View source for Old East Slavic literature

{{Short description|Literary works of Old East Slavic authors}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{refimprove|date=February 2023}}
[[File:Ostromir john.jpg|upright=1.36|thumb|250px|[[John the Evangelist|The Evangelist John]], a [[miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]] from the [[Ostromir Gospel]], mid-11th century]]
'''Old East Slavic literature''',<ref>[Special issue] – {{cite journal |title=Rus' Writ Large: Languages, Histories, Cultures: Essays Presented in Honor of Michael S. Flier on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday |volume= 28 |number =1–4 |date=2006 |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40046183 |language=en}}{{pn|date=November 2024}}</ref> also known as '''Old Russian literature''',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wachtel |first1=Andrew |title=Russian literature |date=2009 |publisher=Polity |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780745654577}}{{pn|date=November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of Russian Literature |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521425674 |edition=Rev.}}{{pn|date=November 2024}}</ref> is a collection of literary works of [[Kievan Rus'|Rus']] authors, which includes all the works of ancient Rus' theologians, historians, philosophers, translators, etc., and written in [[Old East Slavic]]. It is a general term that unites the common literary heritage [[Belarusian literature#History|of Belarus]], [[Russian literature|Russia]], and [[Ukrainian literature|Ukraine]] of the ancient period. In terms of genre construction, it has a number of differences from [[medieval European]] literature. The greatest influence on the literature of ancient Rus' was exerted by [[Polish literature#middle ages|old Polish]] and [[Medieval Serbian literature|old Serbian literature]].
Most of the monuments of Old East Slavic literature have been preserved in the form of [[manuscripts]]. The most common type of manuscript was literary collections. Notebooks written by a single scribe could then be bound by the scribe or binder himself. Such collections can be of a certain ("Zlatostruy", "[[Izmaragd]]", "Solemn", etc.) or indefinite content, reflecting the individual tastes and interests of one or another scribe who selected materials for himself or for his customer.
Unlike other traditionalist literatures, the Old East Slavic literature is characterized by [[syncretism]], lack of clearly expressed poetological reflection, conscious rejection of [[rationalism]] and specification of theoretical knowledge. It differs from [[Byzantine literature]] by its emphasized irregularity, the blurring of genres and boundaries between the prosaic and the poetic, and the lack of a clear conceptual apparatus.<ref>Karavashkin, Andrey (2011). ''Literary custom of Ancient Russia (XI-XVI centuries)''. Moscow: [[ROSSPEN]].{{pn|date=November 2024}}</ref>
Voluminous works could be copied and intertwined into separate books: some [[Letopis (genre)|letopises]], works on world history, [[Patericon|paterics]], works of a liturgical nature, prologues, etc. Small compositions, for example, "[[Praying of Daniel the Immured]]" or the ''[[Tale of the Destruction of the Rus' Land]]'' did not make up separate books, but were distributed in collections.<ref name="Likhachev 79">{{cite book |editor1-last=Likhachev |editor1-first=Dmitry S. |editor-link=Dmitry Likhachev |script-title=ru: История русской литературы X – XVII вв. |trans-title=History of Russian Literature of the 10th – 17th Centuries |language=ru |url=http://www.infoliolib.info/philol/lihachev/vved.html#3 |chapter=Introduction: §The peculiar nature of the existence of Old Russian literary Works |id=Textbook for Students of Pedagogical Institutes}}</ref>
== Origins ==
[[File:Izmaragd, 16th century 01.jpg|thumb|left|230px|[[Izmaragd]], early 14th century]]
=== Pre-Christian period ===
The early examples of pre-Christian Old East Slavic Rus' literature should primarily include the oral epic: [[legend]]s, [[myths]] and [[fairy tales]]. Most of the Old East Slavic oral [[Folklore of Russia|folklore]] was recorded only in the 18th and 19th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Among the oral works, stories about the meeting of a person with an otherworldly force were particularly distinguished. Such a story by genre was divided into a ''[[bailichka]]'', where a meeting with evil spirits is told on behalf of an "eyewitness", and a ''[[byvalschina]]'', an oral story about a case that allegedly took place in reality, without focusing on the personal testimony of the narrator. {{Lang|ru-latn|bylichka}} and ''byvalschina'' were often told in the villages to friends or children in order to wean them to walk far from home, and, according to Yevgeny Meletinsky, they became the prototype of "scary fairy tales".<ref>{{cite magazine |script-title=ru: Первобытные истоки словесного искусства |first=Evgeny |last= Meletinsky |url=https://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/meletinsky6.htm |magazine=Folklore and Post-folklore: Structure, Typology, Semiotics |trans-title=The primitive origins of verbal art |language=ru |date=n.d.}} {{lang|ru|Фольклор и постфольклор: структура, типология, семиотика}}
