to cleanse themselves of the harmful influence of death. "

Ancient Russia did not have idol temples, however, pagan sanctuaries occupied an honorable place in the settlements of the Eastern Slavs. The temple (altar) was surrounded by idols - statues of pagan gods, made of wood, stone and metal.

There are archaeological data on the remains of pagan sanctuaries. The most famous of these sanctuaries was discovered in the Peryn tract near Novgorod and was apparently dedicated to the god Perun.

"The central part of the sanctuary was a horizontal platform raised above the surrounding surface in the form of a regular circle with a diameter of 21 m, surrounded by a circular moat up to 7 m wide and more than 1 m deep. Exactly in the center of the circle, excavations revealed a hole from a pillar 0.6 m in diameter. Here stood a wooden idol of Perun, which, according to the chronicle, was cut down and thrown into the Volkhov in 988. In front of the idol there was an altar - a circle made of cobblestones.The moat that surrounded the cult site was not a simple ring, but a rim in the form of a huge flower with eight This shape was given to it by eight arcuate protrusions, located correctly and symmetrically. In each such protrusion at the bottom of the ditch during pagan holidays, a ritual fire was kindled, and in one of them, the eastern one, facing Volkhov, judging by the amount of coals and calcination of the soil burned "unquenchable fire." Eight fires pointed to the cardinal points, and the idol in the center corresponded to the World Axis. royally, bloody sacrifices were made. "

Many more modest sanctuaries are known, located in the Smolensk region, the Pskov region and other places. Usually these are round platforms with a diameter of 14 to 30 m, flat, sometimes convex or concave in the middle, surrounded by a circular ditch and a low rampart, sometimes by one ditch, sometimes by two ramparts, between which there is a shallow ditch. There are also known artificially piled up sanctuaries.

Archaeologists have also found ancient Slavic idols. Traditionally, they were wooden or stone pillars, the upper part of which depicted a human head, often wearing a hat. Their average height is about 0.7m. The most famous is the so-called Zbruch idol. He was found near the city of Gusyatin, at the tributary of the Dniester - r. Zbruch. It is a 4-sided limestone pillar, about 3m high. Each side is divided into 3 tiers: the upper is dedicated to the gods, the middle - to people and the earth, the lower - to the underworld. On the edges of the pillar - under one cap - there are four full-length figures, two of them are female. What deities are depicted on the pillar remains a mystery. The Zbruch idol dates back to the 10th century. Now this monument is in the Krakow Museum.

Inhabitants of the surrounding places flocked to the sanctuaries to perform services - religious ceremonies, prayers, solemn funeral feasts. The most important and serious part of the demand was sacrifice. Written monuments have preserved evidence of a terrible custom - human sacrifice. We find the story of one such event in the annals under the year 983. After a successful campaign, Prince. Vladimir wanted to celebrate the victory with a sacrifice in gratitude to the gods. The elders and boyars decided that a human sacrifice was needed. The lot fell on a "beautiful face and soul" young man, the son of a Christian Varangian who lived in Kiev. When they came for him, his father opposed and uttered an accusatory speech to the pagan gods: "These are not gods, but just a tree. Today they are, and tomorrow they will rot. They do not eat, do not drink or speak, but are made by human hands from wood .. . I will not give a son ... ".

The custom of sacrificing livestock and poultry persisted for a long time in different parts of Russia even after the adoption of Christianity. Back in the middle of the 16th century. Archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov complained to Ivan the Terrible about this.

We have not received clear information about the existence of a professional priesthood among the Eastern Slavs. Although in the presence of numerous sanctuaries, it most likely existed. In addition, there is news of sorcerers, sorcerers who could perform priestly functions. It is not excluded that these functions could be performed by the oldest in the family.

Pagan magic was developed in Russia. It covered almost all aspects of family and social life and subsequently (after the adoption of Christianity.) Was especially tenacious. Folk magic was based on the idea that with the help of images - verbal, pictorial, sculptural, objective - it is possible to establish a real connection with prototypes, i.e. with those natural and cosmic forces of a different order (from physical to spiritual) that a person wants to use in his own interests. Both in everyday life and in everyday life, the ancient Slavs turned to the elements of nature, spoke to them. The pagan knew that if you say the word - "to speak" - then the forces of nature will respond, help. However, the conspiracies had another side. They were needed not only by man, but also by the whole world as a whole, for through conspiracies the "establishment" of this world was strengthened. "To speak" - to confirm with a word, to protect by deed every half of the world in its purity, so that good remains with good, evil with evil, the living with the living, and the dead with the dead. For example, if suddenly there were frosts in the summer and rains in winter, then here the conspiracies were supposed to save, preserve, return the world to its already measured state.

Conspiracies were created during life itself, from generation to generation. They formed as if by themselves. Sorcerers, sorcerers, sorcerers, magicians knew, knew, owned the word order and could, as needed, transfer this knowledge to other members of their kind.

The magic of Ancient Russia pursued quite everyday, rational goals. She never shied away from knowledge about nature, its phenomena, properties of matter. As L. Lebedev notes, it was relatively "pure magic".

These are the religious beliefs of the ancient Slavs. However, not only they constituted the essence of the spiritual culture of the pre-Christian era. O. A. Platonov generally believes that "paganism for our ancestors is more a system of spiritual and moral concepts than religion." Therefore, let us turn to the analysis of paganism as a set of spiritual and moral values.

CM. Soloviev, relying on the news of the Greeks, Romans, Germans, Arabs, notes that the Eastern Slavs were characterized by simplicity of morals, namely kindness, gentleness, straightforwardness. "... In general, the Slavs, with their morality, made a favorable impression on them (their contemporaries-foreigners): the simplicity of the Slavic morals was in contrast to the spoiled customs of the then educated or semi-educated peoples. However, such evidence should not give rise to the idealization of Slavic antiquity. "Kindness did not exclude, however, ferocity and cruelty in certain cases." And although there were cases of violence, nevertheless, Russia of that time was more characterized by fraternal and friendly relations.

In personal qualities, righteousness, courage, fidelity to duty and word, love for the native land were especially valued. In relations between people, unhypocritical brotherly love, fidelity in friendship, responsiveness to other people's grief, willingness to help, respect for elders, first of all for parents, have always been welcomed. All this found its vivid expression in artistic creation: epics, legends, proverbs.

Ancient writers note such a feature of the Slavs as hospitality. The owner was responsible for the safety of the guest and was obliged to treat and warm him. A Slav, leaving home, left open the door and food for the stranger. The Byzantine emperor Mauritius (582-602) testifies: "They (the Slavs) are affectionate with foreigners, they receive them at home, escort them from one place to another, wherever he needs, and even if the guest is in some trouble due to the fault of the owner, then the one who received a guest after him opposes the negligent, considering it an honor for himself to intercede for the guest. " An Arab author writes: "Russia honors a stranger and treats people who are under her care, or who often visit her, and protects them from any adventures."

According to the testimony of eastern observers, the ancient Rus have always had a cheerful disposition. Holidays in Russia have always been accompanied by games, songs, dances, round dances. They liked intoxicating drinks, but they did not know intoxicating drinks. Drinking was light.

However, the blessings of life were never put in the forefront by the Russians. This is evidenced by the simplicity of the life of our ancestors, a striking example of which is the marching life of Prince Svyatoslav:

Svyatoslav did not carry either carts or cauldrons behind him, did not cook meat, but, having thinly sliced \u200b\u200bhorse meat, or animals, or beef and roasted it on coals, he ate like that; he did not even have a tent, but slept, spreading a saddle-cloth with a saddle in their heads — all of his other soldiers were like that. ”It should be emphasized that this chronicle testimony was made with clear approval.

In the stories of the Primary Chronicle about Prince Svyatoslav, one can see the ideal of military behavior that developed in Russia in the era of paganism. The following traits should be inherent in a warrior: selfless devotion to his Motherland, contempt for death in battle, democracy and a Spartan lifestyle, straightforwardness in addressing even the enemy. Perhaps nothing was appreciated in Ancient Russia as highly as personal courage. Therefore, in the highest degree, the high moral qualities of the Slavs of Russia manifested themselves in the image of heroes - mighty and kind defenders of their native land, the best representatives of the people.

Although military valor, courage, strength, loyalty to duty were highly revered, nevertheless, Russia was not characterized by the cult of glorified generals, leaders of victorious squads. Our chroniclers tell the story of the campaigns of the Russian princes, sometimes just brilliant, in a rather restrained way, as if making it clear to the reader that the real honor and glory of the people is not in military successes. Moreover, in the chronicle the biblical Serug is directly condemned for placing statues for soldiers. "Serug was the first to make idols, he created them in honor of the dead people: he made some of the former kings, others - to brave people, and magicians, and adulterer wives. Serug gave birth to Terah, but Terah gave birth to three sons: Abraham, Nahor and Aaron But Farrah made idols, having learned this from his father ... Abraham turned to his father: "Father! Why are you fooling people by making wooden idols? The one god who created heaven and earth. "

Russia often fought, but these wars were predominantly and mainly defensive in nature. They were aimed at protecting their land from restless neighbors - the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians. As for the campaigns of the Kiev princes against Byzantium, many historians have tried and are trying to interpret them as a kind of "diplomatic" actions: the task of these campaigns was supposedly to achieve the establishment of very valuable and even necessary for Russia diplomatic relations with Constantinople.

Special mention should be made of Oleg's campaign against Constantinople in 911. As a result of this campaign, an agreement was concluded with the Greeks, drawn up, as the chronicle testifies, "in two haratyas", ie. in two copies - in Greek and Russian. "... This peace treaty was created by Ivanov's writing on two charters - your king and with our own hand ...". This fact confirms that writing in Russia appeared even before the adoption of Christianity. This circumstance once again indicates that the level of culture of pre-Christian Russia was quite high.

The lack of excessive attachment of Russian people to earthly values \u200b\u200band well-being also emphasizes the idea of \u200b\u200ba clear conscience. This spiritual value was put by the Slavs above all else. No life blessings, temptations, not even death should have forced a person to change her. A sense of duty to the Earth and the people prevailed over personal interests. This is explained by the fact that Ancient Russia, as we noted above, was constantly in a ring of hostile forces (Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians).

According to L. Lebedev, conscience turned out to be "the spiritual center, the core of all laws and moral principles of the Old Russian state." The author draws such a conclusion based on the fact that the whole variety of personal, social and economic relations in Ancient Russia was regulated by the concept of "truth". This does not mean that truth has always won in everything. This means that the Eastern Slavs constantly strived for its implementation, and "the thirst for truth gave rise to positive spiritual and moral efforts."

The name of the first set of laws in Russia ("Russian Truth") testifies to the peculiar nature of the legal principle in Russian legislation. Russian law and law are rooted in truth. Truth is the main thing in the law, it is above the law. If the law is adopted, but does not correspond to the truth, then this is an unrighteous, unfit law that needs to be canceled or corrected.

Typical Russian expressions are: "to act according to the truth", "to judge and act according to the truth", "to live according to the truth", etc. L. Lebedev believes that if in these expressions the word "truth" is replaced by the word "conscience", then the meaning is not will change.

It is appropriate here to say a few words about the legislation of Ancient Rus. "Russian Truth", the compilation of the first articles of which dates back to the beginning of the XI century. (the time of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise) is a complex legal monument, based on the norms of customary law (unwritten rules that have developed as a result of their repeated application) and on previous legislation. In this case, we consider it necessary to emphasize that the legislation in Russia was formed even before baptism. We find confirmation of this in the treaties between the Rus and the Greeks at the beginning of the 10th century, which mentions the "Russian Law" by which the inhabitants of Kievan Rus were judged. "We are from the Russian clan, sent from Oleg, the Grand Duke of Russia, and from all who are under his hand, judged in justice, swearing by our weapons, to affirm such friendship (between Christians and Russians) and to certify it by faith and according to our law." ...

An important indicator of the spiritual development of our distant ancestors is such a moral principle as love for goodness (philanthropy). In ancient Russian views, the idea of \u200b\u200bimproving, transforming the human soul on the basis of goodness and harmony is clearly breaking through.

It is very difficult to say whether the Russian pagans had a correct idea of \u200b\u200bgood and evil, but they always had an accurate feeling of their real existence and presence in the lives of people and the world around them. The dualistic principle of opposing "favorable - unfavorable" was realized in mythological characters endowed with positive or negative functions. In this regard, let's pay attention to such as ghouls and beregini.

A ghoul in the minds of the Russians is a mysterious, terrible creature that can bring a lot of evil to a person. Therefore, they tried to appease them with food offerings ("treba") or defended themselves from them with various conspiracies and spells. Later, Christian methods of protection from evil spirits were added to the pagan methods - prayers, appeals to the Mother of God and the saints, the imposition of the cross.

Beregini, on the contrary, appeared to be kind beings. They resisted evil spirits and protected people from the tricks of all evil spirits, helped in business and life, patronized honest people with an open soul and a kind heart. The shores include the Firebird, the Phoenix bird, the Sivka-burka, the Humpbacked Horse. These creatures are active in affirming goodness, come to the aid of people in difficult situations, because understand their concerns and concerns.

The belief in evil spirits and berein 'reflects the ideas of the ancient Slavs that evil and good spirits live around them, who constantly fight among themselves, helping or harming a person.

Speaking about the moral state of pre-Christian Rus, it should be said that a kind of moral ideal of man was formed in the Middle Dnieper region with its center in Kiev. By their behavior, the meadows created an ideal image of a person who was captured in epics, legends, fairy tales. Nestor, analyzing the moral state of the tribes, is based on 3 criteria:

• 1.relation to people, especially to parents and relatives,
• 2. attitude to food,
• 3. attitude towards marriage.

"The glades have the custom of their fathers, meek and quiet, they are shy before their daughters-in-law and sisters, mothers and parents; they have great bashfulness before their mother-in-law; they also have a marriage custom: the son-in-law does not follow the bride, but they bring her the day before, and the next day they bring for her - whoever will give. ”And the Drevlyans lived by the bestial custom, lived like a beast: they killed each other, ate everything unclean, and they never got married, but they snatched the girls by the water. in the forest, like animals, they ate everything unclean and defamed in front of their fathers and daughters-in-law, and they did not marry, but games were arranged between villages, and they converged on these games, to dances and all kinds of demonic songs, and here they snatched their wives by conspiracy with them; they had two and three wives. " A detailed description of the customs of the Eastern Slavs in the "Tale of Bygone Years" testifies to the fact that moral problems for our ancestors of that time were very relevant.

Separately, I would like to say about the tolerance of the Russians in relation to other believers, whether they are foreigners or even fellow tribesmen. It is religious tolerance that explains the fact that a Christian community was formed in Kiev half a century before the baptism of Rus and the Church of St. Elijah was built.

The first adherents of the Christian faith among the Russians began to appear after the 911 treaty. The most expressive data about the Rus Christians have come down to us in the treaty between Rus and Byzantium in 944, where both pagans and Christians appear among the ambassadors who took an oath in Constantinople: those who are baptized among us swore in the cathedral church by the church of St. Elijah ... And unbaptized Russians lay down their shields and naked swords, hoops and other weapons ... ". We observe a similar picture in Kiev: Prince Igor, together with his pagan entourage, swore on the hill in front of the idol of Perun, and Christians swore in the church of St. Elijah. "The next day Igor summoned ambassadors and came to the hill where Perun stood; and laid down their weapons, shields, and gold, and Igor and his people swore allegiance - how many pagans were among the Russians. And Russian Christians were sworn in in the Church of St. Elijah ... ".

The participation of Christians in the conclusion of the treaty of 944, the presence in Kiev of the Church of St. Elijah indicate a noticeable role of the Christian element in the life of the capital. However, according to I. Ya. Froyanov, this does not mean that Christians already "morally prevailed over the pagans." In particular, Princess Olga was baptized as a private person, and not as "the ruler of the Kiev state", "the leader of Kiev policy", "the head of state and the Kiev government." On the offer of the baptized princess Olga to follow her example, son Svyatoslav refuses: "How can I alone accept another faith? And my squad will scoff?" However, the reaction of the inveterate pagan Prince Svyatoslav to the conversion of his compatriots to Christianity was very, very good-natured: "... But if someone was going to be baptized, he did not forbid, but only mocked him."

New faith at the beginning - middle of the X century. also affected the merchant people - the so-called "guests" who visited Constantinople, for belonging to Christianity provided them with better conditions in a Christian country in comparison with pagans.

As for the philosophical and aesthetic ideas of Ancient Russia, the following should be noted here. Aesthetic ideas originate even before the adoption of Christianity. In particular, in the era of pagan Russia, an idea of \u200b\u200bbeauty appears. Confirmation is the fact that the beauty of the Byzantine divine services amazed the Russian ambassadors and was one of the factors that determined the choice of faith. "... And we came to the Greek land, and led us to where they serve their God, and did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth: for there is no such spectacle and such beauty on earth, and we do not know how to tell about We only know that God is there with people and their service is better than in other countries. We cannot forget this beauty. " Of course, the beauty of divine services is not the only and not the main moment that decided the fate of the choice of religion (the main thing was that Orthodoxy corresponded to the character of our people and allowed them to preserve their traditions, customs, ideals), but it cannot be discounted in any way.

Aesthetic ideas were reflected in the artistic practice of our distant ancestors. Before the adoption of Christianity, the Eastern Slavs had their own fairly developed culture in the field of art and construction. Archaeological excavations confirm that pre-Christian Russia knew casting and embossing, ceramics and embroidery, and possessed the fine craftsmanship of enamels. She produced fine jewelry items - bronze amulets and jewelry: star pendants, buckles, kolts, torcs (ancient earrings and necklaces). Bird, animal and human figures - the Slavic version of the late barbaric "animal style", were woven into the patterns of these products.

Pagan Russia was most skillful in processing wood, which was the main building material. Mansions of princes and peasant huts were made of it, fortress walls were laid from oak logs. The main household items: a plow, a spinning wheel, bast shoes, a spoon, a tub, a sled - all this was given by the generous and kind forest for a person.

Thus, aesthetic moments occupied a very significant place in the life and art of pre-Christian Russia. Subsequently, they had a significant impact on the formation of the aesthetics of the Old Russian state.

