A state like Byzantium no longer exists today. However, it was she who, perhaps, had the greatest influence on the cultural and spiritual life of Ancient Russia. What was it?

Relations between Russia and Byzantium

By the 10th century, Byzantium, formed in 395 after the division of the Roman Empire, was a powerful power. It included Asia Minor, the southern part of the Balkans and southern Italy, the islands in the Aegean Sea, as well as part of the Crimea and Chersonese. The Russians called Byzantium the "Greek kingdom" because Hellenized culture prevailed there and the official language was Greek.

Contacts of Kievan Rus with Byzantium, bordering each other across the Black Sea, began in the 9th century. At first, the two powers were at enmity with each other. The Russians repeatedly raided their neighbors.

But gradually Russia and Byzantium stopped fighting: it turned out to be more profitable for them to “be friends”. Moreover, the Rus managed to destroy the Khazar Khaganate that threatened Constantinople. Both powers began to establish diplomacy and trade relations.

Dynastic marriages also began to be practiced. So, one of the wives of the Russian prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich was Anna, the sister of the Byzantine emperor Vasily II. The mother of Vladimir Monomakh was Mary, daughter of Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh. And the Moscow Prince Ivan III was married to Sophia Paleolog, the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI.

Religion

The main thing that Byzantium gave to Russia is the Christian religion. Back in the 9th century, the first Orthodox church was built in Kyiv, and Princess Olga of Kyiv was supposedly the first Russian ruler to be baptized. Her grandson Prince Vladimir, as we know, became famous as the baptizer of Russia. Under him, all pagan idols were demolished in Kyiv and Orthodox churches were built.

Together with the tenets of Orthodoxy, the Russians adopted the Byzantine canons of worship, including its beauty and solemnity.

This, by the way, became the main argument in favor of the choice of religion - the ambassadors of Prince Vladimir, who visited the service in Sophia of Constantinople, reported: “We came to the Greek land, and brought us to where they serve their God, and did not know - in heaven or we are on earth, for there is no such sight and beauty on earth, and we don’t know how to tell about it - we only know that God dwells there with people, and their service is better than in all other countries. We cannot forget that beauty, for every person, if he tastes the sweet, will not then take the bitter, so we cannot stay here anymore.

The features of church singing, icon painting, as well as Orthodox asceticism were inherited from the Byzantines. From 988 to 1448, the Russian Orthodox Church was the metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Most of the Kyiv metropolitans at that time were of Greek origin: they were elected and confirmed in Constantinople.

In the XII century, one of the greatest Christian shrines was brought to Russia from Byzantium - the most ancient icon of the Mother of God, which became known to us as Vladimirskaya.

Economy

Economic and trade ties between Russia and Byzantium were established even before the christening of Russia. After the adoption of Christianity by Russia, they only got stronger. Byzantine merchants brought textiles, wines, and spices to Russia. Instead, they took away furs, fish, caviar.

culture

A "cultural exchange" also developed. Thus, the famous icon painter of the second half of the 14th - early 15th century Theophanes the Greek painted icons in Novgorod and Moscow churches. No less famous is the writer and translator Maxim Grek, who died in 1556 in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

Byzantine influence can also be seen in Russian architecture of that time. Thanks to him, the construction of stone buildings began for the first time in Russia. Take at least the St. Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv and Novgorod.

Russian architects learned from Byzantine masters both the principles of construction and the principles of decorating temples with mosaics and frescoes. True, the techniques of traditional Byzantine architecture are combined here with the "Russian style": hence the many domes.

Language

From the Greek language, the Russians borrowed such words as "notebook" or "lamp". At baptism, Russians were given Greek names - Peter, George, Alexander, Andrey, Irina, Sophia, Galina.

Literature

The first books in Russia were brought from Byzantium. Subsequently, many of them began to be translated into Russian - for example, the lives of the saints. There were also works of not only spiritual, but also artistic content, for example, the story of the adventures of the brave warrior Digenis Akritus (in Russian retelling - Devgeny).

Education

We owe the creation of Slavic writing on the basis of the Greek statutory letter to the outstanding figures of Byzantine culture Cyril and Methodius. After the adoption of Christianity in Kyiv, Novgorod and other Russian cities, schools began to open, arranged according to the Byzantine model.

In 1685, brothers Ioannikius and Sophronius Likhud, immigrants from Byzantium, at the request of Patriarch Joachim, opened the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow (at the Zaikonospassky Monastery), which became the first institution of higher education in the Russian capital.

Despite the fact that the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist in 1453 after the Ottomans captured Constantinople, it was not forgotten in Russia. In the second half of the 19th century, a Byzantology course was introduced at Russian universities, within the framework of which they studied Byzantine history and literature. In all educational institutions, the Greek language was included in the program, especially since most of the sacred texts were in ancient Greek.

“For almost a thousand years, the consciousness of spiritual involvement in the culture of Byzantium was organic for the Orthodox subjects of the Russian state,” writes G. Litavrin in the book “Byzantium and Russia”. “It is natural, therefore, that the study of the history, art and culture of the homeland of Orthodoxy was an important and prestigious area of ​​humanitarian knowledge in Russia.”

One of the oldest languages ​​in the world. Even today, Greek is spoken by 10 million inhabitants of Greece, most of the population of Cyprus and, of course, the Greek diaspora scattered around the world. Of course, we can say that this is not so much. But it would be extremely strange to evaluate the Greek language based only on how many people speak it today.

What is most interesting about this language is its amazing history: after all, the Greek language stands at the origins of everything that shaped Western thought - philosophy, literature, the Christian Church ... And therefore, in almost any European language, you can find a huge number of words with Greek roots: space, telephone, grammar, lamp, astronomy and many others. So it's safe to say that we all speak a little Greek!

A bit of history

Of course, modern Greek differs in many ways from the language spoken by the greatest thinkers of antiquity, such as Plato or Aristotle. Over the many centuries of its existence, the language has changed a lot, so the phrase "Greek" often requires clarification. The following names are used for the different stages of its development:

• Ancient Greek- the language of ancient Greece, including as part of the Roman Empire (until the 5th century AD).
• Byzantine (or Middle Greek)- the language of the Greek and Hellenized population of the Byzantine Empire (VI-XV centuries). However, many neo-Hellenistic scholars oppose this term and propose to talk about the coexistence of early modern Greek and ancient Greek: this is due to the fact that the Greek language of that period was extremely heterogeneous.
• Modern Greek It has existed since about the 15th century as the language of the Greek and Hellenized population of the late Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. Today it is the official language of Greece and Cyprus.

XIX and XX centuries in Greece are marked by the presence of a special language situation - diglossia(this is how the simultaneous existence of two language variants is called). However, in 1976, the official language became dimotica(δημοτική), but from kafarevuses(καθαρεύουσα) - a language variant oriented towards the Greek literary tradition and following ancient Greek writing standards, but with modern pronunciation - only a few elements have survived.

About Greek dialects

Most Greek regions have their own local dialects. So, for example, there are Cypriot, Cretan, Tsakonian, South Italian and Northern Greek. Dialects are exclusively oral circulation and are not used in writing (the exception is literary works, where characters can speak one or another dialect). In each of the regions, there are also pronunciation features that are noticeable to a foreigner to varying degrees.

Most of the differences are between the Cypriot dialect of Greek and what is called Classical Greek. It must be said that the Cypriot dialect as a whole is characterized by the presence of the sounds “sh” and “h”, which are not present in modern Greek, as well as long vowels and duplication of consonants or their “swallowing”, which is also not typical for the modern Greek language. These phonetic differences are also fixed in writing:

Μούττη - μύτη - nose

(mutti - miti)

Όι - όχι - no

Μυάλος - μεγάλος - large

(myalos - megalos)

As you can see, the difference is quite significant, not to mention the fact that there are words that are completely different from their Greek "brothers":

Καρκόλα - κρεβάτι - bed

(karkola - krevAti)

Ιντυχάνω - μιλώ - to talk

(IndiAno - cute)

Φκάλλω - βγάζω - to take out, pull out

(fkAllo - vgAzo)

But there is no need to be afraid of these differences: no matter where in Greece or Cyprus you are, if you speak the classical Modern Greek language (which is spoken in the continental part of Greece - Athens and Thessaloniki), you will be understood everywhere without any problems!

How and where to start learning Greek

Start with the alphabet and clearly work out the pronunciation of sounds, since in Greek, along with the correct stress, it is the pronunciation that plays a decisive role: in Greek there are many seemingly similar sounds, the substitution of which can lead to curious and sometimes sad consequences. This is especially true for those sounds that are not in the Russian language.

The next step - and in this case it does not matter whether you study Greek on your own or under the guidance of a teacher - will be the development of the grammatical basis of the Greek language. Many note the similarity of the grammar of the Greek language with the grammar of the Russian language. This is partly true: both in Greek and in Russian, nouns change by gender (there are three of them, as in Russian - masculine, feminine and neuter), numbers, cases (here it is even easier for Russian speakers, since in Greek there are only cases four - nominative, accusative, genitive and vocative), and verbs have categories of conjugation, mood ...

Since Modern Greek is a simplified version of Ancient Greek, there are not so many rules compared to Russian, but quite a few exceptions. But this is what makes it even more related to the Russian language, and until you start learning Greek, you can’t even guess how much these languages ​​have in common!

That is why it will not work to start learning Greek, like English, by memorizing a certain number of words: without getting acquainted with the grammatical structure of the Greek language, you will not be able to make even the simplest sentences. Therefore, please be patient and take the time to study Greek grammar.

And the study of words may well turn into a game. Take, for example, the word άνθρωπος (Anfropos) - man. And what kind of science is engaged in the study of man? Anthropology! Or τραπέζι (trapEzi) - table. What are we doing at the table? We eat, that is, we eat. And you can endlessly give such examples.

Learning Greek may seem difficult at first glance. However, everything is in your hands, and success depends on the regularity and intensity of classes - better, of course, under the guidance of an experienced teacher - and subsequent language practice.

A catechism is "a book containing a summary of the basic truths of the Christian faith and morals in a simple and clear form, usually in the form of questions and answers, and intended for the initial religious instruction of believers". Most dictionaries of the modern Russian language give close definitions. Moreover, in some of them the word is given in two versions: catechism and catechism. In the dictionary of V.I. Dahl's interpretation is more complete - “the initial, basic doctrine of the Christian faith; book containing this teaching || The primary and basic teaching of any science.

The word itself is of Greek origin. It goes back to the noun ή κατήχησις - announcement, (oral) teaching, edification, formed from the verb κατηχέω - to announce, (orally) teach, teach. This verb is a prefix from the verb ὴχέω - make a sound, sound(cf.: ό ήχος - sound, rumor; ήὴχη- sound, noise; ή ὴχώ - echo, echo; sound, noise, scream; rumor, rumor) and contains the prefix κατα - with the meaning of the completeness of the action. About the words announce(κατηχέω) and catechumen(κατηχούμενος) materials for the dictionary of Church Slavonic paronyms are of interest: to κατηχέω - “1. educate, educate, educate... 2. tune (of a musical instrument)»; to κατηχούμενος - " preparing for baptism, one to whom the foundations of the faith have been communicated" with reference to the relevant Church Slavonic texts.

