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Historical Prerequisites

p Literature can emerge only under the conditions of the development of a class society. Prerequisites include the formation of a state, the development of a written language and the existence of advanced forms of oral folk art.

p The emergence of Old Russian literature is linked to the process of the creation of the early feudal state. Soviet scholars have disputed the theory that the Old Russian state was originated by Normans, showing that 38 it was not the result of the summons of Varangian rulers, but of an extended process during which the East Slavic tribal system disintegrated. Peculiar to East Slavic historical development is the fact that the tribes did not enter the stage of the slave-owning system but went directly into feudalism.

p The new social system, based on the class supremacy of a minority over the majority of the working population, needed an ideological foundation which could not be supplied by paganism or oral folk art—the ideological and artistic bases of the tribal system.

p Political, economic and trade relations developed, creating a need for a system of writing; this is also one important prerequisite for the emergence of literature.

p Soviet linguists and historians have gathered evidence to show that Rus had a writing system long before the official adoption of Christianity as the state religion. The testimony of the Monk Khrabr and the Pannonian Vita of Cyril show that some form of writing existed among the Slavs in the late ninth century.

p The creation of the Slavic alphabet in 863 by SS Cyril and Methodius was of cardinal cultural and historical significance, promoting the development of South and East Slavic cultures. The late ninth and early tenth centuries saw a renaissance of Bulgarian literature and art. Among the remarkable writers of the period were John, Exarch to Bulgaria, Clement, Constantine and Simeon the King himself. Their works were vital in the development of Old Russian culture. The closeness of Old Russian to Bulgarian (“...for Russian and Slavic are one tongue,” wrote the medieval chronicler) was conducive to the gradual assimilation of the new writing system by East Slavs.

p Powerful impetus for the dissemination and development of a written culture was provided by the official espousal of Christianity in 988; this helped to consolidate the new ideological relations of the feudal society that was taking shape.

p One important factor in the development of an original Old Russian culture is that Rus was christened by Byzantium—at the time the bearer of an extremely highly developed culture. At the time the Byzantine 39 Orthodox Church had in effect separated from Roman Catholicism (although the formal split occurred in 1055) and allowed much greater leeway for the development of regional, national features within its framework. While the Catholic Church opposed the development of regional literary languages and favoured Latin, the Greek Orthodox Church allowed for the free development of national literary languages. The liturgical language of Old Rus was the Old Bulgarian or Church Slavic language, with close similarities in lexicon and grammar to Old Russian. The emerging original literature helped to develop this language, enriching it with elements of conversational, colloquial speech and Church Slavic.

p In the late tenth century a system of education begins to develop in Rus: the reading of books.

p Christianity played a vital, progressive role in the development of Old Russian culture. Kievan Rus was among the most advanced states in Europe. Adam of Bremen writes that in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries Kiev rivalled Constantinople in wealth and population.

p In the 1030’s and 1040’s skillful Kievan translators conveyed books directly from the Greek language into Church Slavic. This tells us that education was fairly widespread at the time. Yaroslav’s son Vsevolod had mastered five foreign languages; his sister Anna, who became Queen of France, was able to sigh her own name (“Anna Regina”) at a time when her royal husband had to content himself with drawing a cross.

p In the development of a system of learning through books and of literature, for that matter, a vital role was played by monasteries which sowed the seeds of the new Christian culture in the first years. Particularly significant was the Kiev Crypt Monastery, founded in the mid-eleventh century.

Thus the formation of the earliest Old Russian feudal state and the development of a writing system were necessary historical prerequisites to the emergence of literature.

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Basic Sources

p Two cultures were instrumental in the formation of this literature: oral folk poetry and literary Christian culture conveyed by Southern Slavs, in particular Bulgaria, and directly from Byzantium.

p The relatively recent efforts to study folklore have shown that by the tenth century Eastern Slavs had developed a sophisticated oral culture. Scholars believe that it was a period marked by a transition from mythological to historical subjects. Leading themes of folklore at the time were historical tribal legends, toponymical legends, legends about burial grounds, heroic tales and songs of military campaigns.

p No doubt the formation of the folk epic about princes’ warriors, so crucial to the formation of an original Old Russian literature, dates back to this period.