* Previously published in the book: ''Early Forms of Art'' {{in lang|ru}}. Moscow: Iskusstvo Publishing, 1972. pp. 149–189.</ref>
Later, a special type of [[druzhina]] poetry began to take shape – [[bylina]], Rus' epic poems about heroic or mythological events or remarkable episodes of national history. In some ways, bylina are similar to [[skald|skaldic poetry]]: both are divided into songs of praise and blasphemy and glorify some historical event. Bylina, as a rule, are written in [[Accentual verse|tonic verse]] with two or four accents.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
=== Early period: translated Apocrypha ===
Almost all the literature of Rus' – original and translated – was handwritten. Handwritten works were distributed by copying by scribes or ordinary people.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In Rus', the apocrypha about the [[Last Judgment]] was especially popular. Among such works, a special place was occupied by the life of [[Basil the Younger]], the second part of which (scenes from the vision of Vasily Gregory's pupil about the Last Judgment and a lengthy story about Theodore) spread as independent works.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Later, the original Old East Slavic apocrypha began to be created, the most famous of which is "The Walking of the Virgin through the Torments". Its plot is similar to the Greek "Revelation of the Most Holy Theotokos", but it also has many original features: for example, pagans who worship {{Ill|Troyan (god)|lt=Troyan|ru|Троян (мифология)|de|Trojan (slawische Mythologie)}}, [[Veles (god)|Veles]] and [[Perun]] are in the first circle of hell, and there are a number of anti-Semitic statements in the text itself.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
According to the philosopher [[Sergei Bulgakov]], the special popularity of apocryphal literature in Rus' is indicated by the fact that of the seven most important monuments of the Jewish apocalyptic (except for the [[Book of Daniel|books of the prophet Daniel]]), three were preserved exclusively in Old Slavonic translations.<ref>[[Sergei Bulgakov|Bulgakov, Sergei]] (1997). "Apocalyptic and socialism (Religious and philosophical parallels)". ''Dva grada issledovaniya o prirode obshchestvennykh idealov'' [''Two cities. Studies on the nature of social ideals''] {{inlang|ru}}. St. Petersburg, pp. 208–209.</ref>
=== Early original compositions ===
Presumably, both epics and folk tales were not recorded by contemporaries for the reason that Rus' inherited from the [[Byzantine Empire]] a ban on [[literary fiction]] and the presence of a purely artistic function in the works. Back in 1073, the compilers of the ''Izbornik Svyatoslav'' warned against worldly writings based on artistic imagination. [[Belles-lettres|Fiction]] developed only in the late period.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
However, despite some limitations, scientific and artistic works had to answer questions related to natural history (the origin of the world, [[cosmology]]) and the development of human society (the settlement of peoples, the origin of power, the state, the meaning and purpose of human history).{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The first original works in Kievan Rus' were instructive collections, which are the most common type of manuscripts (even after the beginning of printing in Russia in 1569, manuscripts have not lost their popularity). The [[scribe]] copied various works according to some attribute or genre in a notebook. Notebooks written by one scribe could then be bound by the scribe himself or the bookbinder into a separate book. The bookbinder could collect notebooks of different times and different scribes and connect them because they were of the same format or were combined by them according to content. Such collections are currently called [[Convolute (manuscript)|convolutes]]. Such collections of teachings as [[Izmaragd]], Golden Chain, Bee, Solemn, Zlatostruy (origins), Pchela (of Byzantine origin) were originally intended for home and [[monastic cell]] reading. Included in these is the [[Palea (literature)|Palea]], a collection of several interconnected ancient Rus' works that set out Old Testament history, with additions from [[apocrypha]]l monuments, as well as with theological reasoning.{{sfn|Tvorogov|1987}}