Etymological dictionaries of the Russian language indicate the mediation of the Latin language in borrowing this word: “from lat. catechesis from Greek. teaching, instruction» ; "Late Late. catechesis - catechism, an elementary course in theology< греч. katēchēsis - поучение, назидание; оглашение, от katēcheō - устно поучать, от ēcheō - звучать, от ēchō - эхо; слух, молва» . В словаре-справочнике, в котором собраны наиболее распространенные в русском языке слова латинского происхождения, включая и те, которые вошли в латынь из греческого языка, объяснение несколько иное: «Catechesis, is f (греч.: наставление, познание) - катехизис, элементарный курс богословия. С сер. XVII в., первонач. в формах catechism, catechism. Through staroslav. from Greek." .

To understand how this word penetrated into the Russian language, it is necessary to turn to its phonetic appearance. And he did not even settle in modern Russian (catechism and catechism). To understand this issue, let us turn to the traditions of the transmission of Greek words in Russian.

In modern times, two systems of phonetic transmission of ancient Greek words were identified, named after the Renaissance scientists Erasmus of Rotterdam and Johann Reuchlin who proposed them. The Erasmus system correlates the pronunciation of a word with its graphics and reflects the sound of Greek words in Latin. It is accepted in most European countries and is used in Russia in gymnasium and university practice when reading secular texts. Reuchlin's system was focused on living Byzantine speech. Greek scientists adhere to this system, in Russia it was assimilated earlier than Erasmova, directly from the Greeks and strengthened in spiritual institutions. In the Reuchlin system, it is customary to read liturgical texts.

In the Greek noun κατήχησις we will be interested in the pronunciation of the letters η and σ, which are rendered differently in these systems. In the Erasmus tradition, η is pronounced as "e", and σ, according to the rules of the Latin language, is voiced. In the Reuchlin tradition, η is pronounced "and", while σ retains the voicelessness ("s"). Thus, in the Erasmus tradition, our word should sound like a "catechesis", and in the Rekhlinov tradition, like a "catechesis". What happened?

It turns out that in a living language, both traditions could interact: either the transformation took place according to the Latin stereotype, but was not retained ( rhetorician and retor, philosopher and philosopher), or the transformation took place according to the Greek-Byzantine stereotype ( cathedra and department, orthography and spelling), but also not always kept ( library and vivliofika, leg and cafeteria). If borrowings were included in the Russian language in a dual form, the Greek-Byzantine variants were not retained more often ( theory and feoria, physics and physic). However, mixed forms could also appear in the presence of two or more phonetic differences in one word: dithyramb(in the XVIII century - praises and dithyramb), apotheosis (apotheos and apotheosis) . The word belongs to this type catechism. Of course, from the forms presented in modern Russian ( catechism and catechism) the second one is more consistent. But even in it there is an element of mixing traditions: a voiced “z” in place of a deaf Greek “s”.

Recently, for the first time, a scientific, textually verified reprint of the famous catechism compiled by St. Philaret (Drozdov) in 1822 appeared for the first time, accompanied by a preface about the history of its creation, notes and indexes. This edition uses the less commonly used form catechism, which, perhaps, will contribute to the activation of its use in modern Russian. After all, the circulation of this book is not small at the present time: 10,000 copies. In conclusion, for clarity, we present the opening lines of this outstanding theological and literary monument.

« Question. What is an Orthodox catechism?

Answer. The Orthodox catechism is an instruction in the Orthodox Christian faith, taught to every Christian for the pleasing of God and the salvation of the soul.

AT. What does the word mean catechism?

O. Catechism, translated from Greek, means announcement, verbal instruction; and according to the use from the time of the apostles, this name signifies the original teaching about the Orthodox Christian faith, which is necessary for every Christian (see: Luke 1: 4; Acts 18: 25) ".

Christianity: Dictionary / Under the general. ed. L.N. Mitrokhina et al. M., 1994. S. 193.

See, for example: Dictionary of the Russian language / Ed. A.P. Evgenieva. T. 2. M., 1981. S. 40.

Dal V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language. T. 2. M., 1998. S. 98.

Ancient Greek-Russian Dictionary / Comp. THEM. Butler. T. 1. M., 1958. S. 924; Weisman A.D. Greek-Russian dictionary. M., 1991. S. 694.

Sedakova O.A. Church Slavonic-Russian paronyms: Materials for a dictionary. M., 2005. S. 222.

Fasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language / Per. with him. and additions by O.N. Trubachev. T. 2. M., 1967. S. 210.

Dictionary of foreign words: Actual vocabulary, interpretations, etymology / N.N. Andreeva, N.S. Arapova et al. M., 1997. S. 124.

Ilyinskaya L.S. Latin heritage in Russian: Dictionary-reference book. M., 2003. S. 86.

For more on these traditions, see: Slavyatinskaya M.N. Textbook on the ancient Greek language: Cultural and historical aspect. M., 1988. S. 158-160; Ancient Greek: Elementary Course / Comp. F. Wolf, N.K. Malinauskene. Part 1. M., 2004. S. 6-8.

For details see: Romaneev Yu.A. The structure of words of Greek origin in Russian: Cand. diss. M., 1965.

A lengthy Christian catechism of the Orthodox-Catholic Eastern Church / [Compiled by St. Filaret (Drozdov); Foreword, prep. text, note. and decree: cand. ist. Sciences A.G. Dunaev]. Moscow: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2006.

In the indicated text of the Gospel of Luke we read: "That you may know the solid foundation of the doctrine in which you have been instructed." In the original Greek, the form "was instructed" corresponds to the form of the passive aorist κατηχήθης from the verb κατηχέω already known to us. In the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the descriptive form with the passive perfect participle of the same verb ὴυ κατηχημένος is used, which is rendered similarly to the first in the Russian translation: “He was instructed in the first principles of the way of the Lord.”

The Eastern Roman Empire and the Byzantine culture as a whole played a gigantic, not yet properly appreciated role in the preservation and transmission of the Greco-Roman philosophical and scientific heritage (including in the field of philosophy and the theory of language) to representatives of the ideology and science of the New Age.

It is to the Byzantine culture that Europe owes its achievements in the creative synthesis of the pagan ancient tradition (mainly in the late Hellenistic form) and the Christian worldview. And it remains only to regret that in the history of linguistics, insufficient attention is still paid to the contribution of Byzantine scientists to the formation of medieval linguistic teachings in Europe and the Middle East.

When characterizing the culture and science (in particular, linguistics) of Byzantium, one must take into account the specifics of the state, political, economic, cultural, and religious life in this powerful Mediterranean power that existed for more than a thousand years during the period of continuous redrawing of the political map of Europe, the emergence and disappearance of many “barbarian” states .

The specifics of the cultural life of this state reflected a whole series of significant historical processes: early isolation within the Roman Empire; the transfer in 330 of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, which long before that had become the leading economic, cultural and scientific center of the empire; the final disintegration of the Roman Empire into Western Roman and Eastern Roman in 345; the fall in 476 of the Western Roman Empire and the establishment of the complete domination of the “barbarians” in the West of Europe.

Byzantium succeeded for a long time in maintaining centralized state power in reality over all the Mediterranean territories in Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and Western Asia, and even achieved new territorial conquests. She more or less successfully resisted the onslaught of the tribes during the period of the “great migration of peoples”.

By the 4th c. Christianity was already established here, officially recognized in the 6th century. state religion. By this time, in the struggle against pagan remnants and numerous heresies, Orthodoxy had developed. It became in the 6th century. dominant form of Christianity in Byzantium.

The spiritual atmosphere in Byzantium was determined by a long rivalry with the Latin West, which in 1204 led to the official rupture (schism) of the Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic churches and to the complete cessation of relations between them.

Having conquered Constantinople, the crusaders created a Western-style Latin Empire (Romania) on a significant part of the Byzantine territory, but it lasted only until 1261, when the Byzantine Empire was again restored, since the masses did not accept attempts to forcibly latinize state administration, culture and culture. religion.

Culturally, the Byzantines were superior to the Europeans. In many ways, they retained the late antique way of life for a long time. They were characterized by the active interest of a wide range of people in the problems of philosophy, logic, literature and language. Byzantium had a powerful cultural impact on the peoples of neighboring countries. And at the same time, until the 11th century. the Byzantines protected their culture from foreign influences and only later borrowed the achievements of Arabic medicine, mathematics, etc.

In 1453 the Byzantine Empire finally fell under the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks. A mass exodus of Greek scientists, writers, artists, philosophers, religious figures, theologians began to other countries, including the Muscovite state.

Many of them continued their activities as professors at Western European universities, humanist mentors, translators, spiritual leaders, and so on. Byzantium had a responsible historical mission to save the values ​​of the great ancient civilization during the period of abrupt breakdowns, and this mission successfully ended with their transfer to the Italian humanists in the Pre-Renaissance period.

The features of the Byzantine science of language are largely explained by the difficult language situation in the empire. Here, the atticistic literary language, which was archaic in nature, competed with each other, a casual colloquial speech that continued the folk language of the general Hellenistic era, and an intermediate literary and colloquial koine.

In public administration and in everyday life, the Byzantines / “Romans” initially widely used the Latin language, which gave way to the status of the official Greek only in the 7th century. If in the era of the Roman Empire there was a symbiosis of the Greek and Latin languages ​​with a preponderance in favor of the second, then in the period of independent state development, the preponderance turned out to be on the side of the first. Over time, the number of people with a good command of Latin decreased, and the need arose for orders for translations of works by Western authors.

The ethnic composition of the population of the empire was very diverse from the very beginning and changed during the history of the state. Many of the inhabitants of the empire were originally Hellenized or Romanized. The Byzantines had to maintain constant contacts with speakers of a wide variety of languages ​​- Germanic, Slavic, Iranian, Armenian, Syriac, and then Arabic, Turkic, etc.

Many of them were familiar with written Hebrew as the language of the Bible, which did not prevent them from often expressing an extremely puristic attitude, contrary to church dogmas, to borrowings from it. In the 11th-12th centuries. - after the invasion and settlement of numerous Slavic tribes on the territory of Byzantium and before the formation of independent states by them - Byzantium was in fact a Greek-Slavic state.

Byzantine philosophers-theologians of the 2nd-8th centuries. (Origen, Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Proclus, Maximus the Confessor, Similiky, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, John Chrysostom, Leonty, John Philomon, John of Damascus, many of whom were officially recognized as “saints” and “fathers of the church” ) along with Western representatives of patristics, took an active part in the development of Christian dogmas with the involvement of the worldview ideas of Plato and partly Aristotle, in the development of a coherent philosophy of language within the framework of the Christian system of views, in the preparation of the isolation of scholastic logic from the philosophy (together with logical grammar).

They had a considerable influence on representatives of contemporary and subsequent Western philosophy and science. Later Byzantine theologians also addressed the philosophical problems of language (Michael Psellos, Maxim Planud, Gregory Palamas).

Indicative (in contrast to the Latin West) is the careful attitude of the Byzantine church and monasteries to the preservation and rewriting of ancient (pagan in their content) monuments. Associated with this process of rewriting was the transition to the 9th and 10th centuries. to a minuscule letter.