p The druzhina, the prince’s army seems to have included bards who entertained the warriors during feasts, creating songs honouring the victors and paying tribute to the prince and his brave warriors. The heroic songs and epic tales of battles and campaigns created a sort of oral chronicle; some were latter recorded.

p Thus folklore was one source that provided heroes and themes for the developing original Old Russian literature. Folklore gave it both the imagery of oral poetry and certain stylistic elements, as well as a people’s spirit.

p As they assimilated the ideology of Christianity, the people adapted it to their pagan concepts and outlook. This resulted in the profession of two faiths at once, long characteristic of the people’s consciousness and reflected in Old Russian literature. Throughout the entire historical development of literature oral folk poetry was the life-giving source that helped to enrich it.

p The art of oral speech and official writing were also important in the formation of literature. Speeches were commonly given in early feudal society. Before a battle the commander delivered a speech to his men, urging them to perform great exploits. Speeches were an important part of diplomatic negotiations. The envoy was usually obliged to memorise a message given by a ruler in carrying out a diplomatic mission. These speeches 41 contained fixed phrases and were laconic and expressive.

p Official documents also worked out verbal formulas. The brevity and precision of speech and official writing promoted the development of a concise, aphoristic style in literary texts.

p Inevitably the Christian literary culture assimilated by Russian writers was of great influence in the formation of an original literature.

p In conjunction with the Russian espousal of Christianity many liturgical books were translated in order to inculcate new religious and ethical concepts in the newly converted pagans. These included the Gospels, setting forth the basis of Christianity and “historical” events connected to the miraculous birth, sacrifice, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Parables in the Gospels taught new moral norms; the central hero, Jesus Christ, was presented as an ideal model for human behaviour. The earliest Old Russian text extant is the Ostromir Gospels copied by Grigory the scribe for the Novgorod mayor Ostromir in 1056 and 1057 (it is preserved in the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library in Leningrad). This version of the Gospels is known as an aprakos, a selection of readings from the Gospels for each day of the week according to the liturgical calendar. The Arkhangelsk Gospels of 1092 (located in the Lenin State Library in Moscow) also belong to this category. The most ancient such text arranged in the usual manner (the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is the Galich Gospels which date back to 1144.

p Among the books of the New Testament the first to appear in Rus following its christening was an aprakos Apostol, including twenty-one canonical epistles written by Christ’s disciples and a description of their acts in the dissemination of Christianity.

p From the eleventh century we also have several menologies, including the Novgorod Menology of 1095 to 1097 for September, October and November. Such collections, as well as the Lenten Triodion (containing services up to the advent of Easter) and the Festal Triodion (containing services for Easter and thereafter) included prayers and hymns of which many were composed by such talented Byzantine Christian poets as 42 St. Romanus the Melode and St. John Damascenus. The poetic images of religious hymns gradually became part of daily life and of the source of artistic means for an original Old Russian literature.

p Immediately after the christening of Rus excerpts from the Old Testament were translated into Old Russian and collected in anthologies known as parimiyniki designed to be read during the worship service. The entire Old Testament was translated into Old Russian in 1499 at the initiative of Novgorod’s archbishop Gennady.

p The most popular of all Old Testament books was the Psalter. People learned to read by studying this text and memorised the psalms. The Psalter attracted Old Russian readers by its profound lyricism its artful narration, its allegories and universal images. It reflected many elements of daily life and the real world, as N. N. Rozov observes, expressing the subtlest details of a person in suffering and torment and comprising an encyclopedia of human psychology.  [42•1 

p Special Psalters for instruction and prediction appeared quite early in Rus. So-called Interpretive Psalters (Tolkovaya Psaltyr} contained explanations of the allegorical meaning of the psalms and Divining Psalters (Gadatelnaya Psaltyr} were designed to help people make the “proper” decisions and resolve their doubts. Vladimir Monomakh’s Instruction mentions his use of such a Psalter for divining.

p The texts of canonical church books were revered and regarded as “God-inspired”; their authority could not be questioned. They were considered to be the source of Divine Wisdom whose profoundly hidden meaning had to be properly interpreted. Accordingly Old Russian writers turned for help to the literature of such Church Fathers as SS John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Great, Ephrem the Syrus, John Climacos and John Damascenus, among other authors of Greek ecclesiastical literature of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries.

