The project writing education and literacy of Kievan Rus. Writing, literacy, schools

With the churching of the Slavs of Kievan Rus, the need for literacy increased dramatically. For numerous opening churches, people who could read were required to conduct divine services according to the charter books. It was a matter of life and death for the Christian church on Russian soil.

Prince Vladimir himself, who baptized Russia, did not know the letter, and the chronicler calls him, moreover, "an ignoramus". His baptized squad was also by no means well-read in Holy Scripture. And the lower classes of ancient Russian society - even more so. The first clergymen in ancient Kyiv were the Greeks, brought by Vladimir from Korsun, and, apparently, the Bulgarians, who by this time had a more developed church education and literacy.

At the same time, Russia needed not only literate, but also enlightened and educated people. In ancient Russian culture, the understanding of an “enlightened person” completely coincided with the original meaning of the word “enlightened”, which meant a person illuminated by the light of the Lord. "I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not remain in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). The gospel words of Jesus Christ were addressed both to the apostles and to all those following the path of Christianity: "You are the salt of the earth ... you are the light of the world" (Mat. 5:13-14). In this regard, the educator was revered as the one who revealed the truths of Christian teaching to the pagans and actively contributed to the spread of faith. The very word "enlightenment" in Church Slavonic means "baptism".

And the Christian who believed in Christ's teaching, comprehended its essence and was well-read in the "divine books", was considered educated, that is, assimilated to the image of Christ.

In medieval Russia, the mastery of literacy and writing was a truly Christian deed, behind which stood a firm commitment to the new faith. Having learned to read and write, a person drew only one thing from books - the Christian worldview: there were no books with a different content.

The first attempts to open a literacy school date back to the time of Prince Vladimir. But the people of Kiev, apparently, considered this idea dubious and even dangerous. The most curious chronicle evidence has come down to us, in which the author lets slip about the real difficulties of spreading both Christianity and literacy. In that era, these two processes were one. When Prince Vladimir ordered to “poimati”, that is, to seize forcibly, “deliberate children” and give them to “book teaching”, the mothers “wept for them; for they were not yet established in the faith and wept for them as if they were dead.”

It is no coincidence that in the lives of the saints, according to the literary canon, it has always been said about teaching the future ascetic of God to read and write as one of the steps to holiness. Learning to read and write was a feat of a Christian. For example, in adolescence, Sergius of Radonezh was not given a letter in any way, and it was given to the youth to comprehend it only by Divine power through the appearance of an angel. This testimony to the holiness of the monk found its place in all editions of the "Life of Sergius of Radonezh" and in his hallmarked icons.

At the same time, not a single pro-state school inspired by princely or ecclesiastical authorities is known in all of pre-Mongolian Russia. Such educational institutions, logically, should have been opened where there were literate and enlightened people - in monasteries or at cathedrals. First of all, for example, at the Kiev Caves Monastery, but this monastery did not contain such a school, otherwise it would have been mentioned in the Kiev Caves Patericon. Sources are silent about such schools and at the cathedral churches of Kyiv, Chernigov, Novgorod and other capital cities.

The absence of church schools of an official, official nature in Ancient Russia can be argued by referring to the "Charter" of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, if you read it, so to speak, "from the opposite." In the "Charter" the jurisdiction of the princely court and the church was demarcated. Article 16 contains a list of various church institutions under the metropolitan patronage: “a hospital, a hotel, a hospice,” and so on, but neither here nor in other articles of the document does it say anything about schools. Moreover, in all source materials relating to the Kyiv era, there is no such information.

Most likely, the clergy were engaged in training in private, at home for a fee. Teaching literacy and keeping an elementary school at home was charged to the priests by the decree of the VI Ecumenical Council (680-681). It is possible that in addition to the priests there were private literacy schools, which were kept by everyone. Education in such home schools of the Kyiv era consisted of teaching writing, reading, initial arithmetic and the basics of Christian doctrine.

The education of the child largely depended on the good will of the parents. Such was the teaching, for example, of the Monk Theodosius of the Caves, the founder and abbot of the largest ancient Russian monastery - the Kiev Caves. In his "Life", compiled by the famous Nestor, it is said that, while living in the provincial town of Kursk, he begged his mother, a pious but powerful woman, to give him the teaching of divine books "one from the teacher."

For the most part, visiting Greeks and Bulgarians were teachers, only because it was they who at that time formed the backbone of the country's literate people.

Only in the second generation of Christians in Russia does a small layer of literate people appear. First of all, these were the tops of society. It is known that the sons of Prince Vladimir - Boris and Gleb - have already read the Holy Scriptures. Another princely son, Yaroslav the Wise, even tried to increase the circle of literate people. He ordered the clergy "in cities and other places" to expand the teaching of alphabetic wisdom. “Supplying priests and giving salaries from their riches, ordering them to teach people, because they were entrusted with this by God,” Yaroslav ordered to collect “from elders and priests” 300 children and “teach books.” The prince sought to replenish the church clergy at the expense of Russian priests, and not visitors from other Christian countries, and to solve another urgent problem of his time - to strengthen the domestic Church.

V.N. Tatishchev, there is a mention, without reference to the source, of the opening of a women's school at the Andreevsky Monastery in Kyiv, where the girls were taught "writing, as well as crafts, singing, sewing and other crafts useful to them." But it must be assumed that even at that time, private, individual education was still the most common.