Already in the early period of the development of Rus' literature, one can trace the understanding of Rus' not only as an ethno-political and religious community, but also as the Kingdom of Christ. In the [[Sermon on Law and Grace]] of the middle of the 11th century (the future Metropolitan, [[Hilarion of Kiev]]), the newly baptized Rus' people are called new. The perception of the people who were baptized in the "last times" (before the [[Last Judgment]]) as new, endowed with special grace, was characteristic of Rus'. The widespread idea of an imminent dreadful judgment was strongly reflected in the Old East Slavic literature of that period; ascetic creations and instructive literature became an introduction to [[soteriology]] (the doctrine of the salvation of the soul).{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
== Genres ==
As most modern researchers note, there is no clear division of literature into genres in ancient Rus'. There were only a few authors who clearly defined the genre of their works (among such were the monk Phoma, [[Nil Sorsky]], [[Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow|Metropolitan Macarius]], and the nameless author of "The Tale of Mikhail Tverskoy"). Thus, the [[lexeme]] ''Word'' ({{langx|orv|Слово|translit=Slovo}}, also translatable as ''Tale'', ''Lay'' or ''Discourse''{{efn|For example, the ''Слово ѡ погибели Рꙋскыꙗ земли'' is most commonly known in English as the ''[[Tale of the Destruction of the Rus' Land]]'',{{sfn|Halperin|2022|p=11}}{{sfn|Sinor|1990|p=250}}{{sfn|Hrushevsky|1997|p=386}}{{sfn|Hunczak|2001|p=621}} but also known in English under titles such as ''Tale of'' (or ''Lay of'' or ''Discourse on'') ''the Destruction of the Russian Land''.{{r|eng trans}} }}) often perceived as the name of a genre, could mean a didactic teaching, a chapter of a book, a conversation, a speech, articles of various content, etc.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuskov |first1= Vladimir Vladimirovich |id=Author name (Cyrillic rendering): Кусков, Владимир Владимирович |script-title=ru: Эстетика идеальной жизни: избранные труды |date=2000 |publisher=МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова |isbn=978-5-87627-031-3 |pages=290–291 |language=ru |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/%D0%AD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%B6%D0%B8/XxQnAAAAMAAJ?hl=en |trans-title=Aesthetics of an ideal life: Selected works}}</ref><ref name="Likhachev">[[Dmitry Likhachev|Likhachev, Dmitry]] (1979). {{lang|ru|Поэтика древнерусской литературы}}. [''The Poetics of Early Russian Literature'']. pp. 58–61, 89. 3rd ed. Moscow.</ref>
Nevertheless, Nikita Tolstoy made an attempt to classify ancient Rus' literature;<ref>Nikita Tolstoy. History and structure of Slavic literary languages. M., 1988. S. 167-168.</ref> later, the classification was edited by Evgeny Vereshchagin (the latter version is somewhat different from Tolstoy's):
* ''scriptural monuments'': the [[Bible]] (Holy Scripture) and [[biblical apocrypha]], see [[Bible translations into Church Slavonic]]
* ''liturgical/euchographic'': [[liturgical books]] and [[hymn|hymnographic monuments]]
* ''doctrinal'': symbols, statements of faith, catechumens, polemical and ethical instructive teachings, interpretations
* ''preaching'': oratory prose and [[gnostic]] literature
* ''hagiographic'': [[lives of saints]], laudatory words to saints, tales of acquisitions, transfer of relics and icons, miracles
* ''canonical and legal'': statutes, [[Kormchaia|Kormchaia Books]], law books ([[Kievan Rus' law]]), contractual, spiritual, deeds, etc. letters
* ''memorial'': [[letopis (genre)|letopises]] (including [[Rus' chronicle]]s and [[Lithuanian Chronicles|Lithuanian–Belarusian chronicles]]), [[Chronographia|chronographs]], descriptions of historical events, pilgrimages, travels
* ''scientific'': encyclopedic collections
* ''household'': private correspondence, inscriptions, [[epigraphy]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Vereshchagin |first1=Evgeny |authorlink1= |date=1996 |title=Христианская книжность Древней Руси |trans-title=Christian literacy of Old Rus' |url= |location= |publisher= |pages=5–7 |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vereshchagin |first=Evgeny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKoXAQAAIAAJ |title=Церковнославянская книжность на Руси: лингвотекстологические разыскания |trans-title=Church Slavonic literature in Rus'. Lexicographic research |location=Moscow |publisher=Indrik |date=2001 |pages=497–500|isbn=9785857591321 }}</ref>
This classification does not distinguish between primary genres (for example, hagiographies) and unifying genres that include small works as source material (prologue, menaiat-chets, etc.). This difference is taken into account in the classification based on the systematics of [[Dmitry Likhachev]], who distinguished between monumental and small genre forms.<ref name="Likhachev"/> Nikolai Prokofiev gave the following classification:
* ''complex forms'': [[letopis (genre)|letopises]], [[Chronographia|chronographs]], [[hagiographic|hagiographic collections]], letters, etc.
