The main features of Old Russian literature. Features of Old Russian literature, its difference from the literature of modern times

30.03.2019

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Ancient literature is filled with deep patriotic content, heroic pathos of serving the Russian land, state and homeland.
main topic Old Russian literature — world history and the meaning of human life.
Ancient literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian person, who is capable of sacrificing the most precious thing - life for the common good. She expresses a deep faith in strength, the ultimate triumph of good and the ability of a person to raise his spirit and overcome evil.
Historicism is a characteristic feature of Old Russian literature. The heroes are mainly historical figures. Literature strictly follows fact.
Feature artistic creation the so-called "literary etiquette" is also an ancient Russian writer. This is a special literary and aesthetic regulation, the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules, to establish once and for all what and how should be portrayed.
Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing and is based on the book Christian culture and developed forms of oral poetry... During this time, literature and folklore were closely related. Literature often perceived plots, artistic images, pictorial means folk art.
The originality of Old Russian literature in the portrayal of the hero depends on the style and genre of the work. In relation to styles and genres, reproduced in monuments ancient literature hero, ideals are formed and created.
In Old Russian literature, a system of genres was defined, within which the development of original Russian literature began. The main thing in their definition was the "use" of the genre, the "practical purpose" for which this or that work was intended.
The traditions of Old Russian literature are found in the works of Russian writers of the 18th-20th centuries.

CONTROL QUESTIONS AND TASKS

As Academician D.S. Likhachev Old Russian literature? Why does he call it "a single grand whole, one colossal work"?
With what does Likhachev compare ancient literature and why?
What are the main virtues of ancient literature?
Why would it be impossible without works of ancient literature? artistic discoveries literature of subsequent centuries? (Think about what qualities of ancient literature were assimilated by Russian literature of modern times. Give examples from the works of Russian classics known to you.)
What did Russian poets and prose writers appreciate and what did they perceive from ancient literature? What did A.S. wrote about her Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, A.I. Herzen, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak?
What does ancient literature write about the benefits of books? Give examples of "praise to books" known in ancient Russian literature.
Why were the concepts of the power of the word so high in ancient literature? What were they connected with, what did they rely on?
What does the gospel say about the word?
What do writers compare books to and why; why books are rivers, sources of wisdom, and what do the words mean: "if you diligently search in books for wisdom, you will find great benefit for your soul"?
Name the monuments of ancient Russian literature known to you and the names of their authors-scribes.
Tell us about the way of writing and the nature of the ancient manuscripts.
Name historical background the emergence of ancient Russian literature and its specific features in contrast to the literature of the new era.
What is the role of folklore in the formation of ancient literature?
Using vocabulary and reference material, briefly retell the history of the study of ancient monuments, write down the names of the scientists who study them, and the stages of study.
What is the image of the world and man in the minds of Russian scribes?
Tell us about the image of a person in ancient Russian literature.
Name the themes of ancient literature, using vocabulary and reference material, characterize its genres.
List the main stages in the development of ancient literature.

Read also the articles of the section " National identity ancient literature, its origin and development ”.

In ancient Russian literature, which did not know fiction, historical in large or small, the world itself appeared as something eternal, universal, where both the events and actions of people are determined by the very system of the universe, where the forces of good and evil are always fighting, a world whose history is well known ( after all, for each event mentioned in the chronicle, it was indicated exact date- the time elapsed from the "creation of the world"!) and even the future is predetermined: prophecies about the end of the world, the "second coming" of Christ and The last judgment waiting for all the people of the earth. Obviously, this could not but affect literature: the desire to subjugate the very image of the world, to determine the canons by which one or another event should be described led to the very schematic nature of Old Russian literature, which we talked about in the introduction. This sketchiness is called submission to the so-called literary etiquette - about its structure in literature Ancient Rus argues D.S. Likhachev: 1) how this or that course of events should have taken place; 2) how should have behaved actor according to their position; 3) how the writer should describe what is happening.