Speaking about the philosophical views of the Russian pagans, it should be immediately noted that most researchers are of the opinion that Christianity was the first impetus for the emergence of Russian philosophy. So, from the point of view of A.F. Zamaleeva, "philosophy could not have arisen in the depths of Slavic paganism." This is explained by the fact that the mythology of the ancient Russians remained a purely "spontaneous religion" with an undeveloped dualism of the divine and the natural. Moreover, from the standpoint of the author, "in the bosom of Slavic paganism, not only philosophy, but even a secularized worldview could not have arisen." Here we consider it appropriate to dwell on the peculiarities of the world outlook of the ancient Russians.

Firstly, in Slavic mythology, as noted above, the world is divided into several levels, i.e. a kind of hierarchy of the surrounding world is traced. The person corresponds to all levels of Slavic mythology. The world tree is the universal image that synthesizes all human relations with the hierarchical world. In this function in Slavic folklore, usually birch, oak, pine, mountain ash, apple tree appear. Different animals are confined to the three main parts of the world tree: birds, as well as the sun and the moon, are confined to the branches and the top; to the trunk - bees; to the roots - snakes, beavers, etc. The whole tree as a whole is associated with a person, especially a woman. Moreover, a person is distinguished from other creatures by the concept of a soul. Before the adoption of Christianity, the Eastern Slavs were characterized by an elementary concept of the soul, i.e. its identification with breath (from the root "breath", "spirit"). The cessation of breathing was a clear sign of the cessation of life (for example, "give up the ghost" - to die). Thus, with the help of the world tree, a triple vertical structure of the world is modeled - three kingdoms: heaven, earth and the underworld.

Secondly, the Russian pagans describe the world as a system of binary oppositions, or binary oppositions, which determine its spatial, temporal, social and other characteristics: "life - death", "male - female", "heaven - earth", "sacred - worldly "etc. Let us dwell on the analysis of some of them.

"Life death". In Slavic mythology, the deity bestows life, fertility and longevity. Among the Eastern Slavs, this deity was Rod. However, a deity can also bring death. The motives for the murder are associated with Chernobog or Perun. Living water and dead water are symbols of life and death; green, flowering tree and dry tree, etc.

The opposition "right - left" is at the heart of ancient law (right, truth, justice, etc.), as well as at the basis of fortune telling and rituals. This opposition is reflected in the personified images of Truth in heaven and Krivda on earth.

The opposition "male - female" correlates with the opposition "right - left" in wedding and funeral rituals, where women are to the left of men. There is a very significant difference between male and female characters in function and number: it is important to note the small number of female characters in the pantheon, as well as their defining role in magic and witchcraft.

The opposition "top - bottom" is interpreted as the opposition of heaven and earth, the top and roots of the world tree. In ritual terms, this is manifested in the location of Perun on the hill and Veles in the lowland.

The contrast "heaven - earth" is embodied in the confinement of the deity to the sky, and the person to the earth.

The opposition "south - north", "east - west" emphasizes the existence of ideas among the ancient Russians about the spatial structure of the surrounding world. This is confirmed by the special attraction of the Rus to movement and the development of a new space - the desire for "will". According to L. Lebedev, Russians' "will" is not the same as "freedom" in the meaning of independence from any moral or civil laws or from power. "Will" is the ability to move. If we talk about pre-Christian antiquity, then the category of "will" is more related to movement and movement in space. We are talking about the development of free, unoccupied and sparsely populated lands. However, in some cases "will" also implied a craving for comprehending the meaning of being. In this respect, in both cases, there is an obvious thirst to recognize, comprehend, spiritually and culturally master the wondrous, wisely arranged world.

The structure of space and time is also indicated by the opposition "close - distant". For example, "your home" - "the distant kingdom" in Russian fairy tales, images of a path, a road, a bridge, a distance, old and new times, etc. One of the variants of the "near - far" opposition is the "house - forest" opposition. Space and time in the minds of the pagans were "marked". It was believed that evil spirits: devils, goblin, water, mermaids and similar evil spirits - cannot go beyond the boundaries of their night time, they disappear with the cry of roosters at dawn. Swamps, deaf thickets, lowlands, crevices, ditches, ravines - the rule of evil forces; mountains, hills, towers are high, fields are wide, vast expanses - the predominance of the forces of good.

In the contrast "land - sea", the sea is of particular importance as the abode of numerous negative characters. It is viewed as a dwelling place for death, disease, where they are sent in conspiracies. The positive aspect is embodied in the motives of the arrival of spring and the sun from across the sea.

In the opposition "spring - winter", a special place is given to Spring. It is associated with mythological characters embodying fertility - Yarila, Kostroma, etc., as well as with the rites of the funeral of Winter and the opening of Spring.

The opposition "old - young" emphasizes the difference between maturity, maximum productive forces and decrepitude. This opposition is associated with the opposition "ancestors - descendants", as well as the rituals of commemoration of ancestors, "grandfathers".

In Slavic mythology, there was also an opposition "sacred-worldly", where a clear line is drawn between the sphere of the sacred, endowed with special power, and the sphere of everyday life, devoid of this power.

Thus, in the view of the Russian pagans, the world has a triple vertical structure - heaven, earth and hell, and also is a system of binary oppositions, i.e. doubles: "life - death", "good - evil", "right - left", "top - bottom", "ancestors - descendants", "older - younger", etc.

The analysis carried out convinces us that before the adoption of Christianity, Ancient Russia had a fairly high level of spiritual culture. This is evidenced by the development of religious beliefs, and the system of spiritual and moral values \u200b\u200binherent in the ancient Russians, and philosophical and aesthetic ideas, albeit unsystematized, that emerged during that period. Despite the fact that in theological literature, ancient Russian paganism is interpreted as "dark, embittered, vengeful", and pre-Christian society as "a stinking and cruel world", we have no right to deny the fact that many elements of the spiritual and moral sphere of the Russian person arose long before the baptism of Rus, which was facilitated by certain climatic, household, political and other conditions that fell to the lot of the Eastern Slavs.

The adoption of Christianity and the transformation of the pagan culture of the Eastern Slavs

The baptism of Rus had a noticeable impact on the cultural life of the Slavs. Christianity in Kievan Rus became the conductor of the Byzantine culture. It should be noted that Byzantium in the era of the adoption of Christianity by Russia was in the prime of its cultural creativity. The empire recognized itself as the focus of all the highest spiritual values \u200b\u200b- the Christian religion and classical Greco-Roman culture. Outside of it lay "the world is simultaneously a different faith (unfaithful), a foreign culture (barbaric) and, moreover, lawless, as if not the world, not the cosmos, but chaos, outer darkness." The Byzantines perceived their state as the first, moreover, as the only one in the world, incomparable with anything.

S.S. Averintsev points to three criteria by which the Byzantines differed from other peoples: firstly, it is the correct Orthodox Christian faith; secondly, it is a highly civilized style of state and diplomatic practice, complemented by the literary and philosophical culture of the ancient world; thirdly, it is the legitimate succession of the imperial power (Constantine the Great) in relation to the Christian-imperial Rome.

The perception of peoples baptized in the correct faith as dependent gave rise to a natural desire to expand their sphere of influence through the spread of Eastern Christianity.

When deciding on the choice of a new faith, the Slavic rulers and their warriors relied on other factors than a deep knowledge of the Christian cultural tradition and the conviction of its deep cultural superiority over the pagan tradition.

First of all, it is necessary to point out the great similarity between Christianity and the pagan beliefs of the Slavs. Both in Christianity and in the religious beliefs and rituals of the Eastern Slavs, there were many homogeneous elements that were various manifestations of primitive forms of social consciousness. This similarity boiled down to the following main points:

• 1. the world is ruled by a higher power that created it (among the Slavs, this is Rod);
• 2. there are many secondary forces governing various sections of nature and human community;
• 3. these forces are dualistic, i.e. are divided into good and evil spirits;
• 4. the means of influencing the higher power are magical rites or sacrifices;
• 5. the deity of nature is constantly reborn;
• 6. in addition to the real world, there is an afterlife of human souls.

On the basis of this community, the combination of East Slavic paganism and Byzantine Christianity took place. Thus, concludes L. Lebedev, "Russia was especially prepared for the perception of Christianity."

As we noted above, the Christian element in the social life of Kievan Rus manifests itself already at the beginning of the 10th century. The first proposal in history to arrange a universal baptism of Rus belongs to Princess Olga. Prince Svyatoslav refuses the proposed step.

In 969, Princess Olga died. Her burial was done in a Christian way. “Three days later Olga died, and her son and her grandchildren, and all the people wept for her with great lamentation, and they carried her and buried her in an open place. Olga, however, bequeathed not to perform feasts on her, since she had a priest with her - he buried blessed Olga. "

In the second half of the X century. the spread of the Christian faith makes a collision with paganism inevitable. In 980, Prince Vladimir carried out a reform of paganism, which was not crowned with success. The reason for the failure of reforming the pagan faith lies in the fact that paganism was deprived of the universalism that was inherent in Christianity. It could not act as a regulator of social development and social relations. The paganism of the Eastern Slavs of the Vladimir era is often considered an obsolete faith, powerless and not satisfying the "changed requirements of the time." CM. Soloviev wrote about this in the following way: "Christianity was already familiar in Kiev for a long time due to frequent relations with Constantinople, which amazed the Russians with the grandeur of religion and civic consciousness. After the miracles there, those who lived in Constantinople had to look with contempt at the poor Russian paganism and extol the Greek faith."

At the same time, one should not forget that there were not many who visited Byzantium. And the described situation of religious and cultural influence is characteristic to a greater extent for southern cities, especially Kiev. Considering the second center of the Eastern Slavs after Kiev, Veliky Novgorod, one should speak mainly of the Scandinavian influence (Varangian), as well as the influence of the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes, i.e. a purely pagan influence, which created a completely different situation than in Kiev. And the population outside the cities - both in the south and in the north - could hardly even have thought of abandoning the faith of their ancestors, even if they lived in the same territory with non-Slavic tribes.

Nevertheless, 983-986. were marked by a kind of lull in the religious and spiritual sense. This is explained by the origin of Prince Vladimir - the grandson of the Christian Olga and the son of the pagan Svyatoslav. Apparently, there is a struggle in the soul of the prince - a struggle between pagan and Christian principles.

In 988 Prince Vladimir and his squad were baptized. However, Christianity in Russia spreads rather slowly. How can this state of affairs be explained? AND I. Froyanov names two reasons:

• 1. The prevalence of voluntary methods of conversion to Christianity. He believes that, at least in Kiev, only those who wish were baptized. From his point of view, the prince and the squad did not have the means for mass violence in order to force the people to be baptized from under the stick. As for the resistance to the introduction of Christianity in other regions, it was associated with the opposition to Kiev.
• 2. The known tolerance of Byzantine Christianity towards paganism. According to the historian, the fast success of Christianity in ancient Russian society was also hindered by the persistence of pagan customs in the Russian people.

Even in the princely environment of the XI-XII centuries. tenaciously held the cult of the Family and the earth.

With this point of view, the opinion of Fr. Georgy Florovsky, who rightly noted that the baptism of Rus "cannot and should not be imagined ... as a single event for which a specific date can be named. It was a complex and very diverse process, long and intermittent, stretching even for decades, but forever. "

Christianity in Russia has undergone in many respects a pagan rethinking - this is the position of many authors. V. Ya. Petrukhin believes that the Russian Middle Ages was characterized by "a syncretic worldview, combining Christian ideology with the remnants of paganism." A.F. also declares about "dual faith" among the people. Zamaleev.

It should be noted here that the term "dual faith" did not originally mean Christians who preserve pagan rites. It was first used in the Teachings of Theodosius of the Caves - "The Word about the Christian and Latin Faith" (1069) - in relation to Christians who hesitated in choosing between the Greek and Latin rites. In another Old Russian Doctrine - "The Word of a certain Christ-lover and a zealot according to the right faith" - the concept of "dual faith" is associated with idolatry. "Priests and scribes" are declared to be "living with two faiths" who do not observe church prescriptions, primarily concerning the meal. In modern science, the term "dual faith" is used to denote the "syncretic" worldview of the Russian Middle Ages. In this sense, it will be used by us.

P.A. Florensky is of the opinion that Russian Orthodoxy formed the interaction of three forces:

• 1.the Greek faith brought to us by the monks and priests of Byzantium,
• 2.Slavic paganism, which met this new faith,
• 3. Russian folk character, which in its own way adopted Byzantine Orthodoxy and reworked it in its own spirit.

The concept of N.M. Tolstoy and S.M. Tolstoy, who believe that in relation to Ancient Russia, one can speak of three faiths. According to them, Byzantine Christianity itself, having come to Russia, already bore the legacy of all kinds of pagan influences - Dionysian and other Asia Minor and Balkan cults. Therefore, "the medieval traditional spiritual culture of the Slavs consisted of three genetically different components:

• 1.christianity associated with church dogma,
• 2.paganism inherited from the pre-Slavic period,
• 3. "anti-Christianity", most often, again, paganism, but of non-Slavic origin, penetrated into the Slavic folk environment along with Christianity or in another ... way. "

Considering all of the above, it should be noted that the culture of all of Russia after the adoption of Byzantine Orthodoxy has undergone significant changes. As V.Ya. Petrukhin, at the turn of the X-XI centuries. a kind of "cultural revolution" is taking place. This revolution was expressed in the fact that after the baptism of Rus, the process of transformation of traditional pagan culture unfolded throughout the state. In particular, the transformation of the funeral rite took place.

At the turn of the X-XI centuries. the custom of cremation of the dead is everywhere replaced by the rite of inhumation. Moreover, these changes affect not only the city necropolises, where the pagan burial rite under the mound disappears immediately after the baptism of Rus, but also the rural outback, where the mound rite is preserved, but the dead are already buried, not burned. The spread of the rite of inhumation of the corpse was facilitated by the fact that the traditional "pagan" orientation of the deceased with his head to the West (including at the funeral pyre) coincided with the Christian one. However, initially, inhumation in the burial pits, heading westward, spreads in the Middle Dnieper region, with centers in Kiev, Chernigov and Pereyaslavl (within the Russian land in the narrow sense). As for other areas, here the Christianization of the rite was slowed down. At first, the dead began to be buried not in graves, but on the surface of the earth, under the mounds; from the XII century. burial rituals in grave pits are spreading, and by the end of this century, burial mounds begin to disappear.

The evolution of the funeral rite testifies to the fact that Christian ideas associated with ideas about the posthumous future and the salvation of souls are spreading among the population of Ancient Russia in a non-violent way. Here you should pay attention to the following fact. Yes, the pagan burning was driven out by burial in the ground. But at the same time, they continued to put and write in the grave. This is a clear sign of the preservation of pagan ideas about the soul and the other world.

To a lesser extent, Christianization has affected communal rituals - calendar and family, associated with "this worldly" being. As V.Ya. Petrukhin, these rituals - "feasts and games" - were the main "subject of accusation" in ancient Russian teachings against paganism, the basis for accusations of "idolatry" and dual faith.

In Christian cults, the ancient Slav found analogies to his previous rituals and views: in the cult of "miraculous" relics, icons, relics - features of fetishistic veneration of objects, in the cult of "holy places" - worship of mysterious objects of nature, in mysterious church rites - magical actions of the Magi, in the images of Orthodox saints - the old patron gods.

From the old pagan rituals, a special attitude towards ancestors and grandfathers entered Orthodoxy. Until the beginning of the XX century. in indigenous Russian families, old people enjoyed special honor and respect, their opinion was considered decisive in many everyday affairs. With the adoption of Christianity, the cult of ancestors was timed to coincide with the "parental days", when commemorations were performed for the dead.

The cult of the Mother of God acquired paramount importance. It was based on traditional ideas about a beneficent female creature - the progenitor of the Slavic Clan - Rozhanitsa.

With the baptism of Russia, the pagan structure of the world is destroyed. Now the split world turns out to be an immeasurable creation of God, in which there is everything: both good and evil; both rich and poor; and peace, and war, etc. Christianity "sets up" a new world, divided into divine and created. Christ gives birth to faith that overcomes death. A new way of resurrection is emerging - personal faith in God. God saves to eternal life only those who are loving, virtuous, obedient, obedient. "God shows the way," the way of salvation.

With the name of Boris and Gleb, a new, Christian, type of death enters Russian culture as an affirmation of eternal life. The death of Boris is not a grim sacrifice, but a deliberately chosen feat, repeating the torment of Christ. The meaning of Boris's feat is in an attempt to overcome death, to combine earthly life with eternal life. The feat of Boris and Gleb consists not only in extraordinary obedience to the will of the older brother, expressed in non-resistance to the murderers, but also in understanding their behavior as a voluntary imitation of the death of Jesus Christ. G.P. Fedotov notes: “It seems that in full agreement with the ancient legend, we can express Gleb's dying thought: every disciple of Christ is left in the world for suffering, and every innocent and free suffering in the world is suffering for the name of Christ ... The feat of non-resistance is a national Russian feat , a true religious discovery of the newly baptized people ... Through the lives of the holy martyrs, as through the Gospel, the image of the meek and suffering Savior entered the heart of the Russian people forever as its most cherished shrine ... ".

Overcoming death by resurrection to eternal life turned out to be very difficult to perceive and was the most difficult for the pagan world to access. But, despite this, the adoption of the Christian idea of \u200b\u200beternal life led to the overcoming of the pagan opposition of life and death.

A different interpretation in Christianity was received by the pagan connection of soul and body: now the soul and body are divided. Caring for the body, its speedy burial was for the pagan at the same time caring for the soul of the deceased, because the soul remained with the body even after death. If there was a rite of cremation, then, according to the beliefs of the Slavs, the soul, even after the burning of the body, retained a connection with the material: it either took the images of wind, fire, steam, clouds, smoke, etc., or entered a new body - a butterfly , a bat, into some animal or plant, finally, into planets or stars. The Christian separation of soul and body "after death" changes the attitude not only to the soul - concern for its salvation to death by righteous deeds is a guarantee of "joy" after death - but also to the body. It, left by the soul, is not scary, moreover, it is sacralized - it is capable of working miracles. This is the manifestation of the will of God. Evidence of the fear of the dead, fears of the possible return of the deceased (belief in werewolves) is the legacy of the pagan world. Christianity brought to Russia a different attitude towards the dead, his body and his soul. Thus, the Christianization of the Old Russian people destroys the idea of \u200b\u200bthe ancient Russians about the duality of the world.