* ''primary genres'':
** ''epic genres''
*** ''historical genres'': [[lives of the saints]], military tale, [[legend]] and walking
*** ''allegorical'': [[parable]]s
*** ''symbolic'': miracle, vision, sign, divinatory literature
** ''lyrical genres'': teaching, message, crying.
The most important feature of epic genres is the object of the image and lyrical purpose.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prokofiev |first=Nikolai |chapter=О мировоззрении русского средневековья и системе жанров русской литературы XI—XVI вв. |trans-chapter=On the worldview of the Rus' Middle Ages and the system of genres of Rus' literature of the 11th–16th centuries |title=Литература Древней Руси |trans-title=Literature of Old Rus' |location=Moscow |publisher=Moscow State Pedagogical Institute |date=1975 |pages=5–39 |lang=ru}}</ref>
== Mathematics and cosmology ==
=== Mathematical-Easter essays ===
[[File:Рука дамаскина.jpg|upright=1.36|thumb|250px|"The Hand of [[John of Damascus]]". Medieval method for calculating the [[Date of Easter|Paschal calendar]]. On the left: "the hand of Damaskin", on it 28 circles to the Sun — red Slavic numbers
[[Early Cyrillic alphabet|Old Slavonic alphabet]], under each of them "vruceleto", each circle of the [[Sun]] — black Slavic numbers. On the right: "the Jewish hand", on it 19 lunar circles — red Slavic numbers, under each of them the Easter border, each circle of the [[Moon]] — black Slavic numbers.]]
In the early period after the [[Christianization of Kievan Rus']], there was no special church calendar, and the Old Slavic calendar was not suitable for calculating church holidays. Therefore, many authors had to make their own calculations in their works, which ranked their works among not only Paschal, but also mathematical treatises. For complex calculations, [[Abacus#History#Russia|''schoty'']] was often used.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The earliest mathematical work of Kievan Rus' is considered to be "the doctrine of numbers" by [[Kirik the Novgorodian]], a treatise on the calculus of time, combining an essay on [[mathematics]], [[chronology]] and [[Date of Easter|Paschalistics]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
However, later mathematical treatises did not receive a proper development in Kievan Rus'. Among the works equal to the "doctrine of numbers", scientists include the "Charter of military Affairs" created in the 15th and 16th centuries, which set out the tasks of [[triangulation]] on the ground, and the "Book of soshny writing", dedicated to [[land surveying]]. Later works include an extensive manuscript entitled "Synodal No. 42", the first textbook in Rus' on theoretical [[geometry]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
=== Cosmology works ===
The early cosmological works of Kievan Rus' were partially influenced by apocryphal writings, mixed with pre-Christian ideas about the structure of the world.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Thus, much attention is paid to the creation and structure of the world in two of the most significant early works: the [[Dove Book]] and "[[About the whole creation]]". Both works have a complex structure and are probably based on Old East Slavic apocryphal legends that existed for the early period after the [[Christianization of Kievan Rus']].{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
It is also interesting that in the "Depth Book", as in two other ancient Rus' monuments – "The Conversation of the Three Saints" and "The Conversation of Jerusalem" – for some reason, [[whales]] are endowed with supernatural power. In the "Conversation of the Three Saints", the Earth floats on top of the great sea on three large whales and 30 small whales; the latter cover 30 sea windows; "The Conversation of Jerusalem" and "Depth Book" connect the movement of the whale with the end of the world. According to the "Depth Book" — "The Whale-fish is the mother of all fish. On the Whale-fish the earth is founded; when the Whale-fish turns, then our white light is finished (the end of all things will come)".{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The so-called "[[fortune-telling]] books" (also "divinatory books") can probably also be attributed to cosmological works, which are currently not officially assigned to any of the genres of Kievan Rus'.<ref>Lyashchenko, Arkady [https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%A1%D0%91%D0%95/%D0%9E%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B8 "Renounced books"]. ''[[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]]''. St. Petersburg, 1890–1907. – via ru:Wikisource</ref> Fortune-telling books (''[[Volkhovnik]]'', [[Gromnik (divinatory book)|''Gromnik'']], ''Kolyadnik'', ''Trepetnik'', ''Enchanter'', etc.) were mainly distributed secretly: they were copied, sewn into other books, and passed on by inheritance. Officially, the distribution of such literature was persecuted by the church; lists of forbidden (so-called renounced) books of Kievan Rus' were compiled, in which divinatory literature was equated with [[apocrypha]].{{sfn|Kobiak|1989}}
== Theological literature ==
Very popular in ancient Rus' were the lives of saints ([[:ru:Житие|''zhytie'']]), a kind of genre of [[hagiography]] that describes the life, deeds and miracles of ancient Rus' saints, martyrs and miracle workers.
