Features of Russian culture. Russian national culture

In the domestic philosophical and cultural tradition, in all known typologies, it is customary to consider Russia separately. At the same time, they proceed from the recognition of its exclusivity, the impossibility of reducing it to either the Western or the Eastern type, and from here they conclude that it has a special path of development and a special mission in the history and culture of mankind. Mostly Russian philosophers wrote about this, starting with, Slavophiles,. The theme of the "Russian idea" was very important for and. The result of these reflections on the fate of Russia was summed up in philosophical and historical concepts of Eurasianism.

Prerequisites for the formation of the Russian national character

Usually, Eurasians proceed from the middle position of Russia between Europe and Asia, which they consider to be the reason for the combination of signs of Eastern and Western civilizations in Russian culture. A similar idea was once expressed by V.O. Klyuchevsky. In The Course of Russian History, he argued that the character of the Russian people was shaped by the location of Rus' on the border of the forest and the steppe - elements that are opposite in all respects. This bifurcation between the forest and the steppe was overcome by the love of the Russian people for the river, which was both a breadwinner and a road, and an educator of a sense of order and public spirit among the people. The spirit of entrepreneurship, the habit of joint action were brought up on the river, scattered parts of the population drew closer, people learned to feel themselves part of society.

The opposite effect was exerted by the boundless Russian plain, distinguished by desolateness and monotony. The man on the plain was seized with a sense of imperturbable peace, loneliness and gloomy reflection. According to many researchers, this is the reason for such properties of Russian spirituality as spiritual softness and modesty, semantic uncertainty and timidity, imperturbable calmness and painful despondency, lack of clear thought and a predisposition to spiritual sleep, asceticism of wilderness living and pointlessness of creativity.

An indirect reflection of the Russian landscape was the household life of a Russian person. Even Klyuchevsky noticed that the Russian peasant settlements, with their primitiveness, the lack of the simplest amenities of life, give the impression of temporary, random camps of nomads. This is due both to the long period of nomadic life in antiquity, and to the numerous fires that destroyed Russian villages and cities. The result was unrooted Russian people, manifested in indifference to home improvement, everyday amenities. It also led to a careless and careless attitude towards nature and its riches.

Developing the ideas of Klyuchevsky, Berdyaev wrote that the landscape of the Russian soul corresponds to the landscape of the Russian land. Therefore, with all the complexities of the relationship of a Russian person with Russian nature, its cult was so important that it found a very peculiar reflection in the ethnonym (self-name) of the Russian ethnos. Representatives of various countries and peoples are called nouns in Russian - French, German, Georgian, Mongol, etc., and only Russians call themselves an adjective. This can be interpreted as the embodiment of one's belonging to something higher and more valuable than people (people). This is the highest for a Russian person - Rus', the Russian land, and each person is a part of this whole. Rus' (land) is primary, people are secondary.

Of great importance for the formation of the Russian mentality and culture was played in its eastern (Byzantine) version. The result of the baptism of Rus' was not only its entry into the then civilized world, the growth of international prestige, the strengthening of diplomatic, trade, political and cultural ties with other Christian countries, not only the creation of the artistic culture of Kievan Rus. From that moment, the geopolitical position of Russia between the West and the East, its enemies and allies, its orientation to the East, were determined, in connection with which the further expansion of the Russian state took place in an easterly direction.

However, this choice had a downside: the adoption of Byzantine Christianity contributed to the alienation of Russia from Western Europe. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 fixed in the Russian mind the idea of ​​its own specialness, the idea of ​​the Russian people as a God-bearer, the only bearer of the true Orthodox faith, which predetermined the historical path of Russia. This is largely due to the ideal of Orthodoxy, which combines unity and freedom, embodied in the conciliar unity of people. At the same time, each person is a person, but not self-sufficient, but manifesting itself only in a conciliar unity, the interests of which are higher than the interests of an individual person.

Such a combination of opposites gave rise to instability and could explode into conflict at any moment. In particular, the basis of all Russian culture is a series of unresolvable contradictions: collectivity and authoritarianism, universal consent and despotic arbitrariness, self-government of peasant communities and rigid centralization of power associated with the Asian mode of production.

The inconsistency of Russian culture was also generated by a specific for Russia mobilization type of development when material and human resources are used through their overconcentration and overexertion, in conditions of a shortage of the necessary resources (financial, intellectual, temporary, foreign policy, etc.), often with the immaturity of internal development factors. As a result, the idea of ​​the priority of political factors of development over all others and there was a contradiction between the tasks of the state and the possibilities of the population according to their decision, when the security and development of the state was ensured by any means, at the expense of the interests and goals of individuals through non-economic, forceful coercion, as a result of which the state became authoritarian, even totalitarian, the repressive apparatus was unreasonably strengthened as an instrument of coercion and violence. This largely explains the dislike of the Russian people for and at the same time the awareness of the need to protect him and, accordingly, the endless patience of the people and their almost uncomplaining submission to power.

Another consequence of the mobilization type of development in Russia was the primacy of the social, communal principle, which is expressed in the tradition of subordinating personal interest to the tasks of society. Slavery was dictated not by the whim of the rulers, but by a new national task - the creation of an empire on a meager economic basis.

All these features have formed such features of Russian culture, as the absence of a strong core, led to its ambiguity, binary, duality, a constant desire to combine the incompatible - European and Asian, pagan and Christian, nomadic and sedentary, freedom and despotism. Therefore, the main form of the dynamics of Russian culture has become inversion - a change in the type of pendulum swing - from one pole of cultural significance to another.

Due to the constant desire to keep up with their neighbors, to jump above their heads, old and new elements coexisted in Russian culture all the time, the future came when there were no conditions for it yet, and the past was in no hurry to leave, clinging to traditions and customs. At the same time, the new often appeared as a result of a jump, an explosion. This feature of historical development explains the catastrophic type of development in Russia, which consists in the constant violent destruction of the old in order to give way to the new, and then find out that this new is not at all as good as it seemed.

At the same time, the dichotomy, binarity of Russian culture has become the reason for its exceptional flexibility, the ability to adapt to the extremely difficult conditions of survival during periods of national catastrophes and socio-historical upheavals, comparable in scale to natural disasters and geological catastrophes.

The main features of the Russian national character

All these moments formed a specific Russian national character, which cannot be unambiguously assessed.

Among positive qualities usually called kindness and its manifestation in relation to people - benevolence, cordiality, sincerity, responsiveness, cordiality, mercy, generosity, compassion and empathy. Simplicity, openness, honesty, tolerance are also noted. But this list does not include pride and self-confidence - qualities that reflect a person's attitude towards himself, which testifies to the attitude towards “others”, characteristic of Russians, about their collectivism.