From the point of view of Byzantine Orthodoxy, evil can be overcome only through strict asceticism and mystical quest. It should be noted that with the adoption of Christianity, the Eastern Slavs received a ready-made monastic organization. However, mysticism in the sense of "a personal meeting with God" was alien to the broad mass of the ancient Rus. The path of the Russian person to God, to a greater extent, went not just through inactive prayer or prayerful ecstasy, but through the living work of philanthropy and work done with prayer. The scale of the spread of religious asceticism in Russia was not so great. Asceticism as a means of fighting the world's evil in the Russian popular consciousness was allowed only for a few monastics. The deliberate "withdrawal from the world" contributed to the formation of a high moral authority of monasticism among the population, but it did not yet mean victory over evil. It was much more important to deal with it on a daily basis in everyday life. Moreover, this struggle was no less important than the ascetic service, and for most Russians it was the only one acceptable.

As O.A. Platonov, the first Russian Christians were looking in Orthodoxy for confirmation of those spiritual values \u200b\u200bby which they lived before. The Russian person interprets Christian piety differently. Pious in Russia was considered not the one who spends time in fasting and prayers, but the one who is virtuous in life. In particular, the following moral crimes were classified as sinful: lies, slander, envy, anger, pride, violence, theft, fornication, stinginess. "Only before those will the" gates of heaven "be opened who consciously do good deeds, bring good to their neighbors, for the very ignorance of good" evil is a sin. "

But despite the above-mentioned moral principles characteristic of the Eastern Slavs in the first centuries of the spread of Christianity in Russia, there were exceptions. For example, church marriage was not always obligatory. There are known cases of polygamy among Christian princes. A vivid confirmation of this is the fact that Yaroslav Osmomysl even bequeathed the throne to his son from a concubine. Yes, and the "spiritual fathers" were rarely an example of high morality for their parishioners. Suffice it to recall at least the Rostov Bishop Theodorets.

In The Tale of Bygone Years, earthly life is seen as a confrontation between good and evil, and not only as a struggle between the messengers of God and the servants of Satan, but also as a confrontation between good and evil people. The struggle for goodness, love for goodness existed in Russia as a kind of cult in the pre-Christian period, but after baptism they receive additional justification and higher sanctification, but at the same time in some places they come into conflict with Christian dogma. Thus, Jacob Mnich praised good, believing that holiness is achieved not by miracles, but by good deeds, i.e. the criterion for true Christian life and holiness was good deeds.

Love for good as the moral core of Orthodoxy, according to O.A. Platonov, in the conditions of the preservation of the remnants of paganism, had a negative side. The negative point was that only moral improvement was proclaimed by the true faith, the sacraments and ritual side were denied. On the basis of this, heretical teachings arose, for example, Theodosius the Kosoy. However, these were extreme points of view.

For the truly Orthodox, philanthropy and work were a source of piety, a means of drawing closer to God, but through the church, and not outside it.

Before the adoption of Christianity in Russia, there was an ideal of military behavior, which can be seen in the stories of the Primary Chronicle about Prince Svyatoslav. But already in the "Teachings" of Vladimir Monomakh, the fusion of the pagan ideal of the prince's behavior with Christian precepts is obvious. "First of all, for the sake of God and for your soul, have the fear of God in your heart and give not meager alms, this is the beginning of all good ... Do not compete with the evil ones, do not envy those who do lawlessness ... Honor the old as a father, but the young, as brothers ... Beware of lies, and drunkenness, and fornication ... ".

We find the same precepts of Christian love a little earlier in Yaroslav the Wise - in his political testament to his sons: "Behold, I am leaving this light, my sons; have love in you, since you are naturally brothers of a single father and mother. May you be in love with each other. , God will be in you, and you will subdue the nasty ones under you, and you will live peacefully; if you live hatefully, in strife and who is (hostile. -D. Likhachev), then you will perish yourself and destroy the land of your fathers and grandfathers, others like you have come up with your great work; but abide peacefully, listening to your brother brother. "

One of the main consequences of the adoption of Christianity was the opening of the road to the development of the cultural heritage of the Christian world. However, there was no question of a simple, mechanical transfer of this heritage to Slavic soil. There was a complex process of selection from this heritage of everything that met the needs of the Slavic society and could be assimilated at the level of social and cultural development at which this society was.

The baptism of Rus laid the traditions of Russian enlightenment. After the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the creation of schools began, in which the monuments of a new cultural tradition were studied. Among the Slavic translations, the predominant compositions are the writings of the authors of the "golden age" of Byzantine rhetoric - John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, John Damascene. The translation, first of all, of the works of the early Byzantine preachers is explained in equal measure both by their high artistic merits and by the fact that their eloquence was addressed to yesterday's pagans. The words of John Chrysostom were especially popular in Russia. His style had a strong influence on the work of the ancient Russian preachers - Metropolitan Hilarion and Kirill Turovsky.

The baptism of Rus became the impetus for the emergence of ancient Russian literature - this is the point of view of many authors.

Although writing in Russia was known from the beginning of the 10th century. (remember the agreement with the Greeks in 911), however, it was used exclusively for business purposes. A few Christians still had books. Book owners, therefore, were a very limited number of people. We have no information at all about the existence of "pagan literature". Verbal genres of folklore, historical traditions, pagan myths, legends, fairy tales, undoubtedly, existed. Moreover, we can get to know them almost in the "original", since they were later included in the annals. We are talking about the legends about the death of the Prophetic Oleg, the death of Prince Igor and the revenge for him of Princess Olga, etc. But after all, only after the adoption of Christianity did the texts appear.

At first in Russia, literature was predominantly cult and exclusively translated: without it, neither the practical activity of the church, nor the spiritual enlightenment of the clergy, monks and laity could be carried out. Since the XI century. Numerous works of Byzantine Christian literature, translated in Bulgaria by the leaders of the "golden age" of Bulgarian literature, are distributed in the Old Russian state. The development of the traditions of the Byzantine cultural circle, which came from Bulgaria, begins.

Acquaintance with the monuments of Byzantine and Old Bulgarian Christian literature made it possible and necessary to create literary works ourselves. In the XI century. the first original works of Russian authors appear, for example, "The Word about Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion. Medieval literature was closely related to church practice or social needs. After the Christianization of Rus', Byzantium persistently emphasized its patronage towards it. All the metropolitans in Russia of the 11th-12th centuries, with the exception of Hilarion and Clement Smolyatich, were Greeks; many bishops were also Greeks. Under these conditions, for such a young state as Kievan Rus, it was extremely important to proclaim its attitude towards Byzantium.

The most important question for the emerging national self-consciousness is raised in his work by Metropolitan Hilarion. Arguing on the theological theme - the superiority of the New Testament over the Old Testament - Hilarion leads the audience and readers to the main idea of \u200b\u200bhis "Lay", to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe equality of Christian Russia and Christian Byzantium. Hilarion emphasizes this equality with particular insistence: Vladimir is like Constantine, equal to him in mind, equal in love to Christ. The son of Vladimir - Yaroslav, who created the Sophia Cathedral, is likened to the biblical Solomon, who created the Jerusalem temple. "O like the great Constantine, equal to him in mind, equal to love for Christ ... He (Yaroslav) finished what was unfinished by you, as Solomon did by David; he created the house of God, great and holy, the church of his wisdom ..."

In the XI century. Old Russian scribes mastered one of the leading genres of Christian literature - hagiographic. Very relevant for Ancient Russia, geographically remote from the Holy Land and the center of Orthodoxy - Constantinople - was the genre of "walks" - descriptions of pilgrimages to Palestine or trips to Constantinople. An example is the "Life and Walking of Abbot Daniel", which dates back to the 12th century.

The above-mentioned monuments of Old Russian literature of the XI-XII centuries. completely fit into the system of genres of Byzantine Christian literature. Russian masters basically followed the canons prescribed for these genres. Those. in this respect we can talk about the influence of Byzantium.

However, in one of the genres, Russian scribes from the very beginning, from the moment of its inception, showed originality. We are talking about the chronicle that arose in Russia in the XI century. (this is the point of view of most scientists). Having arisen, the chronicle immediately becomes a defining phenomenon in Russian social and political life (the chronicle acts as a document), in science (the chronicle as an exposition of historiosophical ideas), in literature (the chronicle is not only a historical chronicle, but also a highly artistic literary monument). Chronicle writing combined some elements of Slavic legends with a new philosophical, historical and moral concept that included Russia in the framework of world history and culture.

At one time in Russian historiography there was an opinion about the dependence of Russian chronicle writing on Byzantine chronography. But such notions have long since parted. This is explained by the fact that the form of the Byzantine chronicles was different from that of the chronicle. Dates are rarely found in the chronicles, but we have a complete list of rulers succeeding each other on the throne. From the messages about "reigns" and about the events that happened in each kingdom, the narration of the chronicle is formed. As for the chronicle, here the events are set forth by year. At the same time, the chronicles represent the history of the Russian land as a whole, and not the history of the princely dynasty. And this is despite the well-known processes that took place in the Old Russian state in the XII-XV centuries. (meaning the fragmentation of the country). At the same time, one cannot fail to mention the shortcomings of the chronicle. Firstly, the description of this or that prince in the chronicle is contained in obituary praise, short and etiquette. Secondly, the activities of the prince are sometimes mentioned in dozens of weather articles, interspersed with information about events that have nothing to do with the Grand Duke, which took place in other principalities and even states.

Here is what he writes about the first Russian chronicle - "The Tale of Bygone Years" - V.F. Petrov-Stromsky: "Already one title:" Behold the tales of time years, where did the Russian land come from, who in Kiev began the first princes, and where did the Russian land began to eat "- says that we have before us an original and talented combination of ethical poetry with historical chronicle ".

Later, literary genres, unknown to other peoples, were formed in Russia. First of all, these are teachings devoted to the problems of everyday ethics, in particular, "The Teaching" by Vladimir Monomakh - one of the first Russian original works on morality (Monomakh devotes his "Instructions" to the presentation of his life credo: to follow the idea of \u200b\u200bjustice in relations both to his subjects and to his relatives - to princes); political legends - "The Legend of the Vladimir Princes", "Moscow the Third Rome"; historical and everyday stories - "About Peter and Fevronia", "The Legend of Dracula the Governor".

During this period of time it continued to live and develop, influencing literature and remaining an essential element of the culture of Ancient Rus, oral folk art, which was formed long before the appearance of writing. Hence the tales of a flying carpet, running boots, self-assembled tablecloths, etc.

Nevertheless, literature assumed the main moral burden in the culture of Ancient Rus, the role of a unifying center in the phenomenon of "dual faith" that had actually taken shape and rooted in public consciousness. She deeply assimilated the oral folk tradition, at the same time she saw her main role in enlightening the masses, in preaching a holy life and high moral behavior.

In this respect, the importance of monasteries is great (in the first half of the 13th century there were about 70 of them), where chronicles were kept, essays of a political and moral nature were written, rewritten and painted icons, and engaged in sciences.

Thus, in the sphere of literature, Byzantium had a great influence on Russia. The merit of Byzantine spiritual culture is that it gave impetus to the development of writing, books, schooling. But one cannot discount the fact that on the old Russian soil, on the one hand, there was a process of not only mastering, but also enriching the genres traditional for Byzantine literature, and on the other hand, original, completely original genres of literature were formed.

The influence of Byzantium is also manifested in the fact that many old political ideas that existed in Russia before its Christianization were supplanted.

Instead of the Slavic-Varangian idea of \u200b\u200bthe prince as the main leader of a dashing squad, with fire and sword, conquering everyone who meets on its way, there came the idea of \u200b\u200ba "grand duke" as a God-sent ruler, called to take care of his subjects.

Instead of the Varangian idea of \u200b\u200bthe state, suggesting that the princely family can endlessly split between the heirs of the land with the people as their specific property, the Byzantine idea of \u200b\u200bthe state came as an indivisible entity. The Christian religion, having bound people with the unity of faith, thereby contributed to the formation of the Russian ethnos.

But, recognizing the great influence of Byzantium on the development of statehood, the entire political life of Ancient Rus, it should be emphasized that Kiev, Novgorod, and Moscow Russia were not the spiritual and cultural periphery of Byzantium. Local traditions made Russia into a completely independent integrity.

With the adoption of Christianity in Russia, philosophy was born as a worldview system. It is developing on a Christian Orthodox basis. It was Christian ideology that became the source of Russian philosophical thought as an integral system, and not as an aggregate of separate philosophical views.

By the time of the adoption of Christianity, the ancient Russians were at such a level of spiritual and cultural development that they were quite ripe in order not only to perceive something new for themselves, but also to choose the most suitable from it. This was most clearly manifested in icon painting. As you know, the icon occupies a special place in Christian art. The iconographic face is conceived not only as an image, but also as a window to the supersensible world, showing its true reality, possessing a magical identity with this reality. Great attention was paid to icon painting in Russia as well. This is evidenced by the resolution of the church council on the requirements for the icon painter.

However, unlike Byzantium, Russian Orthodoxy looks at the world with optimism. It lacks the gloomy tones and feelings of hopelessness that permeate the Byzantine church. Russian icon painting, reflecting the outlook of a Russian person, is a life-affirming view of the world. As V.N. Lazarev, this view of the world was expressed "in the highlighting of the palette, which acquired extraordinary brightness and cheerfulness, in the steady growth of the value of the line, especially the silhouette sketch so highly valued by Russian icon painters." Comparing Byzantine and Old Russian icon painting, A.P. Rogov notes: "For the Byzantines, everything is harsh and angry, for the Russians, it is affectionate and kind."

With the adoption of Christianity, the construction of churches began. Moreover, they were often built on the site of pagan sanctuaries, as if inheriting the sacredness of their places. The first churches in Russia were built in the image and likeness of the Greek ones. And the craftsmen were of Greek origin. However, church building was greatly influenced by the wooden architecture of Russia of the pre-Christian period (the first temples were made of wood). In addition, a purely national identity is also manifested in temple construction. For example, the Tithe Church was built and consecrated in the name of the Mother of God in the image of one of the churches of the Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors. Apparently, in the choice of the dedication of the main temple, there was also some calculation of the new religion's approach to pagan beliefs, in which the worship of the ancient female deity - "the mother of the damp earth", took a huge place. In the popular environment, this rapprochement arose immediately. It is no coincidence that Russia began to be revered as "the lot of the Mother of God" Sophia of Kiev is not accidentally named after Sophia of Constantinople. Here the desire of the Kiev prince was manifested to oppose his own claims to equality and independence, even in matters of faith, to the constant attempts of Byzantium to extend its ecclesiastical supremacy to interstate relations.

From the above, the question arises: what largely determined the worldview of ancient Russian society - paganism or Christianity? AND I. Froyanov, without fear of exaggeration, declares: paganism. He argues his answer by the existence in Russia of the XI-XII centuries. "pagan" Christianity, that is, dual faith, on the one hand, and pure paganism, on the other. In his opinion, only in the XIII-XV centuries. paganism as an independent religion has become a thing of the past. V.F. Stromsky. From his point of view, Christianity in Russia was comprehended through the already existing related ideas, which were filled with new content. B.N. Putilov, however, believes that with the adoption of Christianity, the entire external form of religious life changed; the inner content also became different. These changes, in his opinion, boiled down to the following:

the place of pagan temples with idols was taken by churches with sacred images on icons and frescoes;

pagan feasts with sacrifices gave way to worship and prayers;

instead of priests and magicians, priests appeared;

instead of pagan polytheism, the concept of one God came and was established;

pagan culture, as a rule, is an unwritten culture; Christianity brought books, primarily religious: the Bible, the lives of the saints, the teachings of the church fathers, etc., and after them - works of historical content, about nature, about foreign countries;

christianity supplanted pagan mythology;

new, Christian, holidays and ceremonies were introduced into everyday life; quite often they seemed to adapt to the old, pagan ones (this is how couples arose in the national holiday calendar: Kolyada - Nativity of Christ, Ivan Kupala - John the Baptist, etc.);

people included in the number of their miraculous patrons and helpers (pagan deities and spirits) new powers - God and the Mother of God, angels and saints;

habitual, traditional pagan beliefs mixed with new Christian ones; strata occurred: the properties and deeds of pagan characters were transferred to the Christian saints.

With the opinion of B.N. Putilov's point of view echoes B.A. Rybakov, who emphasizes that "evolution religious beliefs was not a complete replacement of some forms by others, but the layering of the new on the old. "This is explained by the fact that the people in their bulk could not accept the Orthodox religion in all the complexity of its doctrine. This was only possible for a relatively small circle of educated people. the new religion appeared in rather simplified forms (the people turned out to be close to many moral norms of Christian teaching, for example, the commandments of Moses, the Sermon on the Mount of Christ).

In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the following. With the adoption of Christianity, the culture of the Old Russian state rose to a higher stage of its development. The spread of literacy, bookishness began, philosophy was born as a worldview system. Many new things have been introduced into artistic practice. However, the very fact of the transformation of the pagan culture of the Eastern Slavs and the vitality of pagan elements in the culture of Kievan Rus indicate that, firstly, Christianity and paganism had much in common, and secondly, a qualitative leap in the development of the culture of the Old Russian state was a natural result of a long development in the pre-Christian period. The baptism of Russia united two kindred perceptions of the world, and the choice of faith was due to the fact that Orthodoxy most closely met the spiritual and moral needs of our ancestors. Russia made a conscious, and not imposed from the outside, choice of faith. The adoption of the Orthodox Christian faith was the logical completion of the development of the spiritual and moral values \u200b\u200bof the ancient Russian people. Orthodoxy in this sense crowned the spiritual and moral outlook of our people, giving it a more sublime character.

The East Slavic culture of the preliterate period is little known and mainly in its material expression (housebuilding, clothing, jewelry), since it is restored primarily from archaeological materials.