I.P. Susov. History of linguistics - Tver, 1999

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher professional education

"Orenburg State University"

Faculty of Geology and Geography

Department of Ecology and Nature Management

The spread of Greek-Byzantine spiritual traditions in Russia. Lives of the Saints and familiarization with ancient knowledge

Work manager

candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor E.V. Grivko

Executor

student of group 15TB(ba)-1

A.V. Mazina

Orenburg 2015

Relevance

Pre-Cyrillic writing and knowledge of the Slavs

Spread of Greco-Byzantine cultural and scientific traditions

Christianization of Russia: the development of everyday and spiritual culture

Wide spread of literacy in the urban environment in the 11th-12th centuries: birch bark letters and graffiti

Mathematical, astronomical and geographical knowledge in Ancient Russia

The first parish schools under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise

Practical application of knowledge in crafts and construction

Sources

Relevance

Byzantium is an original cultural integrity (330-1453), the first Christian empire. Byzantium was located at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. Its territory included the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, part of Mesopotamia and Armenia, the island of Cyprus, Crete, strongholds in the Crimea (Chersonese), in the Caucasus (in Georgia), some regions of Arabia. The Mediterranean Sea was the inland lake of Byzantium.

Byzantium was a multinational empire with a diverse ethnic composition of the population, which consisted of Syrians, Copts, Thracians, Illyrians, Armenians, Georgians, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, and Romans. It is not the Greeks or the Romans who play the main role after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. There was no physical continuity between the ancient and medieval peoples at all. The immigration of barbarians into the empire is an essential feature separating antiquity from the Middle Ages. The constant and abundant replenishment of the provinces of the empire with new peoples poured much new blood into the remnants of the old population, contributed to a gradual change in the very physical type of the ancient peoples.

In the era of the early Middle Ages, the Byzantine Empire, the heir and successor of Greek culture and the state-legal organization of the Roman Empire, was the most cultural, strongest and most economically developed European state. It is quite natural that its influence was decisive over a fairly large period of Russian history.

Since ancient times, the Slavs traded with Byzantium, using the great waterway of the Magi - the Dnieper - the so-called "from the Varangians to the Greeks." They exported honey, furs, wax, slaves, and from Byzantium they brought luxury items, art, household products, fabrics, and with the advent of writing, books. Numerous Russian trading cities arose along this path: Kyiv, Chernigov, Smolensk, Veliky Novgorod, Pskov and others. At the same time, the Russian princes made military campaigns against Tsargrad (Constantinople), which ended with the signing of peace treaties. So, in 907, Grand Duke Oleg besieges Tsargrad, after which peace with the Greeks follows, after him Igor, the son of Rurik, goes on a campaign against Byzantium in 941-945, and in 946 concludes agreements with her on peace, trade and mutual military assistance. Igor's son Svyatoslav in 970 helps the Byzantine emperor in the war against the Danube Bulgaria.

1. Pre-Cyrillic writing and knowledge of the Slavs

Language and writing are perhaps the most important cultural factors. If the people are deprived of the right or opportunity to speak their native language, then this will be the most severe blow to their native culture. If a person is deprived of books in his native language, then he will lose the most important treasures of his culture. Since childhood, we get used to the letters of our Russian alphabet and rarely think about when and how our writing arose. The beginning of writing is a special milestone in the history of every nation, in the history of its culture.

Writing existed in Russia even in the pre-Christian period, but the question of pre-Cyrillic Slavic writing remained controversial until recently. Only as a result of the work of scientists, as well as in connection with the discovery of new ancient monuments, the existence of writing among the Slavs in the pre-Cyril period is almost proven.

A historian working on the problems of Russian history of the 12th-14th centuries has only chronicles, preserved, as a rule, in later lists, very few happily surviving official acts, monuments of legislation, rarest works of fiction and canonical church books. Taken together, these written sources make up a tiny fraction of a percent of the number of written sources in the 19th century. Even less written evidence survived from the 10th and 11th centuries. The paucity of ancient Russian written sources is the result of one of the most terrible disasters in wooden Russia - frequent fires, during which entire cities with all their wealth, including books, burnt out more than once.

In Russian works until the mid-40s of the twentieth century, and in most foreign works - until now, the existence of writing among the Slavs in the pre-Cyrillic period was usually denied. From the second half of the 1940s to the end of the 1950s, many researchers of this issue showed a reverse trend - to excessively reduce the role of external influences on the emergence of Slavic writing, to believe that writing independently arose among the Slavs from ancient times. Moreover, there were even suggestions that Slavic writing repeated the whole path of the world development of writing - from the initial pictograms and primitive conventional signs to logography, from logographine - to syllabic or consonant-sound and, finally, to vocalized-sound writing.

However, according to the general laws of the development of writing, as well as according to the characteristics of the Slavic languages ​​of the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. such a path of development should be recognized as impossible. The world history of writing shows that not one of the peoples, even the most ancient ones, went through the entire path of the world development of writing. The Slavs, including the Eastern ones, were young peoples.

The decomposition of the primitive communal system began only in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. and ended in the second half of the 1st millennium with the formation of early feudal states. In such a short period of time, the Slavs would not have been able to independently go through the difficult path from pictography to logography, and from it to sound writing. In addition, the Slavs were in this period in close trade and cultural ties with the Byzantine Greeks. And the Greeks have long used the perfect vocalized-sound writing, which the Slavs knew about. Vocalized-sound writing was also used by other neighbors of the Slavs: in the west, the Germans, in the east, Georgians (from the beginning of our era), Armenians (from the beginning of the 5th century AD), Goths (from the 4th century AD). ) and the Khazars (from the 8th century AD).

In addition, logographic writing could not have developed among the Slavs, since the Slavic languages ​​are characterized by a wealth of grammatical forms; syllabic writing would be unsuitable, since the Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bare distinguished by the variety of syllabic composition; consonant-sound writing would be unacceptable for the Slavs, because in the Slavic languages ​​consonants and vowels are equally involved in the formation of root and affixal morphemes. From all that has been said, it follows that the pre-Cyrillic Slavonic writing could be of only three types.

The surviving references to "features and cuts" in the legend "On Writings" (the turn of the 9th-10th centuries) have survived to our times. The author, Khrabr, a Chernorian, noted that the pagan Slavs use pictorial signs, with the help of which they "chitah and gadah" (read and guessed). The emergence of such an initial letter occurred when, on the basis of small and disparate tribal groups, more complex, large and durable forms of community of people arose - tribes and tribal unions. Evidence of the presence of pre-Christian writing among the Slavs is a broken clay pot discovered in 1949 in the Gnezdovsky pagan burial mounds near Smolensk, on which the inscription "goroukhshcha" ("gorushna") was preserved, which meant: either "Pea wrote", or "mustard". In addition to Gnezdovskaya, fragments of inscriptions and numerical calculations were found on amphoras and other vessels of the 10th century. in Taman (ancient Tmutarakan), Sarkel and Black Sea ports. Writing based on various alphabets (Greek, Cyrillic, runic) was used by the diverse population of the most ancient cities and proto-cities located on important trade routes. Trade became the soil that contributed to the spread throughout the territory of Russia of the Cyrillic alphabet adapted for Slavic speech and convenient for writing.

Along with the evidence of the Khrabr, a Chernorizian, with the above considerations of a sociological and linguistic order, the existence among the Slavs of a letter like "features and cuts" is also confirmed by literary reports of foreign travelers and writers of the 9th-10th centuries. and archaeological finds.

A "pre-Cyril" letter was being formed. History shows that a similar process of adaptation of the letter to the language took place in almost all cases of borrowing by one people of the letter of another people, for example, when the Phoenician letter was borrowed by the Greeks, Greek by the Etruscans and Romans, etc. The Slavs could not be an exception to this rule. The assumption of the gradual formation of "pre-Cyrillic" writing is also confirmed by the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet in its version that has come down to us is so adapted to the exact transmission of Slavic speech that this could only be achieved as a result of a long development.

If alphabetic writing did not exist among the Slavs long before they adopted Christianity, then the unexpected flourishing of Bulgarian literature at the end of the 9th-beginning of the 10th century, and the widespread literacy in the everyday life of the Eastern Slavs of the 10th-11th centuries, and the high skill, which reached in Russia already in the XI century. the art of writing and book design (example - "Ostromir gospel").

Thus, now we can say with certainty that in the pre-Cyrilian era, the Slavs had several types of writing; most likely, it was not fully adapted for the accurate transmission of Slavic speech and was of a syllabic or runic nature, the Slavs used the simplest writing such as "features and cuts" for various purposes. The spread of Christianity among the Slavs was a political step both on the part of the Slavs, who sought to strengthen their position in Europe, and on the part of the Roman-Byzantine world, which sought to establish its dominance over the Slavic peoples that were gaining more and more political influence. This is partly due to the almost complete destruction of the oldest Slavic writing and the rapid spread of new alphabets among people accustomed to writing.

Spread of Greco-Byzantine cultural and scientific traditions

Byzantium is a state that has made a great contribution to the development of culture in Europe in the Middle Ages. In the history of world culture, Byzantium has a special, prominent place. In artistic creativity, Byzantium gave the medieval world high images of literature and art, which were distinguished by the noble elegance of forms, figurative vision of thought, refinement of aesthetic thinking, and depth of philosophical thought. By the power of expressiveness and deep spirituality, Byzantium stood ahead of all the countries of medieval Europe for many centuries.

If you try to separate the Byzantine culture from the culture of Europe, the Front and the Near East, then the following factors will be the most important:

· In Byzantium there was a linguistic community (the main language was Greek);

· There was a religious community in Byzantium (the main religion was Christianity in the form of Orthodoxy);

· In Byzantium, for all its multi-ethnicity, there was an ethnic core consisting of Greeks.

· The Byzantine Empire has always been distinguished by stable statehood and centralized administration.

All this, of course, does not exclude the possibility that Byzantine culture, which had an impact on many neighboring countries, was itself subjected to cultural influence from both the tribes and peoples that inhabited it, and its neighboring states. During its thousand-year existence, Byzantium faced powerful external cultural influences emanating from countries that were at a close stage of development - from Iran, Egypt, Syria, Transcaucasia, and later the Latin West and Ancient Russia. On the other hand, Byzantium had to enter into various cultural contacts with peoples who were at a somewhat or at a much lower stage of development (the Byzantines called them "barbarians").

The process of development of Byzantium was not straightforward. It had epochs of ups and downs, periods of the triumph of progressive ideas and gloomy years of domination by reactionaries. But the sprouts of the new, the living, the advanced, sooner or later sprouted in all spheres of life, at all times.

Therefore, the culture of Byzantium is the most interesting cultural and historical type, which has very specific features.

There are three stages in the history of Byzantine culture:

*early (IV - mid-VII century);

*middle (VII-IX centuries);

*late (X-XV centuries).

The most important topics of theological discussions at an early stage in the development of this culture were disputes about the nature of Christ and his place in the Trinity, about the meaning of human existence, the place of man in the universe and the limit of his capabilities. In this regard, several areas of theological thought of that era can be distinguished:

*Arianism: The Arians believed that Christ is the creation of God the Father, and therefore he is not consubstantial with God the Father, is not eternal and occupies a subordinate place in the structure of the Trinity.

*Nestorianism: The Nestorians believed that the divine and human principles in Christ are only relatively united and never merge.

*Monophysitism: Monophysites emphasized primarily the divine nature of Christ and spoke of Christ as a god-man.

*Chalcedonism: The Chalcedonites preached those ideas that later became dominant: the consubstantiality of God the Father and God the Son, the inseparability and inseparability of the divine and the human in Christ.

The heyday of Byzantine art of the early period is associated with the strengthening of the power of the empire under Justinian. Magnificent palaces and temples are erected in Constantinople at this time.