"Before us, therefore, the etiquette of the world order, etiquette of conduct and verbal etiquette," he says. To clarify these principles, consider the following example: in the life of the saint, according to the etiquette of behavior, it was supposed to tell about the childhood of the future saint, about his pious parents, about how he was drawn to church from infancy, avoided playing with peers, and so on: in any life, this plot component is not only certainly present, but is also expressed in each life in the same words, that is, verbal etiquette is observed. Here, for example, are the opening phrases of several Lives belonging to different authors and written at different times: Feodosii Pechersky "was drawn to the love of God with his soul, and you go to the Church of God all day long, listening to divine books with all attention, who also do not play for children. approaching, as the custom is unny, n (o) and abhorrent to their games ... To this and to date for the teaching of divine books ...

And soon I learned all grammatics "; Nifont Novgorodsky" vdan happens to be his parents teaching divine books. And the abiye will soon not get used to the book teaching, and I am not in the least going out with his peers to play children, but even more close to the church of God and will read the divine scriptures "; Varlaam Khutynsky" at the same time quickly teach divine books. divine scriptures ...

not for deviating from certain games or the shame of "spectacle", but even more to reading the divine scriptures. "The same situation is observed in the annals: descriptions of battles, posthumous characteristics of kyazes or church hierarchs are written using practically the same limited vocabulary. among the scribes of Ancient Russia, the attitude was also somewhat different from the modern one: for the most part, the author's name was indicated only for verification of events, in order to certify the reader of the authenticity of what was described, and the authorship itself had no value in the modern concept. Based on this, the situation is as follows: on the one hand, most of ancient Russian works anonymously: we do not know the name of the author of The Lay of Igor's Campaign, or of many other works, such as The Legend of Mamaev massacre"," The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land "or" Kazan History. "

In addition, the insertion into his works of not only individual phrases, but also whole fragments was not read as plagiarism, but testified to the well-read, high book culture and literary training of the scribe. So, an acquaintance with the historical conditions and some principles of the work of the authors of the XI-XVII centuries.

gives us the opportunity to evaluate the special style and ways of presenting the ancient Russian scribes, who built their narrative according to accepted and justified canons: he introduced a fragment from exemplary works into the narration, demonstrating his erudition and describing events according to a certain stencil, following literary etiquette. Poverty in details, everyday details, stereotyped characteristics, "insincerity" of the characters' speeches - all these are not literary shortcomings at all, but the peculiarities of the style, which meant that literature was meant to tell only about the eternal, without going into everyday trifles and mundane details. On the other hand, the modern reader especially appreciates the deviations from the canon, which were periodically allowed by the authors: it was these deviations that made the story alive and interesting. These deviations at one time gave a terminological definition - "realistic elements".

Of course, this in no way correlates with the term "realism" - there are still seven centuries before it, and these are anomalies, violations of the basic laws and tendencies of medieval literature under the influence of a living observation of reality and a natural desire to reflect it. Of course, despite the presence of a strict framework of etiquette, which largely limits the freedom of creativity, ancient Russian literature did not stand still: it developed, changed styles, etiquette itself, its principles and means of its implementation changed. D.

S. Likhachev in his book "Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus" (Moscow, 1970) showed that each era had its own dominant style - that was the style of monumental historicism of the 11th-13th centuries. , then the expressive-emotional style of the XIV-XV centuries, then there was a return to the previous style of monumental historicism, but on a new basis - and the so-called "style of the second monumentalism", characteristic of the 16th century, arose. Also D.

S. Likhachev examines several main directions leading to the development of Old Russian literature into the literature of modern times: the growth of the personal principle in literature and the individualization of style, the expansion of the social circle of persons who can become heroes of works. The role of etiquette is gradually decreasing, and instead of schematic images Attempts to describe a complex individual character, its inconsistency and variability, appear for conventional standards of a prince or a saint. Here it is necessary to make one reservation: V.P. Adrianova-Peretz showed that the understanding of complexity human character, the subtlest psychological nuances were inherent in medieval literature already at the earliest stages of its development, but the image of etiquette, conventional characters, depending on social status their owners.