Public consciousness was formed by paganism with a developed pantheon and mythology, numerous cults, some of which, apparently, were sent to the sanctuaries. According to later sources, the head of the pantheon was Perun, the heavenly god-thunderer, who was opposed to the only female deity - Mokosh (Makosh), apparently the goddess of water (earth). An important place was occupied by the solar deities Xopc (of Iranian origin?) And Dazhbog (“Rusichi” are named in the “Lay of Igor's Host” as Dazhbog's grandchildren). Agricultural cults were associated with Veles, the "cattle god". The functions of the other gods, Simargl, Stribog, etc., are unclear. The discovered sanctuaries and the carved images of gods installed on them (such as the Zbruch idol) were obviously associated with the cults of one or several gods, but it is not possible to determine such connections, just as mythological narratives have not survived. In Slavic paganism, of course, there was a veneration of ancestors (Lada, Rod and women in labor), including the ancestors of tribes and noble families, an echo of such a legend is the legend of Kie, Schek and Khoriv.

The emergence of the Old Russian state, led by a military elite of Scandinavian origin, caused the formation of a new, "squad" culture that marked the social status of the elite. She initially synthesized several ethnocultural traditions: East Slavic, Scandinavian, nomadic, which is clearly demonstrated by the 10th century burial mounds. in Kiev, Chernigov and Gnezdov. At this time, a layer of druzhina legends was created (possibly in poetic form) about the deeds of leaders and rulers: their transcriptions formed the basis for the reconstruction by the chroniclers of the 11th - early 12th centuries. early history of Russia from Rurik to Svyatoslav. The most significant was the cycle of legends about Prince Oleg, who, being transferred to the north, was reflected in Old Scandinavian literature.

The most important influence on the formation of ancient Russian culture was exerted by the spread of Christianity in Russia in its Byzantine version. By the time of the baptism of Rus, Christianity was an established religion with its own worldview, a system of literary and liturgical genres and art, which were immediately implanted in the newly converted country by Greek hierarchs.

Even in the pre-Christian era, Slavic writing penetrates into Russia (from Bulgaria?) - Glagolic (invented by Cyril) and Cyrillic (founded by Methodius). The oldest ancient Russian inscription - "Goroukhsha" or "Gorouna" - is scratched on a vessel found in a burial in Gnezdovo and dates from the middle of the 10th century, but finds of this kind are extremely rare, since writing spreads widely only after the adoption of Christianity, and above all in the church Wednesday (such is the "Novgorod Psalter" - a tsera (wax tablet), on which several psalms were written; found in Novgorod in the layers of the early 11th century). Both inscriptions are made in Cyrillic - Glagolitic was insignificant in Russia.

The appearance of writing and acquaintance with Byzantine culture caused the rapid birth of literature in Russia.

The oldest surviving work belongs to Metropolitan Hilarion. Written between 1037 and 1050 (the time of writing is controversial), "The Word of Law and Grace" insisted on the equality of newly converted peoples and glorified Prince Vladimir as the baptist of Russia. Probably at the same time, or even earlier (at the end of the 10th century), historiography appeared, at first, perhaps, in the form of separate entries on Easter tables. However, the need to recreate and comprehend the national past found expression in the annals. Its initial stage, it is believed, was the compilation of a consolidated legend about the first Russian princes, where historical narratives of different origins were combined - about Rurik (Ladoga-Novgorod), Oleg (Kiev), etc. The oldest that has come down to us, albeit as part of later chronicles (the earliest lists of which date from the end of the XIV century), - "The Tale of Bygone Years". It was written at the beginning of the 12th century. and was the result of the work of several generations of chroniclers - monks of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery. The reconstructed chronicle of the preceding "Tale" - the so-called "Primary Code", is believed to be more accurately reflected in another early chronicle - the first of Novgorod. Along with the oral tradition, the chroniclers of the XI-XII centuries. used Byzantine historical writings, which served as a model for their writing of history, as well as Scripture, the paraphrases of which they willingly included in their text. From the middle of the XII century. keeping weather records begins in Novgorod, a little later in the Suzdal land, in Galich and others largest centers Ancient Russia.

The development of both ecclesiastical and traditional genres of literature and literature gave rise to the richest library of Ancient Rus. On the one hand, one of the most common types of Christian

Novgorod birch bark letter

literature - the lives of the saints who were known in Russia in translations from the Greek language. Own hagiographic literature appears from the middle of the 11th century: in the lives of Anthony of Pechersky and Theodosius of Pechersky, it is told about the founders of the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. The lives of Boris and Gleb ("Reading about Boris and Gleb" by Nestor and the anonymous "Tale of Boris and Gleb"), dedicated to the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, killed in 1015 during the struggle for the Kiev table by their half-brother Svyatopolk, had enormous political and ideological significance. ... On the other hand, apparently, the historical epic continues to exist, the only surviving monument of which is The Lay of Igor's Host. Based on the real events of 1185 - the unsuccessful campaign of the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians, this work is saturated with folklore motives and pagan images and directly appeals to the oral poetic tradition. In conditions of fragmentation and princely civil strife, it heroizes Igor as the savior of Russia from the Polovtsy and calls on the Russian princes to rally. Another social environment in dire need of writing was the urban population, consisting of artisans and merchants, as well as the princely and city administration.

Already from the middle of the XI century. the first birch bark letters appear in Novgorod (12 of the 1005 found by 2011 date from the 11th century), the number of which sharply increases in the following centuries. The overwhelming majority of letters are associated with the management and economic activities of Novgorodians: these are debt records, business orders, reports. Among them there are many everyday letters, as well as records related to the church (lists of holidays, prayers). The first birch bark letter was found on July 26, 1951 by the archaeological expedition A.B. Artsikhovsky (today this day is celebrated as a holiday in many archaeological expeditions). In small numbers (possibly due to their poor preservation), birch bark letters were also found in eleven Russian cities: Staraya Russa, Torzhok, Smolensk, Moscow, etc.

The influence of Christian culture can be traced in many spheres of the life of Ancient Rus, but especially in its art. Mostly monuments of church art have come down to us, which were created at first by Greek masters and then served as role models. The introduction of Christianity was accompanied by the massive construction of temples - stone in cities and wooden both in cities and in the countryside. The wooden architecture of the Old Russian time has been completely lost, although the vast majority of churches were built from wood and only later some of them were rebuilt in stone. The oldest stone temples - the Tithe Church in Kiev, the Sophia Cathedrals in Kiev, Novgorod and Polotsk - were erected according to Byzantine models and were decorated, like Byzantine churches, with icons, frescoes and mosaics.

In medieval Russia, as in the medieval West, the Christian church played the main role in the spiritual life of the nation. Thus, especially after the victory in the Golden Horde of Islam, there were few opportunities for direct Mongol influence in Russia in the religious sphere. Indirectly, however, the Mongol conquest influenced the development of the Russian Church and spiritual culture in a variety of ways. First hit mongol invasion was as painful for the church as for other aspects of Russian life and culture. Many prominent priests, including the Metropolitan himself, perished in the destroyed cities; many cathedrals, monasteries and churches were burned or plundered; many parishioners were killed or taken into slavery. The city of Kiev, the metropolis of the Russian Church, was so devastated that for many years it could not serve as the center of the church administration. Of the dioceses, Pereslavl suffered the most, and the diocese was closed there.

Only after Mengu-Timur issued a certificate of protection to the Russian church authorities, the church once again found itself on solid ground and could gradually be reorganized; with the passage of time, in some respects it became even stronger than before the Mongol invasion. Indeed, led by Greek metropolitans or Russian metropolitans, ordained in Byzantium, protected by the khan's letter, the church in Russia then depended less on the princely power than in any other period of Russian history. In fact, the metropolitan more than once served as an arbiter in disagreements between the princes. This time was also a period when the Russian Church had the opportunity to create a powerful material base for its activities. Since the church lands were fenced off from the interference of state authorities, both Mongolian and Russian, they attracted more and more peasants, and their share of production in the total agricultural product grew steadily. This is especially true of monastic estates. The level of prosperity achieved by the church towards the end of the first century of Mongol rule helped tremendously in its spiritual activities.

Among the tasks facing the church during the Mongol period, the first was the task of providing moral support to bitter and embittered people - from princes to commoners. Associated with the first was a more general mission - to complete the Christianization of the Russian people. During the Kiev period, Christianity was established among the upper classes and townspeople. Most of the monasteries founded at that time were located in cities. In rural areas, the Christian layer was quite thin, and the remnants of paganism had not yet been defeated. Only in the Mongol period was the rural population of Eastern Russia more thoroughly Christianized. This was achieved both by the energetic efforts of the clergy and by the growth of religious feeling among the spiritual elite of the people themselves. Most of the metropolitans of that period spent a lot of time traveling throughout Russia in an attempt to correct the vices of the church administration and direct the activities of bishops and priests. Several new dioceses were organized, four in Eastern Russia, two in Western Russia and one in Sarai. The number of churches and monasteries increased steadily, especially after 1350, both in cities and in rural areas. According to Klyuchevsky, thirty monasteries were founded in the first century of the Mongol period, and about five times more in the second. A characteristic feature of the new monastic movement was the initiative of young people with an ardent religious feeling, who took monastic orders to retire to the "desert" - deep into the woods - for hard work in simple conditions, for prayer and reflection. The misfortunes of the Mongol invasion and princely strife, as well as the harsh living conditions in general, contributed to the spread of such attitudes.

When a former hermitage turned into a large, populous and wealthy monastery surrounded by prosperous peasant villages, former hermits, or new monks of a similar spirit, found the changed atmosphere suffocating and left the monastery, which they founded or helped to expand in order to create another shelter, deeper in the forest or further north. Thus, each monastery served as the cradle of several others. The pioneer and most revered leader of this movement was St. Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity Monastery about 75 kilometers northeast of Moscow. His holy personality inspired even those who had never met him, and the impact of his life's work on subsequent generations was immense. St. Sergius became a symbol of faith - an important factor in the religious life of the Russian people. Other prominent leaders of the Russian monasticism of this era were St. Cyril Belozersky and Saints Zosima and Savvaty, the founders of the Solovetsky monastery on the island of the same name in the White Sea. By the way, the new monasteries played an important role in the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.

Several northern monasteries were located on the territory of the Finno-Ugric tribes, and these peoples have now also adopted Christianity. The mission of St. Stepan of Perm among the Zyryans (now called the Komi) was especially productive in this regard. A gifted philologist, Stepan Permsky not only mastered the Zyryan language, but even created a special alphabet for it, which he used when distributing religious literature among the aborigines.

Church art was another important aspect of the religious revival in Eastern Russia during the Mongol era. This period witnessed the flourishing of Russian religious painting in the form of both frescoes and icons. An important role in this artistic revival was played by the great Greek painter Theophanes, who remained in Russia for about thirty years until the end of his life and career. Feofan worked first in Novgorod, and then in Moscow. Although the Russians admired both the masterpieces and the personality of Theophanes, he cannot be called the founder of either the Novgorod or Moscow schools of icon painting. Russian icon painters used his free brushstroke technique extensively, but they did not try to imitate his individual and dramatic style. The greatest Russian icon painter of this period is Andrei Rublev, who spent his youth in the Trinity Monastery and later painted his famous Trinity icon for him. The charm of Rublev's creations lies in the pure calmness of the composition and the harmony of delicate colors. There is a certain similarity between his works and the works of his contemporary, the Italian artist Fra Angelico.

Less striking, but no less significant, apparently, was the development in this period of church singing, about which, unfortunately, we know little. Most of the surviving diatonic manuscripts znamenny The chants date back to post-Mongol time, from 1450 to 1650. The prototype of the znamenny chant was brought to Russia in the eleventh century by Byzantine singers. In post-Mongol times, the Russian chant differed in many respects from the Byzantine pattern. As Alfred Swann points out, " during the growth on Russian soil and adaptation to Russian conditions, the znamenny chant became close to the Russian folk song ". Apparently, the Mongol period was the incubation period of the final stage of the znamenny chant. It was also at the end of the Mongol period that another chant appeared, the so-called demestny. It became popular in the sixteenth century.

In literature, the ecclesiastical spirit found expression primarily in the teachings of the bishops and the lives of the saints, as well as in the biographies of some Russian princes who - it was felt - so deserved canonization that their biographies were written in a hagiographic style. The main idea of \u200b\u200bmost of these works was that the Mongol yoke is God's punishment for the sins of the Russian people and that only true faith can lead Russians out of this difficult situation. The teachings of Bishop Serapion of Vladimir (1274–75) are typical of this approach. He blamed the Russian princes for the suffering, who had drained the strength of the nation with their constant strife. But he didn't stop there. He reproached ordinary people for their adherence to the remnants of paganism and called on every Russian to repent and become a Christian in spirit, not just in name. Among the princes of the first century of Mongol rule, the lives of the Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his son Alexander Nevsky are of particular interest. The biography of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was preserved only in fragments. It was conceived as the first act of a national tragedy, in which the Grand Duke got the main role. The introduction enthusiastically describes the happy past of the Russian land. Apparently, it should have been followed by a description of the catastrophe that befell Russia, but this part has been lost. The introduction was preserved under a separate title - "The Word about the destruction of the Russian land." It is perhaps the highest achievement of Russian literature in the early Mongol period. In the Life of Alexander Nevsky, the emphasis is on his military valor, shown in the defense of Greek Orthodoxy from the Roman Catholic crusade.

As in the Kiev period, the clergy of the Mongol period played an important role in the compilation of the Russian chronicles. After the Mongol invasion, all work stopped. The only chronicle written between 1240 and 1260 that has come down to us in fragments is Rostov. It was compiled by the bishop of this city, Cyril. As D.S. Likhachev, Kirill was helped by Princess Maria, daughter of Mikhail of Chernigov and widow of Vasilko Rostovsky. Both her father and her husband were killed by the Mongols, and she devoted herself to charity and literary work. In 1305, the chronicle was compiled in Tver. It was partially rewritten in 1377 by the Suzdal monk Laurentius (the author of the so-called Laurentian List). In the fifteenth century, historical works of wider scope appeared in Moscow, such as the Trinity Chronicle (begun under the direction of Metropolitan Cyprian and completed in 1409) and an even more significant collection of chronicles, compiled under the editorship of Metropolitan Photius in about 1428. It served as the basis for further work, which led to the creation of the grandiose vaults of the sixteenth century - the Resurrection and Nikon Chronicles. Novgorod during the fourteenth century and before its fall was the center of its own historical annals. It should be noted that many Russian chroniclers, and especially the compilers of the Nikon Chronicle, demonstrated excellent knowledge not only of Russian events, but also of Tatar affairs.

In the Russian secular creativity of the Mongol era, both written and oral, one can notice an ambivalent attitude towards the Tatars. On the one hand, there is a feeling of rejection and opposition to the oppressors, on the other, the latent attraction of the poetry of the steppe life. If we recall the passionate attraction to the Caucasus of a number of Russian writers of the 19th century, such as Pushkin, Lermontov and Lev Tolstoy, it will help us to understand this way of thinking.

Thanks to the tendency associated with hostility, the epics of the pre-Mongol time were reworked in accordance with the new situation, and the name of the new enemies - Tatars - replaced the name of the old (Polovtsy). At the same time, new epics, historical legends and songs were created, which dealt with the Mongol stage of the struggle of Russia against the steppe peoples. The destruction of Kiev by Batu (Batu) and Nogai's raids on Russia served as themes for modern Russian folklore. The oppression of Tver by the Tatars and the uprising of the Tver people in 1327 was not only recorded in the chronicles, but also clearly formed the basis of a separate historical song. And, of course, as already mentioned, the battle on the Kulikovo field became the plot for many patriotic legends, fragments of which were used by chroniclers, and later recorded in full. Here we have a case of a mixture of oral and written forms in ancient Russian literature. "Zadonshchina", the theme of which belongs to the same cycle, is undoubtedly a work of written literature. The composers of the epics of the pre-Mongol period felt a special attractive force and poetry of steppe life and military campaigns. The same poetics is felt in the works of a later period. Even in the patriotic legends about the Kulikovo field, the valor of the Tatar knight, whose challenge was accepted by the monk Peresvet, is depicted with undoubted admiration. The pre-Mongol Russian epics have close parallels with Iranian and early Turkic heroic songs. In the Mongol era, Russian folklore was also influenced by the "Tatar" (Mongolian and Turkic) poetic images and themes. The intermediaries in the acquaintance of Russians with Tatar heroic poetry were, possibly, Russian soldiers who were recruited into the Mongol armies. And the Tatars who settled in Russia also introduced their national motives into Russian folklore.

The enrichment of the Russian language with words and concepts borrowed from the Mongolian and Turkic languages, or from Persian and Arabic (through Turkic), has become another aspect of the common human cultural process. By 1450, the Tatar (Turkic) language became fashionable at the court of Grand Duke Vasily II of Moscow, which caused strong indignation from many of his opponents. Vasily II was accused of excessive love for the Tatars and their language (“and their speech”). It was typical of that period that many Russian nobles in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries adopted Tatar surnames. Thus, a member of the Velyaminov family became known under the name Aksak (which means "lame" in Turkic), and his heirs became Aksakovs. In the same way, one of the Shchepin-Rostovsky princes was called Bakhteyar (bakhtyar in Persian means “lucky”, “rich”). He became the founder of the Bakhteyarov family of princes, which ended in the 18th century.

A number of Turkic words entered the Russian language before the Mongol invasion, but their real influx began in the Mongol era and continued in the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the concepts borrowed from the Mongolian and Turkic languages \u200b\u200b(or, through Turkic, from the Arabic and Persian languages), from the sphere of management and finance, one can mention such words as money, treasury, customs. Another group of borrowings is associated with trade and merchants: bazaar, booth, grocery, profit, kumach and others. Among the borrowings denoting clothes, hats and footwear, the following can be named: armyak, hood, shoe. It is quite natural that a large group of borrowings is associated with horses, their colors and breeding: argamak, bun, herd. Many other Russian words for household utensils, food and drink, as well as agricultural crops, metals, precious stones, are also borrowed from Turkic or other languages \u200b\u200bthrough Turkic.