The style of Byzantine architecture developed gradually, it organically combined elements of ancient and oriental architecture. The main architectural structure was the temple, the so-called basilica (Greek "royal house"), the purpose of which differed significantly from other buildings.

Another masterpiece of Byzantine architecture is the Church of St. Vitaliy in Ravenna - amazes with the sophistication and elegance of architectural forms. The famous mosaics of not only ecclesiastical, but also secular nature, in particular, images of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora and their retinue, brought special fame to this temple. The faces of Justinian and Theodora are endowed with portrait features, the color scheme of the mosaics is full-blooded brightness, warmth and freshness.

The mosaics of Byzantium gained worldwide fame. The technology of mosaic art has been known since antiquity, but only in Byzantium began to use for the first time not natural, but glass alloys colored with mineral paints, the so-called smalts with the thinnest golden surface. Masters widely used the golden color, which, on the one hand, symbolized luxury and wealth, and on the other hand, was the brightest and most radiant of all colors. Most of the mosaics were located at different angles on the concave or spherical surface of the walls, and this only increased the golden sheen of uneven smalt cubes. He turned the plane of the walls into a continuous shimmering space, even more sparkling thanks to the light of candles burning in the temple. Byzantine mosaicists used a wide range of colors: from soft blue, green and bright blue to pale lilac, pink and red of various shades and degrees of intensity. The images on the walls mainly told about the main events of Christian history, the earthly life of Jesus Christ, and glorified the power of the emperor. The mosaics of the church of San Vitale in the city of Ravenna (6th century) acquired particular fame. On the side aisles of the apse, on both sides of the windows, there are mosaics depicting the imperial couple - Justinian and his wife Theodora with their retinues.

The artist places the characters on a neutral gold background. Everything in this scene is full of solemn grandeur. Both mosaic paintings, located under the figure of the seated Christ, inspire the viewer with the idea of ​​the inviolability of the Byzantine emperor.

In painting VI-VII centuries. a specifically Byzantine image crystallizes, cleansed of foreign influences. It is based on the experience of the masters of the East and West, who independently came to create a new art that corresponds to the spiritualistic ideals of medieval society. In this art, there are already various trends and schools. The metropolitan school, for example, was distinguished by excellent workmanship, refined artistry, picturesqueness and colorful variety, quivering and iridescent colors. One of the most perfect works of this school were the mosaics in the dome of the Church of the Assumption in Nicaea.

Music occupied a special place in Byzantine civilization. A peculiar combination of authoritarianism and democracy could not but affect the nature of musical culture, which was a complex and multifaceted phenomenon of the spiritual life of the era. In the V-VII centuries. the formation of the Christian liturgy took place, new genres of vocal art developed. Music acquires a special civil status, is included in the system of representation of state power. The music of city streets, theatrical and circus performances and folk festivals, which reflected the richest song and musical practice of many peoples inhabiting the empire, retained a special color. Each of these types of music had its own aesthetic and social meaning and at the same time, interacting, they merged into a single and unique whole. Christianity very early appreciated the special possibilities of music as a universal art and at the same time, possessing the power of mass and individual psychological impact, and included it in its cult ritual. It was cult music that was destined to occupy a dominant position in medieval Byzantium.

*Trivium - grammar, rhetoric and dialectics.

*Quadrivium - arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

Mass spectacles continued to play a huge role in the life of the broad masses of the people. True, the ancient theater begins to decline - ancient tragedies and comedies are increasingly replaced by performances of mimes, jugglers, dancers, gymnasts, and tamers of wild animals. The place of the theater is now occupied by a circus (hippodrome) with its equestrian dances, which are very popular.

If we summarize the first period of Byzantine existence, we can say that during this period the main features of Byzantine culture were formed. First of all, they should include the fact that Byzantine culture was open to other cultural influences received from outside. But gradually, already in the early period, they were synthesized by the main, leading Greco-Roman culture.

The culture of early Byzantium was an urban culture. The large cities of the empire, and primarily Constantinople, were not only centers of crafts and trade, but also centers of the highest culture and education, where the rich heritage of antiquity was preserved.

An important component of the second stage in the history of Byzantine culture was the confrontation between iconoclasts and iconodules (726-843). The first direction was supported by the ruling secular elite, and the second - by the orthodox clergy and many segments of the population. During the period of iconoclasm (726-843) an attempt was made to officially ban icons. The philosopher, poet, and author of many theological writings John of Damascus (700-760) spoke in defense of the icons. In his opinion, the icon is fundamentally different from the idol. It is not a copy or decoration, but an illustration reflecting the nature and essence of the deity.

At a certain stage, the iconoclasts gained the upper hand, so for some time ornamental and decorative abstract symbolic elements prevailed in Byzantine Christian art. However, the struggle between the supporters of these trends was extremely tough, and many monuments of the early stage of Byzantine culture, in particular the first mosaics of the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, perished in this confrontation. But still, the supporters of icon veneration won the final victory, which further contributed to the final formation of the iconographic canon - strict rules for depicting all scenes of religious content.

It should also be noted that the iconoclastic movement served as an incentive for a new rise in the secular fine arts and architecture of Byzantium. Under the iconoclastic emperors, the influence of Muslim architecture penetrated into architecture. Thus, one of the palaces of Vrias in Constantinople was built according to the plan of the palaces of Baghdad. All palaces were surrounded by parks with fountains, exotic flowers and trees. In Constantinople, Nicaea and other cities of Greece and Asia Minor, city walls, public buildings, and private buildings were erected. In the secular art of the iconoclastic period, the principles of representative solemnity, architectural monumentality and colorful multi-figured decorativeness won, which later served as the basis for the development of secular artistic creativity.

During this period, the art of colored mosaic images reached a new heyday. In the IX-XI centuries. old monuments were also restored. Mosaics were also restored in the church of St. Sofia. New plots appeared that reflected the idea of ​​the union of church and state.

In the IX-X centuries. the décor of manuscripts became substantially richer and more complex, and book miniatures and ornamentation became richer and more varied. However, a truly new period in the development of book miniatures falls on the 11th-12th centuries, when the Constantinople school of masters in this area of ​​art flourished. In that era, in general, the leading role in painting as a whole (in icon painting, miniature, fresco) was acquired by the metropolitan schools, marked by a special perfection of taste and technique.

In the VII-VIII centuries. in the temple construction of Byzantium and the countries of the Byzantine cultural circle, the same cross-domed composition dominated, which arose in the 6th century. and was characterized by a weakly expressed external decorative design. The decor of the facade acquired great importance in the 9th-10th centuries, when a new architectural style arose and became widespread. The emergence of a new style was associated with the flourishing of cities, the strengthening of the social role of the church, the change in the social content of the very concept of sacred architecture in general and temple construction in particular (the temple as an image of the world). Many new temples were erected, a large number of monasteries were built, although they were like usually small in size.

In addition to changes in the decorative design of buildings, the architectural forms and the very composition of buildings also changed. The importance of vertical lines and divisions of the facade increased, which also changed the silhouette of the temple. Builders increasingly resorted to the use of patterned brickwork.

Features of the new architectural style also appeared in a number of local schools. For example, in Greece X-XII centuries. it is typical to preserve some archaism of architectural forms (non-segmentation of the facade plane, traditional forms of small temples) - with the further development and growth of the influence of the new style, patterned brick decor and polychrome plastic were also increasingly used here.

In the VIII-XII centuries. a special musical and poetic church art took shape. Thanks to his high artistic merits, the influence of folklore music on church music, the melodies of which had previously penetrated even into the liturgy, weakened. In order to further isolate the musical foundations of worship from external influences, the canonization of the laotonal system - "oktoiha" (eight-tones) was carried out. Ichoses were some melodic formulas. However, musical-theoretical monuments allow us to conclude that the Ichos system did not rule out a sound-row understanding. The most popular genres of church music were the canon (a musical and poetic composition during a church service) and the troparion (almost the main unit of Byzantine hymnography). Troparias were composed for all holidays, all solemn events and memorable dates.

The progress of musical art led to the creation of musical writing (notation), as well as liturgical handwritten collections in which chants were recorded (either only text or text with notation).

Public life also could not do without music. The book On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court reports almost 400 hymns. These are procession songs, and songs during horse processions, and songs at the imperial feast, and acclamation songs, etc.

From the 9th century in the circles of the intellectual elite, interest in ancient musical culture was growing, although this interest was mainly theoretical in nature: attention was attracted not so much by the music itself as by the works of ancient Greek musical theorists.

As a result of the second period, it can be noted that Byzantium at that time reached the highest power and the highest point in the development of culture. In the social development and in the evolution of the culture of Byzantium, contradictory trends are evident, due to its median position between East and West.

Since the X century. a new stage in the history of Byzantine culture begins - a generalization and classification of everything achieved in science, theology, philosophy, and literature takes place. In Byzantine culture, this century is associated with the creation of generalizing works - encyclopedias on history, agriculture, and medicine were compiled. The treatises of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913-959) "On the Governance of the State", "On Themes", "On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court" are an extensive encyclopedia of the most valuable information about the political and administrative structure of the Byzantine state. At the same time, colorful material of an ethnographic and historical-geographic nature about the countries and peoples adjacent to the Empire, including the Slavs, is collected here.

In culture, generalized spiritualistic principles completely triumph; social thought, literature and art, as it were, break away from reality and close themselves in a circle of higher, abstract ideas. The basic principles of Byzantine aesthetics are finally taking shape. The ideal aesthetic object is transferred to the spiritual sphere, and it is now described using such aesthetic categories as beauty, light, color, image, sign, symbol. These categories help to highlight the global issues of art and other areas of culture.

In artistic creativity, traditionalism and canonicity prevail; art no longer contradicts the dogmas of the official religion, but actively serves them. However, the duality of Byzantine culture, the confrontation in it between aristocratic and popular trends, does not disappear even during periods of the most complete domination of dogmatized church ideology.

In the XI-XII centuries. Byzantine culture undergoes serious ideological shifts. The growth of provincial cities, the rise of handicrafts and trade, the crystallization of the political and intellectual self-consciousness of the townspeople, the feudal consolidation of the ruling class while maintaining a centralized state, rapprochement with the West under the Komnenos could not but affect culture. A significant accumulation of positive knowledge, the growth of natural sciences, the expansion of human ideas about the Earth and the universe, the needs of navigation, trade, diplomacy, jurisprudence, the development of cultural communication with the countries of Europe and the Arab world - all this leads to the enrichment of Byzantine culture and major changes in the worldview of Byzantine society . This was the time of the rise of scientific knowledge and the birth of rationalism in the philosophical thought of Byzantium.

Rationalist tendencies among Byzantine philosophers and theologians, as well as among Western European scholastics of the 11th-12th centuries, manifested themselves primarily in the desire to combine faith with reason, and sometimes even put reason above faith. The most important prerequisite for the development of rationalism in Byzantium was a new stage in the revival of ancient culture, the comprehension of the ancient heritage as a single, integral philosophical and aesthetic system. Byzantine thinkers of the XI-XII centuries. perceive from ancient philosophers respect for reason; blind faith based on authority is being replaced by the study of the causality of phenomena in nature and society. But unlike Western European scholasticism, Byzantine philosophy of the XI-XII centuries. was built on the basis of the ancient philosophical teachings of different schools, and not only on the works of Aristotle, as was the case in the West. The exponents of rationalistic trends in Byzantine philosophy were Michael Psellos, John Ital and their followers.