Summing up some results, it should be noted that in Russia the formation of Christianity went hand in hand with the spread of literacy, but not education and enlightenment as in-depth forms of assimilation of Christian teaching. It is indicative that Ancient Russia did not give a single Father of the Church - a generally accepted writer-theologian, canonized as a saint. The largest connoisseur of the Russian church, E.E. Golubinsky wrote, not without polemical poignancy: “Having become a Christian people, we have not at all become an enlightened people. Enlightenment was introduced and introduced to us, but it was not accepted and instilled in us, and almost immediately after the introduction it completely disappeared without a trace. After this, our enlightenment in the pre-Mongolian period was the same as in all subsequent times of old Russia until Peter the Great, namely, in the complete absence of any real enlightenment or scientific education, one simple literacy, one simple ability to read .. "

Literacy in Russia in the pre-Christian (Docievan) period

The emergence of the school in Russia in the sense that is familiar to us, the bulk of researchers connects with the process of Christianization of the Slavic tribes and directly with the Kievan period of development of the Old Russian state. The generally accepted idea that before the adoption of Christianity in Russia there was neither writing nor any culture at all, is contained in the writings of many authors both in the pre-revolutionary and in the modern period. Interestingly, The Tale of Bygone Years, the main source on the history of Ancient Russia, contains precisely this point of view. Nestor connects the spread of literacy directly with the adoption of Christianity and the activities of Prince Vladimir. There is no mention of the existence of literacy before this period in the Tale. The same point of view is supported by the great Russian historian N.M. Karamzin: “The Bohemian, Illyric and Russian Slavs did not have any alphabet until 863 ...” The first Russian systematist of the world history of pedagogy L.N. Modzalevsky in his work "Essay on the history of education and training from ancient times to our times." HER. Golubinsky in "History of the Russian Church" also believes that it was during the Kievan period that "enlightenment on the Greek model was established in our country for a very short time in the highest (boyar) class ...". This version eventually became official, which means that it was included in all school and university textbooks back in the Soviet period. However, despite the abundance of new data obtained in the course of research by archaeologists, historians, philologists, etc., the same version is contained in all modern textbooks, as well as in books on the history of Russia for children and youth. Obviously, the authors of the textbooks consider Nestor's opinion to be indisputable and the only correct one. They simply ignore all the currently available data on the literacy of the Slavs in the pre-Christian period. From early childhood, I put in our heads the idea of the backwardness of the Slavic civilization, thus instilling admiration for the West. For what purpose this is done, it is difficult to say. Perhaps the textbook authors simply do not bother with any analysis and generalization of the available data, rewriting the same version from one textbook to another. However, if we take into account that the authors of many textbooks are the largest historians, such as A.N. Sakharov, B. Rybakov, S. Orlov and others, such an approach to the presentation of national history becomes incomprehensible. It is interesting that in the school textbook Academician A. N. Sakharov defends Nestor's version, and in the textbook for universities he significantly deviates from this version. But, one way or another, we leave it on the conscience of the authors.

A very interesting theory of the emergence of literacy in Russia is proposed by A.V. Kartashev in the two-volume work "Essays on the History of the Russian Church". He also believes that before Christianization, the Slavs did not know literacy, and only with the adoption of Christianity does writing begin to spread. However, the adoption of Christianity by Western and Eastern Slavs A.V. Kartashev connects not with the reign of Prince Vladimir and the date of the official baptism of Russia in 988, but with the events of the creation of the Slavic alphabet by Cyril and Methodius, and even earlier. He believes that by 860 Christianity was no longer just widespread in the lands of the Slavs, but there was already a Russian diocese with a bishop at the head. This version is also supported by the modern historian Svetlana Zhuk, saying that "by the time of Oleg's reign, Kyiv was already on the list of Greek metropolises, there was a Russian bishopric here." At the same time, A.V. Kartashov mentions the existence of a certain Slavic language, into which Cyril and Methodius translated Greek books as early as 855. But it is difficult to say what kind of Slavic language we are talking about: either it is the Slavic alphabet created by the Thessalonica brothers, or it is the Slavic language that existed before the official creation of the Slavic alphabet. The appearance of the first schools in the Slavic lands A.V. Kartashov also connects with the activities of the brothers. It was they who founded the first schools for the Slavs and trained the first teachers. The purpose of these schools was to teach the Slavs to read and write in the newly created Slavic language and to spread Christianity among the Slavs. "... As soon as Constantine reached Moravia, he immediately put the crowded school on its feet and unfolded a wide range of liturgical books in front of it." Here the historian stipulates that "... it is a matter of continuing the Slavic doctrinal and liturgical mission already begun by Byzantium, and only of its application to a new territory and a new people." The missionary activity of the Thessalonica brothers begins with the Bulgarian lands, after which all the southern Slavs were converted to Christianity, and then the brothers went to the lands of the western Slavs and from there to Russia. The baptism directly of the Eastern Slavs or the Russian population, as well as the fact of the beginning of the spread of literacy in Russia, A.V. Kartashov connects with the year 862. In his work, he clearly indicates that "... 862 is not the year of the beginning of the Russian state, but the year of the beginning of the Russian church with a bishop at the head." However, the great Russian historian V.N. Tatishchev was the first to draw attention to the fact that the Slavs had a written language long before the adoption of Christianity and the creation of the Slavic alphabet. "Indeed, the Slavs long before Christ and the Slavic-Russians actually had a letter before Vladimir, in which many ancient writers testify to us, and, firstly, that in general they are told about all the Slavs." In support of his conclusions, V.N. Tatishchev cites the story of various Slavic historians, without saying what kind of historians they are, about a certain Jerome, a teacher of the Slavs, who translated the Bible into Slavic as early as the 4th century. This fact, according to Tatishchev, proves that the Slavs had their own written language. The historian cites other evidence based on sources that have not survived to our time. At the same time, Tatishchev is trying to trace the process of the emergence of writing among the Slavs from the Greeks in the south, because. the Slavs, the same Scythians, Sarmatians and other tribes, lived in close proximity to the Greeks and had the closest contact with them. He also believes that the northern Slavic tribes, which are in close trade relations with the countries of Europe, could well have adopted the runic script from them. However, archaeological excavations do not confirm the fact that the Slavs had such a letter, so Tatishchev himself stipulates that this is just an assumption.

Opinion of V.N. Tatishchev is supported by the historian A.N. Sakharov, saying that the existence of writing in Russia in the pre-Kiev period is beyond doubt. At the same time, A.N. Sakharov does not comment on the nature of writing. He cites the testimony of the Arab bibliographer an-Nidin about the correspondence of the Russian prince, which took place on the eve of the Christian reform. This fact Academician A.N. Sakharov does not consider the norm for Ancient Russia of the pre-Christian period, since, in his opinion, this is a single piece of evidence, just like archaeological finds with ancient writings of the Slavs are single. "However, the letter that came to Russia from the southern Slavs did not receive any wide distribution in pre-Christian Russia, and there is no reason to talk about the appearance of literature in Russia before Vladimir." Thus, following V.N. Tatishchev A.N. Sakharov believes that writing came to Russia from the south. Since the Slavs, both eastern and southern, had very close contacts with the Greek world, it is quite reasonable to assume that the Slavs could use the Greek language directly. However, we do not find any explanations on this matter either from V.N. Tatishchev, nor A.N. Sakharov. V.N. Tatishchev only claims that the Slavs had their own language, but does not explain what letters it was depicted in writing. It is important to note that V.N. Tatishchev testifies that the Slavic princes knew Greek well and used it when writing. This fact is confirmed by the famous historian S.M. Solovyov. At the same time, he says that V.N. Tatishchev wrote his work on the basis of many sources that have not come down to us, and there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of Tatishchev's code of annals.