The choice of plots or plot situations became wider, fiction appeared in literature; genres that are not essential are gradually entering literature. Works of folk satire begin to be recorded, are translated chivalric romances; moralizing, but essentially entertaining novellas - facets; in the 17th century. syllabic poetry and drama appear. In a word, by the 17th century. in literature, more and more features of the literature of the new era are revealed.

Old Russian literature, like any medieval literature, has a number of features that distinguish it from the literature of modern times. A characteristic feature literature of the medieval type is a broad interpretation of the concept of "literature" as a written word with the obligatory inclusion in it of functional genres that usually perform religious-ritual or business functions. Attention should be paid to the fact that in the Middle Ages, the basis of the genre system is precisely functional genres that have special extra-literary functions. In contrast, genres with weakened functionality are at the periphery of this system. V transition period From the Middle Ages to the culture of modern times, a reverse process arises: genres with weakened functionality move to the center of the system, and functional genres are pushed to the periphery.

Thus, DRL is a complex conglomerate of art and business monuments (1). This feature was due to its close connection with history, Christian religion and writing in general.

The handwritten nature of the existence of works by DRL (2) fundamentally distinguishes it from the literature of modern times. The work, as a rule, appeared not in one, but in several lists. The scribe sometimes simply copied the manuscript to create a new one. list, but often changed its ideological orientation in accordance with the requirements of the time, shortened or expanded the text, changed the style of the monument. In this case, we are talking about a new edition works. The author's list of text is called autographed... In the process of processing a work, its edition... Since the composition in DRL existed for several centuries and in different regions, there could be several editions. The list that turns out to be the basis for the rework is called protograph... It may not always be the author's version. Researchers of the movement and development of texts in DRL - textual critics and paleographers- they consider the types of handwriting of scribes-scribes, the peculiarities of spelling, grammar, identify individual linguistic differences and, on the basis of this, draw up a hypothetical scheme for the development and distribution of editions of the monument. Textology and paleography- this is auxiliary disciplines that help in the study of handwritten texts. Textual criticism deals with the study of the text itself, while paleography examines the material on which and with the help of which a manuscript monument was created.

Anonymity (3) most of the works of DRL - its other distinctive feature associated with the Christian concept of human personality, according to which pride was considered one of the greatest sins, and humility was the height of virtue. Because of this individual characteristics the personality of the writer in medieval literature did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. However, anonymity should not be confused with impersonality... It has long been proven that the individual author's principle existed in DRL, but the forms of its expression were different than in the literature we are accustomed to. The attitude to copyright in DRL was quite different. Anonymity allowed authors to use parts of "foreign" texts to compose their own. Exceptions were made only for authoritative works - texts Scripture and Tradition, the writings of the church fathers, government documents... References were made to the names of their creators. However, authoritative church texts were recognizable due to their wide popularity.

Medieval historicism (4). DRL began as a literature devoid of fiction. The scribe strictly followed the fact, linked his work with a specific historical event or person. Even when it comes about supernatural phenomena, about persons and events that, from our point of view, did not exist or were impossible in reality, all the same, both the compiler of the work and the reader in ancient Russia perceived everything written as really existed. And this attitude towards the written text remained very long time... Perhaps only in the 17th century this tradition was destroyed.

The principle of historicism is associated with providentialism (5), that is, the idea of predestination. So, any hero of hagiographic literature, even in childhood, shows a penchant for a holy life. If he begins his life sinfully, then his belief, a change in the quality of the spiritual state is inevitable, predetermined in advance from above. The suffering of the Russian people "for our sins" is also predetermined in the stories about the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

The peculiarities of the worldview of medieval man determine the authoritarianism of the thinking of the ancient Russian scribe and authoritarianism (6) as a feature of the DRL artistic method. A reference to historical, literary, or political authority is very important to old Russian man(this was already mentioned above). Often, new works were signed with the names of the church fathers, hierarchs of past years, in order to give them more weight. The reader who first gets acquainted with the DRL monuments draws attention to the abundance of direct quotes and indirect references to the texts of the New and Old Testament, numerous references to the creations of reputable church writers... In these quotes, the author, as it were, consolidated his moral, didactic, political and aesthetic assessment of a fact, event, person, asserted its general significance and generally recognition.