However, all these representatives of rationalism and religious freethinking were condemned by the church, and their works were burned. But their activity was not in vain - it paved the way for the emergence of humanistic ideas in Byzantium.

In literature, there are tendencies towards the democratization of language and plot, towards the individualization of the author's person, towards the manifestation of the author's position; in it a critical attitude towards the ascetic monastic ideal is born and religious doubts slip through. Literary life becomes more intense, there are literary circles. Byzantine art also flourished during this period.

At the court of Latin emperors, princes and barons, Western customs and entertainments, tournaments, troubadour songs, holidays and theatrical performances spread. A notable phenomenon in the culture of the Latin Empire was the work of the troubadours, many of whom were participants in the Fourth Crusade. Thus, Conon de Bethune reached the zenith of his fame precisely in Constantinople. Eloquence, poetic gift, firmness and courage made him the second person in the state after the emperor, in whose absence he often ruled Constantinople. The noble knights of the empire were Robert de Blois, Hugh de Saint-Canton, Count Jean de Brienne and less noble ones such as Hugh de Bregil. All of them became rich after the capture of Constantinople and, as Hugh de Bre-gil tells in rhythmic verses, plunged out of poverty into wealth, into emeralds, rubies, brocade, ended up in fabulous gardens and marble palaces along with noble ladies and beautiful virgins. Of course, attempts to introduce the Catholic faith and spread Western culture in the Latin Empire ran into constant stubborn resistance from both the Orthodox clergy and the general population. Among the intellectuals, the ideas of Hellenic patriotism and Hellenic self-consciousness grew and strengthened. But the meeting and mutual influence of Western and Byzantine cultures during this period prepared for their rapprochement in late Byzantium.

The culture of late Byzantium is characterized by the ideological communication of Byzantine scholars with Italian scientists, writers, poets, which influenced the formation of early Italian humanism. It was the Byzantine scholars who were destined to open the wonderful world of Greco-Roman antiquity to Western humanists, to acquaint them with classical ancient literature, with the true philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. It should be noted that the concept of "Byzantine humanism" denotes that cultural, spiritual-intellectual psychological and aesthetic complex that is characteristic of the worldview of the erudite layer of the XIV-XV centuries, and which, in its characteristics, can be considered an analogue of Italian humanism. This is not so much about the completed and formed culture of humanism, but about humanistic tendencies, not so much about the revival of antiquity, but about the well-known rethinking of the ancient heritage, paganism as a system of views, about turning it into a worldview factor.

The widest knowledge of such famous Byzantine philosophers, theologians, philologists, rhetoricians as George Gemist Plifon, Dmitry Kidonis, Manuel Chrysolor, Vissarion of Nicaea and others, aroused the boundless admiration of Italian humanists, many of whom became students and followers of Byzantine scholars. However, the inconsistency of social relations in late Byzantium, the weakness of the sprouts of pre-capitalist relations, the onslaught of the Turks and the sharp ideological struggle, which ended in the victory of mystical currents, led to the fact that the new direction in artistic creativity that arose there, akin to the early Italian Renaissance, was not completed.

Simultaneously with the development of humanistic ideas in late Byzantium, an extraordinary rise in mysticism took place. It was as if all the temporarily lurking forces of spiritualism and mysticism, asceticism and detachment from life were now consolidated in the hesychast movement, in the teachings of Gregory Palamas, and began an attack on the ideals of the Renaissance. In an atmosphere of hopelessness generated by deadly military danger, feudal strife and the defeat of popular movements, in particular the uprising of the Zealots, among the Byzantine clergy and monasticism, the conviction grew stronger that salvation from earthly troubles can be found only in the world of passive contemplation, complete calm - hesychia, in self-deepening ecstasy , allegedly granting a mystical merger with the deity and illumination with divine light. Supported by the ruling church and the feudal nobility, the teachings of the hesychasts won, bewitching the broad masses of the empire with mystical ideas. The victory of hesychasm was in many ways fatal for the Byzantine state: hesychasm strangled the sprouts of humanistic ideas in literature and art, weakened the will to resist the masses of the people with external enemies. Superstition flourished in late Byzantium. Social unrest gave rise to thoughts about the approaching end of the world. Even among educated people, divination, predictions, and sometimes magic were common. Byzantine authors more than once referred to the story of the prophecies of the Sibyl, who allegedly correctly determined the number of Byzantine emperors and patriarchs and thus allegedly predicted the time of the empire's death. There were special fortune-telling books (bible chrys-matogics) that predicted the future.

Religious mood was highly characteristic of late Byzantine society. The preaching of asceticism and anchorage addressed to the people could not but leave a trace. The desire for solitude, for prayer marked the lives of many people, both from the nobility and from the lower classes. The words of George Acropolitan could characterize not only Despot John: “He spent whole nights in prayer ... he had the care to spend more time in solitude and enjoy the calm that comes from everywhere, or at least be in close communication with persons leading such a life." Leaving political life for a monastery is far from being isolated. The desire to get away from public affairs was explained primarily by the fact that contemporaries did not see a way out of those unfavorable collisions of the internal and international plan, which testified to the fall of the authority of the empire and its approach to disaster.

Summing up the development of Byzantine culture in the 11th-12th centuries, we can note some important new features. Of course, the culture of the Byzantine Empire at that time still remained medieval, traditional, and largely canonical. But in the artistic life of society, despite its canonicity and the unification of aesthetic values, sprouts of new pre-Renaissance trends are breaking through, which have found further development in the Byzantine art of the era of the Palaiologos. They affect not only and not so much the return of interest in antiquity, which never died in Byzantium, but the emergence of sprouts of rationalism and freethinking, the intensification of the struggle of various social groups in the field of culture, and the growth of social discontent.

What is the contribution of Byzantine civilization to world culture? First of all, it should be noted that Byzantium was the "golden bridge" between Western and Eastern cultures; it had a profound and lasting impact on the development of the cultures of many countries of medieval Europe. The distribution area of ​​the influence of Byzantine culture was very extensive: Sicily, Southern Italy, Dalmatia, the states of the Balkan Peninsula, Ancient Russia, Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus and Crimea - all of them, to one degree or another, came into contact with Byzantine education. The most intense Byzantine cultural influence, of course, affected the countries where Orthodoxy was established, connected by strong threads with the Church of Constantinople. Byzantine influence was felt in the field of religion and philosophy, social thought and cosmology, writing and education, political ideas and law, it penetrated into all spheres of art - into literature and architecture, painting and music. Through Byzantium, the ancient and Hellenistic cultural heritage, spiritual values ​​created not only in Greece itself, but also in Egypt and Syria, Palestine and Italy, were transferred to other peoples. The perception of the traditions of Byzantine culture in Bulgaria and Serbia, Georgia and Armenia, in Ancient Russia contributed to the further progressive development of their cultures.

Despite the fact that Byzantium lasted 1000 years longer than the Great Roman Empire, it was still conquered in the XIV century. Seljuk Turks. The Turkish troops that conquered Constantinople in 1453 put an end to the history of the Byzantine Empire. But this was not the end of her artistic and cultural development. Byzantium has made a huge contribution to the development of world culture. Its basic principles and directions of culture were transferred to neighboring states. Almost all the time, medieval Europe developed on the basis of the achievements of Byzantine culture. Byzantium can be called the "second Rome", because. its contribution to the development of Europe and the whole world is in no way inferior to the Roman Empire.

After a 1000-year history, Byzantium ceased to exist, but the original and interesting Byzantine culture, which passed the cultural and historical baton to Russian culture, did not remain in oblivion.

Christianization of Russia: the development of everyday and spiritual culture

The beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe is usually associated with the transition from paganism to Christianity. And in our history, the adoption of Christianity has become an important milestone. The unification of the Old Russian lands into a single state set an important task for the grand dukes - to give the tribes that entered it a single spiritual basis.

Christianity was the spiritual foundation of European civilization. The choice of Vladimir in this sense was correct. It showed a European orientation. Of the two most significant branches of Christianity, Catholicism and Orthodoxy, he chose Orthodoxy or orthodox Christianity.

The adoption of Christianity had long-term consequences for Russia. First of all, it determined its further development as a European country, became part of the Christian world and played a prominent role in Europe at that time. The baptism of Russia took place in 988, when, on the orders of the Grand Duke Vladimir, the people of Kiev were to be baptized in the waters of the Dnieper, recognize the one God, abandon the pagan gods and overthrow their images - idols. In some principalities, baptism was accepted voluntarily, in others it aroused the resistance of the people. It can be assumed that the people of Kiev perceived baptism as a pagan act - purification with water and the acquisition of another god, the patron of the prince.

After the adoption of Christianity, Orthodoxy gradually began to influence ethnic consciousness and culture. The influence of the Russian Church extended to all aspects of public life. State acts, holidays (church and state), lighting and services at the beginning and end of any event; registration of acts of registration of births, marriages and deaths - all this was the responsibility of the church.

The princely power actively influenced the formation and strengthening of the Orthodox Church in Russia. A system of material support for the church was established. The Orthodox church becomes the center of not only the spiritual, but also the social and economic life of the parish, especially the rural one.

The church has taken an important place in the political life of the country. The princes, starting with Vladimir, called on the metropolitans and bishops to participate in state affairs; at the princely congresses, in the first place after the princes was the clergy. The Russian Church acted in the princely civil strife as a pacifying party, she stood up for the preservation of peace and the good of the state. This position of the church was reflected in theological and artistic works. The clergy were the most educated stratum of society. In the works of church leaders, generally significant ideas were put forward, Russia's position in the world, the ways of developing Russian culture were comprehended. The Russian Orthodox Church during the period of fragmentation of Russia and the Mongol-Tatar invasion was the bearer of the Orthodox faith, which made it possible to maintain the unity of Russia in the people's consciousness. From the middle of the XIV century. gradually begins a cultural upsurge, the development of education, the spread of literacy and the accumulation of scientific knowledge in all areas. External contacts are being revived through diplomatic ties, pilgrimages to holy places, and trade. As a result, people's horizons are expanding. From the 15th century the process of formation of the Russian national idea, cultural and religious self-determination of the people is taking place more actively. It manifested itself in understanding the place of Russia and the world, the ways of its further development and national priorities. A definite impetus in this direction was the Union of Florence in 1439 (the union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches). As a result of complex political and religious processes, the Russian Orthodox Church in 1539 became autocephalous - independent, with a patriarch at the head.

Development of the Slavic alphabet by the Byzantine diplomat and Slavic educator Cyril

writing Christianization Rus Byzantine

The creation of Slavic writing with good reason is attributed to the brothers Constantine the Philosopher (in monasticism - Cyril) and Methodius. Information about the beginning of Slavic writing can be gleaned from various sources: the Slavic lives of Cyril and Methodius, several laudatory words and church services in their honor, the writings of the Chernorizet Brave "On Letters", etc.

In 863, an embassy from the Great Moravian prince Rostislav arrived in Constantinople. The ambassadors conveyed to Emperor Michael III a request to send missionaries to Moravia who could preach in a language understandable to the Moravians (Moravians) instead of the Latin language of the German clergy.

The Great Moravian State (830-906) was a large early feudal state of the Western Slavs. Apparently, already under the first prince Mojmir (ruled 830-846), representatives of the princely family adopted Christianity. Under the successor of Mojmir, Rostislav (846-870), the Great Moravian state waged an intensified struggle against German expansion, the instrument of which was the church. Rostislav tried to oppose the German church by creating an independent Slavic bishopric, and therefore turned to Byzantium, knowing that Slavs lived in Byzantium and in its neighborhood.