The possible presence of runic writing among the ancient Slavs indirectly confirms in his work A.V. Kartashev. He points out: "This Russia of the end of the 8th beginning of the 9th centuries - a mobile mess of peoples: Slavic, Norman and maybe partly Scythian-Iranian, or even Turkic, wandered and was scattered along all the northern shores of the Black Sea, already long since Christianized by Byzantium." Hence it is likely that the Slavs could use the runic script, having borrowed it from the peoples of the North. N.M. Karamzin also gives indirect evidence that the runic script existed among the ancient Slavs. "The Baltic Slavs worshiped Wodan, or the Scandinavian Odin, having learned about him from the Germanic peoples with whom they lived in Dacia and who were their neighbors from ancient times."

It is worth paying close attention to the monograph of the domestic pre-revolutionary researcher Yegor Klassen. He argues that "the Slavs had literacy not only before the general introduction of Christianity between them, but also long before the birth of Christ, as evidenced by the acts erecting the literacy of the Slavic-Russians from the tenth century ago - to ancient times ...". E. Klassen cites numerous testimonies of both Western and Eastern writers, travelers and rulers, and also refers to the texts of ancient Russian treaties and various Western chronicles. The use of a large number of sources allowed E. Klassen to draw amazing conclusions. First of all, he believes that the Slavs had a written language much earlier than the Greeks and Romans. Secondly, he convincingly proves that the process of spreading literacy did not go from West to East, but from East to West, i.e. from the ancient Slavic peoples to the Greeks, and from there further to the Romans and to Europe. Thirdly, E. Klassen believes that the origin of the runic writing exclusively from Scandinavia is erroneous. In his opinion, the Slavs had their own runic writing, which was distributed everywhere.

We are told about the widespread distribution of runic writing by archaeological finds throughout the European part of Russia. However, a comparison of the Scandinavian and Slavic runes testifies to us about their complete identity. Therefore, the statement about the existence of the actual Slavic runes seems to us not entirely plausible. There is no reason to talk about the borrowing of runic writing by the Scandinavians and Germans from the ancient Slavs. From here we can assume that the borrowing was still from the side of the Slavs due to close trade ties.

The opinion about the antiquity of Slavic writing is also supported by the famous Russian historian Dmitry Ivanovich Ilovaisky. Studying the problem of the Slavic origin of the Bulgarians, he comes to the conclusion that Slavic writing existed already in the 7th-8th centuries. At the same time, he stipulates that Slavic writing has more ancient roots. D. Ilovaisky connects the flourishing of this writing with the period of the 9th-10th centuries. and believes that it was Slavic writing that became the basis for all subsequent Slavic-Christian education. Thus, the official adoption of Christianity gives a new powerful impetus to the development of writing and education, although D. Ilovaisky does not write about this directly.

Modern researcher Sergei Berdyshev proves this version on the basis of archaeological finds made in the territory of Central and Southern Russia in the 40-50s. XX century. Runic inscriptions were found on clay jars in the places of settlements of representatives of the so-called Chernyakhov culture, which had a rather large area of settlement and dated to the 3rd-4th centuries, and partly to the beginning of the 5th century. "Thus," S.N. Berdyshev points out, "the Chernyakhov culture can be considered inter-tribal: in addition to the Slavs, the Germans and Sarmatians were involved in its creation." These finds are important for us because the Slavs used writing long before the baptism of Russia. But, apparently, the runic writing was used in case of emergency and by very narrow circles of the population. This conclusion is supported by the fact that there are few finds with runic inscriptions, despite the rather large territory (from northwestern Europe to southern Russia) of the spread of the Chernyakhov culture. In addition, this fact also testifies to the fact that in the chronological period indicated by S. Berdyshev, the Slavs did not have their own written language, and we also cannot talk about the general spread of literacy among the bulk of the Slavic population.

Thus, it becomes clear that the highest circles of Slavic society had a Greek script and actively used it. Part of the trade and craft circles, if necessary, could use runic writing when making large transactions. As for the bulk of the population, it is quite reasonable to assume that a certain "folk" Slavic language existed, as well as primitive Slavic writing in the form of dashes and dimples squeezed out on clay or birch bark. Many peoples at the stage of the primitive system had primitive writing, as evidenced by numerous archaeological finds around the world.

The modern researcher S. Zhuk confirms these guesses in the work "Kievan Rus", saying that "the Slavs already had the simplest writing system. could read and write." Somewhat later, the Slavs switched to the alphabet created by Cyril, which "was much simpler, clearer and much more convenient to use. It consisted of 43 letters and included numbers." We find very interesting evidence of ancient Slavic writing in the work of the modern researcher Alexander Asov "The Sacred Ancestral Homes of the Slavs". The author recounts the legends about two roots of the Slavs: northern, Hyperborean, and southern, Atlantic. But it is important for us that A. Asov cites excerpts from the most ancient monuments of Slavic not just writing, but literature that existed in the 3rd-4th centuries. AD These are excerpts from the "Book of carols", "Book of Veles" and others. "Yarilin's book" - the chronicle of the Russians, dating from the same time, he cites in full. But more importantly, in the work of A. Asov there is a photograph of the first page of the "Yarilin Book", where we clearly see the Greek letters. So what happens? It is clear that such works as "The Book of Veles", "The Book of Carols", "Yarilin's Book" could only be written by Slavic magi. The titles of the books speak for themselves. The books are written in Greek letters, i.e. in Greek. This means that the highest circles of the ancient Slavic society, which included the Magi, were not just literate, but well educated. They knew Greek and could read and write in it. And, no less surprising, they had access to paper, since the oldest books of the Slavs were written on paper. The lower layers used the simplest writing and used clay tablets or birch bark for it, as the most accessible material. Paper was obviously in great short supply and was very expensive. Magi or Slavic priests created imperishable books, but not as literary works, but as repositories of sacred knowledge. That is why these books were so carefully hidden and were available only to a very narrow circle of people. They were created and read only by those initiated into secret knowledge. That is why we can hardly talk about the existence of ancient Slavic literature in the pre-Christian period. However, the question remains: where and how did the ancient Slavs teach literacy. S. Zhuk, like other researchers, does not write about this. The work contains references to the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, but what kind of people they were and whom they taught is not said. Nevertheless, in the same S. Zhuk we meet the following evidence: "A Russian peasant and his wife still make everything necessary for their everyday life ...". From which follows a simple conclusion that the training took place at home in the process of chores. There is clearly no need to talk about the existence of schooling in the pre-Kiev period.