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p The teachings of the renowned Constantinople orator St. John Chrysostom were circulated in Old Russian collections known as Zlatostrui, Zlatoust and Margarit; the collection of Bulgarian King Simeon contained excerpts from his sermons which in the eleventh century were copied in Rus and called Svyatoslav’s Miscellany (Izbornik) of 1073. The Zlatostrui compiled under the guidance of King Simeon of Bulgaria contained almost exclusively the sermons of St. John Chrysostom. This collection was extremely popular in Rus. Russian authors wishing to give weight to their own works introduced them into such collection under the name of the renowned Byzantine preacher. The Zlatoust collection interpreted the texts of aprakos Gospel readings.

p Among the works of Basil the Great known in Rus was his Hexaemeron (Shestodnev) in the translation of John, Exarch to Bulgaria. This work told the reader about the “six days" of creation in great detail. It included information on nature, plants, animals and man—the crown of God’s creation.

p Among the earliest works excerpted and circulated in Rus were the sombre ascetic sermons of St. Ephrem the Syrus which were included in the Byzantine collection Parenesis. This anthology included sermons on “evil women”, and on the “last judgement and coming of the Antichrist”. The first sermon gave a vivid denunciation of evil women; the second painted a gloomy picture of the world’s last hours.

p St. John Climacos’ Ladder to Paradise taught how the human soul could ascend the path of spiritual perfection toward God (the saint’s soubriquet is derived from the title of his work).

p The Fount of Knowledge (A Sermon on the True Faith) by St. John Damascenus systematically presented Christian dogma; it too was translated in Bulgaria.

Most of the works of the Church Fathers followed the traditional rules of the art of oratory. Employing age-old rhetorical devices they steeped their sermons in vivid imagery in order to make the maximum emotional effect on their listeners and readers. They lent their sermons an element of timeless universality, addressing them to people of various social standing and origin. All 44 patristic literature concentrated on men’s spiritual life and called for a renunciation of the fleeting pleasures of earthly existence.

Hagiographical Literature

p One of the most important means of religious and moral education used by the church was hagiographical literature: descriptions of the lives of so-called “saints”. It was obvious example of the practical application of abstract Christian dogma cloaked in an entertaining form. It drew a moral ideal of a man who had achieved total triumph of spirit over sinful flesh, total victory over earthly passions.

p The beginning and development of hagiographical literature occurred in the first centuries of Christianity; vitae contain elements reminiscent of Plutarch’s historical biographies  [44•1  and many features of the Hellenistic novel. At the same time the roots of hagiography are linked to the eulogy. The vita combines an entertaining narrative with didactic and panegyric elements. It centres around an ideal Christian hero who follows in Christ’s footsteps.

p The flowering of hagiographical literature in Byzantium took place from the eighth to the eleventh centuries, at which time the canonical structure of the vita and the principles of depicting its characters were developed. A Byzantine vita was divided according to types of heroes and the nature of their spiritual feats.

p The type of hero determined the genre of the vita. In this respect a saint’s life resembles an icon where each image has fixed features: the outlines of the head, the arch of the brows, the beard and moustache, the slant of the eyes, the size and shape of the nose, and so on. Like an icon the vita presents the hero in as abstract form as possible, concentrating on his spiritual, moral qualities which are constant and unchanging. The composers of a 45 vita consciously transform the facts of life in order to show the beauty of the Christian ideal in all of its splendour. This ideal leaves its mark on the composition and style of the genre.

p The saint’s vita usually begins with a note on his origins. As a rule he is the son of pious, honourable parents and rarely of impious parents (the latter only serve as a contrast to set off the hero’s piety). In childhood he already differs from his fellows; he does not play idle games or join in idle talk; he keeps to himself; once he learns to read he begins diligently to study Holy Scriptures and writings and to understand their wisdom. He then refuses to be married or, according to his parents’ wishes, marries but remains pure. Finally he secretly leaves his parents’ home, goes off into the wilderness and becomes a monk. The saint usually founds a monastery and wages a successful struggle against demonic temptations. Brothers gather around the saint; he predicts the day and hour of his end, exhorts the brothers, dies. After death his body is found to be imperishable and to exude a sweet fragrance—one of the main proofs of the saintliness of the deceased. Various miracles occur in connection with his relics: candles light of themselves, the lame, blind and deaf, among others, are healed. The vita is usually completed with a brief eulogy listing the virtues and high moral standards of the saint. Thus a radiant image of a saint was created: a figure adorned with all the Christian virtues, shorn of individual qualities and divorced from all things fortuitous and fleeting.