Rostislav's request to send missionaries was in line with the interests of Byzantium, which had long sought to extend its influence to the Western Slavs. It corresponded even more to the interests of the Byzantine church, whose relations with Rome in the middle of the ninth century became more and more hostile. Just in the year of the arrival of the Great Moravian embassy, ​​these relations became so aggravated that Pope Nicholas even publicly cursed Patriarch Photius.

Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius decided to send a mission to Great Moravia headed by Constantine the Philosopher and Methodius. This choice was not accidental. Constantine already had rich experience in missionary activity and showed himself in it as a brilliant dialectician and diplomat. This decision was also due to the fact that the brothers, coming from the semi-Slavic-half-Greek city of Thessalonica, knew the Slavic language very well.

Constantine (826-869) and his older brother Methodius (820-885) were born and spent their childhood in the bustling Macedonian port city of Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece).

In the early 1950s, Constantine proved to be a skillful orator, having won a brilliant victory in a discussion over the former patriarch Arius. It was from this time that Emperor Michael, and then Patriarch Photius, began to almost continuously send Constantine as an envoy of Byzantium to neighboring peoples to convince them of the superiority of Byzantine Christianity over other religions. So Konstantin as a missionary visited Bulgaria, Syria and the Khazar Khaganate.

The character, and, consequently, the life of Methodius were in many respects similar, but in many respects they were different from the character and life of his younger brother.

Both of them lived mostly spiritual lives, striving to embody their beliefs and ideas, not attaching any importance to wealth, career, or fame. The brothers never had wives or children, wandered all their lives without creating a home for themselves, and even died in a foreign land. It is no coincidence that not a single literary work of Constantine and Methodius has survived to this day, although both of them, especially Constantine, wrote and translated many scientific and literary works; finally, it is still not known what kind of alphabet Konstantin the Philosopher created - Cyrillic or Glagolitic.

In addition to similar traits, there were a lot of differences in the character of the brothers, however, despite this, they ideally complemented each other in joint work. The younger brother wrote, the elder translated his works. The younger one created the Slavic alphabet, Slavic writing and book business, the older one practically developed what was created by the younger one. The younger was a talented scientist, philosopher, brilliant dialectician and subtle philologist; the elder is a capable organizer and practical figure.

It is not surprising that at the council convened on the occasion of the Moravian embassy, ​​the emperor declared that no one would fulfill the request of Prince Rostislav better than Constantine the Philosopher. After that, according to the story of the Life, Constantine retired from the council and prayed for a long time. According to chronicle and documentary sources, then he developed the Slavic alphabet. “The Philosopher went and, according to the old custom, began to pray with other helpers. And soon God revealed them to him that he listens to the prayers of his servants, and then he folded the letters, and began to write the words of the Gospel: from the beginning the word and the word would b o God, and God used the word (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”) and so on. "Psalter" and selected passages from "Church Services"). Thus, the first Slavic literary language was born, many words of which are still alive in the Slavic languages, including Bulgarian and Russian.

Constantine and Methodius went to Great Moravia. In the summer of 863, after a long and difficult journey, the brothers finally arrived in the hospitable capital of Moravia, Velehrad.

Prince Rostislav received envoys from friendly Byzantium. With his help, the brothers chose students for themselves and diligently taught them the Slavic alphabet and church services in the Slavic language, and in their free time they continued to translate the Greek books they had brought into the Slavic language. So, from the very arrival in Moravia, Constantine and Methodius did everything possible for the speedy spread of Slavic writing and culture in the country.

Gradually, the Moravians (Moravians) became more and more accustomed to hearing their native language in churches. Churches where the service was conducted in Latin were empty, and the German Catholic clergy were losing their influence and income in Moravia, and therefore attacked the brothers with malice, accusing them of heresy.

Having prepared disciples, Constantine and Methodius, however, faced a serious difficulty: since neither of them was a bishop, they did not have the right to ordain priests. And the German bishops refused this, since they were by no means interested in the development of divine services in the Slavic language. In addition, the activities of the brothers in the direction of the development of worship in the Slavic language, being historically progressive, came into conflict with the so-called trilingual theory created in the early Middle Ages, according to which only three languages ​​had the right to exist in worship and literature: Greek, Hebrew and Latin.

Constantine and Methodius had only one way out - to look for a solution to the difficulties that had arisen in Byzantium or in Rome. However, oddly enough, the brothers choose Rome, although at that moment the papal throne was occupied by Nicholas, who fiercely hated Patriarch Photius and all those associated with him. Despite this, Constantine and Methodius hoped for a favorable reception from the pope, and not unreasonably. The fact is that Constantine had the remains of Clement found by him, the third pope in order, if we assume that the very first was the apostle Peter. With such a valuable relic in their hands, the brothers could be sure that Nicholas would make big concessions, up to the permission of worship in the Slavic language.

In the middle of 866, after 3 years in Moravia, Constantine and Methodius, accompanied by their disciples, left Velegrad for Rome. On the way, the brothers met the Pannonian prince Kotsel. He well understood the significance of the work undertaken by Constantine and Methodius and treated the brothers as a friend and ally. Kocel himself learned from them the Slavic literacy and sent with them about fifty students for the same training and initiation into the clergy. Thus, the Slavic writing, apart from Moravia, became widespread in Pannonia, where the ancestors of modern Slovenes lived.

By the time the brothers arrived in Rome, Pope Nicholas was replaced by Adrian II. He graciously accepts Constantine and Methodius, permits divine services in the Slavic language, ordains the brothers as priests, and their students as presbyters and deacons.

The brothers remain in Rome for almost two years. Konstantin falls seriously ill. Feeling the approach of death, he takes the tonsure as a monk and takes on a new name - Cyril. Shortly before his death, he turns to Methodius: “Here, brother, we were a couple in one team and plowed one furrow, and I fall on the field, having finished my day. Love the mountain, but do not dare to leave your teacher for the sake of the mountain, for how else can you achieve salvation?" On February 14, 869, Constantine-Cyril died at the age of 42.

Methodius, on the advice of Kocel, seeks consecration to the rank of archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. In 870 he returned to Pannonia, where he was persecuted by the German clergy and imprisoned for some time. In the middle of 884, Methodius moved to Moravia and translated the Bible into Slavonic. He dies on April 6, 885.

The activities of the brothers were continued in the South Slavic countries by their disciples, who were expelled from Moravia in 886. In the West, Slavic worship and writing did not survive, but were approved in Bulgaria, from where they spread from the 9th century to Russia, Serbia and other countries.

The significance of the activities of Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius consisted in the creation of the Slavic alphabet, the development of the first Slavic literary and written language, and the formation of the foundations for creating texts in the Slavic literary and written language. Cyril and Methodius traditions were the most important foundation of the literary and written languages ​​of the southern Slavs, as well as the Slavs of the Great Moravian state. In addition, they had a profound influence on the formation of the literary and written language and texts in it in Ancient Russia, as well as its descendants - the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. One way or another, the Cyrillic and Methodian traditions were reflected in the Polish, Lusatian, Polabian languages. Thus, the activities of Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius had a common Slavic significance.

Wide spread of literacy in the urban environment in the 11th-12th centuries: birch bark letters and graffiti

The urban culture of Ancient Russia has hardly been studied; little space is given to it even in a large two-volume publication on the history of the culture of Ancient Russia in pre-Mongolian times, even less in books on the history of architecture, painting and literature. In this sense, the section on the "culture of Ancient Russia" in such a generalizing work as "Essays on the History of the USSR" (IX-XIII centuries) is very indicative. Here, the thesis is quite correctly proclaimed that "Russian rural and urban material culture, the culture of peasants and artisans, formed the basis of the entire culture of Ancient Russia." And then writing, literature and art, though in a somewhat obscure form, are declared the property of "feudal landowners" and only folklore is recognized as the property of the poetic creativity of the Russian people.

Of course, the monuments of literature, architecture, painting, applied art, which have come down to our time from Ancient Russia of the XI-XIII centuries, are works made mainly by order of the feudal lords. But after all, they reflect the tastes of the people, moreover, to a greater extent even the tastes of artisans than the feudal lords themselves. Works of art were made according to the idea of ​​master artisans and by the hands of master artisans. The feudal lords, of course, expressed general wishes, what kind of buildings, weapons, decorations they would like to see, but they themselves did nothing, but embodied their wishes with the hands of others. The largest role in the creation of objects of art in Ancient Russia belonged to city masters, and this role has not only not yet been clarified, but has not even been studied. Therefore, the culture of Ancient Russia appears to be so one-sided in many historical works. We would search in vain for even a paragraph on urban culture in our general and special publications. The city and its cultural life have fallen out of sight of historians and cultural historians of Ancient Russia, while the urban culture of a medieval Western European city has attracted and continues to attract the attention of researchers.

One of the prerequisites for the development of urban culture was the spread of literacy. The wide distribution of writing in the cities of Ancient Russia is confirmed by the remarkable discoveries made by Soviet archaeologists. And before them, graffiti inscriptions were already known, inscribed by unknown hands on the walls of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, on the walls of the Vydubitskaya Church in Kyiv, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the Church of Panteleimon in Galich, etc. These inscriptions were made on plaster with a sharp tool, known in ancient Russian writing as a "shiltsa". Their details are not feudal lords or churchmen, but ordinary parishioners, therefore, merchants, artisans and other people who visited churches and left a memory in the form of this kind of wall literature. The custom of writing on the walls itself speaks of the spread of literacy in urban circles. Fragments of prayers and prayer addresses, names, whole phrases, scratched on the church walls, show that their creators were literate people, and this literacy, if not universal, then was not the lot of a too limited circle of citizens. After all, the surviving graffiti inscriptions have come down to us by accident. One can imagine how many of them had to die during various kinds of renewals of ancient churches, when in the name of "splendor" they covered with new plaster and painted the walls of the wonderful buildings of Ancient Russia.

Recently, inscriptions of the XI-XIII centuries. were found on various household items. They had a household purpose, therefore, they were intended for people who could read these inscriptions. If graffiti inscriptions can be attributed to some extent to representatives of the clergy, even if they were lower, then what kind of princes and boyars made inscriptions on wine pots and shoe lasts? It is clear that these inscriptions were made by representatives of completely different circles of the population, whose writing is now becoming our property thanks to the successes of Soviet archaeological and historical science.

Even more remarkable finds were made in Novgorod. Here was found the bottom of one of the barrels with a clear inscription of the XII-XIII centuries. - "jurisprudence". The barrel, therefore, belonged to some Yuri, "Yurish", according to the old Russian custom, to reduce or strengthen the name. On a wooden shoe block for women's shoes we find the inscription "Mnezi" - an apparently female name. Two inscriptions are abbreviations of names, they are made on a bone arrow and on a birch bark float. But, perhaps, the most interesting find is the discovery in Novgorod of the so-called Ivan's elbow, found during excavations at the Yaroslav's Court in Novgorod. This is a small piece of wood in the form of a broken arshin, on which there was an inscription in the letters of the 12th-13th centuries.

A wooden cylinder, also found in Novgorod, is remarkable. On it is carved the inscription "Emtsya hryvnia 3". Yemets is a princely servant who collected court and other fees. The cylinder, apparently, served to store the hryvnia and was provided with a corresponding inscription).