Researcher S. Yegorov, the creator of the Reader on the history of pedagogy in Russia, developing the point of view on Slavic writing in the pre-Christian period, cites inscriptions on the wall of the Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral, discovered during archaeological excavations by S.A. Vysotsky, as well as clay vessels discovered in 1949 by the archaeologist D. Avdusin near Smolensk, numerous birch bark letters dated 953-972, and Oleg’s treaties with Byzantium in 907 and 911. Based on this, S. Egorov concludes that the Russian population was completely literate long before Vladimir, and all segments of the urban population were literate. At the same time, the researcher brings a vessel discovered by archaeologist D.A. Avdusin in 1949, which has an inscription in Slavic, dated to the middle of the 10th century. This fact only confirms, in our opinion, the version of A.V. Kartashev that literacy in Russia began to spread from the time of the creation of the Slavic alphabet, i.e. long before the official adoption of Christianity. The point of view of S. Egorov is confirmed by the modern historian O.A. Kudinov in his course of lectures on the history of Russia. He relies on the same evidence of the presence of writing among the Slavs in the 9th century, to which S. Egorov also refers. However, he does not believe that literacy was widespread. In his opinion, it was Christianity that gave a powerful impetus to the rapid and widespread development of written culture. As for the peasantry, there is no mention of this class in any of the authors. Interestingly, S. Egorov does not speak of literacy as some kind of unique phenomenon. This concept is woven into the concept of "Slavic pedagogy" and is its integral part. We do not find any evidence from any of the researchers about teachers, schools where they would teach literacy and educate the younger generations in the pre-Kiev period. Then the question arises: how did literacy spread in Russia and where was it taught? S. Egorov gives a very vague answer to this question: “Unfortunately, from ancient times, few direct evidence of the way of life and life of our ancestors, and even more so about the methods of teaching children, have come down to us. But modern archeology, history, linguistics, linguistics, etymology has sufficient material to present in general terms the process of transferring life and social experience, knowledge, skills and abilities from the older generation to the younger one. Thus, we are again convinced that literacy training took place not in schools and not at home with any teachers, but in the family, in the process of household work. Such a pedagogical system, apparently, existed in peasant families. As for the higher circles of society, as well as urban families, the role of the first teachers was played by close relatives, most often uncles, to whose upbringing boys were given at a certain age. The girls, on the other hand, remained with their mothers and learned the skills of housekeeping and the art of relationships with men. Many researchers speak about the existence of such a system of education and training. So in the "Tale of Bygone Years" we find a mention that Prince Vladimir himself was raised by his uncle Dobrynya. The same system of education is described by S.N. Berdyshev in this work, A. Asov and other authors.

So, now we can say with full confidence that the Slavs had written language long before the adoption of Christianity. The population of Ancient Russia in the pre-Kiev period was completely literate, but this applies specifically to the urban strata of the population. The princes and high society of the boyars used the Greek script, because. were fluent in Greek. The upper strata of society were not just literate, but well educated. In everyday life they used the Slavic language, but for writing they were served by the Greek language, well known to them due to the closest contacts of Russia with Byzantium. From Byzantium, books were delivered to Russia, which were read by the princes and their inner circle without translation, i.e. in the original. The Magi also used Greek writing to create sacred books. The Slavic Magi, as representatives of the upper class, also had an excellent command of the Greek language and used it to read and write books. But we cannot talk about ancient Slavic literature, since the books created by the Magi were a repository of secret knowledge and were available to a very narrow circle of people. As for schools and teachers in Russia in the pre-Christian period, we can unequivocally assert that the Slavs did not have such schools in that period.

The basis of any ancient culture is writing. When did it originate in Russia? For a long time there was an opinion that the letter came to Russia along with Christianity, with church books and prayers. However, it is difficult to agree with this. There is evidence of the existence of Slavic writing long before the Christianization of Russia. In 1949, the Soviet archaeologist D.V. Avdusin, during excavations near Smolensk, found an earthenware vessel dating back to the beginning of the 10th century, on which “pea” (spice) was written. This meant that already at that time in the East Slavic environment there was a letter, there was an alphabet. This is also evidenced by the testimony of the Byzantine diplomat and Slavic educator Cyril. While serving in Chersonese in the 60s of the IX century. he got acquainted with the Gospel, written in Slavonic letters. Subsequently, Cyril and his brother Methodius became the founders of the Slavic alphabet, which, apparently, was based in some part on the principles of Slavic writing that existed among the Eastern, Southern and Western Slavs long before their Christianization.

The history of the creation of the Slavic alphabet is as follows: the Byzantine monks Cyril and Methodius spread Christianity among the Slavic peoples of southeastern Europe. Greek theological books needed to be translated into Slavic languages, but there was no alphabet corresponding to the peculiarities of the sound of the Slavic languages. It was then that the brothers conceived to create it, the good education and talent of Cyril made this task feasible.

A talented linguist, Cyril took the Greek alphabet, consisting of 24 letters, as a basis, supplemented it with the hissing (zh, u, w, h) characteristic of Slavic languages and several other letters. Some of them are preserved in the modern alphabet - b, b, b, s, others have long gone out of use - yat, yus, izhitsa, fita.