A factor that can hardly be overestimated in the development of Russian intellectual and spiritual life is the role of the Tatars who lived in Russia and converted to Christianity and their descendants. The story of Tsarevich Peter Ordynsky, the founder of the monastery in Rostov, has already been mentioned. There were other similar cases. An outstanding Russian religious figure of the 15th century, who also founded the monastery, St. Paphnutiy Borovsky, was the grandson of the Baskak. In the 16th century, a boyar son of Tatar origin named Bulgak was ordained, and after that one of the family members always became a priest, right up to Father Sergiy Bulgakov, a well-known Russian theologian of the 20th century. There were also other outstanding Russian intellectual leaders of Tatar origin, such as the historian H. M. Karamzin and the philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev. Chaadaev was probably of Mongolian origin, since Chaadai is a transcription of the Mongolian name Jagatai (Chagatai). Perhaps Peter Chaadaev was a descendant of Genghis Khan's son - Chagatai. At the same time, it is paradoxical and typical that in the “melting furnace” of Russian civilization with its heterogeneous elements, the “Westernizer” Chaadaev was of Mongolian origin, and the “Slavophile” Aksakov family had Varangians (the Velyaminovs' branch) as their ancestors.

The philosophical thought of Russia is very worthily represented in the history of world philosophy by many great names, intellectually rich and extraordinary in Russian. Russian philosophers and thinkers are people who have let through and felt in full all the sufferings of the Russian land. These are Illarion, Vladimir Monomakh, Lomonosov, Chaadaev, Herzen, Ogarev, brothers Kireevsky, Radishchev, Vl. Solovyov, Strakhov, Plekhanov, Berdyaev, Ilyin, Fedorov, Rozanov, Losev, Frank, father and son Lossky, Florensky, Florovsky, Zenkovsky, Stepun, Volkogonov, Solzhenitsyn ...

The formation and development of philosophical knowledge was influenced by the entire history of antiquity, originating more than ten thousand years ago, at the time of the fairly active settlement of Europe and Asia by the white race, representing a single tribe. In different regions of the planet, this tribe was called differently. In India they were Aryans (Aryans), in Europe - Etruscan, in the Middle

East and Asia Minor - Rassen. It took several millennia for, under the influence of objective factors, in particular, natural demographic increase, partial assimilation of weak obgtsin, as well as as a result of global geoclimatic changes, a single social formation etruscan - Rassenov - Aryans split into numerous tribes. In historical science, these tribes (peoples) were called Indo-Europeans (according to their linguistic community) or Aryans, Aryans.

The Indo-Europeans included the ancient tribes of the Celts, Gauls, Franks, Burgundians, Teutons, Angles, Saxons, Prussians, Poles, Luzhans, Glades, Dregs, Bodrov, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Saints, Krivichi, Ulichi, Polochans, Drevlyans, Volynians, Northerners Slovenians, Tivirians and others. As a result of the historical processes of the last two millennia, on the basis of numerous Indo-European - Aryan peoples (tribes), several modern nations of the white race were formed. These are the Anglo-Saxons, French, Germans, Slavic peoples (eastern, western and southern) and the Russian nation. The above reasoning on the ethnic issue is important for understanding the national and cultural origins of philosophical knowledge.

Philosophical thought of Russia formed gradually, absorbing the mythological, religious, artistic and folk wisdom of the centuries. She was distinguished by her originality and did not copy Western models. In Russia, a unified system of philosophical outlook was not created, it was not carried away by metaphysical constructions with their logical constructions, nevertheless, it left a worthy trace in the history of philosophy.

Its main features include:

• - cosmological topics: the cosmic connection of man, his involvement in the universe, his responsibility for universal processes;
• - striving to analyze the meaning of life, life values \u200b\u200bof a person, his being and non-being, death and immortality, fate and reality;
• - direct participation in the construction and development of world civilization and its types, organization of interaction between Western and Eastern cultures, determination of the place of culture in the system of the world community;
• - solving the problem of the relationship between philosophy and religion, harmonizing the philosophical and religious understanding of the world;
• - posing the problem of the relationship between philosophy and art, displaying worldview pictures of life in artistic and applied artistic images.

The emergence of Russian philosophy. Spiritual life of pre-Petrine Russia

Russian philosophy, as well as world philosophy, had its own certain prerequisites. They can be thought of as the relationship of the material with the spiritual. The material prerequisites assumed reliance on a substantive method of management, farming, and the development of cattle breeding. The spiritual relied on the culture of pagan Rus, its Christianization (X century) and active searches for the meaning of human life. System formation "universe - man", "not I - I" occurred taking into account the peculiarities of the ethnic group of Russians. Spiritually mastered universe, that is world, reflected the specifics of the Slavic way of life, including independence, love of freedom, strength, endurance, complaisance, mutual assistance, collegiality, hard work, honesty, friendliness.

The ancient Rus as a spiritual nation distinguished three of their own world substances - Yav, Nav and Rule. Reality meant the visible, material, real world. Nav - the otherworldly, immaterial world, the world in which the dead live. Rule - this is the truth and law of Svarog, governing the whole world and, first of all, Reality. Svarog - The God of heavenly fire, the hypostasis of Rod, he is the father of Svarozhich - the God of earthly fire.

According to the legends of the ancients, after death, the soul of a person leaves Reality and enters Nav, wanders there until it reaches Iriya or Paradise, the abode of Svarog, where it is determined further destiny in accordance with deeds in earthly life.

Russian land - Russia, as a state formation of the Eastern Slavs, appeared in the 9th century. on the middle Dnieper and spread to the entire territory of the Ancient Russian state, in addition, in the XII-XIII centuries. the name Rus was used in relation to individual lands and principalities.

In particular, White Russia, Little Russia, Black Russia, Red Russia appeared, and gradually the concept of "Russia" was assigned to the lands of the northeastern territories of the large Ancient Russian state. Previously, a large group of southern Slavic tribes for several centuries was called the Antes.

There is a well-known belief according to which the concept of "Russia" is a huge people, scattered (scattered, scattered) throughout the earth. Even the Byzantine writer-historian Procopius of Caesarea (6th century) noted that the Antes and the Slavs had the same language. They differed slightly from each other and in antiquity the Slavs were called disputes (i.e. seeds, as if scattered, scattered around the world).

There is also an opinion that the Russians have nothing to do with the Slavs, but allegedly belong to the Germanic tribes. In Europe, the Russians were called differently: ruthenes, dews, swears. In principle, the Slavs and Russians are a single tribe, called in ancient times glades, which even in the name reflected the unity of their location - in an open field.

According to the author of "History of the Russian State", honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences N.M. Karamzin (1766-1826) the beginning of the Fatherland was laid in 862 after the arrival of the Varangians (warriors; in the Old Russian language - Scandinavians) - the prince from the Baltic Sea Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor. And the name Rus may come from the name of one of the coastal regions of the Swedish kingdom, where the Varangians lived, and they called this region Rosskoy (Nov-1ayep). He gives another judgment, giving an explanation to him. In particular, in the "Book of Degrees" of the XVI century. and in some of the newest chronicles it was said that Rurik and his brothers came from Prussia, where the Kursk Bay was called Rusnoy for a long time, and the northern arm of the Neman or Memel was called Russoy, their surroundings Porus (the location of ancient Memel is modern Klaipeda). Therefore, historically, the etymology of the words "Rus", "Rusichi", "Russians", "Russians" is quite rich.

As for the development of philosophical views in Russia, it is also interesting in terms of research and has its own "biography": the philosophical thought of Ancient Russia developed in line with religious institutions, and was based on the traditions of antiquity and folk culture. Orthodoxy was the foundation and the real basis of ancient Russian philosophy.

The philosophical ideas of that time were actually reflected in theological views, in literary works, in folk legends, in architecture, in painting, in sculpture, which have come down to us through the surviving chronicles, words, prayers, teachings, proverbs, sayings, icons, frescoes. Ancient Russian philosophy did not have a well-built logical conceptual apparatus. For example, in the "Veles Book" on tablets written in Cyrillic, a historical cut of Russia in the Middle Ages is set forth. A person who was literate enough, who knows events and history, wrote, or maybe not one, but several. The Rusichi are presented as cattlemen who lived from the Carpathians to the Volga. Described their struggle with the Goths, Romans, Huns, up to the founding of Kiev in 830 by the prince Kiem and the reign of his kind is presented.

Valuable sources of Russian Medieval social thought are the literary monuments that have come down to us: "The Lay of Igor's Host" (XII century) and Chronicles - "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Legend of the Baptism of Rus", "Kiev-Pechersk Chronicle" (X- XII centuries). "The Tale of Bygone Years" was compiled by a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor (1056-1114) and later edited by the bishop of Pereyaslavl (southern) Sylvester (date of birth unknown - 1123). In addition to the indicated chronicle work, Nestor owns two narratives: "The Life of the Monk Theodosius" and "The Legend of the Holy Princes Boris and Gleb".

It is advisable to include the following stages in the periodization of the history of the emergence and development of the philosophy of Russia:

• - IX-XIII centuries. - the prehistory of philosophical thought;
• - XIV-XVII centuries. - the formation of theoretical and analytical thinking, the emergence of a conceptual structure;
• - XVIII century. - gradual separation of philosophy from religion and its formation as an independent, universal system of scientific thought;
• - XIX-XX centuries. - fundamental development of problems of methodology of sciences and their classification, universalization of metaphysics and dialectics;
• - XXI century. - philosophical problems of history and modernity.

The pioneer of Russian philosophical thought can be considered the Kiev thinker, religious philosopher - Metropolitan Hilarion, who gave a philosophical-historical and ethical-epistemological interpretation of Russian life at the end of the 10th century. - the beginning of the 11th century, who raised the question of the place of the Russian people in world history, the historical significance of their adoption of Christianity.

Illarion (Larion), named Kiev (end of X - beginning of XI century - about 1054/1055) - the ideologist of Old Russian Christianity, the first Metropolitan of Kiev from the Russian clergy (1051-1055). He did not have a high dignity, but was elected by the bishops to the highest ecclesiastical post during the reign of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise for his bright mind, loyalty to the princely power and patriotism. Yaroslav approved it arbitrarily, that is, without the consent of Constantinople, for this, after the death of the Grand Duke in 1054, Hilarion was removed from the metropolitan throne by the decision of the Patriarch of Constantinople. His main work - "The Word of Law and Grace", contains a number of theological, philosophical and socio-political ideas and can be considered as the program announced by Hilarion on the eve of his election as Metropolitan:

• - the Old and New Testaments are compared as the spiritual (functional-Christian) foundations of the grand-ducal (state) power;
• - the significance of the adoption of Christianity in Russia is determined;
• - shows the historical role of the Grand Duke Vladimir (Vladimir I, Vladimir the Holy - Prince of Novgorod from 969, the Grand Duke of Kiev from 980; in 988-989 he introduced Christianity in Russia, under him the ancient Russian state entered its heyday, international authority was strengthened and was subsequently canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church);
• - a high assessment was given to the manifestation of national patriotism;
• - the relationship between a person and the state (grand ducal power) has been determined;
• - shows the relationship between the ecclesiastical and grand ducal authorities.

In theological form, Hilarion poses the problem knowledge as knowledge of God, but goes beyond theology and approaches the understanding of knowledge from the standpoint of rationalism.

Peru Hilarion owns - "Prayer", "Confession of Faith" and "Word for the Renewal of the Church of the Tithes", in addition, the authorship of more than ten works has been established presumably. Undoubtedly, he was distinguished by deep theological knowledge and was perhaps the most educated person for his time, who came from among those literate people who, according to the chronicle article of 1037, were close to the prince and, at his direction, translated books necessary for the spread of Christianity. The emergence of the Pechersk monastery is associated with the name of Hilarion. He drew up a church charter that differed from Byzantine law, which determined the norms of behavior in everyday life, which regulated the life of the Church.

Vladimir Monomakh, Vladimir II (1053-1125) - Grand Duke of Kiev (from 1113). Monomakh (Greek. Combatant) - a nickname given to him at birth by his father and mother in honor of his mother's grandfather. Vladimir is the Russian name given to him by his grandfather Yaroslav, as well as the Christian name Vasily (godmother). Vladimir II Monomakh was the son of Vsevolod I and the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh - Mary. In 1060-1090. reigned in Rostov, Smolensk, Vladimir-Volynsky, Chernigov; in 1094-1113 - in Pereyaslavl (southern). He played an active role at the princely congresses, defended the idea of \u200b\u200brallying the Russian princes to repel the Polovtsy and was one of the leaders of three campaigns against the Polovtsians, who methodically robbed Russia. For pious people, Vladimir was a model of piety: according to the testimony of his contemporaries, everyone marveled at how he fulfilled the duties required by the Church, in particular, under no pretext did he agree with other princes to overstep the oath of kissing the cross, which actually restrained civil strife and unnecessary bloodshed. He was distinguished by chastity, not giving offense to the weak, protecting the offended, for which he often did not find understanding even in his environment.

His "Instruction to His Children" or the so-called "Spiritual" is a wise testament of the father and the Grand Duke to his children (there were eight of them) and his followers, which reflects one of the periods in the development of Russian history of the 12th century, as well as the formation of philosophical and political thought in Russia. It is worth clarifying here regarding the names of the scriptures, left by Vladimir P. So, P.M. Karamzin in "History of the Russian State" calls what Monomakh wrote for posterity - preaching, noting that "this remnant of antiquity has been preserved in one harate chronicle." And a little later, historian, professor of St. Petersburg University N.I. Kostomarov (1817-1885) calls in his works the letter left by Monomakh - "Instructions to his children" or "Spiritual". Most likely, Monomakh did not give a specific name to his scripture, in its meaning it was an instruction and testament for his relatives and friends, at least in his works on the history of the SM. Solovyov (1820-1879) and V.O. Klyuchevsky (1841-1911) does not mention the subject name of this scripture. "Instruction" - "Commission" was not written immediately by Vladimir Monomakh. The foundation was most likely laid for the meeting of princes in Vitichev, as wishes, on the basis of which the internecine princes were to find understanding. The "Instruction" substantiates the need for unity, guaranteeing the power of Russia. He also formulated general Christian teachings to his sons and descendants, supported by extracts from the Holy Scriptures: "Praise God! Love humanity also. Do not forget the poor. Be fathers of orphans. Do not kill either the right or the guilty. Do not leave the sick. Do not have pride. Fear. all lies, drunkenness and covetousness. Honor the old people. Look after everything diligently on your own household. Be active in war, serve as an example for the governor. In all, honor your guest most of all. Love your wives. " The image of a ruler who is guided by these principles also looms in Scripture. Vladimir Monomakh stands up for the establishment of a just social order, the establishment of humane and moral principles in domestic and state affairs, an end to strife and reconciliation in the name of creating a single state. The highest measure of a person's usefulness is believed to be labor, which ennobles knowledge. The "Commission" confirms generally useful deeds based on Christian principles that elevate not only justice, but also compassion, avoiding evil to an absolute. Repentance, prayer, diligence and mercy with trust in God are declared to be those small deeds that are within the power of everyone. The divine merges with the natural. Vladimir Monomakh's "commission" together with his autobiographical narration (possibly as part of the "Teachings") and letters to Prince Oleg Stanislavovich were included in the Laurentian Chronicle as independent Scriptures. May 19, 1125, after spending almost 13 years in the capital in the great reign, Vladimir II Monomakh died. Already in weakness and illness, he arrived at the place of the death of Prince Boris, the son of Grand Duke Vladimir I, near Pereyaslavl, next to the Church built by him on the Alta River, and in the seventy-third year from birth he gave up his spirit to God. His body was transported to Kiev. The sons and boyars performed a burial ceremony in the Sophia Church.

Clement Smolyatich (end of XI - beginning of XII centuries - after 1164) - religious writer and thinker, Metropolitan of Kiev in 1147-1154.

The Grand Duke of Kiev Izyaslav Mstislavich (grandson of Vladimir II Monomakh) arbitrarily, without the sanction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, put Clement to the highest church post. Before the election and grand-ducal approval of the Kiev Metropolitan, Clement was a monk-schema-monk of the Zarubsky monastery, where he gained fame as a scribe and philosopher. Philosophy meant not so much a fascination with external wisdom, but rather one's own deep knowledge and a righteous life in accordance with this knowledge. Judging by his nickname - Smolyatich, he could have been a native of the Smolensk land. In the course of his spiritual activity, Clement defended the independence of the Russian Church from Byzantium.

Clement was a well-educated thinker. Already as a metropolitan, he met with Kirik Novgorodets - the hieromonk of the Anthony monastery in Novgorod, a very enlightened and famous person in Russia. The recording of their confidential and rather poignant conversations on the topics touched upon was preserved in the canonical and theological work known as "Questioning Kirikovo", in which Kirik correlates Byzantine legal norms with the realities of Russian life that were unsettled in them. The descendants also received the "Epistle written by Clement, Metropolitan of Russia, Thomas the Presbyter." In it, Smolyatich follows the tradition of theology, which absorbed elements of ancient culture, combining Christian dogma with the ideas of ancient Greek philosophers. He recognizes the real world, believes that reason is given to man in order to understand everything that happens in the world. Knowledge for him is knowledge of God. To know God, one must turn to nature. He believed that the mind is a natural experience of the soul in the sensory knowledge of the world. Reason is higher than feelings. In the mind, the human soul finds its earthly existence and strives towards knowledge, the wisdom of God. The "Epistle" consists of two parts: the original author's beginning and extensive extracts, compiled on the basis of Theodoret of Kirsky's interpretations of the Old Testament books. In addition to the "Message", his work is known under the name "A Teaching on a Cheese-Desert Saturday".

Philip Motherwort (XI century) - theologian, philosopher. He wrote the poem "Lament", which was part of the philosophical and theological treatise "Dioptra". The book is presented in the form of a conversation between soul and body. The soul constantly threatens the body and controls it badly. In the Middle Ages, there were two worldviews in Russian philosophy: theological-idealistic and the beginnings of materialism.

IN the whole Kiev thinkers opposed the Byzantine influence on the Russian Church, on the side of the secular, grand-ducal power. The further development of the ancient Russian state, the unification of Russia around Moscow was carried out on the basis of religious and philosophical foundations and were associated with the solution of specific political issues: the fight against external and internal enemies. The way of expressing meaning in Russian philosophy was freely constructed allegorism and symbolism, which, however, were inherent in very few people. Ignorance is deeply rooted in the Russian land and this fact has weighed down the progressive minds of the Russians for more than one century. Enlightenment was simply necessary for the further strengthening of statehood and the establishment of Russia. For this, books were needed - a storehouse of knowledge and people capable of teaching.