Novgorod finds show that the spread of writing was significant in handicraft and commercial life, at least this can be said about Novgorod. However, the use of writing on household items was not only a Novgorod feature. B.A. Rybakov described a fragment of a korchaga, on which the inscription has been preserved. He managed to make out most of it. The inscription in full, apparently, read like this: "Blessed is the plan of the korchaga si." The words "nesha plona korchaga si" are completely preserved on the remains of this vessel, found in the old part of Kyiv during earthworks. About the same, only more extensive, inscription on a fragment of a pot in which wine was stored, reports A.L. Mongait. Along the edge of this vessel, found in Staraya Ryazan, an inscription is inscribed in letters from the 12th or early 13th century. V.D. Blavatsky discovered a fragment of a vessel from Tmutarakan, on which several obscure letters were made in ancient inscriptions. It was not possible to make out this inscription due to its fragmentary nature.

Speaking about writing in ancient Russian cities, one should not forget that in a number of craft professions, writing was a necessary condition, a need arising from the characteristics of production itself. First of all, these were icon craftsmanship and wall painting. As a rule, letters and whole phrases were placed on the icons. A master icon painter or church painter could be a semi-literate person, but he had to know the rudiments of letters under all conditions, otherwise he could not successfully fulfill the orders he received. In some cases, the artist had to fill in images of open pages of books or scrolls with long texts (see, for example, the icon of the Bogolyubskaya Mother of God of the middle of the 12th century). The study of inscriptions on icons and murals in relation to their linguistic features was almost not carried out, but could give interesting results. So, on the temple icon of Dmitry Selunsky, which stood in the cathedral of the city of Dmitrov almost from the time of its foundation, we read the signature "Dmitry" next to the Greek designations (o agios - saint). Here, the typically Russian, common folk "Dmitry" is combined with a conditional Greek expression. Thus, it is revealed that the artist was Russian, and not a foreigner.

The number of small and large inscriptions on icons and frescoes is so great, the inscriptions themselves are made so carefully and so reflect the development of the living Old Russian language with its features, that no special evidence is required to conclude that writing was widely developed among master artists.

Knowledge of at least the elements of literacy was also necessary for silversmiths and gunsmiths who made expensive items. This is evidenced by the custom of marking the names of masters on some objects of the 11th-13th centuries. The names of the masters (Kosta, Bratilo) are preserved on the Novgorod craters, on the copper arch from Vshchizh (Konstantin), on the cross of the Polotsk princess Euphrosyne (Bogsha). Writing had a considerable distribution among the masons-builders. Special studies have shown that the bricks used for the construction of stone buildings in Ancient Russia usually have marks. So, on several bricks of the cathedral in Old Ryazan, the name of the master is imprinted: Yakov.

We also find the spread of writing among stone carvers. The oldest examples of Cyrillic inscriptions are stone slabs with the remains of letters found in the ruins of the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv at the end of the 10th century. One of the oldest inscriptions was made on the famous Tmutarakan stone. The Sterzhensky cross belongs to 1133; almost simultaneously with it, the Borisov stone was erected on the Western Dvina. The prevalence of such crosses and stones with commemorative records of the XI-XIII centuries. indicates that writing has firmly taken root in the everyday life of Ancient Russia. The so-called "Stepan's stone", found in the Kalinin region, also speaks of the established custom of placing stones with inscriptions on the boundaries.

Let us also recall the existence of inscriptions on various kinds of vessels, crosses, icons, decorations that have come down to us from the 11th-13th centuries. It is impossible to admit that the artisans who made these inscriptions were illiterate people, since in this case we would have clear traces of the inability to reproduce the inscriptions on the things themselves. Therefore, it must be assumed that among the artisans there were people with certain writing skills.

It can be assumed that the inscriptions on household items of princes or higher clergy, as is clearly seen, for example, from the already mentioned inscription on an Old Ryazan vessel, were sometimes made by princely tyuns or some other household servants. The salary of the Mstislav Gospel was made between 1125-1137. at the expense of the prince. A certain Naslav traveled on a princely assignment to Constantinople and was a princely servant. But does this give the right to deny the existence of writing among those artisans who were engaged in the production of other, less precious products than the Novgorod craters and the Polotsk cross? Wooden shoe lasts, a bone arrow, a birch bark float, a wooden cup with the inscription "smova", found in Novgorod excavations, indicate that writing in Kievan Rus was not the property of only feudal lords. It was widespread among the trade and craft circles of the ancient Russian cities of the 11th-13th centuries. Of course, the spread of writing among artisans should not be exaggerated. Literacy was necessary for masters of a few professions and was distributed mainly in large cities, but even in this case, the archaeological finds of recent years take us far from the usual ideas about unwritten Russia, according to which only monasteries and palaces of princes and boyars were centers of culture.

The need for literacy and writing was especially felt among the merchants. "Ryad" - the contract - is known to us both from Russkaya Pravda and from other sources. The oldest private written "series" (Teshaty and Yakima) dates back to the second half of the 13th century, but this does not mean that such written documents did not exist before.

This is evidenced by the use of terms related to writing in legal monuments of ancient times. Usually, in order to prove that Ancient Russia did not know the wide distribution of private acts, they referred to Russian Truth, which supposedly does not mention written documents. However, in the lengthy edition of Pravda, "fur" is called, a special fee that went in favor of the scribe: "pissu 10 kunas, 5 kunas for the cross, two legs for fur." Such a connoisseur of ancient writing, as I.I. Sreznevsky, translates the term "fur" in Russian Pravda precisely as "leather for writing." Russkaya Pravda itself indicates that both the "transfer" and the duty "for fur" went to the scribe. We have an indication of the duty on written transactions and records in the Manuscript of Vsevolod Mstislavich ("Russian Writing").

Among the urban population there was also such a layer for which writing was mandatory - this was the parish clergy, primarily priests, deacons, deacons, who read and sang in church. The priest's son, who did not learn to read and write, seemed to the people of Ancient Russia to be a kind of undergrowth, a man who had lost the right to his profession, along with a merchant or a serf who ransomed to freedom. From among the clergy and lower church clerks, cadres of book copyists were recruited. If we recall that the monasteries of Ancient Russia were primarily urban monasteries, then the category of urban residents among whom literacy was widespread seems to be quite significant: it included artisans, merchants, clergy, boyars, and princely people. Let the spread of literacy not be ubiquitous; at least there were significantly more literate people in the city than in the countryside, where the need for literacy at this time was extremely limited.

Among the princes of the XII-XIII centuries. there was a widespread custom to exchange the so-called letters of the cross, which were written contracts. The letter of the cross, which the Galician prince Vladimirka "returned" to the Kyiv prince Vsevolod, is reported under 1144. In 1152, Izyaslav Mstislavich sent letters of the cross to the same Vladimirka with accusations of treachery; in 1195, the Kyiv prince Rurik sent letters of the cross to Roman Mstislavich; on the basis of their Rurik "expose" the betrayal of Roman; in 1196, the same letters of the cross are mentioned in relation to Vsevolod the Big Nest. It is known about the letters of the cross of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, etc. Thus, the custom of written inter-princely agreements was firmly established in Russia in the 12th century. Already at this time there are counterfeit letters. It is known about a false letter sent on behalf of Yaroslav Osmomysl in 1172 by the Galician governor and his comrades. The diploma in this message is one of the necessary attributes of inter-princely relations. The princely charters that have survived to our time allow us to say that they were already in the XII century. compiled according to a specific format. Two letters of the Novgorod prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, given by him to the Yuriev monastery in 1125-1137, have the same introduction and conclusion. Approximately in the same form letters of Mstislav Vladimirovich (1130) and Izyaslav Mstislavich (1146-1155) were written 1). These documents, which came out of the prince's office, were written according to certain patterns by experienced scribes. The skills of the prince's offices could not be formed instantly. Therefore, they must have been preceded by some period of development. The existence of treaties between Russia and the Greeks tells us that princely offices in Russia appeared no later than the 10th century.

The relatively wide distribution of literacy in the urban environment is confirmed by the discovery of Novgorod birch bark letters. The material for writing in Ancient Russia was such an object as birch bark. It cannot even be called cheap, it was just generally available, because birch bark is available wherever birch grows. The processing of the bark for writing was extremely primitive. The properties of birch bark, easily decaying and brittle, made it a convenient written material only for correspondence of temporary importance; books and acts were written on durable parchment, later on paper.

Finding birch bark letters by A.V. Artsikhovsky dispelled the legend about the extremely weak spread of literacy in Ancient Russia. It turns out that at this time people willingly corresponded on various issues. Here is a letter from the Guest to Vasily about a difficult family case. Another letter is about a controversial or stolen cow, a third about furs, and so on. These are the finds of 1951.

The correspondence of the townspeople of the 11th-13th centuries is drawn to us even more fully and brighter in the letters found during the excavations of 1952. Here are the demands to send "spindles" and "medvedna" (sacks and bearskins), correspondence about the dishonor of some nobleman, orders for trade and even reports of hostilities.

Letters on birch bark are valuable because they give an idea of ​​the daily life and activities of the townspeople with their petty concerns of personal and social order. At the same time, they are indisputable proof of the relatively widespread literacy in the cities of Ancient Russia in the 11th-13th centuries.

Mathematical, astronomical and geographical knowledge in Ancient Russia

Since the XIV century, the process of unification of Russian lands around Moscow began, and at the end of the XV - beginning of the XVI centuries. this process has ended. A Russian centralized state was created. But, its lagging behind the West was significant. Universities were already operating in Europe at that time, the market was developing, manufactories appeared, the bourgeoisie was an organized estate, Europeans actively explored new lands and continents.

Scientific and technical knowledge in the XIV-XVI centuries. in Russian lands, in most cases, they were at the practical level, there were no theoretical developments. Their main source continued to be books by Western European authors translated into Russian.

By the XIV-XVI centuries. Mathematics has received special development, first of all, in the practical aspect. The stimulus was the needs of church and state. However, the interest of the church was limited only to the area of ​​the church calendar, questions of the chronological definition of holidays and church services. In particular, special works in mathematics translated from Latin made it possible to calculate the Easter tables, which were brought only up to 1492. The needs of the state in the field of fiscal policy also formed a closer attention to mathematics. Various land surveying works were carried out, and, accordingly, knowledge of geometry was necessary.

Astronomy occupied a special place in the field of natural sciences. Its development took place in several directions: the reproduction and systematization of old astronomical ideas, supplementing them with new knowledge; development of practical astronomy associated with the calculation of calendar-astronomical tables; attempts to present the system of the world in a mathematical perspective.

Geographic knowledge in the XIV-XVI centuries. not much progress compared to the previous period. A distinctive feature of this period was the increase in the number of Russian people traveling abroad. Foreign aids served as sources of geographical information. For example, the Byzantine work "Chronograph", published in 1512. This work had a touch of fairy tale. Another translated work of this period - the geography of Lucidarius - gives superficial information about Western Europe, the geography of Asia is described in some detail, although it contains a lot of mythical information about the population of India, its animal world.

In the XV-XVI centuries. philosophical knowledge actively penetrates into Russia. The country got acquainted with the ideas of Plato and Aristotle through translated literature. Thus, the main source of penetration of Aristotle's ideas was the Dialectic of St. John of Damascus. Approximately in the same period, the philosophical work of the Arab scientist Al-Ghazali "The Philosopher's Purpose", which professed the ideas of Neoplatonism, came to Russia. Of the Russian philosophers, it is necessary to single out the works of Yermolai-Erasmus on the cosmic significance of the Holy Trinity.