So the Slavic alphabet originally consisted of 43 letters, similar in spelling to Greek. Each of them had its own name: A - "az", B - "beeches" (their combination formed the word "alphabet"), C - "lead", G - "verb", D - "good" and so on. The letters on the letter denoted not only sounds, but also numbers. "A" - the number 1, "B" - 2, "P" - 100. In Russia, only in the 18th century. Arabic numerals replaced the "letter" ones.

In honor of its creator, the new alphabet was named "Cyrillic". For some time, along with the Cyrillic alphabet, another Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, was also in use. She had the same composition of letters, but with a more complex, ornate spelling. Apparently, this feature predetermined the further fate of the Glagolitic alphabet: by the 13th century. she has almost completely disappeared.

It should also be remembered that the treaties between Russia and Byzantium, dating back to the first half of the 10th century, had "pans" - copies also written in Slavic. By this time, the existence of translators and scribes, who wrote down the speeches of ambassadors on parchment, dates back.

The Christianization of Russia gave a powerful impetus to the further development of writing and literacy. From the time of Vladimir, church clerks and translators from Byzantium, Bulgaria, and Serbia began to come to Russia. There appeared, especially during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and his sons, numerous translations of Greek and Bulgarian books, both ecclesiastical and secular. In particular, Byzantine historical works and biographies of Christian saints are being translated. These translations became the property of literate people; they were read with pleasure in the princely, boyar, merchant environment, in monasteries, churches, where Russian chronicle writing was born. In the XI century. such popular translated works as “Alexandria”, containing legends and traditions about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great, “Deed of Devgen”, which is a translation of the Byzantine epic poem about the exploits of the warrior Digenis, are becoming widespread.

Thus, a literate Russian person of the 11th century. knew a lot of what the writing and book culture of Eastern Europe, Byzantium had. The cadres of the first Russian literateists, scribes, and translators were formed in schools that had been opened at churches since the time of Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise, and later at monasteries. There is a lot of evidence of the widespread development of literacy in Russia in the 11th-12th centuries. However, it was distributed mainly only in the urban environment, especially among wealthy citizens, the princely-boyar elite, merchants, and wealthy artisans. In rural areas, in remote, remote places, the population was almost entirely illiterate.

From the 11th century in rich families began to teach literacy not only boys, but also girls. Vladimir Monomakh's sister Yanka, the founder of a convent in Kyiv, created a school for the education of girls in it.

The so-called birch-bark letters are a striking evidence of the wide spread of literacy in cities and suburbs. In 1951, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, Nina Akulova, a member of the expedition, removed a birch bark from the ground with well-preserved letters on it. “I have been waiting for this find for twenty years!” - exclaimed the head of the expedition, Professor A.V. Artsikhovsky, who had long assumed that the level of literacy of Russia at that time should have been reflected in mass writing, which could be in the absence of paper in Russia, either on wooden boards, as evidenced by foreign evidence, or on birch bark. Since then, hundreds of birch bark letters have been introduced into scientific circulation, indicating that in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, and other cities of Russia, people loved and knew how to write to each other. Among the letters are business documents, information exchange, invitations to visit and even love correspondence. Someone Mikita wrote to his beloved Ulyana on birch bark “From Mikita to Ulianitsi. Come for me..."

There remains one more curious evidence of the development of literacy in Russia - the so-called graffiti inscriptions. They were scratched on the walls of churches by lovers to pour out their souls. Among these inscriptions are reflections on life, complaints, and prayers. The famous Vladimir Monomakh, while still a young man, during a church service, lost in a crowd of the same young princes, scrawled “Oh, it’s hard for me” on the wall of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and signed his Christian name “Vasily”.

Birch bark is a very convenient material for writing, although it required some preparation. Birch bast was boiled in water to make the bark more elastic, then its rough layers were removed. A sheet of birch bark was cut off on all sides, giving it a rectangular shape. They wrote on the inside of the bark, squeezing out the letters with a special stick - “writing” - made of bone, metal or wood. One end of the writing was pointed, and the other was made in the form of a spatula with a hole and hung from the belt. The technique of writing on birch bark allowed the texts to be preserved in the ground for centuries.

The production of ancient handwritten books was an expensive and laborious affair. The material for them was parchment - the skin of a special dressing. The best parchment was made from the soft, thin skin of lambs and calves. She was cleaned of wool and washed thoroughly. Then they pulled it onto drums, sprinkled it with chalk and cleaned it with pumice. After air-drying, the roughness was cut off from the leather and polished again with a pumice stone. The dressed skin was cut into rectangular pieces and sewn into eight-sheet notebooks. It is noteworthy that this ancient pamphlet order has been preserved to this day.

Stitched notebooks were collected into a book. Depending on the format and number of sheets, one book required from 10 to 30 animal skins - a whole herd! According to one of the scribes, who worked at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, three rubles were paid for the skin for the book. At that time, three horses could be bought with this money.

Books were usually written with quill pen and ink. The king had the privilege of writing with a swan and even a peacock feather. Making writing instruments required a certain skill. The feather was certainly removed from the left wing of the bird, so that the bend was convenient for the right, writing hand. The pen was degreased by sticking it into hot sand, then the tip was cut obliquely, split and sharpened with a special penknife. They also scraped out errors in the text.

Medieval ink, unlike the blue and black that we are used to, was brown in color, as it was made on the basis of ferruginous compounds, or, more simply, rust. Pieces of old iron were lowered into the water, which, rusting, painted it brown. Ancient recipes for making ink have been preserved. As components, in addition to iron, they used oak or alder bark, cherry glue, kvass, honey and many other substances that gave the ink the necessary viscosity, color, and stability. Centuries later, this ink has retained the brightness and strength of the color.

The scribe blotted the ink with finely ground sand, sprinkling it on a sheet of parchment from a sandbox - a vessel similar to a modern pepper shaker.

Unfortunately, very few ancient books have been preserved. In total, about 130 copies of priceless evidence of the 11th-12th centuries. has come down to us. There were few of them in those days.