{{Blank section|date=February 2022}}
== Poetics ==
[[File:Стихотворение в форме звезды.jpg|upright=1.36|thumb|200px|[[Simeon of Polotsk]]. The poem in the form of a star "Greeting to Tsar [[Alexis of Russia|Alexei Mikhailovich]] on the occasion of the birth of Tsarevich Simeon".]]
The scientist [[:ru:Панченко, Александр Михайлович|Alexander Panchenko]] refers to the earliest forms of Old East Slavic versification as the so-called "penitential poems" (the metrical nature of which is not yet clear),{{r|Panchenko}} single poetic texts written by the monk of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery Efrosin, as well as separate chapters ''[[The Tale of Igor's Campaign]]'' and the ''[[Tale of the Destruction of the Rus' Land]]'' containing a metric constant.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Despite this, versification in Kievan Rus' was most often not approved, because was considered inherent only in "[[Catholic Church|Latins]]". This position was most consistently expressed by Archpriest [[Avvakum]]: “Do not look for rhetoric and philosophy, or eloquence, but live with a sound true verb.{{efn|That is, if a person from birth is given to speak in ordinary speech, then there is no need to tempt God by composing rhymes, and even more so using them in worship.}} Therefore, а rhetorician and philosopher cannot be a Christian. Alexander Panchenko pointed out that the Old East Slavic church poetry was strongly influenced by West Slavic, especially [[Polish literature]].{{r|Panchenko}} [[Simeon of Polotsk|Simeon Polotsky]], releasing his "Rhymed Psalter" (1680), wrote that in Moscow they loved "the consonant singing of the Polish Psalter".{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
=== Syllabic verse ===
{{Main|Syllabic verse}}
Some of the earliest representatives of Old East Slavic syllabic poetry are such poets as [[Karion Istomin]], [[Simeon of Polotsk]], [[Theophan Prokopovich]], [[Antiochus Kantemir]], [[Sylvester Medvedev]] and {{Ill|Mardary Khonykov|ru|Мардарий (Хоныков)}}. The principle of syllabic symmetry was dominant. A twelve-syllable verse with a [[caesura]] after the fifth or sixth syllable was used; there are, for example, such complex schemes as: 5-6-8|8-6-5|7-7-4-5-3-5 (12 verses of Irmos "{{Lang|ru|Земьнъ къто слыша таковая}}"...) or 8|5-5-5|8-8|5-5-5 (9 verses of Irmos "{{Lang|ru|Вьсъ еси желание}}"...) There were also schemes where the number of syllables in each verse was a multiple of three (from St. Trinity, the sacred number "three" for Christians).{{r|Panchenko}}
The detailed life in the monastery can be judged by the syllabic poem by Karion Istomin "About speaking from people, how monks live in the monastery":<ref>''Russian syllabic poetry of the XV-XVII centuries''. Leningrad, 1970. pp. 213–214{{fcn||date=November 2024}}</ref>{{fcn||date=November 2024}}
{{Verse translation|lang1=ru
|Мънози глаголют, что монахи деют,
где в монастыре дела не имеют.
Бутто так сидят, ничего не знают,
како ли Богу честь, поклон взношают.
Надобно кому себе искусити
и в монастыре хоть время прожити.
Узнает, как кто в кельи пребывает,
како помыслы, страсти отвергеет{{nbsp}}...
|Many say that monks are idle
that they have no tasks in a monastery.
As if they are just sitting so, knowing nothing,
only how to honor God, how to bow down to Him.
Test yourselves with the experience
and at least live in a monastery for a while.