The remains of literary sources, preserved after numerous raids on Russia and fires, which the scribes could have been guided by, suffered greatly, they also suffered from ignorant scribes and translators, as a result of which some retellings were simply incorrect. Many historically and philosophically important materials for the transfer of knowledge, education, simply did not remain at the disposal of the scribes in the Slavic language. They were available only in Greek and Latin, but were inaccessible to them. Scientists were needed. They were not looked for in the West: the West parted with the Orthodox East long ago. Russia could only try to follow its old path, paved by Vladimir the Holy (Vladimir I, died in 1015) and his descendants - to turn to Greece, which, having lost its identity, was also in a difficult spiritual situation. But unlike Russia, the Greeks, with all their hostility to the West, went there to study, and therefore among them it was possible to find scientists who were in Russia in the XIV-XVI centuries. it was pointless to search. This was understood in the great Moscow principality.

Maxim the Greek the grand duke of Moscow Vasily Ivanovich - Vasily III (1479-1533, who completed the unification of Russia around Moscow and understood the importance of enlightenment) was just one of such scientists who were looking for in Greece by sending an embassy to Athos. The Athonite abbot proposed to the ambassador of the Moscow sovereign a Greek scientist named Maxim from the Vatopedi monastery, who had great talent for languages. Monk Neophytos and Lavrenty the Bulgarian went with him. They joined other spiritual people who were going to Russia, and arrived in Moscow in 1518.

Maxim the Greek, in the world Michael Three ox is. Greek is a Russian nickname based on territorial or nationality (c. 1475-1556), publicist, theologian, philosopher, translator, philologist. He was born in the Albanian city of Arta in the family of noble parents of Hellenic origin - Emmanuel and Irina. He knew ancient languages. He studied in Italy, Venice and Florence, where he met many scholars, listened to the profoundly moral sermons of the Dominican monk Jerome Savonarola, convicted of heresy in 1498 and burned at the stake at the behest of Pope Alexander VI. After his studies, Maxim returned to his homeland, but did not find himself in conditions of persecution of science and left for Greece, although the situation there was far from moral. He goes to a monastery on Mount Athos, due to his deep chastity, obedience and literacy: Savonarola's sermons sunk deep into his soul with their truth, exposure of hypocrisy, defeat of hypocrisy, intercession for the oppressed and offended. Maxim arrived in Russia on the recommendation of the Athonite abbot in 1518 to correct church books, where he remained until the end of his days, engaging in literary and journalistic activities. He became close to the church opposition, was twice condemned at councils in 1525 and in 1531. About 150 of his works are known. Moral and accusatory - "Pursuit about known monastic residence "," Conversations of the mind with the soul "; instructive -" Chapters are instructive to the rulers of the faithful "; polemical articles, including against Catholics, Lutherans, Mohammedans, Jews, pagan Hellenes, astrologers; philosophical and theological reasoning; translations, in including the Holy Scriptures and the teachers of the Church; articles on grammar, lexicography and onomastics; epistles. The political ideal of the Greek is the harmony of secular and spiritual authorities; defended free will ("autocratic gift"). Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988.

Buried Maxim the Greek in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, now the city of Zagorsk, Moscow region.

The Greek's worldview is Orthodox, conditioned by his inner spiritual culture. The range of interests is quite wide and corresponds to stable Christian positions - reflections on justice and injustice, on piety and hypocrisy, on life and death, on soul and body.

He developed his own idea of \u200b\u200bautocracy. It differed from the theological interpretation and opened up some opportunities for discussing moral and philosophical problems. Autocracy is an affirmation of human activity, but within the framework of Christian foundations.

In the field of knowledge, the Greek gives preference to the mind, which is his leading principle. Reason is the divine Logos; the cause of passions is original sin. They say that Maxim, who saw the grand-ducal library of Vasily III upon his arrival in Moscow, was surprised at the abundance of manuscripts in it and said that there was no such wealth either in Greece or in Italy, where Latin fanaticism destroyed many of the works of Greek theologians.

Another notable representative of the philosophical thought of Russia, who played a significant role in its spiritual culture of the 17th century, was Yuri Krizhanich.

Krizhanich Yuri (c. 1618-1683), Pan-Slavist thinker, Jesuit, missionary priest, writer. Croat or Serb by nationality, Catholic by religion. Born as a subject of the Turkish Sultan in Obrh, near Goritsa, Yugoslavia, he was taken to Italy as a poor orphan. He received a spiritual and seminary education, studying in Zagreb, Vienna and Bologna. Then he entered the Roman College of St. Athanasius, where the Roman Congregation trained special missionary masters for schismatics of the Orthodox East, but Krizhanich, as a Slav, was trained for Muscovy. He considered the Muscovites not heretics or schismatics from superstition, but Christians, deluded out of ignorance. He was a supporter of the idea of \u200b\u200b"Slavic unity", the main role in the implementation of which he assigned to Russia. In 1659, he voluntarily left Rome for Moscow with the idea of \u200b\u200bleading there the cause of linguistic and literary unification of the Slavs. He put forward a program of transformations in the Moscow state, saw Moscow as a unifying center of the Slavs, nurtured the idea of \u200b\u200ban all-Slavic language. In 1661 Krizhanich was exiled to Tobolsk, where he stayed about 16 years (the reasons are unknown, perhaps - pro-Catholic sympathies and propaganda of a kind of Uniatism in the Russian environment). In Siberia, he wrote a lot, including developing the common Slavic alphabet and grammar, which he had previously unsuccessfully fussed about. Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich returned Yuri to Moscow. In 1677 Krizhanich left his named homeland. Some of his poems, articles and works have reached the descendants. In particular, works on politics - "Political Dumas" and "Conversations about dominion", representing a kind of political and economic treatise, in which it is valuable that the author compares the state of the Western European states with the order of the Muscovite state. Russia is here for the first time presented face to face with Western Europe.

In general, the positions of Yu. Krizhanich were anti-scholastic in nature, he developed the ideas of rationalism. The goal of philosophy was the knowledge of the world. To know the world of things means to find out the reasons for their existence. The source of knowledge is experiential knowledge. The initial stage of cognition is sensory knowledge. The highest stage is wisdom. This is the level of state people. The cognition process is as follows: practice and theory; knowledge - mundane, philosophical and natural. Includes: mechanics, logic, dialectics (negotiations), rhetoric, poetics, mathematics, ethics, politics, economics, physics, medicine.

Russian culture of the XIV-XVI centuries retained its originality, but was strongly influenced by the Mongol-Tatars, which manifested itself in the borrowing of words (money - from the Turkic tanga), weapons (saber), and techniques in arts and crafts (gold embroidery on velvet).

As a result of the Mongol invasion, many cities perished, stone construction ceased, many arts and crafts technologies were lost, and the educational level of the population decreased. To a lesser extent, the Novgorod land was subjected to cultural ruin. Until the middle of the XIV century, Russian culture was in a state of decline. Since the second half of the XIV century, Russian culture has experienced a state of revival. She was inspired by two ideas: the struggle against the Horde and feudal fragmentation and the desire for unification and national revival.

Literature

Patriotism and the exploits of the Russian people become the leading theme in literature. There is a rethinking of many epic plots. Become a new genre songs and legends on historical themes (The Legend of Evpatiy Kalovrat - about the heroic defense of Ryazan, The Legend of Shchelkan - about the uprising in Tver in 1327). The theme of fighting external enemies remains the main theme in the 16th century. Monuments of this time describe such events as the capture of Kazan, the fight against the Crimeans and Stephen Bathory, the conquest of the Siberian Khanate by Yermak. The image of Ivan the Terrible in these songs is strongly idealized, and Malyuta Skuratov becomes the main culprit of the oprichnina.

Along with historical songs, lives (Sergius of Radonezh, Metropolitan Peter), walking - travel descriptions ( Walking the Three Seas Afanasy Nikitin). In the XIV-XV centuries there is a flourishing annals in monasteries. In the XIV century in Moscow created united Russian chronicle, and in the middle of the 15th century - “ Chronograph»- an overview of world history, which includes Russian history. A great work on the collection and systematization of Russian literature was carried out by an associate of Ivan the Terrible Novgorod metropolitan Macarius.

IN journalistic literature XV-XVI centuries, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe legal supremacy of Moscow in the Russian lands is being persistently pursued. Under Prince Vasily III, the monk Philotheus formulates the theory "Moscow - the Third Rome". In this theory, Moscow is called the guardian of Orthodoxy after such world centers of Orthodoxy as Rome and Constantinople perished. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, this theory will determine the development paths of Russia. Ivan the Terrible and Andrei Kurbsky are trying to comprehend the nature of the tsarist power in their correspondence. A prime example everyday genre becomes " Domostroy», Which contains tips for proper housekeeping.

Since the XIV century, paper has appeared in Russia, which makes it possible to create many textbooks for monastic schools. IN 1533 year the first printing house (Anonymous Printing House) opens in Moscow, and 1564 year refers to the first accurately dated printed book made Ivan Fedorov.

Craft

The revival of the craft begins at the end of the XIV century. By the 15th century, metalworking, woodcarving and bone carving were actively developing. IN In 1586 the foundry worker Andrey Chokhov cast the Tsar Cannon.

Iconography

In the XIV-XV centuries, icon painting schools of certain lands were finally formed. Came to Novgorod from Byzantium Theophanes the Greek, which had a great influence on Russian icon painters. The images created by Theophanes are imbued with tremendous spiritual power. Theophan's disciple was Andrey Rublev... Andrey is characterized by a special roundness, smooth lines, and a light range of colors. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe icon painter is the comprehension of moral purity through the heavenly world. The pinnacle of ancient Russian painting is the icon " Trinity»Created by Andrey Rublev.

In the 15th century, plots on historical themes more and more often penetrate into icon painting, and portrait images of kings and queens appear.

Architecture

In the 14th century, after the Mongol pogrom, stone construction was revived. IN 1327 Dmitry Donskoy encloses the Kremlin with a white-stone wall. Under Ivan III, large-scale construction began on the territory of the Kremlin, for which the best craftsmen from Novgorod, Pskov, Rostov, Vladimir and Italy were invited. Italian master Aristotle Feoravanti erects Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals, and the Pskov masters are building Blagoveshchensky cathedral... The architectural composition of the Moscow Kremlin in the 16th century becomes a model for construction in other cities: Novgorod, Tula, Smolensk. In the 16th century, a new architectural style was formed - the tent... Elements of the hipped roof style are used in the architecture of the central church of St. Basil's Cathedral.

On the whole, by the end of the 16th century, Russian art is losing traces of local artistic traditions and is turning into an all-Russian one.

Source: "Science and Religion", No. 1, 1984.

Not a single issue is discussed by contemporary Orthodox theologians and church preachers as actively and with such a pronounced polemical fervor as the problem of the relationship between religion and culture. The purpose of the discussion is more than specific: to convince soviet peopleinterested in various aspects of social progress, in the fact that religion is the fundamental principle of culture, its deep stimulator, and Orthodoxy is the main factor in the emergence, formation and development of the culture of the Russian people. It is Orthodoxy, the Russian emigre press assures its readers, that determined the historical path of Russia, its “spiritual being, that is. culture "(magazine" Orthodox Rus ", 1980, No. 1, p. 2).

In this context and introduction of Christianity (in church terminology, "the baptism of Russia") is considered by modern church authors as the source of the cultural progress of ancient Russian society - progress that comes down to the simple assimilation of Byzantine culture standards by our ancestors. "Together with Christianity," says the author of the article "A Brief Review of the History of the Russian Church", "the Russian Church brought to Russia the highest Byzantine education, culture and art that fell on the good soil of the Slavic genius and gave their fruit in the historical life of the people." (50th anniversary of the restoration of the patriarchate. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate (hereinafter JMP). Special issue, 1971, p. 25).

This interpretation of cultural progress is deeply flawed. The assimilation and creative rethinking of the elements of Byzantine culture that came to Russia in the course of the Christianization of ancient Russian society (Christianity in this case performed a purely communicative function - it acted as a simple transmitter of these elements), became possible only because there was no spiritual vacuum in pre-Christian Russia, as modern church authors assert, but there was a fairly high level of development of spiritual culture.

Refuting popular speculations about the "backwardness of Old Russian culture", as well as attempts to deduce the latter from the Christianization of Old Russian society, Academician D.S.Likhachev wrote: "... More than a thousand years of Russian folk art, Russian writing, literature, painting, architecture, sculpture, music ". Academician B.A.Rybakov also points to the presence of cultural traditions among our distant ancestors. In his opinion, the origins russian non-native art go back millennia, "by the time of the adoption of Christianity, Russian art was at a fairly high stage of development."

Now let's turn to historical facts. Calling pre-Christian forms of spiritual life “paganism”, modern Orthodox theologians and church preachers consider them to be the embodiment of primitivism and squalor, meeting only “meager needs, little needs, low tastes” (ZhMP, 1958, no. 5, p. 48). Meanwhile, that small part of the monuments culture of pre-Christian Russia, which came down to us and became the object of scientific study, refutes such statements.

The economic and political development of Ancient Russia of the pre-Christian era gave rise to many forms and manifestations of a spiritual culture high enough for its time. Unfortunately, much of this heritage of ancient Russian society has been irretrievably lost. This is to blame for the merciless time, and all-devastating natural disasters (primarily fires), and numerous enemy invasions, interspersed with princely strife, and the disdainful attitude of the ruling classes to the national cultural heritage. There is also a fault (moreover, not a small one!) Of the Russian Orthodox Church: at its command, many cultural creations of pre-Christian times were exterminated (as "the products of pagan superstition") or were forgotten.

But even that comparatively little that we managed to preserve: the forms of objects of labor and everyday life perfect for their time, the high artistic level of the design of weapons and military armor, the elegance of adornments - convincingly testifies to the presence of a subtle understanding of beauty in our ancestors. Having studied folk embroidery, BA Rybakov came to the conclusion that her plots and compositional solutions, striking aesthetic perfection, arose thousands of years ago. The most ancient tools of female labor - the spinning wheels - were designed with great taste: the ornaments and patterns applied to them are highly artistic.

From the found jewelry, one can judge that the ancient jewelers not only possessed the technology of making the most complex handicrafts from gold, silver, bronze, but also had a high artistic taste. In all the books on the history of the culture of Ancient Russia, the horns from the Black Grave in Chernigov, dating back to the 10th century, are certainly mentioned. Their silver frame, on which, according to B.A.Rybakov's assumption, the plot of the Chernigov epic about Ivan Godinovich is minted, belongs to the masterpieces of ancient Russian art.

Scientists suggest that there was painting art in ancient Russia of the pre-Christian era. There are more than enough reasons for this assumption. If there were no such traditions in ancient Russian society, the art of frescoes, mosaics and icon painting, stimulated by the introduction of Christianity, would not have taken root so quickly and would not have reached such heights. Bearing this in mind, BA Rybakov wrote: "The high level of artistic expression achieved by ancient Russian painting is partly due to the fact that the perception of Byzantine art was prepared by the development of Slavic folk art in the pagan period."

There were also rudiments of sculpture in Ancient Rus - the work of wood and stone carvers. They made statues of pagan gods destroyed later: Perun, Khors, Veles and others. There were figurines of gods - patrons of the hearth. One of the most complex sculptural compositions was found on the banks of one of the tributaries of the Dniester. On the stone of the cave there is a bas-relief image of a man praying in front of a sacred tree with a rooster sitting on it.

Many everyday rituals included theatrical performances. In ancient Russia of those distant times, the foundations of buffoonery were laid - the art of wandering actors who enjoyed the love of the broad masses. Previously, it was believed that the buffoons, first mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years" in 1068, entered the historical arena after the "baptism of Rus." However, modern researchers have come to the conclusion that buffoonery appeared “not after the adoption of Christianity, but before it; that buffoons also existed under paganism. "

The true spiritual wealth of Ancient Russia was oral folklore in all the variety of its manifestations: songs, proverbs and sayings, legends, epics. Guslars-storytellers, whose fame found its embodiment in the image of the legendary Boyan, sung by the author of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", created and performed songs on heroic themes, sang the praises of folk heroes, defenders of their native land. “If it were not so late,” lamented Academician B. D. Grekov, who deeply studied and highly appreciated the preliterate culture of the Slavic peoples, “they began to collect and write down the Russian epic, we would have at our disposal an incomparably great wealth of these vivid indicators of deep patriotism of the masses, their immediate interest in their history, the ability to make a correct assessment of persons and events. "

Historians of Ancient Rus noted that in the "Tale of Bygone Years" and other chronicles used folk songs and epics, composed at an earlier time. Among them are the legends about the brothers Kie, Schek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid. About Olga's revenge on the Drevlyans who killed her husband, Prince Igor. About the feasts of the Kiev prince Vladimir and about his marriage to the Polotsk princess Rogneda. The largest Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky called these legends "the folk Kiev saga." On the basis of a thorough analysis, BA Rybakov attributed the legend of Kiev to the 6th – 7th centuries.

Songs played an important role in the life of our distant ancestors. Many rituals and holidays were accompanied by songs, they were sung at feasts and feasts.

In the distant pre-Christian times, epic creativity has its roots, although a significant part of the epic plots of a later origin. According to the conclusion of academician B. A. Rybakov, the basis of the epic about Ivan Godinovich was laid in the 9th-10th centuries. Around the same time, they wrote the epics about Mikhail Potok and the Danube (Don Ivanovich). And the scientist attributes the epics about Volga Svyatoslavich and Mikul Selyaninovich to the eve of the “baptism of Rus”.

In later records (in particular, in the "Tale of Bygone Years") ancient spells and conspiracies have come down to us. There we also find many old proverbs and sayings: “perished aki obre” (about the death of the Obrov (Avar) tribe, who fought with the Slavs), “the dead do not imat shame” (the words of Prince Svyatoslav, spoken before the battle with the Byzantines), etc. etc.

Much of the oral folk art of Ancient Rus did not survive for a number of reasons, and the first collection of epics was published only in the 18th century. A fatal role was played by the hostile attitude towards ancient Russian folklore and literature on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church, which branded them as paganism and tried to eradicate them by all means. “The medieval church, jealously destroying the apocrypha and the writings in which pagan gods were mentioned,” noted academician B. A. Rybakov, “probably had a hand in the destruction of manuscripts like“ The Lay of Igor's Host ”, where the church was mentioned in passing, and the poem is complete pagan deities ".