In Russia in the Middle Ages, several types of writing were known. The oldest of them was the "charter" - with letters without an inclination, of a strictly geometric shape, reminiscent of a modern printed font. In the 14th century, with the spread of business writing, the slow “charter” replaced the “semi-charter” with smaller letters, easier to write, with a slight slope. Semi-ustav vaguely resembles modern cursive. A hundred years later, in the 15th century, they began to write in "cursive" - smoothly connecting adjacent letters. In the XV-XVII centuries. cursive gradually replaced other types of writing.

To decorate the manuscript, titles in the Middle Ages were written in a special, decorative font - ligature. The letters, stretched upwards, intertwined with each other (hence the name - ligature), forming a text similar to an ornamental ribbon. They wrote in ligature not only on paper. Gold and Silver vessels, fabrics were often covered with elegant inscriptions. Of all types of ancient writing until the 19th century. It was the ligature that was preserved, however, only in Old Believer books and decorative inscriptions “antique”.

On the pages of ancient Russian books, the text was arranged in one or two columns. Letters were not divided into lowercase and uppercase. They filled the line in a long line without the usual intervals between words. To save space, some letters, mostly vowels, were written above the line or replaced with a “titlo” sign - a horizontal line. The endings of well-known and frequently used words were also truncated, for example, God, Mother of God, the Gospel, etc. From Byzantium, the tradition was borrowed over each word to put an accent mark - “strength”.

For a long time there was no pagination. Instead, at the bottom right, they wrote the word with which the next page began.

Some features of Old Russian punctuation are also curious. Of the punctuation marks familiar to us, only a period, borrowed from Byzantine writing, was in use. They put it arbitrarily, sometimes defining the boundaries between words, sometimes marking the end of a phrase. In the XV-XVI centuries. writing has become more difficult. In books, for example, commas appeared - to indicate pauses, a semicolon that replaced the question mark.

The work of a scribe is not easy. The work moved slowly. On average, I managed to write only two or four sheets per day, not only without errors, but also beautifully.

Medieval handwritten books were elegantly designed. Before the text, they always made a headband - a small ornamental composition, often in the form of a frame around the title of a chapter or section. The first, capital letter in the text - "initial" - was written larger and more beautiful than the rest, decorated with an ornament, sometimes in the form of a man, animal, bird, fantastic creature. Usually the initial was red. Since then they say - "to write from the red line." The section ended with an "ending" - a small drawing, for example, an image of two birds that looked like peacocks.

The most difficult type of book illustration was miniatures. The miniatures were painted by the artists on the pages of the book free from text with a brush and red. Most often these were portraits of customers or the author of the book (for example, evangelists), illustrations for the text. Iconography had a great influence on the art of miniature. The best icon painters Feofan Grek and Andrey Rublev painted book miniatures. Smaller sizes, in comparison with icons, required greater subtlety of artistic performance.

Russian culture

Writing, literacy, schools

The basis of any ancient culture is writing. When did it originate in Russia? For a long time there was an opinion that the letter came to Russia along with Christianity, with church books and prayers. However, it is difficult to agree with this. There is evidence of the existence of Slavic writing long before the Christianization of Russia. In 1949, the Soviet archaeologist D.V. Avdusin, during excavations near Smolensk, found an earthenware vessel dating back to the beginning of the 10th century, on which "pea" (spice) was written. This meant that already at that time in the East Slavic environment there was a letter, there was an alphabet. This is also evidenced by the testimony of the Byzantine diplomat and Slavic educator Cyril. While serving in Chersonese in the 60s of the IX century. he got acquainted with the Gospel, written in Slavonic letters. Subsequently, Cyril and his brother Methodius became the founders of the Slavic alphabet, which, apparently, was based in some part on the principles of Slavic writing that existed among the Eastern, Southern and Western Slavs long before their Christianization.

So the Slavic alphabet originally consisted of 43 letters, similar in spelling to Greek. Each of them had its own name: A "az", B - "beeches" (their combination formed the word "alphabet"), C - "lead", G - "verb", D - "good" and so on. The letters on the letter denoted not only sounds, but also numbers. "A" - the number 1, "B" - 2, "P" - 100. In Russia, only in the XVIII century. Arabic numerals have replaced "alphabetic" numerals.

In honor of its creator, the new alphabet was named "Cyrillic".

For some time, along with the Cyrillic alphabet, another Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, was also in use. She had the same composition of letters, but with a more complex, ornate spelling. Apparently, this feature predetermined the further fate of the Glagolitic alphabet: by the 13th century. she has almost completely disappeared.

It should also be remembered that the treaties between Russia and Byzantium, dating back to the first half of the 10th century, had "pans" - copies also written in Slavonic. By this time, the existence of translators and scribes, who wrote down the speeches of ambassadors on parchment, dates back.

The Christianization of Russia gave a powerful impetus to the further development of writing and literacy. From the time of Vladimir, church clerks and translators from Byzantium, Bulgaria, and Serbia began to come to Russia. There appeared, especially during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and his sons, numerous translations of Greek and Bulgarian books, both ecclesiastical and secular. In particular, Byzantine historical works and biographies of Christian saints are being translated. These translations became the property of literate people; they were read with pleasure in the princely, boyar, merchant environment, in monasteries, churches, where Russian chronicle writing was born. In the XI century. such popular translated works as "Alexandria", containing legends and traditions about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great, "Deed of Devgen", which is a translation of the Byzantine epic poem about the exploits of the warrior Digenis, are spreading.

The so-called birch-bark letters are a striking evidence of the wide spread of literacy in cities and suburbs. In 1951, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, Nina Akulova, a member of the expedition, removed a birch bark from the ground with well-preserved letters on it. "I've been waiting for this find for twenty years!" exclaimed the head of the expedition, Professor A. V. Artsikhovsky, who had long assumed that the level of literacy of Russia at that time should have been reflected in mass writing, which could be in the absence of paper in Russia, writing either on wooden boards, as evidenced by foreign evidence, or on birch bark. Since then, hundreds of birch bark letters have been introduced into scientific circulation, indicating that in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, and other cities of Russia, people loved and knew how to write to each other. Among the letters are business documents, information exchange, invitations to visit and even love correspondence. Someone Mikita wrote to his beloved Ulyana on birch bark "From Mikita to Ulianitsi. Go for me ...".