p With the acceptance of Christianity vitae began to be disseminated in Rus in two forms: the short vitae inserted into prologues (Sinaksaria) and used in the worship service, and the extended vitae of the menologies. The latter were included in the menologies (Chetyi-Minei), that is in anthologies of readings for each month designed to be read aloud in monasterial refectories and for individual reading as well.

p One branch of hagiographical literature was the patericon (otchechnik) with deeds or events in the lives of monks that were important in illustrating their holiness. The Egyptian Patericon was apparently known in 46 eleventh century Rus; this was composed on the basis of the Cloister Roll written by Palladius of Elenopolis in 420 and contained tales of Egyptian monks who had triumphed over the temptations of demons. Also popular was John Moschos’s Limonar or Spiritual Meadow composed in the seventh century (known in Russian as the Jerusalem or Sinai Patericon); later the Roman Patericon also became known.

p The tales of patericons were highly entertaining with complicated plots that attracted readers by combining naive fantasy with episodes from daily life. Later these stories were included in the prologues.

p A typical example of such stories is the tale of Elder Gerasim and his lion and that of Taisa. The first tells of the lion’s touching gratitude and love for the elder, the second of a girl’s great spiritual endeavour.

p Small wonder that the tales of patericons fascinated such nineteenth century writers as Lev Tolstoy, Nikolai Leskov, Gustave Flaubert, and Anatole France.

Translated hagiographical literature was a vital source for the creation of Old Russian vitae. The Old Russian writer, as we shall see, made his own very original contribution to the development of this genre.

Apocrypha

p Old Rus assimilated the new Christian outlook not only through translating canonical Christian works, but through apocrypha. The word “apocrypha” is Greek and means hidden, secret. It originally referred to works written for a narrow circle of elect, educated readers. With the advent of various heresies, however, apocryphal works were used by heretics to criticise orthodox dogma. As a result the official church established the canon of Holy Scriptures in the fourth century and began to list apocrypha circulated by heretics among “false” or “repudiated” books. Those apocrypha which orthodox Christians felt did not contradict canonical writings were allowed to be read. Still there were no precise regulations on any given apocrypha’s status. The first Index of “false” books appeared in the sixth 47 century, it is ascribed to Anastasius of Sinai. This Index was later combined with a list of permissible books. We have eleventh century South Slavic Index in fourteenth century manuscript included in Nomocanon. This was then used by Met. Kiprian for his Molitvennik. The Russian metropolitan supplemented the Index with a list of false books used to tell fortunes that were “vile in the eyes of the Lord”. During the sixteenth century Kiprian’s list was expanded; its final redaction was contained in Kirill’s Book (Kirillova kniga) of 1664 which has a detailed list of “true” and “false” books. Many apocryphal works are placed among the true books.

p Apocrypha, then, are legendary religious narratives thematically related to canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, but greatly differing with the latter in their treatment of events and characters. Apocrypha incorporate many popular notions and devices from oral poetry.

p Apocryphal works entered Rus both in written and oral form. Pilgrims who visited “holy” places conveyed such tales to medieval Russians.

p Themes may be divided into Old Testament, New Testament and eschatological. Old Testament apocrypha develop themes of Old Testament books; their heroes are Adam, Eve, the patriarchs Enoch, Melchisidek and Abraham, and Kings David and Solomon. New Testament apocrypha tell about Christ, and wanderings and acts of his apostles. Eschatological apocrypha are related to fantastic tales of the Last Judgement and the life beyond the grave.

p A special group of apocryphal vitae describe the lives of SS Theodore Tyrone, Nicetas and George—the dragon fighter.