Closely related to authoritarian thinking the principle of retrospective historical analogy (7) , which is the most important means of the author's assessment of a particular historical event. Here is what V.V. Kuskov: "A retrospective historical analogy makes it possible to reveal more deeply the meaning of this or that historical event, to assess the behavior of its participants, to glorify or condemn them, to establish a kind of typological commonality of the events of Ancient Russia with the events of world history and thereby indicate their certain regularity." Using the material of the monuments of the Kulikovo cycle, the researcher shows how an uninterrupted chain of victories won by the Russian princes Yaroslav the Wise, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy is established. “A traditional technique,” continues V.V. Kuskov, - a retrospective historical analogy with biblical characters in the "Tale of the Mamev Massacre" emphasizes the importance of the victory won on the Kulikovo field. It is equated with the victory of Gideon over Midian, Moses over Amalek and Pharaoh, David over Goliath. The troops of the Moscow prince are like the army of Alexander the Great, the courage of the Russian soldiers is like Gideon's allies. And the heavenly forces help Dmitry in the same way as they once helped Tsar Constantine in his struggle against the wicked. The shelves of Dmitry Volynts are like the adolescents Davidov, "who have the hearts of those who have, like lvovs, like the owners of the sheep herds came." In his prayers, Dmitry asks God to help him in the same way as Ezekiah - to tame the heart of the fierce beast Mamai. "

Authority prevailed in the area art form... DRL can be called specimen literature, sustainable etiquette literature. Traditional (8) covers not only the content of works, but also their form: the principles of depicting a person, plot, composition, language. The traditionalism of medieval literature cannot be perceived as the result of "childish spontaneity", inability or "ineptitude" of the scribe. This is a phenomenon of the era, an urgent need of the time, a fact of a person's moral consciousness, without which he could not explain the world and navigate in it.

The authoritarianism of the DRL reflects the estate-corporate principle of the existence of an ancient Russian person. A clear awareness of the impossibility of breaking the estate-corporate principle leaves an imprint on literature. If you are a prince, then you must be one and behave in accordance with the idea of worthy princely behavior. “Just as a cauldron cannot get rid of blackness and burning, so a slave cannot get rid of servility” (The Prayer of Daniel the Zatochnik). Human behavior in medieval society determined by rank. Likhachev called this feature of life etiquette. But it is more accurate to use the terms decorum and orderliness. Even the clothing of a medieval man is a sign of rank. Decency is order. Outrage, outrage is a mess. A person must take his place in the general row. Order, ranks become indicators of the structure of the world. In the essay of the 17th century "The sergeant of the falconer way", created not without the participation of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the credo of human behavior and order is clearly formulated. Old Russian "rank" as literary concept corresponds to some extent modern concept"Rhythm", for it is precisely the measured adherence to order and rank that creates the vital basis of the ceremoniality of Russian literature.

Tradition becomes a type of medieval creativity, the most important factor intellectual development of reality. It rests on the deep conviction that there is only one correct worldview in the world - Christian ideology. The traditionalism of ideological and artistic thinking, reflecting medieval ideas about the new as heretical, did not allow any other approach to assessing the phenomenon, regarding any other point of view as coming from the devil.

An ancient Russian writer creates within the framework of a certain tradition. True value medieval art seems to him to follow the pattern exactly. The supreme model and supreme truth is, of course, the authority of Holy Scripture.

D.S. Likhachev introduced the concept literary etiquette (9) , by which we mean a system of canonical literary techniques- compositional, system of images, language, stylistic clichés, etc., necessary to create works of certain genres, images of certain characters.

An essential feature of DRL is its direct and more stable connection with ideology (10) ... A.N. Robinson explains this by the fact that in the Middle Ages "artistic literary creation did not develop independently (as special form ideology), but as if “inside” or as part of differently practically purposeful writing genres (for example, in annals, and in solemn sermons, and in hagiography, etc.) ... Such combined and practically purposeful functions of literature delayed the separation of artistic creativity proper from writing and determined a more direct (than in the literature of modern times) dependence of aesthetics on ideology as a whole. " Hence it follows and didacticism DRL. The author has always put before his work practical and didactic goals, for medieval literature is utilitarian, it is created for the benefit of the soul. Even history is always a didactic lesson.