There remains one more curious evidence of the development of literacy in Russia - the so-called graffiti inscriptions. They were scratched on the walls of churches by lovers to pour out their souls. Among these inscriptions are reflections on life, complaints, and prayers. The famous Vladimir Monomakh, while still a young man, during a church service, lost in a crowd of the same young princes, scrawled on the wall of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv "Oh, it's hard for me" and signed his Christian name "Vasily".

Birch bark is a very convenient material for writing, although it required some preparation. Birch bast was boiled in water to make the bark more elastic, then its rough layers were removed. A sheet of birch bark was cut off on all sides, giving it a rectangular shape. They wrote on the inside of the bark, squeezing out the letters with a special stick - "writing" - made of bone, metal or wood. One end of the writing was pointed, and the other was made in the form of a spatula with a hole and hung from the belt. The technique of writing on birch bark allowed the texts to be preserved in the ground for centuries.

Stitched notebooks were collected into a book. Depending on the format and number of sheets, one book required from 10 to 30 animal skins - a whole herd! According to one of the scribes, who worked at the turn of the XIV-. XV centuries, three rubles were paid for the skin for the book. At that time, three horses could be bought with this money.

The scribe blotted the ink with finely ground sand, sprinkling it on a sheet of parchment from a sandbox - a vessel similar to a modern pepper shaker.

Unfortunately, very few ancient books have been preserved. In total, about 130 copies of priceless evidence of the 11th-12th centuries. has come down to us. There were few of them in those days.

In Russia in the Middle Ages, several types of writing were known. The oldest of them was the "charter" - with letters without an inclination, of a strictly geometric shape, reminiscent of a modern printed type. In the 14th century, with the spread of business writing, the slow "charter" replaced the "half-bar" with smaller letters, easier to write, with a slight slope. Semi-ustav vaguely resembles modern cursive. A hundred years later, in the 15th century, they began to write in "cursive" - smoothly connecting adjacent letters. In the XV-XVII centuries. cursive gradually replaced other types of writing.

To decorate the manuscript, titles in the Middle Ages were written in a special, decorative font - ligature. The letters stretched upwards were intertwined with each other (hence the name - ligature), forming a text similar to an ornamental ribbon. They wrote in ligature not only on paper. Gold and Silver vessels, fabrics were often covered with elegant inscriptions. Of all types of ancient writing until the 19th century. It was the ligature that was preserved, however, only in Old Believer books and decorative inscriptions "antique".

On the pages of ancient Russian books, the text was arranged in one or two columns. Letters were not divided into lowercase and uppercase. They filled the line in a long line without the usual intervals between words. To save space, some letters, mostly vowels, were written above the line or replaced with a "titlo" sign - a horizontal line. The endings of well-known and frequently used words were also truncated, for example, God, Mother of God, the Gospel, etc. From Byzantium, the tradition was borrowed over each word to put an accent sign - "strength".

For a long time there was no pagination. Instead, at the bottom right, they wrote the word with which the next page began.

The work of a scribe is not easy. The work moved slowly. On average, I managed to write only two or four sheets per day, not only without errors, but also beautifully.

Medieval handwritten books were elegantly designed. Before the text, they always made a headband - a small ornamental composition, often in the form of a frame around the title of a chapter or section. The first, capital letter in the text "initial" - was written larger and more beautiful than the rest, decorated with an ornament, sometimes in the form of a man, animal, bird, fantastic creature. Usually the initial was red. Since then they say - "write from the red line". The section ended with an "ending" - a small drawing, for example, an image of two birds that looked like peacocks.

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INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………3

LITERACY AND EDUCATION IN ANCIENT RUSSIA (IX-XVII centuries)...4

2. EDUCATION IN RUSSIA IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT…………………...8

3. FORMATION OF THE SYSTEM OF HIGHER, SECONDARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATION…………………………………………………………………..11

4. REFORMS AND COUNTER-REFORMS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 60-x-80-x. 19th century………………………………………………………………...………………………………………………16

5. RUSSIAN SCHOOL IN THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (LATE XIX - BEGINNING XX centuries)……………………………………………..18

6. SCHOOL POLICY AND EDUCATION IN THE SOVIET PERIOD………………………………………………………………………...21

EDUCATION IN THE 1990s: ACHIEVEMENTS, LOSSES AND PROBLEMS..29

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...32

REFERENCES………………………………………………………...33

INTRODUCTION

The Russian school has gone through a long historical path of development. Its history began with the first schools of Kievan Rus, after centuries of illiteracy and cultural lagging behind Western Europe, it was continued in the vital reforms of the 18th and 19th centuries. Russia entered with a harmonious, well-established, multidisciplinary system of education and the desire of society and the state to develop and improve it. Education is a living organism that has grown and developed along with the country, reflecting all its successes and failures as if in a mirror, having, in turn, a strong impact on the socio-economic and cultural development of Russia. The Soviet period in the history of education was very difficult and controversial, leaving behind numerous and deep problems, but also undoubted achievements.

The current stage in the development of education in Russia is no less dramatic and ambiguous. An understanding is gradually being formed in society that overcoming the crisis, the success of reforms in Russia, and its revival largely depend on the educational policy of the state. The study of the formation and development of the Russian educational system, the influence of the state, society, individual figures on this process acquires a special meaning during this period, and has not only cognitive, but also social and practical significance. A lot of useful information can be gleaned from the experience of the Russian primary, secondary, and higher schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which created the richest forms and methods of education, moral and patriotic education, material support for talented youth, and so on. The history of education in Russia, ideally, should become a kind of theoretical foundation for the further development and improvement of the education system, actively mastering everything new, progressive, but not breaking away from its national roots, achievements and successes, time-tested.

LITERACY AND ENLIGHTENMENT IN ANCIENT RUSSIA

(IX-XVII CENTURIES)

The writing of the Eastern Slavs existed even before the adoption of Christianity. Many sources reported about a kind of pictographic letter - "Russian letters". The creators of the Slavic alphabet ("Glagolitic" and "Cyrillic") are considered to be the Byzantine missionary monks Cyril and Methodius, who lived in the 10th-20th centuries.

The adoption of Christianity in 988, which became the official religion of Kievan Rus, contributed to the rapid spread of writing and written culture. A large amount of translated literature of religious and secular content appeared in Russia, and the first libraries arose at cathedrals and monasteries. Original Russian literature began to be created - religious and secular (chronicles, words, teachings, lives, etc.)