Russian attitude to work very idiosyncratic. A Russian person is hardworking, hardworking and hardy, but much more often lazy, negligent, careless and irresponsible, he is characterized by spitting and slovenliness. The industriousness of Russians is manifested in the honest and responsible performance of their labor duties, but does not imply initiative, independence, or the desire to stand out from the team. Sloppiness and carelessness are associated with the vast expanses of the Russian land, the inexhaustibility of its wealth, which will be enough not only for us, but also for our descendants. And since we have a lot of everything, then nothing is a pity.

"Faith in a good king" - a mental feature of Russians, reflecting the long-standing attitude of a Russian person who did not want to deal with officials or landlords, but preferred to write petitions to the tsar (general secretary, president), sincerely believing that evil officials are deceiving the good tsar, but one has only to tell him the truth, how weight will be good. The excitement around the presidential elections that have taken place over the past 20 years proves that there is still a belief that if you choose a good president, then Russia will immediately become a prosperous state.

Fascination with political myths - another characteristic feature of the Russian people, inextricably linked with the Russian idea, the idea of ​​a special mission for Russia and the Russian people in history. The belief that the Russian people were destined to show the whole world the right path (regardless of what this path should be - true Orthodoxy, the communist or the Eurasian idea), was combined with the desire to make any sacrifices (up to their own death) in the name of achieving the set goal. In search of an idea, people easily rushed to extremes: they went to the people, made a world revolution, built communism, socialism "with a human face", restored previously destroyed temples. Myths may change, but the morbid fascination with them remains. Therefore, credulity is called among the typical national qualities.

Calculation for "maybe" - very Russian trait. It permeates the national character, the life of a Russian person, manifests itself in politics, economics. "Perhaps" is expressed in the fact that inaction, passivity and lack of will (also named among the characteristics of the Russian character) are replaced by reckless behavior. And it will come to this at the very last moment: "Until the thunder breaks out, the peasant will not cross himself."

The reverse side of the Russian "maybe" is the breadth of the Russian soul. As noted by F.M. Dostoevsky, “the Russian soul is bruised by the breadth”, but behind its breadth, generated by the vast expanses of our country, both daring, youthfulness, merchant scope, and the absence of a deep rational miscalculation of the everyday or political situation are hidden.

Values ​​of Russian culture

The most important role in the history of our country and in the formation of Russian culture was played by the Russian peasant community, and the values ​​of Russian culture are to a large extent the values ​​of the Russian community.

Herself community, world as the basis and prerequisite for the existence of any individual is the oldest and most important value. For the sake of "peace" he must sacrifice everything, including his life. This is explained by the fact that Russia lived a significant part of its history in the conditions of a besieged military camp, when only the subordination of the interests of the individual to the interests of the community allowed the Russian people to survive as an independent ethnic group.

Team interests in Russian culture it is always above the interests of the individual, which is why personal plans, goals and interests are so easily suppressed. But in response, a Russian person counts on the support of the "peace" when he has to face everyday hardships (a kind of mutual responsibility). As a result, a Russian person without displeasure puts aside his personal affairs for the sake of some common cause from which he will not benefit, and this is his attraction. A Russian person is firmly convinced that one must first arrange the affairs of the social whole, more important than his own, and then this whole will begin to act in his favor at his own discretion. The Russian people are a collectivist that can only exist together with society. He suits him, worries about him, for which he, in turn, surrounds him with warmth, attention and support. To become a Russian person must become a conciliar personality.

Justice- another value of Russian culture, important for life in a team. Initially, it was understood as the social equality of people and was based on the economic equality (of men) in relation to the land. This value is instrumental, but in the Russian community it has become a goal. Members of the community had the right to their share of the land and all its wealth, which was owned by the "world", equal with everyone else. Such justice was the Truth for which the Russian people lived and aspired. In the famous dispute between truth-truth and truth-justice, it was justice that prevailed. For a Russian person, it is not so important how it was or is in reality; much more important than what should be. Nominal positions of eternal truths (for Russia, these truths were truth-justice) were evaluated by the thoughts and actions of people. Only they are important, otherwise no result, no benefit can justify them. If nothing comes of what was planned, it’s not scary, because the goal was good.

Lack of individual freedom It was determined by the fact that in the Russian community with its equal allotments, periodically carried out redistribution of the land, it was simply impossible for individualism to manifest itself in striped stripes. A person was not the owner of the land, did not have the right to sell it, was not free even in the timing of sowing, reaping, in the choice of what can be cultivated on the land. In such a situation, it was unrealistic to show individual skill. which was not valued at all in Rus'. It is no coincidence that Lefty was ready to be accepted in England, but he died in complete poverty in Russia.

The habit of emergency mass activity(strada) brought up the same lack of individual freedom. Here, hard work and a festive mood were strangely combined. Perhaps the festive atmosphere was a kind of compensatory means, which made it easier to transfer a heavy load and give up excellent freedom in economic activity.

Wealth could not become a value in a situation of domination of the idea of ​​equality and justice. It is no coincidence that the proverb is so well known in Russia: “You cannot make stone chambers with righteous labor.” The desire to increase wealth was considered a sin. So, in the Russian northern village, merchants were respected, who artificially slowed down the trade turnover.

Labor itself was also not a value in Rus' (unlike, for example, in Protestant countries). Of course, labor is not rejected, its usefulness is recognized everywhere, but it is not considered a means that automatically ensures the fulfillment of a person’s earthly calling and the correct disposition of his soul. Therefore, in the system of Russian values, labor occupies a subordinate place: "Work is not a wolf, it will not run away into the forest."

Life, not focused on work, gave the Russian man the freedom of the spirit (partly illusory). It has always stimulated creativity in man. It could not be expressed in constant, painstaking work aimed at accumulating wealth, but easily transformed into eccentricity or work to the surprise of others (the invention of wings, a wooden bicycle, a perpetual motion machine, etc.), i.e. actions were taken that did not make sense for the economy. On the contrary, the economy often turned out to be subordinate to this undertaking.

The respect of the community could not be earned simply by becoming rich. But only a feat, a sacrifice in the name of "peace" could bring glory.

Patience and suffering in the name of "peace"(but not personal heroism) is another value of Russian culture, in other words, the goal of the accomplished feat could not be personal, it must always be outside the person. The Russian proverb is widely known: "God endured, and he commanded us." It is no coincidence that the first canonized Russian saints were princes Boris and Gleb; they were martyred, but did not resist their brother, Prince Svyatopolk, who wanted to kill them. Death for the Motherland, death "for his friends" brought immortal glory to the hero. It is no coincidence that in tsarist Russia the words “Not to us, not to us, but to Your name” were minted on awards (medals).