Then you will learn how someone stays in a cell,
how they reject thoughts, passions{{nbsp}}...}}
<!-- tried to improve translation Nov 2024, but could be (much) better -->
=== Acrostics ===
{{Main|Acrostics}}
The acrostic form became very popular in Ancient Rus' poetics. It was also widely developed there. The earliest work in the genre of acrostic in ancient Russia is considered to be the {{Ill|Azbuchna Prayer|ru|Азбучная молитва}}, translated from Old Bulgarian. The acrostic in the Old East Slavic book poetry was also known in later times. Thus, the acrostic is found in one of the "greetings" of Karion Istomin to [[Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia|Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich]]:{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
{{Blockquote
|text=
{{lang|orv|'''А'''минь буди слава,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Л'''юбовь чиста, права}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Е'''диному Богу,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''К''' себе в слогах многу.}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''И'''сраиль нелестный,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''И'''збранный и честный}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Ц'''арев сын, царевичь}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''А'''лексий Петровичь,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Р'''адуйся блаженно,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Е'''мли жизнь спасенно,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''В''' Господе изрядствуй,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''И'''злестно отрадствуй,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Ч'''еловеком в ползе,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''В''' златых летах долзе.}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Е'''зди умне в книгах,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Ч'''ти мудрость в веригах:}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Н'''ости она златы,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''О'''бщит в любовь браты.}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''Ж'''ити с нею благо,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''И'''мство всем предраго.}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''В'''зрасти тя Бог в славе,}}<br />
{{lang|orv|'''И'''мети ю здраве!}}}}
Here the acrostic is "Alexy Tsarevich live forever" ({{lang|orv|Алексий царевич вечно живи}}; in the fourth verse in the original, the first letter is the Slavic "xi").{{r|Panchenko}}
== Kievan Rus' law, documentation ==
{{main|Kievan Rus' law}}
In Kievan Rus', there were a number of canonical and legal statutes and rights. The special charters, judicial books, contractual, spiritual certificates and contribution certificates were common for the people and for the church. Most collections of Kievan Rus' law are strictly divided into civil and ecclesiastical. The exception is the [[Merilo Pravednoye]], which is both a collection of church-canonical and civil legal legal nature.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
=== Temporal law ===
The legal basis of the Kievan Rus' state<ref>Diakonov, Mikhail. [https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%A1%D0%91%D0%95/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F/%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BE/%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0 "History of Russian Law"]. ''[[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]]'' St. Petersburg, 1890–1907. – via ru:Wikisource</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Oleg Chistyakov |url=https://archive.org/details/Chistyakov_History_of_Russian_State_and_Law_2005_Part_1 |title=История отечественного государства и права. Часть 1. |trans-title= History of the Domestic State and Law. Part 1. |location=Moscow |publisher=3rd edition, revised and supplemented. Lomonosov Moscow State University |date=2005 |pages=430}}</ref> was the [[Russkaya Pravda]], [[Statutes of Lithuania|Lithuanian statutes]] and [[Sudebnik of 1497|Moscow Sidebniks]].{{efn|''Sudebnik'' is a collection of laws of the period of the estate monarchy in Kievan Rus'. To date, [[Sudebnik of 1497]], [[Sudebnik of 1550]] and Sudebnik of 1589 are known.}} In 1649, the [[Sobornoye Ulozheniye]] was added to these written laws.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The so-called ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]'' ("Rus' Justice") is of great importance for the study of [[Kievan Rus' law]]. The ''Russkaya Pravda'' is a collection of legal norms of Rus', dated from various years, starting from 1016, the oldest Rus' legal code.<ref name="GRE">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Ру́сская Пра́вда |trans-title=Rússkaya Právda |author=Pavel V. Lukin |encyclopedia=[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]] |date=2004–2017 |access-date=10 February 2023 |url= https://old.bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/3521227 |language=ru}}</ref> The ''Russkaya Pravda'' contains the norms of [[Criminal code|criminal]], [[Law of obligations|compulsory]], [[Inheritance|hereditary]], [[Family law|family]] and [[procedural law]]. It is the main source for studying the legal, social and economic relations of Kievan Rus'.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} The ''Russkaya Pravda'' is similar to earlier European legal collections, such as [[Germanic law]] (the so-called ''Leges Barbarorum'', "laws of the barbarians"), for example, the [[Salic law]], a collection of legislative acts of the Frankish state, the oldest text of which dates back to the beginning of the 6th century.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The short version consists of the following parts:
* '''The Oldest Pravda''' or the truth of Yaroslav (Articles 1-18), 1016, is usually associated with the activities of Yaroslav the Wise;<ref name="GRE"/>
* '''The Pravda of the Yaroslavichs''' ([[Iziaslav I of Kiev|Izyaslav]], [[Vsevolod I of Kiev|Vsevolod]] and [[Sviatoslav II of Kiev|Svyatoslav]], sons of Yaroslav the Wise, who were part of the Yaroslavich triumvirate) (articles 19–41), the youngest of the three princes Vsevolod is named before the middle Svyatoslav), does not have an exact date, often refers to 1072;
* '''Pokon virny''' (Article 42) – determination of the order of "feeding" of virniks (princely servants, collectors of vir-court fines), 1020s or 1030s;
* '''Urok to mostniks''' (Article 43) – regulation of the remuneration of [[Pavers (flooring)|bridge builders]], or, according to some versions, bridge builders, 1020s or 1030s.