p Most apocryphal literature was transmitted to Rus via Bulgaria and was connected with the Bogomil heresy. This heresy is named by its founder, the Bulgarian priest Jeremiah Bogomil who re-examined orthodox monotheistic teachings. The Bogomil heresy was a religious form of social protest made by the popular masses against exploitation by ecclesiastical and feudal lords; it developed a dualistic doctrine about two equal forces that ruled the world: the power of God-Goodness and 48 the Devil-Evil. Man was born of these two forces; he has a divine, spiritual principle and a diabolical, material principle. According to Bogomil teachings each man must wage a constant struggle with the material principle of life, the source of evil, in the name of the triumph of the spirit. They preached asceticism voluntary abstinence from material wealth and the pursuit of moral perfection.

p The dualistic philosophy of the Bogomils was reflected in many apocrypha; the concrete, vivid images of such tales made them extremely popular in Rus. One such narrative was recorded in The Tale of Bygone Years under the entry for 1071; a pagan magus tells the manichean tale of the creation of man.

p Also related to Bogomil manicheanism is an apocryphal tale called How God Created Adam. Giving details to Biblical legend the tale depicts God and the Devil as equal forces, although God remains the primary Creator of man. While according to Genesis God created man from a handful of earth in His image and likeness and the process of creation occurred momentarily, in the apocrypha it takes some time because God is depicted as having created man in eight parts; the body from earth, the bones from stones blood from the sea, eyes from the sun, thought from the clouds, light from light, breath from the wind and warmth from fire. This catalogue is astounding in its reflection of the poetic imagery of popular thought. Each “part” is a metaphor, true, one that is not extended; but in time such metaphors would be common in poetry.

p During the process of creation the Devil tries to trick his enemy, God in any way he can. When God is absent the Devil smears Adam’s body with all sorts of vile substances. God makes a dog from these foul things and leaves it to guard His creation; the Devil, who fears dogs, decides to keep his distance—and pierces Adam’s body with sticks. He justifies his deed by claiming that it is to God’s advantage. Bestowing 70 ailments on man the Devil claims that he was above all concerned that man never forget his Creator. Man does indeed “recall” God on time of ailment and trouble.

p Thus Biblical legend took on concrete form in 49 apocrypha and was more accessible for yesterday’s pagan than the dry, laconic tales of the Scriptures.

p Most Old Testament apocrypha were collected in the Paleya (meaning “old” in Greek)—a collection of Old Testament tales. These dealt with Abraham Melchisidek, Joseph and King Solomon.

p King Solomon was very popular among peoples of the Near East where the basic apocryphal legends appear to have been composed. In Rus readers first became familiar with the Tale of Solomon and Kitovras, the Judgements of King Solomon and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

p The Tale of Solomon and Kitovras describes how Solomon forced a demonic being to serve him, Kitovras was half human and half bull (this was the Russian transcription of centaur). When he constructed his temple Solomon could not do without Kitovras who was the only being to know how to work stone without using iron. Caught by Solomon’s crafty nobles, Kitovras helps to find the stone called shamir—(diamond) which is used to polish the stones for the “Holy of Holies".

p Two heroes are contrasted in the apocrypha: Solomon and Kitovras. Although Kitovras is a demon with supernatural strength he is as wise as Solomon and is endowed with human qualities: goodness and sympathy. Kitovras is the protagonist of the apocrypha, while Solomon plays a fairly passive part. The Tale gives a series of aphoristic sententiae which are quite close to folk proverbs.

p The Tale of Solomon and Kitovras was evidently known in Rus by the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries. In the early thirteenth century Kitovras was carved in stone among the bas reliefs of St. George’s Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. The “Golden” Vasily Doors made in 1336 for the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Novgorod depict the last episode of the Tale where Kitovras shows Solomon his demonic power.

p A. N. Veselovsky showed that the Slavic tales of Solomon and Kitovras were close to the Talmudic apocrypha about Solomon and Asmodeus which can be traced back to Persian and ultimately Indian legends. But the Slavic tales seem to have been based on a lost 50 Byzantine text where Asmodeus was replaced by a centaur. This Byzantine text was also a source of Western European tales about Solomon and Morolf.

p Also popular in Rus were apocryphal tales about the judgements of Solomon; the Russian reader was drawn to the image of the wise judge who primarily ruled on civil suits. The apocryphal tale Solomon and the Queen of Sheba told of how Semiramis tested Solomon’s wisdom.