The process of creating a literary work in Ancient Russia was closely related to the process of cognition, which in turn was due to the peculiarities of the world outlook of medieval man. The worldview of the Old Russian scribe is characterized by binarity, opposition of the real to the unreal, the temporal to the eternal. These features of the vision of the world and affected the theory of knowledge: the surrounding reality, everyday things, the scribe comprehends "bodily eyes". Mysteries ideal world a person is revealed through spiritual insight, divine revelation, therefore, cognition of the heavenly is possible only by “spiritual eyes”.

From the point of view of medieval man, divine powers could manifest themselves in life either directly or indirectly, with the help of various hints. Perceiving reality as a symbol of an ideal world, a person perceived any phenomenon, any object the real world as a sign that expresses the sacred essence of this phenomenon or object. Based on this vision of the world, it is actively developing symbolism (11) - one of the most characteristic features of medieval literature. The emergence of symbolism in DRL should not be associated solely with the dominance of Christian ideology. It is inherent in art and pre-Christian eras. So, A.N. Veselovsky distinguished between pagan symbolism and Christian symbolism. In his opinion, in paganism "the symbol left life", while in Christianity "life begins to be determined by the mental material introduced into it."

Medieval literature and art is built on symbols. Dionysius the Areopagite asserts: "The things that appear are the images of things that are invisible." Every thing is a symbol of the invisible. In medieval consciousness, the world is doubling. The real, dolny world is a symbol and prototype of the ideal, heavenly world. Only one who has attained perfection through inner contemplation can penetrate into the heavenly world, then inner gaze opens and prophets are born. Note that literature forgets nothing. On the basis of the principle of doubling the world, images of poets-prophets appear in romantic aesthetics.

Events are also doubled. They have analogues in the past, primarily in the biblical and evangelical history, which is thought of as reality. V historical event important to find hidden meaning... God is an intelligent and wise mentor who is trying to educate humanity with his batog. Note that symbolism, like the historicism of DRL, turns out to be associated with the idea of predestination, providentialism. Objects are symbolic. The sword is a symbol of power and justice, the shield is protection, defense. The church is a symbol of heaven, earthly heaven, the ark of salvation (as God saved Noah in the ark, so the temple saves a person). Gold symbolizes eternity and Christ. The cross is salvation, cross torment. Note that the DRL symbolism gave rise to the predominance of the parable genre, which was the fundamental principle of genre systems.

Of course, all these features of DRL could not remain unchanged for seven centuries, they gradually transformed with the development of literature.

The literature of Ancient Rus' originated in the 11th century. and developed over the course of seven centuries before the Peter the Great era. Old Russian literature is a single whole with all the variety of genres, themes, images. This literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and patriotism. On the pages of these works, conversations are held about the most important philosophical, moral problems, about which the heroes of all centuries think, speak, reflect. The works form love for the Fatherland and their people, show the beauty of the Russian land, therefore these works touch the innermost strings of our hearts.

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

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

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

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

Features of Old Russian literature

1. Historicism of content.

Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's fiction. Authors works of art even if they describe true events real faces, speculate a lot. But in Ancient Russia, it was not at all like that. The Old Russian scribe only talked about what, in his opinion, really happened. Only in the XVII century. Household stories appeared in Russia with fictional characters and plots.

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

2. The handwritten nature of being.

Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of existence. Even the appearance printing press in Russia, little changed the situation until mid XVIII v. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special reverence for the book. About which even individual treatises and instructions were written. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to instability of ancient Russian literary works. Those works that have come down to us are the result of the work of many, many people: author, editor, copyist, and the work itself could continue for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are concepts such as "manuscript" (handwritten text) and "list" (rewritten work). The manuscript may contain lists different compositions and can be written both by the author himself and by scribes. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term "editorial", that is, purposeful reworking of a monument caused by social and political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.