The first parish schools under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise

The period of development of domestic education under princes Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise is often recognized as the initial one in the entire history of this education, which is largely associated with Christian churches.

Under the year 988 in the Tale of Bygone Years: “And (Vladimir) built a church in the name of St. Basil on the hill where the idol of Perun and others stood, and where the prince and people did their needs. And churches began to be erected in other cities and priests were identified in them, and to bring people to be baptized in all towns and villages. He sent to collect children from the best people and send them to bookish education. The mothers of these children wept for them, for they were not yet established in the faith, and wept for them as if they were dead." (Pagans were against Christian innovations).

Polish historian Jan Dlugosh (1415-1480) about the Kyiv school of "book learning" "Vladimir ... attracts Russian youths to study the arts, in addition, he contains masters requested from Greece" . To create a three-volume history of Poland, Długosz used Polish, Czech, Hungarian, German sources, and ancient Russian chronicles. Apparently, from a chronicle that has not come down to us, he learned the news about studying the arts (sciences) at the Kyiv school of Vladimir. According to rough estimates, the "school of Vladimir" with a contingent of 300 students in 49 years (988-1037) could train over a thousand educated pupils. Yaroslav the Wise used a number of them to develop enlightenment in Russia.

Teachers X-XIII centuries. due to the imperfection of teaching methods and individual work in the course of classes with each student individually, he could not deal with more than 6-8 students. The prince recruited a large number of children to the school, so at first he was forced to distribute them among teachers. Such division of students into groups was common in Western European schools of that time. From the surviving acts of the cantor of the schools of medieval Paris, it is known that the number of students with one teacher was from 6 to 12 people, in the schools of the Cluniy monastery - 6 people, in the women's elementary schools of Til - 4-5 students. Eight students are depicted on the miniature of the front "Life of Sergius of Radonezh", 5 students sit in front of the teacher on the engraving of the front "ABC" of 1637 by V. Burtsov.

Approximately this number of students is evidenced by the birch bark letters of the famous Novgorod schoolboy of the 13th century. Onfima. One with a handwriting different from Onfim's (No. 201), hence V.L. Yanin suggested that this letter belongs to Onfim's school friend. Onfim's fellow student was Danila, for whom Onfim prepared a greeting: "Bow from Onfim to Danila." It is possible that the fourth Novgorodian, Matvey (letter No. 108), studied with Onfim, whose handwriting is very similar.

Russian scribes who worked in advanced schools used their own version of the structure of subjects, which, to a certain extent, took into account the experience of Byzantine and Bulgarian schools that provided higher education.

Sophia's first chronicle about the school in Novgorod: 1030. "In the summer of 6538. Yaroslav went to Chud, and I won, and set up the city of Yuryev. And I came to Novgorod, and having collected 300 children from the elders and priests, teach them with a book."

The school in Novgorod, founded in 1030 by Yaroslav the Wise, was the second higher type educational institution in Russia, in which only children of elders and clergymen studied. There is a version that in the annals we are talking about the children of church elders, who were elected from the lower classes, but until the end of the 16th century. only administrative and military elders are known. The term "church warden" appeared in the 17th century. The contingent of students in the Novgorod school consisted of the children of the clergy and the city administration. The social composition of the students reflected the class character of education at that time.

The main task of the school was to train a competent and united by the new faith administrative apparatus and priests, whose activities took place in a difficult struggle with the strong traditions of the pagan religion among the Novgorodians and Finno-Ugric tribes that surrounded Novgorod.

The activities of Yaroslav's school relied on an extensive network of elementary literacy schools, as evidenced by the large number of birch bark letters discovered by archaeologists, wrote, waxed tablets. On the basis of the wide spread of literacy, Novgorod book culture flourished. The famous Ostromir Gospel, Dobrynya Yadreykovich's description of Tsargrad, and Kirik's mathematical treatise were written in Novgorod. The Izbornik of 1073, the initial annalistic code, and a brief edition of Russkaya Pravda have been preserved for posterity. The Novgorod book depositories served as one of the main sources of the "Great Fourth Menaia" - a collection of "all the books that are in Russia", consisting of 12 huge volumes with a total volume of over 27 thousand pages.

In the year 6545. Yaroslav laid the big city, which now has the Golden Gate, laid the church of St. Sophia, the metropolis, and then the church of the Holy Mother of God of the Annunciation on the Golden Gate, then the monastery of St. George and St. Irina ... Yaroslav loved church charters, the priests were very fond of especially the Chernorizians, and showed zeal for books, often reading them both at night and during the day. And he gathered a multitude of scribes who translated from Greek into Slavonic. And they wrote many books, according to which believers learn and enjoy the divine teaching. As it happens that one plows the land, another sows, and still others reap and eat food that never fails, so it is here. After all, his father Vladimir plowed and softened the land, that is, enlightened him by baptism, and we reap, receiving book teaching.

After all, great is the benefit of the teaching of the book; books instruct and teach us the path of repentance, for we gain wisdom and temperance in the words of the book. These are the rivers that water the universe, these are the sources of wisdom, after all, there is immeasurable depth in books ... ... Yaroslav ... loved books and, having copied a lot of them, put them in the church of St. Sophia, which he created himself "

The educational reform of Vladimir and Yaroslav strengthened Christianization in the lands of the future Russia and its neighbors, however, centuries-old pagan traditions had deep roots in the peoples of the country.

As professional scribes of South Slavic manuscripts called themselves "grammarists", teachers of the full course of grammar were also called Greeks. Emperor Justinian in 534 established a reward of 70 solidi for eminent grammarians and assigned a number of other privileges to these teachers. Grammars were also taught at the Kyiv Palace School; after death, according to their status, they were buried in the cathedral. The relics of the "Grammar" were transferred to the monastery, where Lazarus was the hegumen (mentioned under 1088).

Practical application of knowledge in crafts and construction

In Kievan Rus, a variety of knowledge, technical achievements used in practical life were accumulated and actively used: cities, fortresses and castles were built, metal was mined, tools and weapons were forged, ships and cars were built, fabrics and clothes were produced, leather and shoes were made. For all these branches of craft, a wide variety of knowledge, skills and technical devices were required. From X to 20-30s. 12th century the first stage in the development of ancient Russian craft with a rather high production technology in terms of the Middle Ages stands out. At this time, the foundations of ancient Russian production were created. In particular, ferrous metallurgy existed on the basis of the raw iron process for the production of iron from swamp ores. Metallurgists living in rural areas supplied the cities with sufficient quantities of high quality iron, which the city blacksmiths converted into high quality carbon steel. Leather and furrier production, as well as the manufacture of leather shoes, were also developed. In Kievan Rus, several types of high-quality leather were known, and an assortment of woolen fabrics was widely represented. In handicraft production, there were various woodworking technologies that made it possible to manufacture the most complex turned vessels of more than 20 types. Jewelers' products for processing non-ferrous metal were diverse and the technique of jewelry craft was at a high technological level.

The second period, which began at the end of the first third of the 12th century, was characterized by a sharp expansion of the range of products and, at the same time, a significant rationalization of production, which led to the standardization of products and the specialization of handicraft industries. The number of specialties at the end of the XII century. in some Russian cities it exceeded 100. For example, in metalworking, instead of high-quality multilayer steel blades, simplified blades appear - blades with a welded edge. In textile production at the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII century. (at the same time as in Western Europe) a horizontal loom appears. Russian weavers, using extensive economic ties with the countries of Western Europe, were not far behind the European masters in the modernization of weaving production. Russian weavers specialized in the production of linen fabrics.

In addition to looms in Russia, a variety of mechanical devices and machines were used, made mainly of wood: bellows, lifting lever mechanisms, drills and gates, circular sharpeners and hand mills, spindles and reels, wheeled carts and a potter's wheel, crushes and pulps, turning machine tools, stone throwers, battering rams, crossbows and much more.

Thus, scientific ideas of the world around were spread through translated literature in Kievan Rus, there were many literate and educated (in general) people, and schools operated. The technique of building temples and other structures, military fortifications developed (here it was necessary to operate with accurate calculations, to know the mechanics). Handicraft production in Russia, in terms of the variety of technological operations, the development and equipment of tools, and the level of specialization, stood on the same level as handicraft production in Western Europe and the East. However, scientific schools were not created, the development of knowledge was of an exclusively practical nature.

From the second quarter of the thirteenth century the development of Russian lands was stopped by a powerful blow from the East, from the Mongol Empire, and the assertion of the vassal dependence of Russia on the Golden Horde. Batu's invasion caused terrible damage to Russian cities - centers of progress and knowledge. Among the tragic consequences is the fact that the development of the Russian craft was interrupted, and yet it was in a state of upsurge. For more than a century, some types of crafts (jewelry, glass), techniques and skills (the technique of filigree, granulation, cloisonné enamel) were lost. Monuments of Russian architecture were destroyed. Stone city construction stopped for half a century. Many monuments of writing perished. As N.M. wrote Karamzin: "the shade of barbarism, darkening the horizon of Russia, hid Europe from us at the very time when ... the invention of the compass spread navigation and trade; artisans, artists, scientists were encouraged by the government; universities for higher sciences arose ... The nobility was already ashamed of robberies ... Europe did not found out: but for the fact that she has changed in these 250 years, and we have remained as we were.

The situation in the Russian lands began to change in the second half of the 14th century, in particular, the pre-Mongolian level of development of production was reached. The prerequisites for this kind of industrial upsurge, of course, were the rise and strengthening of Moscow's position in the unification process, the tactics of Ivan Kalita and his sons to "avoid conflicts" with the Horde. The symbol of the revival was the construction of the white-stone Kremlin in Moscow during the reign of Dmitry Donskoy.

findings

The historical role of Byzantium in the fate of Europe, Kievan Rus, is enormous, the significance of its culture in the development of world civilization is enduring and, of course, fruitful.

Byzantine art was of exceptionally great importance. Having made extensive use of the ancient heritage, Byzantine art acted as a repository of many of its images and motifs and passed them on to other peoples. The importance of Byzantine art was especially great for countries that, like Byzantium, adhered to the Orthodox religion (Bulgaria, Ancient Russia) and invariably maintained lively cultural ties with Constantinople (the imperial and patriarchal courts).

In the history of world culture, Byzantium is the first Christian empire, an Orthodox power that opens the era of the European Middle Ages.

The most ancient durable medieval state, Byzantium for many centuries - the most powerful country of the Christian world, the center of a multifaceted, outstanding civilization.

Sources

1.Istrin V.A. The emergence and development of writing, 2010

.Rozov N.N. Books of Ancient Russia 9-14 centuries, 1977

.Florya B.N. The emergence of Slavic writing. Historical conditions of its development // Essays on the history of the culture of the Slavs. RAN. Institute of Slavonic and Balkan studies. M., 1996

.Udaltsova Z.V. Byzantine culture. M., 1988.

.#"justify">. Arsent'eva A.V., Mikhailova S.Yu. History of Science: Textbook. Cheboksary, ed. Chuvash University. 2003.

.Dyatchin N.I. History of the development of technology. M.: Phoenix, 2001, 320 p.

.Puzyrev N.M. Brief history of science and technology. Proc. allowance. Tver, Tver University 2003-2004.

.#"justify">. #"justify">. http://www.portal-slovo.ru/impressionism/39140.php - educational portal

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