Patience and suffering- the most important fundamental values ​​for a Russian person, along with consistent abstinence, self-restraint, constant self-sacrifice in favor of another. Without it, there is no personality, no status, no respect of others. Hence comes the eternal desire for Russian people to suffer - this is the desire for self-actualization, the conquest of inner freedom, necessary to do good in the world, to win the freedom of the spirit. In general, the world exists and moves only through sacrifice, patience, self-restraint. This is the reason for the long-suffering characteristic of the Russian people. He can endure a lot (especially material difficulties), if he knows why it is necessary.

The values ​​of Russian culture constantly indicate its striving for some higher, transcendental meaning. For a Russian person, there is nothing more exciting than the search for this meaning. For the sake of this, you can leave your home, family, become a hermit or holy fool (both of them were highly revered in Rus').

On the Day of Russian Culture as a whole, the Russian idea becomes such a meaning, the implementation of which the Russian person subordinates his entire way of life. Therefore, researchers talk about the features of religious fundamentalism inherent in the consciousness of a Russian person. The idea could change (Moscow is the third Rome, the imperial idea, communist, Eurasian, etc.), but its place in the structure of values ​​remained unchanged. The crisis that Russia is experiencing today is largely due to the fact that the idea that united the Russian people has disappeared, it has become unclear in the name of what we should suffer and humiliate ourselves. The key to Russia's exit from the crisis is the acquisition of a new fundamental idea.

The listed values ​​are contradictory. Therefore, a Russian could at the same time be a brave man on the battlefield and a coward in civilian life, could be personally devoted to the sovereign and at the same time rob the royal treasury (like Prince Menshikov in the era of Peter the Great), leave his house and go to war in order to free the Balkan Slavs. High patriotism and mercy were manifested as sacrifice or beneficence (but it could well become a disservice). Obviously, this allowed all researchers to talk about the “mysterious Russian soul”, the breadth of the Russian character, that “ Russia cannot be understood with the mind».

Characteristic features of the Russian cultural archetype.

A feature of the Russian cultural archetype is the need for a central event. During the 20th century, when upheavals of the social order were actively changing the socio-cultural picture of the world and individual national cultures, the revolution and victory in the Great Patriotic War became such a central event for our country. Now Russia is experiencing in many ways the difficulties and difficulties of its socio-cultural existence, because it does not have a central event around which the nation could unite, which would nourish cultural roots. This manifests itself in the form of mental loss, cultural dispersion, lack of ideals, depression, disbelief of entire generations, as well as in a stronger than usual disagreement between generations. The search for an event is how we can characterize our current cultural state. When it is found, singled out, then formalized in the national consciousness, then it is possible to build a system of values ​​around it, balance in the cultural, social, global terms.

An equally important provision in characterizing the current socio-cultural situation in Russia is the change in values ​​that we experienced throughout the 20th century. Pure rationalism disgusts the Russian people. Spiritual life does not have a single beginning, and the search for its ideals is also reduced to personal experiments with the maximum opportunities for experimenting with various teachings, religions, and this happens from the standpoint of accentuated globalism, the removal of cultural boundaries. This makes these processes even more unstable within modern Russian culture.

Also, a characteristic feature of the current socio-cultural situation in Russia is the unevenness of ongoing socio-cultural changes. These phenomena are observed, firstly, within various social groups and are manifested in the degree of their involvement, acceptance and participation in sociocultural changes. At present, a gap of this kind appears to be one of the threatening factors preventing the creation of favorable conditions for the withdrawal of modern Russia from its current state.

The difference between Russian culture and Russian civilization.

The term "civilization" (from the Latin civilis - civil, state, political, worthy of a citizen) was introduced into scientific circulation by the French Enlightenment to designate a civil society in which freedom, justice, and the legal system reign.

Civilization as an integral system includes various elements (religion, economic, political, social organization, education and upbringing system, etc.), which are coordinated with each other and are closely interconnected. Each element of this system bears the stamp of originality of this or that civilization.

To understand the peculiarity of civilization, it is necessary to consider the relationship between the concepts of "culture" and "civilization".

In cultural studies, there is a fairly strong current that opposes culture to civilization. The Russian Slavophiles laid the foundation for such opposition, asserting the thesis about the spirituality of culture and the lack of spirituality of civilization as a purely Western phenomenon. Continuing this tradition, N.A. Berdyaev wrote about civilization as "the death of the spirit of culture." Within the framework of his concept, culture is symbolic, but not realistic, while the dynamic movement within culture with its crystallized forms inevitably leads to going beyond culture, "to life, to practice, to strength." In Western culturology, O. Spengler consistently opposed culture and civilization. In his book The Decline of Europe (1918), he described civilization as the final moment in the development of culture, signifying its "decline" or decline. Spengler considered the main features of civilization to be "acute cold rationality", intellectual hunger, practical rationalism, the change of spiritual being by mental one, admiration for money, the development of science, non-religion, and similar phenomena.

However, in cultural studies there is also an opposite approach, which essentially identifies culture and civilization. In the concept of K. Jaspers, civilization is interpreted as the value of all cultures. Culture is the core of civilization, but with this approach, the question of the specifics of culture and civilization remains unresolved.

From my point of view, the problem of the relationship between the concepts of "culture" and "civilization" can find an acceptable solution if we understand civilization as a kind of product of culture, its specific property and component: civilization is a system of means for its functioning and improvement created by society in the course of the cultural process . The concept of civilization in this interpretation indicates functionality, manufacturability.

The concept of culture is associated with the setting and implementation of human goals.

Let us summarize all of the above and note the specific features of Russian culture from ancient times to the 20th century.

1. Russian culture is a historical and multifaceted concept. It includes facts, processes, trends that testify to a long and complex development both in geographical space and in historical time. The remarkable representative of the European Renaissance, Maxim Grek, who moved to our country at the turn of the 16th century, has an image of Russia that is striking in depth and fidelity. He writes about her as a woman in a black dress, sitting thoughtfully "by the road." Russian culture is also "on the road", it is formed and developed in constant search. History bears witness to this.

2. Most of the territory of Russia was settled later than those regions of the world in which the main centers of world culture developed. In this sense, Russian culture is a relatively young phenomenon. Moreover, Rus' did not know the period of slavery: the Eastern Slavs went directly to feudalism from communal-patriarchal relations. Due to its historical youth, Russian culture faced the need for intensive historical development. Of course, Russian culture developed under the influence of various cultures of the countries of the West and the East, which historically outstripped Russia. But perceiving and assimilating the cultural heritage of other peoples, Russian writers and artists, sculptors and architects, scientists and philosophers solved their problems, formed and developed domestic traditions, never limiting themselves to copying other people's samples.

3. A long period of development of Russian culture was determined by the Christian Orthodox religion. For many centuries, temple building, icon painting, and church literature became the leading cultural genres. Until the 18th century, Russia made a significant contribution to the world artistic treasury through spiritual activities associated with Christianity.