As many researchers have noted, the most ancient part of the ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]'' (the oldest pravda) preserves the custom of [[blood feud]], characteristic of the laws of pre-Christian Kievan Rus', although it limits it to the circle of closest relatives.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} The lengthy version includes about 121 articles and consists of two parts-the Charter of Yaroslav Vladimirovich and the Charter of [[Vladimir II Monomakh|Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh]]. According to most researchers, the Lengthy Truth is based on the Short text, which was amended and supplemented, including those adopted during the [[Kiev]] reign of [[Vladimir II Monomakh]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_tiZAAAAMAAJ |author=Mikhail Sverdlov|language=ru
|title=От закона русского к Русской правде |trans-title=From Rus' Law to Russkaya Pravda |publisher=Yuridicheskaya literatura|location=Moscow|date=1988|isbn=9785726000053}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Alexander Zimin|language=ru|title=Правда русская. Часть вторая. Пространная Правда |trans-title=Russkaya Pravda. Part two. The Long Pravda|url=http://annales.info/rus/zimin/zimin.htm#pr |publisher=Drevlekhranilishche|location=Moscow|date=1999|isbn= }}</ref>
=== Ecclesiastical law ===
With the [[Christianization of Kievan Rus']], church law arose. The most important source of church law in Kievan Rus' was the ''sudebniki'', the most famous of which is the [[Zakon Sudnyi Liudem]] (the South Slavic legal Code of the 9th and 10th centuries, although some scholars consider it a reworking of some Byzantine and [[Mishpat Ivri|Jewish laws]]). However, most often in the ecclesiastical sphere of Kievan Rus', they used ''[[kormchaia]]'' books, legal collections that contained both church rules and the decisions of the Roman and Byzantine emperors on the church.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
From the translated Byzantine collections of ecclesiastical law in Kievan Rus', [[nomocanon]]s, ''{{Ill|Ekloge ton nomon|lt=Eclogue|sr|Еклога|de|Ekloge ton nomon|fr|Écloga (Byzance)}}'', ''{{Ill|Proheiron|sr|Прохирон|de|Procheiros nomos|fr|Procheiron}}'', and Zanon books (translation of Byzantine laws) were used. However, despite the widespread existence in the written tradition, Byzantine law did not have a significant application in legal practice, and its full reception did not occur. Rus' ecclesiastical law was based primarily on the ecclesiastical statutes issued by the knyazes, based on local law and only limited borrowing of Byzantine law.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zhivov|first=Viktor |author-link=Viktor Zhivov|language=ru|script-chapter=ru: История русского права как лингвосемиотическая проблема|script-title=ru: Разыскания в области истории и предыстории русской культуры |trans-chapter=The history of Russian law as a linguosemiotic problem |trans-title= Research in the field of history and prehistory of Russian culture |publisher=Languages of Slavic Culture |location=Moscow |date=2002 |url= https://archive.org/details/Zhivov_Researches_on_History_and_Prehistory_of_Russian_Culture_2002/mode/2up}}</ref>
Later, in 1551, the comprehensive religious collection [[Stoglav]] was created, combining the norms of [[Procedural law|judicial]], [[criminal law|criminal]] and [[ecclesiastical law]]. Stoglav tried to solve the following pressing issues:{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
* strengthening of church discipline among the clergy and the fight against the vicious behavior of representatives of the church (drunkenness, debauchery, bribery), usury of [[monasteries]],
* unification of church rites and services,
* powers of the ecclesiastical court,
* combating the [[Slavic paganism|remnants of paganism]] among the population,
* strict regulation (and, in essence, the introduction of a kind of spiritual [[censorship]]) of the order of correspondence of church books, the writing of [[icons]], the construction of [[Russian Orthodox Church]] buildings, etc.