Can't stand up to facts national history and the assertions of modern church authors that pre-Christian Russia did not know writing. For example, Archpriest I. Sorokin said in one of his sermons that from the church “Russian people received writing, education, and were grafted into the centuries-old Christian culture” (ZhMP, 1980, no. 7, p. 45). Archimandrite Palladiy (Shiman) echoes him: only after the “baptism of Rus” and thanks to him, the Slavic peoples of our country “soon developed their own original writing and original art” (“Orthodox Visnik” (hereinafter PV), 1982, No. 8, p. 32 ). According to the assurances of Archpriest A. Yegorov, “the first Russian written language was born in the monasteries” (ZhMP, 1981, No. 7, p. 46).

Scientists have sufficient factual material to prove that the Eastern Slavs had a written language before the “baptism of Rus”. And this is natural. Writing, like other manifestations of culture, arose from the needs of social development, primarily from the need to expand communication between people, as well as to record and transfer the experience accumulated by previous generations. This need became urgent in the era of the formation of feudal relations, during the formation of the ancient Russian statehood. “The need for writing,” notes Academician DS Likhachev, “arose with the accumulation of wealth and with the development of trade: it was necessary to record the amount of goods, debts, various obligations, to formalize in writing the transfer of accumulated wealth by inheritance, etc. the state also needed, especially when concluding treaties. With the growth of patriotic self-awareness, there was a need to keep a record of historical events. There was a need for private correspondence as well. "

Based on the data of scientific research and on the evidence of ancient authors, D.S.Likhachev suggested that, “apparently, separate writing systems have existed on the territory of the Russian land for a long time, especially in the areas adjacent to the northern shores of the Black Sea, where then there were ancient colonies ”. Here is some evidence.

In the "Pannonian Life of Constantine the Philosopher" (Cyril - the creator of the Slavic alphabet), it is reported that during a trip to Khazaria (about 860) he saw the Gospel and the Psalter written by "Russian letters" in Chersonesos (Korsun). It is believed that there was used "Glagolitic" - the ancient Slavic alphabet, which replaced "lines" and "cuts".

The presence of a written language among the Eastern Slavs of the pre-Christian era is reported by Arab and German sources of the 10th century; they mention an inscription on a monument to a Rus warrior, a prophecy written on a stone in a Slavic temple, about "Russian letters" sent to one of the Caucasian tsars.

Archeologists have also found traces of Old Russian writing. Thus, during the excavation of the Gnezdovsky burial mounds near Smolensk (1949), an earthen vessel was found, dated to the first quarter of the 9th century. An inscription was read on it indicating spice ("gorukhshcha" or "gorushna"). This means that even then writing was used for everyday purposes.

The most convincing evidence of the existence of writing in Russia in pre-Christian times is the texts of treaties concluded by Russian princes with Byzantium in the first half of the 10th century.

From the text of the 911 treaty, cited in the Tale of Bygone Years, it can be seen that it was drawn up in two copies (“in two haraty”), one was signed by the Greeks, and the other by the Russians. The agreement of 944 was also drawn up.

The contracts state the presence in Russia at the time of Oleg of written wills (“let the one to whom the dying person wrote to inherit his property take what was bequeathed to him” - the 911 contract), and at the time of Igor - accompanying letters. They were supplied to Russian merchants and ambassadors (“earlier the ambassadors brought gold seals, and the merchants - silver; now your prince ordered to send letters to us, the tsars” - the treaty of 944).

All this taken together allowed Soviet historians to conclude: “ The need for writing in Russia appeared a long time ago, and a number of, although not entirely clear, news tells us that the Russian people used the letters before the recognition of Christianity as the state religion. " "There is no doubt," writes Professor V. V Mavrodin, "that among the Slavs, in particular among the Eastern Slavs, Russians, writing appeared before the adoption of Christianity and its emergence is by no means connected with the baptism of Rus."

As for the impact of the Christianization of Rus on the further development of writing, it was, contrary to the assertions of modern Orthodox theologians and church preachers, stimulating but not defining “Christianity ... - emphasized Academician B. D. Grekov, - was only one of the factors, increasing the need for writing and undoubtedly accelerating the improvement of their own alphabet. " Precisely "one of", no more.

Indeed, the Christianization of Rus, which created the need for liturgical and apologetic literature, for a variety of hagiographic materials, for religious edifying reading for believers, gave impetus to the further development of writing and books. But in addition to Christianity and simultaneously with it, those stimulators of the development of writing that existed in pre-Christian times continued to operate (moreover, to an ever increasing degree!): The need for state and business documentation, the need to account for products and goods, cultural and aesthetic needs, the need to consolidate and transfer of knowledge.

In particular, the need for recording and evaluating historical events gave rise to chronicle writing. It appeared in pre-Christian times, but took its classical forms after the establishment of Christianity.

A clear bias, leading to a distortion of historical truth, is demonstrated by modern supporters of Orthodoxy when considering religious beliefs of ancient Russia... The reason for this tendentiousness is the desire to convince that Christianity (and hence Russian Orthodoxy) is fundamentally different from the pre-Christian beliefs called paganism - as truth from error, light from darkness, that only with the establishment of Orthodoxy in Russia began an introduction to true spirituality. Hence the desire to present the ancient Russian society on the eve of the "baptism of Rus" as being in "pagan ignorance", and the adoption of Christianity as the acquisition of "true spirituality." Moreover, the paganism of the Slavic peoples is characterized in the modern church press not only as a delusion, superstition, but also as a state of oppression, from which the Russian Orthodox Church allegedly brought them out, fighting “against pagan prejudices and superstitions that spiritually enslaved the people” (“50th anniversary restoration of the patriarchate ”, p. 25).

The epoch of the adoption of Christianity lies not in it itself, but in the circumstances of the social order. It does not consist in replacing a "less true" religion with a "more true" one, as church authors assert for apologetic purposes, but in the epoch-making of humanity's transition from one socio-economic formation to another.

Religious beliefs of Ancient Rus corresponded to the era that gave birth to them. And until tribal relations outlived their usefulness and did not yield their positions to feudal relations, ancient Slavic paganism remained the only possible form of religiosity in Russia, easily assimilating pagan beliefs and cults of neighboring peoples, adapting them to their own needs.

That is why in the pagan pantheon, which the Kiev prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich intended to make the religious and ideological support of the ancient Russian state, there were gods who were revered not only in Russia, but also in the neighborhood. In one place, for universal veneration, images were installed not only of the long-revered Perun, Dazhdbog and Stribog, but also of Khors with Simurg (Simargl) - the gods of the peoples of Central Asia.

Christianity as a religion of a developed class society could not establish itself in Russia before feudal relations were sufficiently strengthened there. While the islands of feudalism were drowning in Russia in the ocean of tribal relations, Christianization did not take on a mass character, spreading only to individuals and small social groups.

Both Prince Askold and part of his retinue adopted Christianity, but they did not baptize the entire Kievan Rus that they controlled. And the Christian princess Olga did not manage to make any significant progress along this path: feudal relations had not yet gained strength. Even her son Svyatoslav refused to be baptized, saying, according to the Tale of Bygone Years: “How can I alone accept a different faith? And my squad will scoff. " Persuasion did not help - according to the chronicler, he "did not obey his mother, continuing to live according to pagan customs" (p. 243).

Only after feudal relations in Russia were sufficiently strengthened did real preconditions for the transition from paganism to Christianity arose.

As for the accusations of paganism “of primitiveness” coming from Orthodox ideologists, one can cite the opinion of Academician BA Rybakov on this matter. Having deeply and comprehensively studied the religious beliefs of our distant ancestors, he proved that they are not something inferior and narrow-minded. " Slavic paganism, - he stressed, - part of a huge common human complex of primitive views, beliefs, rituals coming from the depths of millennia and serving as the basis for all later world religions.

In the fundamental research of B. A. Rybakov “ Paganism of the ancient Slavs”On a huge archaeological and ethnographic material, it is shown that the religious beliefs that existed in Russia before the adoption of Christianity is a product of a long evolution, reflecting the main stages in the development of the ancestors of the Slavs of the times of Kievan Rus.

Not only Slavic paganism at the end of the 1st millennium AD, but also the religion of the Proto-Slavs of the 1st millennium BC, represented a complex, internally contradictory and nevertheless quite harmonious system of beliefs and rituals, where there is a quite tangible tendency of transition from polytheism (polytheism) to monotheism ( monotheism).

This is evidenced by the cult of the god of the universe - Rod, which has developed with the victory of patriarchy. BA Rybakov considers the traditional idea of \u200b\u200bRod as the patron saint of the family, the home god-house-god, as unreasonable. In his opinion, "Genus in Russian medieval sources is depicted as a heavenly god, located in the air, controlling the clouds and blowing life into all living things." BA Rybakov believes that the Rod has overshadowed the archaic women in labor. “In Russian embroidery,” he writes, “a three-piece composition consisting of Mokosh and two women in labor with their hands raised to the sky is presented as an appeal to the heavenly god, in which one should see Rod,“ blowing life ”. Apparently, prayers on high mountains located closer to the sky are connected with the heavenly Rod.

According to a fairly convincing assumption of BA Rybakov, the cult of the Rod contained elements of “ancient pre-Christian monotheism,” which religious ideologists (including theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church) consider to be the prerogative of Christianity.

The reconstruction of ancient Slavic beliefs, carried out by Academician B.A. Rybakov and other researchers, convinces that the attempts of the ideologists of modern Russian Orthodoxy to present the paganism of the Slavs as something amorphous, primitive and unsystematic are untenable.

If we turn to the worldview content of pagan and Christian beliefs, then from this point of view they turn out to be equally naive and untenable.

Take, for example, the pagan idea of \u200b\u200bthe appearance of man, expressed by the Belozersk Magi in polemics with the adherents of Christianity and given in the pages of The Tale of Bygone Years: “God washed in the bath, sweated, wiped himself with a rag and threw it from heaven to earth. And Satan argued with God, which of her to create man. And the devil created man, and God put his soul into him. That is why when a person dies, his body goes to the ground, and his soul goes to God ”(p. 318).

Let us compare the story of the Magi with the biblical story about the creation of man: “And the Lord God created man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis, Ch. 2, Art. 7). To the man created by him, God said: "... You will return to the land from which you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you will return" (Genesis, Ch. 3, Art. 19).

As you can see, the pagan idea of \u200b\u200bthe appearance of man is no more primitive than the Christian one.

At one level are such components of the pagan and Christian worldviews as worship of idols and veneration of icons, appeal to spirits and invocation of saints, faith in the supernatural powers of the Magi and the endowment of "divine grace" of priests, confidence in the miraculousness of a pagan fetish and hope for the saving power of the Christian cross ...

Similar parallels can be continued indefinitely. But the point is not in the number of comparisons, but in their essence: Christianity is just as distorted a reflection of reality as paganism. According to the just remark of B.A.Rybakov, Christianity differs from paganism not in its religious essence, but only in those features of class ideology that have been layered over a thousand years on primitive beliefs rooted in the same primitiveness as the beliefs of the ancient Slavs or their neighbors ".

Consequently, even in a purely religious aspect, the “baptism of Rus” cannot be qualified as the beginning of principles. It was not marked by the emergence in Kievan Rus of some fundamentally new form of spiritual life. Old Russian society moved from one religious level to another, more appropriate to the new stage of its development.

This is the real historical picture, and it convincingly refutes the leading theological thesis about the fundamental difference between Christianity and pre-Christian (pagan) beliefs.

So, Russian history does not begin with the “baptism of Rus”. The statements of modern Orthodox theologians are also groundless, as if the church had before itself "the unenlightened soul of the Russian man" (ZhMP, 1982, No. 5, p. 50) and "stood at the origins of Russian national identity, statehood and culture" (ZhMP, 1970, No. 5 , p. 56).

“Truths” of this kind distort the historical truth, and they are proclaimed in the hope that, by overestimating the scale of the “baptism of Rus”, exaggerating its role in national history, to force all Soviet people (including non-believers) to relate to his forthcoming anniversary. the millennium as a national holiday.

The reactionary circles of the Russian ecclesiastical emigration are trying to take advantage of such distortions for ideologically sabotage purposes, opposing the "baptism of Rus" as the "true beginning" of Russian history - the October Revolution as an alleged "false beginning." It is the duty of not only scientists, but also popularizers of historical knowledge, propagandists of scientific atheism to reasonably prove the complete inconsistency of such an opposition of different-scale events, to convincingly expose the true goals of this action by the church-emigre falsifiers of history. This is the patriotic duty of every Soviet person who knows and respects the past of his people.

An appeal to the times of pre-Christian Russia, their correct coverage is not just a tribute to interest in antiquity or the satisfaction of natural curiosity. It is necessary to refute theological fabrications in the field of Russian history, to expose the attempts of the clergy-emigrants to use these fabrications for anti-Soviet purposes.

Option 3

Culture of Russia in the XIV - XVI centuries. in.

The religious worldview still determined the spiritual life of society. The Stoglava Cathedral of 1551 regulated art, establishing the standards to be followed. The work of Andrei Rublev was formally proclaimed as a model in painting. But they did not mean the artistic merit of his painting, but the iconography - the arrangement of figures, the use of a certain color, etc. in each specific plot and image. In architecture, the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin was taken as a model, in literature - the works of Metropolitan Macarius and his circle.

Socio-political thought problems of that time: about the nature and essence of state power, about the church, about the place of Russia among other countries, etc.

Literary-publicistic and historical essay "The Legend of the Great Dukes of Vladimir". About the fact that the Russian princes are descendants of the Roman emperor Augustus, or rather his brother Prus. And that Vladimir the monomakh received from the Byzantine kings symbols of royal power - a hat and precious brahma-mantles.

In the ecclesiastical environment, a theory was put forward about Moscow - the "third Rome". The first Rome, the "eternal city" - perished because of heresies; “Second Rome” - Constantinople - because of the union with the Catholics; “The third Rome” is the true guardian of Christianity - Moscow, which will exist forever.

I.S. Peresvetov talked about the need to create a strong autocratic power based on the nobility. Questions concerning the birth and place of the nobility in the management of the feudal state were reflected in the correspondence between Ivan VI and A. Kurbsky.

Chronicle. Prussian chronicle writing continued to develop.

"Chronicler of the beginning of the Kingdom" which describes the first years of the reign of Ivan the Terrible and proves the need to establish tsarist power in Russia. "Book of the Degree of Tsarist Genealogy".Portraits and descriptions of the reigns of the great Russian princes and metropolitans, the location and construction of the text, as it were, symbolizes the inviolability of the union of the church and the tsar.

Nikon Chronicle... a huge collection of chronicles of Moscow chroniclers, a kind of historical encyclopedia of the 16th century (belonged to Patriarch Nikon). contains about 16 thousand miniatures - color illustrations, for which it received the name Facial vault ("face" is an image).

Historical storieswhich described the events of that time. ("Kazan capture", "On the arrival of Stefan Batory on the city of Pskov", etc..)

Chronographs. Evidence of the secularization of the culture "Domostroy" (translated as home economics), containing a variety (useful information of leadership in both spiritual and worldly life, the author of which is considered Sylvester.

The beginning of typography

1564 - the first Russian dated book was published by the first printer Ivan Fedorov "Apostle". However, there are seven books with no exact publication date. These are the so-called anonymous books - books published before 1564. The printing works, begun in the Kremlin, were transferred to Nikolskaya Street, where printing houses were built. Besides religious books Ivan Fedorov n his assistant Peter Mstislavets in 1574, the first Russian primer was published in Lviv - "ABC". For the entire XVI in 20 books. The handwritten book occupied a leading place in the XVI and XVII centuries.

Architecture construction of hipped-roof temples Hipped-roof temples do not have pillars inside, and the entire mass of the building rests on the foundation The most famous monuments of this style are church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye, built in honor of the birth of Ivan the Terrible, Cathedral of the Intercession (Basil the Blessed), built in honor of the capture of Kazan

Construction of large five-domed monastic churches such as the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. (Assumption Cathedral in the Tronts-Serhvev Monastery, Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Monastery, cathedrals in Tula, Suzdal, Dmitrov) Construction of small, stone or wooden township temples. They were the centers of the settlements, And they were dedicated. patron of the craft. Construction of stone kremlin.

Option 1

The Mongol-Tatar invasion interrupted the powerful rise of Russian culture. The destruction of cities, the loss of traditions, the disappearance of artistic trends, the destruction of monuments of writing, painting, architecture - a blow, from which it was possible to recover only by the middle of the XIV century. In the ideas and images of Russian culture of the XIV-XVI centuries. reflected the mood of the era - the time of decisive successes in the struggle for gaining independence, the overthrow of the Horde yoke, unification around Moscow, the formation of the Great Russian nationality.
The memory of a prosperous and happy country, which remained in the minds of society, Kievan Rus ("light, bright and beautifully decorated" - words from "The Tale of the Death of the Russian Land", no later than 1246), was kept primarily by literature. Chronicle writing remained its most important genre; it was revived in all lands and principalities of Russia. At the beginning of the XV century. in Moscow, the first all-Russian chronicle collection was compiled - an important evidence of progress in the unification of the country. With the completion of this process, the chronicle, subordinated to the idea of \u200b\u200bjustifying the power of the Moscow prince, and then the tsar, acquired an official character. During the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible (70s of the 16th century), the illustrated "Observational Chronicle Collection" was compiled in 12 volumes, containing more than fifteen thousand miniatures. In the XIV-XV centuries. the favorite topic of oral folk art is the struggle of Russia with the "infidels." A genre of historical songs was formed ("Song of the Shchelkan", about the battle on Kalka, about the devastation of Ryazan, about Evpatiy Kolovrat, etc.). Historical songs reflected and major events XVI century - the Kazan campaign of Ivan the Terrible, oprichnina, the image of the Terrible Tsar. Victory in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. spawned a cycle of historical stories, of which the "Legend of the Mamaev Massacre" and the inspired "Zadonshchina" (its author Sofoniy Ryazanets used images and excerpts from "The Lay of Igor's Campaign") stand out. Lives of the saints are created, in the 16th century. they are combined into a 12-volume collection of "Great Cheti-Minei". In the XV century. the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin ("Voyage across the Three Seas") describes his journey to India and Persia. A unique literary monument remains "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom" - the love story of the Murom prince and his wife, probably described by Ermolaus-Erasmus in the middle of the 16th century. In its own way, remarkable is "Domostroy", written by Ivan the Terrible's confessor Sichvestr - a book about housekeeping, raising and educating children, the role of women in the family.
At the end of the XV-XVI centuries. literature is enriched with brilliant journalistic works. The Josephites (followers of the hegumen of the Volotsk monastery Joseph, who uphold the principle of non-interference of the state in the affairs of a rich and materially strong church) and non-possessors (Nil Sorsky, Vassian Patrickeyev, Maxim the Greek, condemning the church for wealth and luxury, for craving for worldly pleasures) argue fiercely. In 1564-1577. Ivan the Terrible and Prince Andrei Kurbsky are exchanging angry messages. “... Kings and rulers are perishing, who make up cruel laws,” Kurbsky inspires the tsar and hears in response: “Is it really light - when the priest and crafty slaves rule, the tsar is a tsar only in name and honor, and not at all by power not better than a slave? " The idea of \u200b\u200bthe "autocracy" of the tsar, the divinity of his power acquires almost hypnotic force in the letters of Ivan the Terrible. Otherwise, but just as consistently Ivan Peresvetov writes about the special vocation of the tsar-autocrat in his Bolshoi petition (1549): punishing the boyars who have forgotten their duty to society, the righteous monarch must rely on the devoted nobility. The concept of Moscow as a “third Rome” has the significance of official ideology: “Two Romes (“ second Rome ”- Constantinople, ravaged in 1453 - Auth.) Have fallen, the third is standing, and the fourth is not to be” (Philotheus).