At the same time, the influence of Christianity on Russian culture is a far from unambiguous process. According to the fair remark of the prominent Slavophil A. S. Khomyakov, Rus' assumed only the external form, ritual, and not the spirit and essence of the Christian religion. Russian culture came out from under the influence of religious dogmas and outgrew the boundaries of Orthodoxy.

4. The specific features of Russian culture are determined to a large extent by what researchers have called "the character of the Russian people." All researchers of the “Russian idea” wrote about this. The main feature of this character was called faith. The alternative "faith-knowledge", "faith-reason" was decided in Russia in specific historical periods in different ways, but most often in favor of faith. Russian culture testifies: with all the inconsistencies in the Russian soul and Russian character, it is difficult to disagree with the famous lines of F. Tyutchev: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind, cannot be measured with a common yardstick: it has become special - you can only believe in Russia.”

Lecture 14

Formation and characteristic features of Russian culture

The origin of the Russian ethnos, the time frame, origins and historical roots of the ancient Russian civilization is a complex and partly unresolved problem. In the domestic literature, there are different points of view on this issue. However, scientists agree that the real predecessors of the Russian ethnos were the Eastern Slavs, who belonged to the group of Indo-European peoples. Indo-Europeans are agricultural tribes with a bright and interesting culture, formed by the 6th millennium BC. e. in the region of the middle and lower Danube and the Balkan Peninsula. Gradually settling across the territory of Europe, the Indo-Europeans interacted with the indigenous population, partially assimilated it, as a result, new cultures arose, one of which was the East Slavic. In the formation of the Russian ethnos, the tribes of the Balts, Germans, Celts, Finno-Ugric peoples in the south, Iranians and Scytho-Sarmatians, etc., neighboring with the Eastern Slavs in the north, took a direct part. the tribes that Nestor wrote about in The Tale of Bygone Years was the result of the mutual mixing of several ethnic components: Indo-European, Turkic, Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Scythian-Sarmatian, and to some extent Germanic.

In the process of ethnogenesis, the Slavs cognized the world around them, formed an idea about it, which they vividly and figuratively translated into a system of religious beliefs, into a cycle of agrarian-magic rituals, as well as rituals associated with the cult of ancestors. Thus, the Slavic pagan picture of the world was formed.

Slavic paganism went through several stages in its development. The first stage of paganism of the distant linguistic ancestors of the Slavs fell on the time of the Mesolithic, this is the era of "beregina" and "ghouls". It should be noted that this is a universal stage of beliefs, including those of the Indo-Europeans. People “laid trebs to ghouls and shorelines”, both of them appeared to them in the plural, that is, they were not personified. They were presented as the forces of good and the forces of evil, to which people made sacrifices. With the onset of the agricultural stage of development, people became dependent on weather conditions: the sun, rain, so ideas were born about the almighty, formidable and capricious deities of the sky, on whose will the harvest depended. All magical-religious beliefs of the early farmers are connected with the agrarian cult. A woman was considered a symbol of fertility. Farmers identified a woman's ability to bear children with the ability of the earth to bear fruit. It is not surprising that female deities, Rozhanitsy, were the first to appear in a matriarchal agricultural society; The male god arose later, with the advent of patriarchy.

Eneolithic farmers developed the following system of ideas: the land, plowed and sown, was likened to a woman “carrying in her womb”, rain was personified with a woman’s chest; over the sky, earth and rain dominated the two mistresses of the world - Rozhanitsy, mother and daughter. In the Bronze Age, another deity appears - Rod. This male patriarchal deity took a dominant position in relation to the Rozhanitsy.

In the life of the Eastern Slavs, a significant place was occupied by holidays and funeral pagan rites. Three main holiday complexes of rituals were associated with the agrarian cult: "winter Christmas time" from December 24 to January 6, the Kupala cycle of "green Christmas time" from June 19 to 24, and the autumn holidays of Rod and Rozhanits from August 29 to September 9. These ritual holidays are associated with prayers and spells for a good harvest. The funeral rite of the Eastern Slavs has gone through a long evolutionary path, it harmoniously combines two cults: agrarian and the cult of ancestors (one of the oldest human cults). Before the adoption of Christianity, the Eastern Slavs followed the rite of burning the ashes of deceased relatives on funeral pyres. This ceremony coincided with the development of agriculture. At this time, the idea of ​​the soul is born, which, together with the smoke of the fire, rises to heaven; the ashes of relatives, that is, what remained after the funeral pyre, were buried in the earth, which was a source of benefits for farmers.

With the advent of statehood, the pantheon of ancient Russian gods becomes more complex. The god of the sky appears - Svarog, the god of the sun - Dazhdbog, the god of the wind - Stribog and others. The development of agriculture contributed to the formation of the cult of the goddess - Makosh - the mistress of the cornucopia and mother earth. The development of cattle breeding led to the cult of the god Veles, the patron of cattle.

At the third stage of the development of the pagan religion of Ancient Rus', a hierarchy of gods begins to form and their pantheon is gradually being created. The main deity is Perun - the god of thunder and lightning, the patron of the princely squad. All other gods are included in this pantheon, partially expanding and changing their functions. So, the god of cattle Veles becomes at the same time the god of wealth and trade.

The Slavs had fairly developed forms of pagan rituals, that is, an organized, ordered system of magical actions, the practical purpose of which was to influence the surrounding nature in order to make it serve the interests of farmers. Pagan rituals were not inferior to Christian ones in terms of pomp, solemnity and power of influence on the human psyche. Pagan beliefs, which required a visual symbolic embodiment of religious ideas, contributed to the development of ancient Russian art.

Thus, as a result of the synthesis and partial assimilation of various cultures, the formation of the initial foundations of statehood and religious ideas, a peculiar society was formed in a significant part of Eastern Europe - Ancient Rus', which laid the foundation for the formation of the Russian ethnos and the Russian state.

Chronologically, the period of medieval Russian culture is limited by the framework from the 11th to the 17th centuries. It includes the formation of the culture of the ancient Russian people: Kievan Rus; preservation of cultural traditions during the Mongol-Tatar rule; formation of the culture of the Russian people.

By the 9th century on the territory of Eastern Europe, as a result of creating the necessary prerequisites for the emergence of statehood, two tribal centers have developed. In the south with the center in Kyiv and in the north with the center in Novgorod. The instigator of the unification of the north and south was the Novgorod prince Oleg, who seized Kyiv in 882 by deceit. The ancient Russian state formed by Oleg was a federation of principalities headed by the great Kievan prince. Relations between Kiev and other lands were regulated by treaties. The agreement determined the right of the prince to polyudie - the main source of the well-being of the prince and his squad.