"Books of law" and "[[Merilo Pravednoye]]", one of the first Kievan Rus' collections of a [[Civil law (common law)|civil]] and ecclesiastical-legal nature, contain both excerpts from Byzantine legislation and identical articles of Rus' origin, probably included in collections from an older one that did not come down to us of the collection of Kievan Rus' law.<ref>{{cite book |last=Presnyakov |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Presnyakov |isbn=978-5-4484-2917-0 |url=|script-title=ru:Становление Руси. Лекции по русской истории |trans-title=The formation of Rus'. Lectures on Russian history |location=Moscow |publisher=Veche |date=2021 |pages=283–284|language=ru}} [https://www.labirint.ru/books/812728/ Publication notes] {{in lang|ru}} </ref>
== See also ==
* [[Outline of Slavic history and culture]]
* [[List of Slavic studies journals]]
* [[Belarusian literature]]
* [[Russian literature]]
* [[Ukrainian literature]]
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="eng trans">For examples see:
* ''Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts'' (''LLBA''), Vol. 33, issue 4. 1999, p. 1587.{{fcn||date=November 2024}}
* ''Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism''. 2002, pp. 86–87.{{fcn||date=November 2024}}
* Helleman, Wendy E. (2004). ''The Russian Idea: In Search of a New Identity''. p. 47.
* Khan, Andrew ''et al''. (2018). ''A History of Russian Literature'' , p. 182.</ref>
<ref name="Panchenko">
{{cite book |last1=Pančenko |first1=Aleksandr M. |title=O russkoj istorii i kulʹture |trans-title=Russian history and culture|date=2000 |publisher=Izd-vo Azbuka |location=Sankt-Peterburg |isbn=5-267-00274-7 |chapter=Yuna |pages=263–278 |language=ru |url= http://lib2.pushkinskijdom.ru/Media/Default/PDF/Person/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE%20%D0%90.%20%D0%9E%20%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81.%20%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B8%20%D0%B8%20%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B5.%202000.pdf}}</ref>}}
== Works cited ==
* [[Dmitry Likhachev|Likhachev, Dmitry S.]] ed. (1987–1989). {{lang|ru|Словарь книжников и книжности Древней Руси}} [''Dictionary of scribes and books of Ancient Russia'']. {{in lang|ru}} Volumes 1–3. Academy of Sciences of the USSR; Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Leningrad: Nauka.
** {{cite book |first=Nikolay |last=Kobiak |chapter=Списки отреченных книг [Lists of renounced books] |chapter-url=http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4646 |title=Dictionary of scribes and books of Ancient Russia |publisher=Nauka |location=Leningrad |editor= D. S. Likhachev |date=1989 |department=Section – С (Савва – Стословец Геннадия) [S (Savva – Storslovets Gennadiy)] |volume=2: The second half of the 14th century – 16th century; Part 2: Л–Я |language=ru}}
** {{cite book |first=Oleg V. |last=Tvorogov |chapter=Палея толковая [Explanatory Palea] |chapter-url= http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4470 |title=Dictionary of scribes and books of Ancient Russia |publisher=Nauka |location=Leningrad |editor= D. S. Likhachev |date=1987 |department=Section – П (Павел Высокий – Пчела) [P: (Pavel Vysokiy – Pchela)] |volume=1: 11th century – first half of the 14th century |language=ru}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Halperin |first1=Charles J. |date=2022 |title=The Rise and Demise of the Myth of the Rus' Land |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/58585/9781802700565.pdf |location=Leeds |publisher=Arc Humanities Press |pages=107 |isbn=9781802700565 |access-date=1 February 2023}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Hrushevsky |first1=Mykhailo |authorlink1=Mykhailo Hrushevsky |date=1997 |title=History of Ukraine-Rus' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_ENAQAAMAAJ |location=Toronto |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press |pages=602 |isbn=9781895571196 |access-date=1 February 2023}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Hunczak |first1=Taras |authorlink1=Taras Hunczak |date=2001 |title=Тисяча років української суспільно-політичної думки: х-хв ст (Tysi͡acha rokiv Ukraïnsʹkoï suspilʹno-politychnoï dumky: x-xv st) |trans-title=A Thousand Years of Ukrainian Socio-Political Thought: 15th–16th Centuries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VteGAAAAMAAJ |chapter=The Tale of the Destruction of the Rus Land |location=Kyiv |publisher=Dnipro |page=621 |isbn= |access-date=1 February 2023}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Sinor |first1=Denis |authorlink1=Denis Sinor |date=1990 |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=518 |isbn=9780521243049 |access-date=1 February 2023}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Kuskov |first1=Vladimir Vladimirovich |translator-last=Vroon |translator-first=Ronald |title=A History of Old Russian Literature |date=1980 |publisher=Progress Publishers |edition=English translation |language=en |url=https://archive.org/details/v.-kuskov-a-history-of-old-russian-literature-progress-1980/page/n3/mode/2up |ref=none}}
[[Category:Old East Slavic literature| ]]