Note that in 1564 in Moscow Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets published the first Russian printed book - "Apostle".

In the architecture of the XIV-XVI centuries. the tendencies of the historical development of Rus-Russia were reflected with particular evidence. At the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. stone construction is resumed - in Novgorod and Pskov, which suffered less from the Ordish yoke. In the XIV century. in Novgorod, a new type of temples appeared - light, elegant, bright (Savior on Ilyin). But half a century passes, and tradition wins: stern, heavy, buildings reminiscent of the past are being erected again. Politics imperiously invades art, demanding that it be the guardian of the independence that the unifier Moscow so successfully fights against. It accumulates signs of the capital city of a unified state gradually, but consistently. In 1367. the white-stone Kremlin was being built, at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. new red brick walls and towers are being built. They are being erected by masters discharged from Italy, Pietro Antonio Solari, Aleviz New, Mark Ruffo. By that time, on the territory of the Kremlin, the Italian Aristotle Fioravanti had already erected the Assumption Cathedral (1479), an outstanding architectural monument, in which an experienced eye will see both features traditional for Vladimir-Suzdal architecture and elements of the building art of the Renaissance. Next to another work of Italian masters - the Faceted Chamber (1487-1489) - the Pskov masters are building the Annunciation Cathedral (1484-1489). A little later, the same Aleviz Novy completes the magnificent ensemble of Cathedral Square with the Archangel Cathedral, the burial vault of the Grand Dukes (1505-1509). Behind the Kremlin wall on Red Square in 1555-1560 in honor of the capture of Kazan, the nine-domed Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral) is erected, crowned with a high polyhedral pyramid - a tent. This detail gave the name to the "tent-roofed" architectural style that arose in the 16th century. (Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye, 1532). The zealots of antiquity are fighting "outrageous innovations", but their victory is relative: at the end of the century, the desire for pomp and beauty is revived. Painting of the second half of the XIV-XV centuries is the golden age of Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, Dionysius. The murals of the Novgorod (Savior on Ilyin) and Moscow (Annunciation Cathedral) churches of Theophanes the Greek and Rublev's icons (Trinity, Savior, etc.) are turned to God, but they tell about a person, his soul, about the search for harmony and ideal. Painting, while remaining deeply religious in themes, images, genres (wall paintings, icons), acquires unexpected humanity, gentleness, and philosophicality.

Option 2

Culture and spiritual life of Russia in the 14-16 centuries.

By the 14th century, in conditions of fragmentation and the influence of neighboring peoples, peculiarities in the language, customs, culture of the peoples of different parts of Russia developed. He connected the 14-16th century with the struggle against the Horde yoke and the formation of the Russian centralized state around Moscow. Literature is represented by historical songs, which glorified the victory on the "Kulikovo field", the heroism of Russian soldiers. In "Zadonshchina" and "The Legend of the Mamayev Massacre" they tell about the victory over the Mongol-Tatars. Afanasy Nikitin, who visited India, left his notes "Walking across the Three Seas", where he tells about the customs and beauties of this region. Printing was an outstanding event in Russian culture. In 1564 Ivan Fedorov published the first printed book in Russia "Apostle", and later "Primer". In the 16th century, an encyclopedia of patriarchal family conditions was created. Painting increasingly began to move away from church channels. Theophanes the Greek in the 14th century painted churches in Novgorod and Moscow. Andrei Rublev, known for "Trinity", worked with him. Dianisy painted the Vologda Cathedral near Vologda and others. It is inherent in: brightness, festivity, refinement. The development of architecture is associated with large-scale construction in Moscow, where the walls of the Kremlin, the Arkhangelsk Annunciation, the Assumption Cathedrals, the Faceted Chamber, and the bell tower of Ivan the Great were erected. Crafts, especially foundry, reached a high level. Andrey Chokhov created the Tsar Cannon, which weighs 40 tons, and its caliber is 89 cm. In the culture of the 14-16 centuries. more and more secular elements appear, a kind of return and revival of Russian culture takes place.

In medieval Russia, as in the medieval West, the Christian church played the main role in the spiritual life of the nation. Thus, especially after the victory in the Golden Horde of Islam, there were few opportunities for direct Mongol influence in Russia in the religious sphere. Indirectly, however, the Mongol conquest influenced the development of the Russian Church and spiritual culture in a variety of ways. The first blow of the Mongol invasion was just as painful for the church as for other aspects of Russian life and culture. Many prominent priests, including the Metropolitan himself, perished in the destroyed cities; many cathedrals, monasteries and churches were burned or plundered; many parishioners were killed or taken into slavery. The city of Kiev, the metropolis of the Russian Church, was so devastated that for many years it could not serve as the center of the church administration. Of the dioceses, Pereslavl suffered the most, and the diocese was closed there.

Only after Mengu-Timur issued a certificate of protection to the Russian church authorities, the church once again found itself on solid ground and could gradually be reorganized; with the passage of time, in some respects it became even stronger than before the Mongol invasion. Indeed, led by Greek metropolitans or Russian metropolitans, ordained in Byzantium, protected by the khan's letter, the church in Russia then depended less on the princely power than in any other period of Russian history. In fact, the metropolitan more than once served as an arbiter in disagreements between the princes. This time was also a period when the Russian Church had the opportunity to create a powerful material base for its activities. Since the church lands were fenced off from the interference of state authorities, both Mongolian and Russian, they attracted more and more peasants, and their share of production in the total agricultural product grew steadily. This is especially true of monastic estates. The level of prosperity achieved by the church towards the end of the first century of Mongol rule helped tremendously in its spiritual activities.

Among the tasks facing the church during the Mongol period, the first was the task of providing moral support to bitter and embittered people - from princes to commoners. Associated with the first was a more general mission - to complete the Christianization of the Russian people. During the Kiev period, Christianity was established among the upper classes and townspeople. Most of the monasteries founded at that time were located in cities. In rural areas, the Christian layer was quite thin, and the remnants of paganism had not yet been defeated. Only in the Mongol period was the rural population of Eastern Russia more thoroughly Christianized. This was achieved both by the energetic efforts of the clergy and by the growth of religious feeling among the spiritual elite of the people themselves. Most of the metropolitans of that period spent a lot of time traveling throughout Russia in an attempt to correct the vices of the church administration and direct the activities of bishops and priests. Several new dioceses were organized, four in Eastern Russia, two in Western Russia and one in Sarai. The number of churches and monasteries increased steadily, especially after 1350, both in cities and in rural areas. According to Klyuchevsky, thirty monasteries were founded in the first century of the Mongol period, and about five times more in the second. A characteristic feature of the new monastic movement was the initiative of young people with an ardent religious feeling, who took monastic orders to retire to the "desert" - deep into the woods - for hard work in simple conditions, for prayer and reflection. The misfortunes of the Mongol invasion and princely strife, as well as the harsh living conditions in general, contributed to the spread of such attitudes.

When a former hermitage turned into a large, populous and wealthy monastery surrounded by prosperous peasant villages, former hermits, or new monks of a similar spirit, found the changed atmosphere suffocating and left the monastery, which they founded or helped to expand in order to create another shelter, deeper in the forest or further north. Thus, each monastery served as the cradle of several others. The pioneer and most revered leader of this movement was St. Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity Monastery about 75 kilometers northeast of Moscow. His holy personality inspired even those who had never met him, and the impact of his life's work on subsequent generations was immense. St. Sergius became a symbol of faith - an important factor in the religious life of the Russian people. Other prominent leaders of the Russian monasticism of this era were St. Cyril Belozersky and Saints Zosima and Savvaty, the founders of the Solovetsky monastery on the island of the same name in the White Sea. By the way, the new monasteries played an important role in the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.

Several northern monasteries were located on the territory of the Finno-Ugric tribes, and these peoples have now also adopted Christianity. The mission of St. Stepan of Perm among the Zyryans (now called the Komi) was especially productive in this regard. A gifted philologist, Stepan Permsky not only mastered the Zyryan language, but even created a special alphabet for it, which he used when distributing religious literature among the aborigines.

Church art was another important aspect of the religious revival in Eastern Russia during the Mongol era. This period witnessed the flourishing of Russian religious painting in the form of both frescoes and icons. An important role in this artistic revival was played by the great Greek painter Theophanes, who remained in Russia for about thirty years until the end of his life and career. Feofan worked first in Novgorod, and then in Moscow. Although the Russians admired both the masterpieces and the personality of Theophanes, he cannot be called the founder of either the Novgorod or Moscow schools of icon painting. Russian icon painters used his free brushstroke technique extensively, but they did not try to imitate his individual and dramatic style. The greatest Russian icon painter of this period is Andrei Rublev, who spent his youth in the Trinity Monastery and later painted his famous Trinity icon for him. The charm of Rublev's creations lies in the pure calmness of the composition and the harmony of delicate colors. There is a certain similarity between his works and the works of his contemporary, the Italian artist Fra Angelico.

Less striking, but no less significant, apparently, was the development in this period of church singing, about which, unfortunately, we know little. Most of the surviving diatonic manuscripts znamenny The chants date back to post-Mongol time, from 1450 to 1650. The prototype of the znamenny chant was brought to Russia in the eleventh century by Byzantine singers. In post-Mongol times, the Russian chant differed in many respects from the Byzantine pattern. As Alfred Swann points out, " during the growth on Russian soil and adaptation to Russian conditions, the znamenny chant became close to the Russian folk song ". Apparently, the Mongol period was the incubation period of the final stage of the znamenny chant. It was also at the end of the Mongol period that another chant appeared, the so-called demestny. It became popular in the sixteenth century.

In literature, the ecclesiastical spirit found expression primarily in the teachings of the bishops and the lives of the saints, as well as in the biographies of some Russian princes, who - it was felt - so deserved canonization that their biographies were written in a hagiographic style. The main idea of \u200b\u200bmost of these works was that the Mongol yoke is God's punishment for the sins of the Russian people and that only true faith can lead Russians out of this difficult situation. The teachings of Bishop Serapion of Vladimir (1274–75) are typical of this approach. He blamed the Russian princes for the suffering, who had drained the strength of the nation with their constant strife. But he didn't stop there. He rebuked ordinary people for their adherence to the remnants of paganism and called on every Russian to repent and become a Christian in spirit, not just in name. Among the princes of the first century of Mongol rule, the lives of the Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his son Alexander Nevsky are of particular interest. The biography of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was preserved only in fragments. It was conceived as the first act of a national tragedy, in which the Grand Duke got the main role. The introduction enthusiastically describes the happy past of the Russian land. Apparently, it should have been followed by a description of the catastrophe that befell Russia, but this part has been lost. The introduction was preserved under a separate title - "The Word about the destruction of the Russian land." It is perhaps the highest achievement of Russian literature in the early Mongol period. In the Life of Alexander Nevsky, the emphasis is on his military valor, shown in the defense of Greek Orthodoxy from the Roman Catholic crusade.

As in the Kiev period, the clergy of the Mongol period played an important role in the compilation of the Russian chronicles. After the Mongol invasion, all work stopped. The only chronicle written between 1240 and 1260 that has come down to us in fragments is Rostov. It was compiled by the bishop of this city, Cyril. As D.S. Likhachev, Kirill was helped by Princess Maria, daughter of Mikhail of Chernigov and widow of Vasilko Rostovsky. Both her father and her husband were killed by the Mongols, and she devoted herself to charity and literary work. In 1305, the chronicle was compiled in Tver. It was partially rewritten in 1377 by the Suzdal monk Laurentius (the author of the so-called Laurentian List). In the fifteenth century, historical works of wider scope appeared in Moscow, such as the Trinity Chronicle (begun under the direction of Metropolitan Cyprian and completed in 1409) and an even more significant collection of chronicles, compiled under the editorship of Metropolitan Photius in about 1428. It served as the basis for further work, which led to the creation of the grandiose vaults of the sixteenth century - the Resurrection and Nikon Chronicles. Novgorod during the fourteenth century and before its fall was the center of its own historical annals. It should be noted that many Russian chroniclers, and especially the compilers of the Nikon Chronicle, demonstrated excellent knowledge not only of Russian events, but also of Tatar affairs.

In the Russian secular creativity of the Mongol era, both written and oral, one can notice an ambivalent attitude towards the Tatars. On the one hand, there is a feeling of rejection and opposition to the oppressors, on the other, the latent attraction of the poetry of the steppe life. If we recall the passionate attraction to the Caucasus of a number of Russian writers of the 19th century, such as Pushkin, Lermontov and Lev Tolstoy, it will help us to understand this way of thinking.

Thanks to the tendency associated with hostility, the epics of the pre-Mongol time were reworked in accordance with the new situation, and the name of the new enemies - Tatars - replaced the name of the old (Polovtsy). At the same time, new epics, historical legends and songs were created, which dealt with the Mongol stage of the struggle of Russia against the steppe peoples. The destruction of Kiev by Batu (Batu) and Nogai's raids on Russia served as themes for modern Russian folklore. The oppression of Tver by the Tatars and the uprising of the Tver people in 1327 was not only written down in the chronicles, but also clearly formed the basis of a separate historical song. And, of course, as already mentioned, the battle on the Kulikovo field became the plot for many patriotic legends, fragments of which were used by chroniclers, and later recorded in full. Here we have a case of a mixture of oral and written forms in ancient Russian literature. "Zadonshchina", the theme of which belongs to the same cycle, is undoubtedly a work of written literature. The composers of the epics of the pre-Mongol period felt a special attractive force and poetry of steppe life and military campaigns. The same poetics is felt in the works of a later period. Even in the patriotic legends about the Kulikovo field, the valor of the Tatar knight, whose challenge was accepted by the monk Peresvet, is depicted with undoubted admiration. In pre-Mongol Russian epics there are close parallels with Iranian and early Turkic heroic songs. In the Mongol era, Russian folklore was also influenced by "Tatar" (Mongolian and Turkic) poetic images and themes. The intermediaries in the acquaintance of Russians with Tatar heroic poetry were, possibly, Russian soldiers who were recruited into the Mongol armies. And the Tatars who settled in Russia also introduced their national motives into Russian folklore.

The enrichment of the Russian language with words and concepts borrowed from the Mongolian and Turkic languages, or from Persian and Arabic (through Turkic), has become another aspect of the common human cultural process. By 1450, the Tatar (Turkic) language became fashionable at the court of Grand Duke Vasily II of Moscow, which caused strong indignation from many of his opponents. Vasily II was accused of excessive love for the Tatars and their language (“and their speech”). It was typical of that period that many Russian nobles in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries adopted Tatar surnames. Thus, a member of the Velyaminov family became known under the name Aksak (which means "lame" in Turkic), and his heirs became Aksakovs. In the same way, one of the Shchepin-Rostovsky princes was called Bakhteyar (bakhtyar in Persian means “lucky”, “rich”). He became the founder of the Bakhteyarov family of princes, which ended in the 18th century.

A number of Turkic words entered the Russian language before the Mongol invasion, but their real influx began in the Mongol era and continued in the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the concepts borrowed from the Mongolian and Turkic languages \u200b\u200b(or, through Turkic, from the Arabic and Persian languages), from the sphere of management and finance, one can mention such words as money, treasury, customs. Another group of borrowings is associated with trade and merchants: bazaar, booth, grocery, profit, kumach and others. Among the borrowings denoting clothes, hats and footwear, the following can be named: armyak, hood, shoe. It is quite natural that a large group of borrowings is associated with horses, their colors and breeding: argamak, bun, herd. Many other Russian words for household utensils, food and drink, as well as agricultural crops, metals, precious stones, are also borrowed from Turkic or other languages \u200b\u200bthrough Turkic.

A factor that can hardly be overestimated in the development of Russian intellectual and spiritual life is the role of the Tatars who lived in Russia and converted to Christianity and their descendants. The story of Tsarevich Peter Ordynsky, the founder of the monastery in Rostov, has already been mentioned. There were other similar cases. An outstanding Russian religious figure of the 15th century, who also founded the monastery, St. Paphnutiy Borovsky, was the grandson of the Baskak. In the 16th century, a boyar son of Tatar origin named Bulgak was ordained, and after that one of the family members always became a priest, up to Father Sergiy Bulgakov, a well-known Russian theologian of the 20th century. There were also other outstanding Russian intellectual leaders of Tatar origin, such as the historian H. M. Karamzin and the philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev. Chaadaev was probably of Mongolian origin, since Chaadai is a transcription of the Mongolian name Jagatai (Chagatai). Perhaps Peter Chaadaev was a descendant of Genghis Khan's son - Chagatai. At the same time, it is paradoxical and typical that in the “melting furnace” of Russian civilization with its heterogeneous elements, the “Westernizer” Chaadaev was of Mongolian origin, and the “Slavophile” Aksakov family had Varangians (the Velyaminovs' branch) as their ancestors.