The unification of the lands and the “adulting” of the tribes was not an end in itself, the reasons are much more pragmatic: tribute (polyudye), and this is mainly furs, fish, wax, honey and the subsequent profitable trade in these goods with Byzantium and the Caliphate. For more convenient trade, Oleg subjugated the territory of the trade route from the "Varangians to the Greeks." And although, as already mentioned, the level of social development of the Norman and Slavic tribes did not differ significantly, the Varangians are a foreign ethnic group that needed to take root, so violence was an essential means of getting used to. Evidence of this is the chronicle story about the campaign of Prince Igor to the land of the Drevlyans for tribute and the tragic events that followed. During the reign of Svyatoslav, the tribal princes were finished: they were either exterminated or reduced to the role of posadniks. Almost all the East Slavic lands ended up in the hands of the Volodimir tribe, that is, the dynasty of the great Kievan princes. However, this does not mean that the people in the X-XI centuries. was powerless, we should not forget that the Slavic tribes had not yet stepped over the system of military democracy, therefore the Varangian princes with squads were forced to recognize both the council of the tribal nobility and the people's assembly, since they were not in a state of constant war with the conquered population according to their strength, and they themselves did not yet know another level of social relations. And yet, it was at this time that there was a tendency to separate the princely power from the people, this is due to the “foreignness” of the Rurikovichs. In the function of the Kyiv prince in the tenth century. included military and diplomatic leadership, that is, the organization of defense and campaigns, and they themselves certainly participated in military campaigns, maintained military-political dominance over the "tortured" neighbors. The great princes also had religious power: they made sacrifices to the gods before the campaign, carried out religious reforms, in fact, performed the duties of high priests. The princes were engaged in the regulation of social relations, they themselves judged in difficult situations, imposed fines, the princely court was decided publicly. They, together with respected representatives from the lands, carried out legislative work, in the XI-XII centuries. Pravda by Yaroslav and the Yaroslavichs, the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh, church princely charters were developed. Thus, gradually the forms of state administration merged together the once disparate tribes. But once again it is necessary to recall that the prince in Kievan Rus is not yet an autocratic sovereign, he was resisted, or rather, free communities were co-rulers of the princes.

The population that united Kievan Rus was sedentary, that is, agricultural, the economy was of a pronounced natural character, so the tribes and tribal unions of the Slavs did not experience economic attraction to each other at that time. The interest of the Varangians in this ethnic area was determined by the specifics of the crafts that the population was engaged in (hunting fur-bearing animals and game birds, beekeeping, wax production, the demand for these products has already been mentioned). This form of material production determined the geography of the conquests of the Varangian princes in the 10th century, i.e., it can be argued that, to a certain extent, the specific feature of the economy of the East Slavic tribes also influenced the formation of the initial borders of the state.

The merger of the territory took place at the behest of the Grand Duke and his retinue, but one must also take into account the fact that people of the same agricultural and fishing psychology were united, there were no deep contradictions in the culture of material production, this is one of the positive factors in the formation of a single state.

A significant role was played by the factor of the common language, which internally cemented the lands of Kievan Rus. Representatives of all East Slavic tribes understood each other, which means they unconsciously felt kinship. There are many interpretations of the ethnonym "Slavs", usually it is produced from "glory" or from the "word", believing that the tribes that understood each other called themselves that way.

It has already been said about the paganism of the Slavic tribes; paganism, along with other deep internal factors, helped create a unified state. The Varangians, who came to the Slavic lands, were overwhelmingly also pagans, thus, there were no deep contradictions in religious beliefs. The only thing that introduced a certain misunderstanding into the relationship was the diversity of the names of the pagan gods, since in different tribes the same functional god was called by different names. Therefore, in 980, Prince Vladimir tried to create a harmonious combination from the multi-colored pagan deities, reflecting, in his opinion, a picture of the surrounding world. Only he did not put the spatial principle as the basis of the Zbruch idol, but the principle of hierarchy, that is, he singled out the main god - Perun (the patron saint of warriors, weapons, war) and his subordinates: Khorsa (the deity of the solar luminary), Dazhdbog (an ancient deity nature, sunshine, “white light”, giver of blessings; he was the patron of Russian princes and the people they ruled), Stribog (“Father-God” or “Sky-God”, the ancient pre-eminent deity of the sky, he is also known in the Slavic lands under the names of Rod, Svyatovit, Svarog), Simargla (the god of seeds, sprouts, plant roots, the guardian of shoots and greenery, in a broad sense - a symbol of armed goodness), Makosh (“Mother of the Harvest”, the ancient goddess of earth and fertility). With some dissimilarity of the ideas underlying the Rod-Svyatovit (Zbruch idol) and the Pantheon of Vladimir, these two compositions of deities represent the highest form of pre-state paganism, since they are an attempt, albeit through a pagan worldview, to streamline the picture of the surrounding world and public life.

In other words, we can say that the unification of the territory and people, already destined for each other by fate, was accomplished.

Since the X century. Christianity became the dominant form of integration of the medieval culture of Rus'. Christianity formulated a new and unified Christian picture of the world for the entire state. It is well known that Christianity in Kievan Rus was painfully implanted into a full-blooded and not obsolete pagan psychology. Dual faith could be traced until the second half of the 13th century, it was especially pronounced among the people. But the purposeful introduction of Orthodoxy into all spheres of life did its job: the public consciousness was saturated with Christian spiritual values, they became the official moral foundation of the state, helped to strengthen its unity. According to V. V. Bychkov, culturally, this is the time of active familiarization of Rus' with Christian values, and through them with the values ​​accumulated and created by the ancient peoples of the Middle East, Greece, Rome, Byzantium; this is the time of the formation of national spiritual values, the formation of an original understanding of the world (in line with Orthodoxy), the formation of a peculiar aesthetic consciousness and high artistic culture.

Christianity came to Rus' from Byzantium. There were political and economic reasons for this, but we are interested in another aspect: aesthetic. Why was the consciousness of the Slavs closer to Byzantine aesthetics? After all, the originality of the aesthetic consciousness of the Slavs, not least contributed to the choice of the form of religion by the state, and then its formation and getting used to it.

The analysis shows that the aesthetic consciousness of the Eastern Slavs was characterized by vivid imagery and rich imagination, well-developed associativity of thinking. Strength in the view of ancient man was one of the main evidences of the fullness of life, therefore, in the epic of almost all peoples, the cult of strength and its aestheticization constantly appear. Slavic folklore has preserved the motive of strength in epics. The contemplation and description of superhuman forces both frightened and pleased, this is well felt in the texts of epics that have survived to this day, they contain a mixed feeling of delight and fear of the uncontrollable elements of physical forces.