The beginning of school education in Ancient Russia is connected with the introduction of Christianity. The first schools in the Kievan state were created by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. “He sent to collect children from the best people and give them to book education,” the chronicle reported. Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who went down in history as the Wise, expanded the circle of people who learned to read and write, instructing the priests "in cities and other places" to teach people, for "there is great benefit from book teaching." In Novgorod, he created a school in which 300 children of the clergy and church elders studied. Education in it was conducted in the native language, they taught reading, writing, the basics of Christian doctrine and counting. In Ancient Russia there were also schools of the highest type, which prepared for state and church activities. In such schools, along with theology, philosophy, rhetoric, grammar were studied, they got acquainted with historical, geographical and natural science works ( Gurkina, 2001). Special schools existed for teaching literacy and foreign languages; in 1086, the first women's school was opened in Kyiv. Following the model of Kyiv and Novgorod, other schools were opened at the courts of Russian princes - for example, in Pereyaslavl, Chernigov, Suzdal, schools were created at monasteries.
Schools were not only educational institutions, but also centers of culture; translations of ancient and Byzantine authors were made in them, and manuscripts were copied (Leontiev, 2001).

Education in the Kievan period was valued very highly. The high level of professional craftsmanship with which the most ancient Russian books that have come down to us (first of all, the most ancient - the Ostromir Gospel, 1057) are executed, testifies to the well-established production of handwritten books as early as the 10th century. Well-educated people of the annals were called "bookmen".

The wide distribution of literacy among the population is evidenced by birch bark letters found by archaeologists in large numbers. They are private letters, business records, receipts and study books. In addition, wooden planks were found with letters carved on them. Probably, such alphabets served as textbooks for teaching children. There are also written evidence of the existence of schools for children in the 13th - 15th centuries and of "scribe" teachers. Schools existed not only in cities, but also in rural areas. They taught reading, writing, church singing and counting, i.e. provided primary education.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion had disastrous consequences for Russian culture. The death of the population, the destruction of cities - centers of literacy and culture, the rupture of ties with Byzantium and Western countries, the destruction of books led to a decrease in the general cultural level of Ancient Russia. Although the traditions of writing and books were preserved, the spread of literacy was concentrated during this period mainly in the hands of the church. Schools were created in monasteries and churches, where representatives of the clergy taught children. At the same time, the level of literacy of the population of Ancient Russia was very low, even among the clergy, for whom literacy was a craft. Therefore, in 1551, at the Stoglavy Cathedral, a decision was made: “In the reigning city of Moscow and in all cities ... among priests, deacons and deacons, do it in the houses of the school so that priests and deacons and all Orthodox Christians in every city betray their children to them for the teaching of literacy and the teaching of book writing. The decision of the Stoglavy Cathedral was not implemented. There were few schools, and education in them was limited to the assimilation of elementary literacy. Home-based learning continued to dominate. Liturgical books were teaching aids.

In the second half of the XVI century. special grammars appeared (“A conversation about the teaching of literacy, what is literacy and what its structure is, and why such a doctrine is glad to be composed, and what an acquisition is from it, and what is first of all learning is appropriate”) and arithmetic (“Book, recommendation in Greek Arithmetic , and in German Algorism, and in Russian tsifir counting wisdom").

In the middle of the 16th century, the largest event in the history of Russian culture took place, which played a crucial role in the development of literacy and book literacy - book printing arose. On March 1, 1564, The Apostle, the first Russian dated printed book, came out of a Moscow printing house. The deacon of the Kremlin church Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets became the heads of the state printing house, created on the initiative of Ivan IV and Metropolitan Macarius.

17th century further increased the need for literacy and education. The development of urban life, the revival of commercial and industrial activity, the complication of the state apparatus, the growth of ties with foreign countries required a large number of educated people.

The distribution of books acquired a much wider scale during this period. Extensive libraries of Russian and translated literature began to be compiled. The Printing Yard worked more intensively, publishing not only religious works, but also secular books. The first printed textbooks appeared. In 1634, the first Russian primer Vasily Burtsev was published, which was repeatedly reprinted. In the second half of the XVII century. More than 300,000 primers and about 150,000 educational Psalters and Books of Hours were printed. In 1648, the printed "Grammar" of Meletius Smotrytsky was published, in 1682 - the multiplication table. In 1678, Innokenty Gizel's book "Synopsis" was published in Moscow, which became the first printed textbook of Russian history. In 1672, the first bookstore opened in Moscow ( Gurkina, 2001).

From the middle of the XVII century. schools began to open in Moscow, created on the model of European grammar schools and providing both secular and theological education (Leontiev, 2001). In 1687, the first higher educational institution was opened in Russia - the Slavic-Greek-Latin School (Academy), intended for the training of higher clergy and civil service officials. People "of every rank, rank and age" were admitted to the academy. The academy was headed by the Greeks, the brothers Sophrony and Ioanniky Likhud. The program of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was built on the model of Western European educational institutions. The charter of the academy provided for the teaching of civil and spiritual sciences: grammar, rhetoric, logic and physics, dialectics, philosophy, theology, jurisprudence, Latin and Greek, and other secular sciences.

At this time, there were also important changes in the methodology of primary education. The literal method of teaching literacy was replaced by a sound one. Instead of the alphabetic designation of numbers (letters of the Cyrillic alphabet), Arabic numerals began to be used. The primers included coherent texts for reading, for example, psalms. “ABCs” appeared, i.e. explanatory dictionaries for students. The teaching of mathematics was the weakest. Only in the 17th century did textbooks with Arabic numerals begin to appear. Of the four rules of arithmetic, only addition and subtraction were used in practice, operations with fractions were almost never used. Geometry, or rather, practical land surveying, was more or less developed. Astronomy was also a purely applied area (compilation of calendars, etc.). In the 12th century, astrology spread. Natural science knowledge was random, unsystematic. Practical medicine (mostly borrowed from the East) and especially pharmaceuticals developed (Leontiev, 2001).

Portal for the student. Self-training

Literacy in Russia in the pre-Christian (Docievan) period

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