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

The author's principle in Old Russian literature is muffled, implicitly, Old Russian scribes were not thrifty with other people's texts. When rewriting, the texts were reworked: some phrases or episodes were inserted from them or inserted into them, stylistic "decorations" were added. Sometimes the ideas and assessments of the author were even replaced by the opposite. The lists of one work differed significantly from each other.

Old Russian scribes did not at all seek to discover their involvement in literary composition... Many monuments have remained anonymous, the authorship of others has been established by researchers on indirect grounds. So it is impossible to ascribe to someone else the works of Epiphanius the Wise, with his sophisticated "weaving of words." The style of the messages of Ivan the Terrible is inimitable, boldly mixing grandioseness and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of simple conversation.

It happens that in a manuscript this or that text was signed with the name of an authoritative scribe, which may equally correspond and not correspond to reality. So among the works attributed to the famous preacher Saint Cyril of Turovsky, many apparently do not belong to him: the name of Cyril Turovsky gave these works additional authority.

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

4. Literary etiquette.

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

Literary etiquette is composed:

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

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

From ideas about what words the writer should have described what is happening.

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

The main genres of Old Russian literature

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

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

1. Life genre.

Life is a description of the life of a saint.

Russian hagiographic literature has hundreds of works, the first of them were written already in the XI century. Life, which came to Russia from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of Old Russian literature, that literary form, in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Rus were clothed.

The compositional and verbal forms of life have been polished for centuries. A lofty theme - a story about a life that embodies ideal service to the world and God - defines the author's image and the style of the story. The author of the life leads the story excitedly, he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic, admiration for his righteous life. The author's emotionality, his excitement color the entire narrative in lyrical tones and contribute to the creation of a solemn mood. Such an atmosphere is created by the narrative style - high solemn, saturated with quotes from the Holy Scriptures.

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

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

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

2. Eloquence.

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

Solemn eloquence demanded depth of design and great literary skill. The orator needed the ability to effectively construct a speech in order to capture the listener, tune in a high mood, corresponding to the topic, and shock him with pathos. There was special term to denote a solemn speech - "word". (There was no terminological unity in Old Russian literature. A military tale could also be called a "word".) Speeches were not only pronounced, but written and disseminated in numerous copies.

Solemn eloquence did not narrowly pursue practical goals, it demanded the posing of problems of broad social, philosophical and theological coverage. The main reasons for the creation of "words" are theological questions, questions of war and peace, defense of the borders of the Russian land, internal and foreign policy, the struggle for cultural and political independence.

The most ancient monument of solemn eloquence is the "Sermon on Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion, written between 1037 and 1050.

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

The teachings and talks are purely practical, contain necessary for a person information. "Instructions to the brethren" by Luke Zhidyaty, bishop of Novgorod from 1036 to 1059, contains a list of rules of conduct that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not say "shameful" words. Go to church and behave in it quietly, honor elders, judge by the truth, honor your prince, not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.

Feodosiy Pechorsky - founder Kiev-Pechersky Monastery... He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: do not be late for church, put three bowing to the ground, observe decency and order when singing prayers and psalms, bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechora requires complete detachment from the world, abstinence, constant prayer and vigilance. The hegumen sternly denounces idleness, money-grubbing, and intemperance in food.

3. Chronicle.

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

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

Often ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk who sometimes spent the compilation of the chronicle long years... It was customary to start telling about history in those days from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had to first of all find, put in order, and often rewrite the work of his predecessors. If the compiler of the chronicle had not one, but several annalistic texts at once, then he had to "bring them together", that is, combine them, choosing from each one that he considered necessary to include in his own work. When materials related to the past were collected, the chronicler moved on to presenting the events of his time. The result of this great work became the annals. After some time, this collection was continued by other chroniclers.

Apparently, the first major monument of Old Russian chronicle writing was the annals compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this collection, it is believed, was the hegumen of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).

Nikon's work formed the basis for another corpus of chronicles, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. V scientific literature it received the code name "Primary vault". Its unnamed compiler added to Nikon's collection not only news of recent years, but also chronicle information from other Russian cities.