Another motif is connected with the aestheticization of strength - the description of heroic equipment, clothes, and dwellings. At the social level, one of the expressions of strength was wealth, and artificial beauty (luxurious utensils, clothes, jewelry, skillful work) was a sign of wealth for an ancient person. Therefore, direct admiration for power (it also contained destructive energy) in the popular consciousness of the Eastern Slavs took more indirect forms - in the aestheticization of wealth, luxury, and skillful decorations that the bearer of power was endowed with. Aestheticization of wealth in folklore is often clothed in beautiful forms. "Golden" in folklore is always the highest degree of appreciation.

Thus, one of the fairly obvious aspects of the East Slavic aesthetic consciousness can be considered the aestheticization of precious materials. One of the reasons for it, undoubtedly, was their brilliance, sparkling, that is, kinship with light. The aesthetics of light and brilliance of precious materials was inherited from antiquity, it was continued in medieval pagan and Christian culture.

Byzantine aesthetics and artistic culture translated the cheerful Slavic worldview, closely connected with nature, into the language of refined Christian aesthetics, it filled it with new content, because in some manifestations Byzantine aesthetics was understandable and close to the Slavs.

Christianity in Rus', according to many scientists, was perceived first of all and most deeply at the level of artistic and aesthetic consciousness, it was in this direction that Rus' most actively, fruitfully and distinctively developed its spiritual culture throughout the medieval period. But the Christian opposition man - God was not immediately perceived in Rus' in all its refined Byzantine sense, the ancient Russian people turned out to be the most sensitive to the specific artistic and aesthetic realizations of this opposition.

People came to the realization of the opposition man - God through aesthetic consciousness: a keen interest in the "beauty of the church" and the magnificent ritual side of Christianity, since all this was part of the concept of beauty among the pagan Slavs. The richness and brilliance of the interiors of the church and the rite amazed those present and led them to think about the greatness and power of God, and respect for power was one of the components of Slavic aesthetics. It is no coincidence that the chronicle tells how the ambassadors of Prince Vladimir were amazed and subdued by the external splendor of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople. The prince, judging by the chronicle story, including under the influence of their impressions of what he saw, decided to introduce Rus' to Christianity. The architecture of the temple, painting, music, the word, that is, the synthesis of arts in the aesthetics of the liturgy (church service) created a sensual image of the beautiful, luminous, but at the same time powerful God Almighty. Initiation to faith in a single Christian Creator God through pagan sincerity and sensuality is a peculiar feature of the comprehension of Christianity in Rus', it went on for a long and difficult time, but by the 15th century. deeply rooted in the psychology of man and culture and became inseparable from ancient Russian aesthetics.

The programming of a new picture of the world in the minds of people went in several directions. One of the most important was, of course, the direct impact on human emotions, which, in turn, created a deep sensory perception of the emerging worldview and its aesthetics. The sensory perception of a person was struck by the architecture of the cross-domed church and the aesthetics of the liturgy, through them it comprehended the new faith, and through a single Orthodox form of worship in different parts of the country, people felt belonging to a single culture.

In Rus', it was introduced from the 11th century. a single architectural style of the temple: cross-domed. During the heyday of Kievan Rus, magnificent cathedral churches were built, glorifying its greatness. Even Vladimir, for the construction of the first stone church in Kiev - the Assumption of the Virgin (Church of the Tithes) - invited Greek masters, who introduced Rus' to the cross-domed church building system, it was rooted in all ancient Russian architecture. The basis of the cross-domed temple is a square or rectangular room with four pillars in the middle, the pillars were connected by arches that supported the drum of the dome. The center of the temple was the domed space, flooded with light penetrating through the windows of the drum. The central nave with the transept created the shape of a cross in plan. On the east side, as a rule, three apses adjoined the building, in large temples there could be five, churches were built with one apse. The altar was located in the middle apse.

The temple is a symbolic model of Christianity, its internal structure embodied the Christian idea - the salvation of man from sinful thoughts and communion with divine grace. One of the main categories of medieval Christian culture is the category of time. Time in Christianity was understood as a direct vector that connects the creation of the world and the Last Judgment. Earthly life (a human vector) is given to people so that they make their ascent to God through a righteous life. The central nave in the temple symbolically expresses this straight line (from the birth of a person to his ascent to God), a person walks along the nave from the west (entrance) to the east to the altar, where the “divine essence” resides, that is, it passes symbolically from the visible world to the world invisible. The upper register of the murals with Pantocrator - (Christ the Almighty) - and the apostles in the dome - this is the "higher world" that belongs to God; lower register with paintings from the earthly life of Jesus Christ - the physical world; their middle register is connected by a composition of intercession, more often it is a deesis composition on the main row of the iconostasis: the Savior, before whom the Mother of God and John the Baptist pray, is a symbolic image of the Church praying for sinful people, reuniting them with Jesus Christ.

God, according to Christian teaching, appears as absolute beauty. Manifestations of God in Christian churches are presented through its modifications: light and color. The gospel idea is known that God is light (“uncreated light”, i.e., uncreated), he is its essence, but it is inaccessible to sight, it can only be comprehended by the righteous with supersensible-sensory vision in the act of a special mystical practice. However, the thought of the luminous essence of God opened wide scope for aesthetic consciousness and artistic creativity, manifested in the architectural forms of the church. The windows on the facades of the church, especially the windows of the drum of the dome, focus powerful beams of light into the space under the dome; in the dome, according to the canon, there is an image of Christ the Almighty. Light and image are combined in the perception of a person, falling into beams of light, he sensually feels the presence of God and connection with him. This is facilitated by the burning of candles and the flickering of the colors of the icons.

“Beautiful” (God) could also be manifested through the symbolism of color, as well as its combinations. In Byzantium, a rich color symbolism was developed, which found its artistic embodiment in church painting. Purple was considered divine and royal; blue and blue are the colors of the transcendent spheres; white is the color of purity; black - a symbol of death, hell; red is the color of life, fire and salvation. The symbolism of the golden color was ambiguous, which acted, first of all, as an image of divine light and really expressed it in temple painting: mosaics and icons. That is why ancient masters laid out golden mosaic backgrounds, and icon painters painted images on gold backgrounds. The bright and resonant colors of the icons conquered the emotional sphere of the ancient Russian man deeper than the abstract bookish word. Thus, the architecture of churches, their symbolism introduced the Christian worldview, made it close, understood, native to the people inhabiting these territories, connected the people and culture with a new “cultural meaning” - Christian values ​​and traditions that grew on these values. With the assistance of the architecture and symbolism of churches, a new "image of the world" was formed.