p Among the New Testament apocrypha are the Gospels of Nicodemus, James and Thomas which supplemented the canonical Gospels with many details related to the Theotokos’ parents Joachim and Anna, the birth of Christ, His childhood and passion. The Gospels of Nicodemus and James were even used for liturgical purposes and inspired many frescoes and icons with such themes as: “The Meeting of Joachim and Anna by the Golden Gates”, and “The Annunciation at the Well".

p Another New Testament apocrypha isAphroditian’s Tale of a Miracle in Persia. This stressed the inevitable victory of the new Christian religion over paganism which led to the end of “paying tribute to idols”. This was particularly topical for Rus in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries where there were significant elements of paganism remaining.

p Of great interest to the Old Russian reader were eschatological apocrypha that painted fantastic pictures of life in the other world and the last judgement. These were an effective means of educating people and propagating the new Christian morality, making the idea of being justly rewarded in the age to come a concrete one.

p Among the eschatological apocrypha are The Vision of Paul, the Tale of Macarius of Rome, the Revelations of Methodius ofPatara and the Journey of the Virgin to Purgatory, one of the most popular in Rus.

p Accompanied by the Archangel Michael, the Virgin pays a visit to Hell where she witnesses the torments of sinners. Those who did not believe in the Trinity are plunged into a fearful darkness. This is the realisation of the metaphor of the darkness of paganism. Typically the Old Russian text of the apocrypha places those who 51 worshipped the sun in Hell, as well as those who worshipped the moon, the earth, the water, beasts, reptiles, Troyan, Khors, Veles and Perun.

p Hung from red-hot iron hooks are gossips (by the teeth), slanderers (by the tongue) and profligates (by the feet); snakes come forth from their lips and prey upon their flesh. Idlers and those who loved to sleep are nailed to red-hot iron beds. Those who broke vows, children cursed by their parents and cannibals are submerged in a fiery river, depending on the gravity of their sins—some to the breast, others to the neck and others are covered by the fiery waves from head to toe. Hell, though located far beneath the earth’s surface, has its own geography in the apocrypha: North, South and West.

p The Journey paints a lurid pucture of Hell’s torments. It is quite different from the abstract notions given in canonical writings which say only that in the world to come sinners will find “cold”, “the gnashing of teeth”, and “the worm that never sleeps".

p The form of the journey allowed the torments of Hell to be changed, depending on the social milieu for whom the version of the apocrypha was designed. Once it began to be circulated among democratic circles the apocrypha was supplemented with new pictures of the torments of cruel, merciless boyars and their wives, evil princes, kings and patriarchs, bailiffs and stewards.

p The Theotokos is portrayed in human terms as a woman and mother deeply sympathetic to the torments of the human race, her heart overflowing with love and pity for the suffering sinners. She herself is ready to share their torments and hurries to help them. Her maternal heart is unable to forgive only those who betrayed and crucified her Son.

p She is contrasted in the apocrypha to the cruel God, indifferent to human sufferings. He is severe and apathetic to the tormented sinners. Thrice the Theotokos and the entire Heavenly Host implore the unyielding, harsh Lord to be merciful. And only the third time does God heed their request and agree to send His Son, Christ, to appear before the sinners. Christ grants the sinners respite from Maundy Thursday to Pentecost (eight weeks).

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p The apocrypha’s treatment of Divine justice, love and mercy represents a considerable departure from that of canonical writings. Its depiction of the torments awaiting sinners consoled the suffering and overburdened people with the concept of the powerful men of this world being obliged to account for their sins.

Their interesting plots, attention to detail, vivid presentation and closeness to folklore contributed to the popularity of apocryphal tales. Gradually incorporating details of Russian life some became folklore, being passed on as oral legends and religious verse.