"The Tale of Bygone Years"

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

It was compiled in Kiev in the 10s. 12th century According to some historians, its likely compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, who is also known for his other works. When creating the Tale of Bygone Years, its compiler drew on numerous materials, which he added to the Primary Code. These materials include Byzantine chronicles, texts of treaties between Russia and Byzantium, monuments of translated and Old Russian literature, oral legends.

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

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

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

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

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

Old Russian literature did not arise from scratch. Its appearance was prepared by the development of the language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria, and was conditioned by the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. The first literary works that appeared in Russia were translated. The books were translated that were necessary for the divine service.

The very first original works, that is, written by the Eastern Slavs themselves, date back to the end of the 11th-beginning of the 12th century. v. The formation of Russian national literature took place, its traditions took shape, features that determined its specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days.

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

II. Features of Old Russian literature.

2. 1. Historicism of content.

Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's fiction. The authors of works of fiction, even if they describe the true events of real persons, conjecture a lot. But in Ancient Russia, it was not at all like that. The Old Russian scribe only talked about what, in his opinion, really happened. Only in the XVII century. Household stories with fictional characters and plots appeared in Russia.

2. 2. The handwritten nature of being.

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

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

Old Russian scribes did not at all seek to discover their involvement in literary composition. Many monuments have remained anonymous, the authorship of others has been established by researchers on indirect grounds. So it is impossible to ascribe to someone else the works of Epiphanius the Wise, with his sophisticated "weaving of words." The style of the messages of Ivan the Terrible is inimitable, boldly mixing grandioseness and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of simple conversation.

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

2. 4. Literary etiquette.

A well-known literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature, academician DS Likhachev proposed a special term for the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - “literary etiquette”.

Literary etiquette is composed:

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

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

From ideas about what words the writer should have described what is happening.

III. The main genres of Old Russian literature.

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

3. 1. Life genre.

Life is a description of the life of a saint.

Russian hagiographic literature has hundreds of works, the first of which were written in the 11th century. The life that came to Russia from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity became the main genre of Old Russian literature, the literary form in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Russia were clothed.

The compositional and verbal forms of life have been polished for centuries. High theme-story about a life that embodies ideal service to the world and to God - defines the author's image and the style of the story. The author of the life leads the story excitedly, he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic, admiration for his righteous life. The author's emotionality, his excitement color the entire narrative in lyrical tones and contribute to the creation of a solemn mood. Such an atmosphere is also created by the narrative style - high solemn, saturated with quotations from the Holy Scriptures.

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

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

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

3. 2. Eloquence.

Solemn eloquence demanded depth of design and great literary skill. The orator needed the ability to effectively construct a speech in order to capture the listener, tune in a high mood, corresponding to the topic, and shock him with pathos. There was a special term for a solemn speech - "word". (There was no terminological unity in Old Russian literature. A military tale could also be called a "word".) Speeches were not only pronounced, but written and disseminated in numerous copies.

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

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

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

Theodosius of Pechorsky is the founder of the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: do not be late for church, put three earthly obeisances, observe decency and order when singing prayers and psalms, bow to each other when they meet. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechora requires complete detachment from the world, abstinence, constant prayer and vigilance. The hegumen sternly denounces idleness, money-grubbing, and intemperance in food.

3. 3. Chronicle.

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

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

Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk, who sometimes spent many years compiling the chronicle. It was customary to start telling about history in those days from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had to first of all find, put in order, and often rewrite the work of his predecessors. If at the disposal of the compiler of the chronicle was not one, but several chronicle texts at once, then he had to "bring them together", that is, combine them, choosing from each one that he considered necessary to include in his own work. When materials related to the past were collected, the chronicler moved on to presenting the events of his time. The result of this great work was the collection of chronicles. After some time, this collection was continued by other chroniclers.

Nikon's work formed the basis for another corpus of chronicles, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. In the scientific literature, he received the code name "Primary Code". Its unnamed compiler added to Nikon's collection not only news of recent years, but also chronicle information from other Russian cities.

"The Tale of Bygone Years"

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

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

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

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