Over time, the outlines of ancient Russian churches became a sign, a symbol of belonging of the territory and people to a single ancient Russian, and then Russian culture. After the invasion of Batu, the construction of churches in Rus' freezes, even in Novgorod and Pskov, which also suffer from the Swedes and Germans. For almost the entire thirteenth century temple construction is not carried out, maybe wooden churches were built, but, of course, they did not survive. However, already at the end of the XIII century. stone architecture in these cities is being revived. Novgorod masters no longer built such powerful cathedrals as St. Sophia's or St. George's, they revived the type of temple of the second half of the 12th century: a small four-pillared, single-domed, as a rule, with one apse. Firstly, there were no funds for grandiose construction, the princes stopped building churches in Novgorod, it became very independent and did not always kindly treat its princes, and secondly, boyar families, merchants or residents of a certain parish (street residents) began to act as customers ), so the churches ceased to give the impression of power, but from this they did not become less majestic and calmly strict, they radiated tremendous power that corresponded to the spirit of the time and the mores of the people of that time.

Moscow art and, in particular, architecture, developed on the artistic traditions of pre-Mongolian Rus', a special role belonged to the culture of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, where in the 12th century. such masterpieces of architecture as the Assumption and Demetrius Cathedrals in Vladimir, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Nerl were built. At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. and also in the first three decades of the fifteenth century. the church architecture of the Moscow principality developed for itself some common features: clarity of proportions, harmony, dynamism. When you look at these calm, balanced churches, you feel that they were built by people who have accumulated enough moral and physical strength to repulse the Golden Horde, reunite and establish themselves among neighboring peoples and states.

The rise of the construction of churches in the XIV-XV centuries. not accidental. Deeply rooted in the genetic memory of the people, the silhouettes of cross-domed churches have become a sign of the revival and restoration of the ties of ancient Russian culture. So, it is no coincidence for the fifteenth century. the work of Andrei Rublev, because the artistic image of the "Trinity" radiates with calmness, poise and strength (it does not matter that this is expressed through the icon-painting canon), this is nothing more than a reflection of certain trends in a culture emerging from a long lethargic sleep. This style in icon painting not only reflected, but also directed the development of culture into a single national channel, since Andrei Rublev’s painting is a philosophy in colors, a philosophy of love, hope, kindness, forgiveness, mercy, mutual understanding.

The role of ancient Russian literature in the formation of a single medieval culture of Rus' was enormous; it, like church aesthetics, introduced the ideas of Christian spiritual values ​​into the public consciousness, brought up a sense of belonging to a single ancient Russian culture.

The sermon of love for people, as opposed to the enmity and strife that constantly reigned among the Russian princes, sounds with particular force from the Russian chroniclers, who most clearly saw the sad consequences of not fulfilling this seemingly simple, but difficult-to-implement moral commandment. The ancient Russian chroniclers were monks, so it is no coincidence that in their writings, seemingly not directly related to religious literature, the motif of Christian ethics sounds; it is no coincidence that the first victims of the princely civil strife, the brothers Boris and Gleb, innocently killed, became the first Russian saints. Christian formulas of basic moral norms and laws were immediately filled in Rus' with specific historical, social or everyday content, transferred to the soil of reality and either rooted in it as vital guidelines, or discarded as having no practical application. "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of Boris and Gleb", "The Word of the Destruction of the Russian Land", "Zadonshchina" and a number of other works, telling about the tragedies of fratricidal wars or about the unity of Russian people, manifested in the Battle of Kulikovo, are saturated with thoughts of mutual understanding and the unity of people, about the need for the presence of love in their relationship, and not aggressiveness; these works brought up a sense of belonging to one religion, one people, professing it, and finally, to one culture, they formed a patriotic-state trend in culture.

A special place among the moralizing literature accessible to all segments of the population was occupied by "Domostroy" - a code of practical everyday morality, this, in fact, is the same religious ethics, only translated into everyday language. It was compiled by Archpriest Sylvester in the 16th century. (Sylvester was the spiritual mentor of Ivan the Terrible), that is, already in the period of the centralized Russian state that had taken shape. "Domostroy" included: firstly, the rules of faith, secondly, the veneration of the king and secular authorities, thirdly, the rules of relations with representatives of the spiritual authorities, fourthly, general everyday rules and economic economic instructions. "Domostroy" considered and regulated a person's life from birth to death through the prism of religious and moral principles. An important place in Domostroy was occupied by the problems of intra-family relations: how to raise your children in the teaching and fear of God; how to teach children and save them with fear; how to love father and mother children, and cherish, and obey them, and console them in everything; how to teach a husband to his wife, how to please her God, and adapt to her husband, and how to better arrange your house, and know all kinds of household order and needlework, and teach servants. In the final part of the instruction, Sylvester once again reminds us that it is necessary to live in the commandments of God, the fear of God, Christian law, good cares, and do all things in a divine way. Thus, "Domostroy" is a kind of result that completed the formation of the Christian picture of the world and reflected it not from the heights of philosophical and religious, but from the point of view of an ordinary person.

Thus, the formation of the typological unity of the culture of Medieval Rus' was influenced by the following factors: the form of material production, the unity of language and writing, ancient Russian paganism, the form of social, and later state relations. Orthodoxy was the dominant form of integration of medieval culture, therefore the culture of Medieval Rus', like the culture of the European Middle Ages, is viewed through the prism of Christianity, since it determined all aspects of life in this period of time.

The formation and development of Russian culture is a long process. It is known that the roots and origins of any culture go back to such distant times that it is impossible to determine them with the accuracy necessary for knowledge.

This applies to all cultures, and therefore each of the peoples strives to adhere to some original historical date that is remarkable for it, although conditional in the general course of time. So, Nestor, the author of the famous “Tale of Bygone Years, Where the Russian Land Came From” in the longest (from the Creation of the World) series of millennia, called 6360 (852) the first “Russian date”, when in the Byzantine chronicles the word “Rus” was called the whole people.

And indeed. The 9th century is the time of the birth of the ancient Russian state with the center in Kiev, to which the name "Kievan Rus" gradually spread. The state has created favorable conditions for the development of culture. Proof of this is the dramatic rise in the culture of Kievan Rus, which reached a high European level within the first century.

Culture is created by people, and their worldview, worldview, feelings, tastes are formed in specific social, economic and social conditions. The emerging culture of any nation is influenced by the geographic environment, as well as customs, traditions, all cultural heritage inherited from previous generations. Therefore, the history of culture should be studied on the basis of and in connection with the historical process of a given country and its people.

The Eastern Slavs received from the primitive era a folk, basically pagan, culture, the art of buffoons, rich folklore - epics, fairy tales, ritual and lyrical songs.

With the formation of the Old Russian state, the Old Russian culture began to take shape at the same time - it reflected the life and life of the Slavic peoples, was associated with the flourishing of trade and crafts, the development of interstate relations and trade relations. It was created on the basis of ancient Slavic culture - it was formed on the basis of traditions, customs, and the epic of the Eastern Slavs. It reflected the cultural traditions of individual Slavic tribes - Polyans, Vyatichi, Novgorodians, etc., as well as neighboring tribes - Utro-Finns, Balts, Scythians, Iranians. Various cultural influences and traditions merged and melted under the influence of common political and socio-economic relations.