Historical and Scientific Literature

p Byzantine historical chronicles and “scientific” works were translated in the process of working out new Christian views about nature and history.

p Among the Byzantine chronicles circulated in Rus the most popular was that of Georgios Hamartolos, written in the ninth century and supplemented by Simon Logothetes in the tenth century. The chronicle of world history began here with the creation of the world and then the history of the Hebrews; this was followed by an account of By/antine history up to the year 948. Both chroniclers were particularly concerned with church history. Their treatment of events stemmed from a religious, didactic perspective and was permeated by a belief in Divine Providence. Russian readers learned of events in the history of the world from this chronicle, which also served to edify them. The materials were used by Russian chroniclers to determine the place and role of Rus in the context of world history. Frequently there are references to Hamartolos’ Chronicle in The Tale of Bygone Years.

p Less widely read were the Chronicle of John Malalas (sixth century) and the Chronicle of Georgios Sincellus (eighth century) since the latter Chronicle only went up to the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the third century and both were predominantly secular.

p In eleventh and twelfth century Rus the Chronicles of Hamartolos and Malalas were reworked; this resulted 53 in the first redaction of the Hellenic and Roman Chronicle. In the thirteenth century the second redaction oi this text served as the basis for the development of Old Russian chronicles of world history (khronograf).

p Two medieval “scientific” encyclopedias were the Hexaemeron and Phisiologus which contained many fantastic and at the same time poetic essays on plants and animals.

p The Phisiologus, for example, I old of the wondrous Phoenix bird that lived in India near the Sunlit City and of the fantastic unicorn. It is not confined to simple descriptions of animals, but gives the symbolic meaning of their traits.

p Old Russian learned of the structure of the universe from the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indikopleustes (“Sailor to India”). Formerly an Alexandrian merchant who journeyed to the East in the sixth century, this monk wrote a work that became known in Rus in the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries (the oldest extant copy is from the fifteenth century). Cosmas attacks those who try to prove with the help of special instruments and logic that the heavens are spherical and that they rotate; he believes that only Divine Scriptures can give a true notion of the structure of the Universe.

p In the late twelfth century a collection of aphorisms culled from Holy Scripture, works of Church Fathers and ancient philosophy was translated. It was called Melissa (The Bee) because the sayings were collected with great diligence as a bee gathers nectar and as nectar is extracted Irom flowers, so wisdom was extracted from these books. The primary purpose of liie collection was didactic: the norms of the Christian and feudal ethic were presented in aphoristic form.   [53•1  Russian writers used it as a source of aphorisms which they used to support their own thoughts. At the same time they added new aphorisms taken from works of Old Russian literature and also from “worldly parables”, that 54 is folk sayings.

p Thus the emergence of Old Russian literature was due to the demands made by the political and religious life of the Old Russian state. On the basis of folk art and the artistic traditions of Christian literature Old Russian writers of the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries created original works. Most of them were clergymen: the priest and then Metropolitan Ilarion, the Kiev Crypt Monastery monks Nikon, Feodosy and Nestor, and Silvestr, Hegumen of Vydubitsky Monastery, Bishop Kirill of Turov, Bishop Luka Zhidyata of Novgorod, the priest Vasily and Hegumen Daniil. Only Vladimir Monomakh and the unknown author of The Lay of Igor’s Host are not members of the clergy.

Despite the fact that primarily religious functionaries created the literature of this period and that their greatest praise was “the reading of books”, their works extend far beyond the framework of religious interests and, in the words of Dobrolyubov, serve as a weapon for worldly powers.

Sources

p 1. V. P. Adrianova-Peretz, Drevnerusskaya literatura i folklor [ Old Russian Literature and Folklore ], L., 1974.

p 2. N. K. Gudzy, Istoriya drevnerusskoi literatury [ A History of Old Russian Literature}, 7th edition, M., 1966.

p 3. I. P. Eremin, “O vizantiiskom vliyanii v bolgarskoi i drevnerusskoi literaturakh IX-XII w.”, in Literatura Drevnei Rusi [“The Byzantine Influence on Bulgarian and Russian Literatures in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries”, in The Literature of Old Run],M.-L., 1966.

p 4. I. Kryvelev, Kniga o Biblii [A Book on the Bible], M., 1958.

p 5. D. S. Likhachev, Vozniknovenie drevnerusskoi literatury [The Emergence of Old Russian Literature], M.-L., 1952.

6. D. S. Likhachev, Razvitie russkoi literatury X-XVH vv. [The Development of Russian Literature from the Tenth to the Seventeenth Centuries], L., 1973.

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