Russian culture initially developed as a single, common for all East Slavic tribes. A significant role was played by the fact that the Eastern Slavs lived on an open plain and were simply “doomed” to contacts with other peoples and with each other.

From the very beginning, Byzantium had a great influence on the development of the culture of Ancient Rus'. However, Rus' did not just blindly copy the cultural achievements of other countries and peoples, it adapted them to its own cultural traditions, to its people's experience, which came down from the depths of centuries, and understanding of the surrounding world. Therefore, it would be more correct to speak not about simple borrowing, but about processing, rethinking certain ideas, which eventually acquired an original form on Russian soil.

In the features of Russian culture, we are constantly confronted not only with influences from outside, but with their sometimes significant spiritual processing, their constant refraction in an absolutely Russian style. If the influence of foreign cultural traditions was stronger in cities, which in themselves were centers of culture, then the rural population was mainly the custodian of ancient cultural traditions associated with the depths of the historical memory of the people.

In villages and villages, life flowed at a slow pace, they were more conservative, more difficult to succumb to various cultural innovations. For many years, Russian culture - oral folk art, art, architecture, painting, artistic crafts - developed under the influence of pagan religion, pagan worldview.

The adoption of Christianity by Russia had a huge progressive influence on the development of Russian culture as a whole - on literature, architecture, painting. It was an important source of the formation of ancient Russian culture, as it contributed to the development of writing, education, literature, architecture, art, the humanization of the morals of the people, and the spiritual elevation of the individual. Christianity created the basis for the unification of ancient Russian society, the formation of a single people on the basis of common spiritual and moral values. This is its progressive meaning.

First of all, the new religion claimed to change the worldview of people, their perception of all life, and therefore ideas about beauty, artistic creativity, aesthetic influence.

However, Christianity, having had a strong impact on Russian culture, especially in the field of literature, architecture, art, the development of literacy, schooling, libraries - in those areas that were most closely connected with the life of the church, with religion, could not overcome the people's origins of Russian culture.

Christianity and paganism are religions of different value orientations. Paganism has survived many peoples of the world. Everywhere it personified the natural elements and forces, gave rise to many natural gods - polytheism. Unlike other peoples who survived paganism, the supreme gods of the Slavs were associated not with a priestly, not with a military, but with an economic and natural function.

Although the worldview of the Slavs, like all pagans, remained primitive, and moral principles were rather cruel, nevertheless, the connection with nature had a beneficial effect on man and his culture. People have learned to see beauty in nature. It is no coincidence that the ambassadors of Prince Vladimir, when meeting with the rituals of the “Greek faith”, first of all appreciated its beauty, which to a certain extent contributed to the choice of faith.

But paganism, including Slavic, did not possess the main thing - the concept of the human person, the value of her soul. As you know, the ancient classics did not possess these qualities either.

The concept of personality, its value, manifested in its spirituality, aesthetics, humanism, etc., is formed only in the Middle Ages and is reflected in monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. The transition to Christianity meant the transition of Rus' to higher valuable humanistic and moral ideals.

It is important to note that the change of faith in Rus' took place without foreign intervention. The adoption of Christianity was an internal need of the population of a large country, its readiness to accept new spiritual values. If we faced a country with a completely undeveloped artistic consciousness, knowing nothing but idols, no religion with its higher value orientations could be established.

Christianity, as a symbol of spiritual values, contains the idea of ​​the need for constant development and improvement of society and man. It is no coincidence that this type of civilization is called Christian.

Dual faith remained in Rus' for many years: the official religion, which prevailed in the cities, and paganism, which went into the shadows, but still existed in remote parts of Rus', especially in the northeast, retained its positions in the countryside, the development of Russian culture reflected this duality in the spiritual life of society, in the life of the people.

Pagan spiritual traditions, folk at their core, had a profound impact on the entire development of Russian culture in the early Middle Ages.

Under the influence of folk traditions, foundations, habits, under the influence of the people's worldview, church culture itself, religious ideology, was filled with new content.

The stern ascetic Christianity of Byzantium on Russian pagan soil, with its cult of nature, worship of the sun, light, wind, with its love of life, deep humanity, has changed significantly, which is reflected in all those areas of culture where the Byzantine influence was especially great. It is no coincidence that in many ecclesiastical monuments of culture (for example, the writings of ecclesiastical authors) we see secular reasoning and a reflection of purely worldly passions.

And it is no coincidence that the pinnacle of the spiritual achievement of Ancient Rus' - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is all permeated with pagan motives. Using pagan symbolism and folklore figurativeness, the author reflected the diverse hopes and aspirations of the Russian people of a specific historical era. The excited fiery call for the unity of the Russian land, its protection from external enemies is combined with the author's deep reflections on the place of Rus' in world history, its connection with the surrounding peoples, the desire to live in peace with them.

This monument of ancient Russian culture most clearly reflected the characteristic features of the literature of that era: a living connection with historical reality, high citizenship, sincere patriotism.

This openness of ancient Russian culture, its powerful reliance on folk origins and popular perception of Eastern Slavs, the interweaving of Christian and folk-pagan influences has led to what is called in world history a phenomenon of Russian culture. Its characteristic features are

striving for monumentality, scale, figurativeness in chronicle writing;

nationality, integrity and simplicity in art;

grace, deeply humanistic beginning in architecture;

softness, love of life, kindness in painting;

the constant presence of doubt, passion in literature.

And all this was dominated by the great fusion of the creator of cultural values ​​with nature, his sense of belonging to all mankind, his concern for people, for their pain and misfortune. It is no coincidence that, again, one of the favorite images of the Russian church and culture was the image of Saints Boris and Gleb, philanthropists who suffered for the unity of the country, who accepted torment for the sake of people.

In the stone structures of Rus', the traditions of ancient Russian wooden architecture were comprehensively reflected, namely: the many-domed, pyramidal structures, the presence of various galleries, organic fusion, the harmony of architectural structures with the surrounding landscape, and others. Thus, the architecture, with its picturesque stone carvings, was reminiscent of the unsurpassed skill of Russian woodworkers.

In icon painting, Russian masters also surpassed their Greek teachers. The spiritual ideal created in ancient Russian icons was so exalted, possessed such a power of plastic embodiment, such stability and vitality that it was destined to determine the development of Russian culture in the XIV-XV centuries. The harsh canons of church Byzantine art in Rus' have undergone changes, the images of saints have become more worldly, humane.

These features and characteristic features of the culture of Ancient Rus' did not appear immediately. In their basic guises, they have evolved over the centuries. But then, having already formed into more or less established forms, they retained their strength for a long time and everywhere.