Old Russian literature read children's stories. Old Russian epics, stories and fairy tales

Old Russian or Scandinavian roots? Historians and philologists discovered the folklore and literary roots of the chronicle of Olga's revenge as early as the first half of the 19th century, and the Normans, of course, hastened to attribute them to borrowings from the Scandinavian epic.

Old Russian princes

Old Russian princes The list of princes given below, compiled according to the texts of the Book of Veles and Russian chronicles, in connection with unconfirmed data on kinship and chronology, can only serve as references for this review. The mythological ancestors of the Aryans (according to the Book

Old Russian lands and Pskov in the IX-XIII centuries

Old Russian lands and Pskov in the 9th-13th centuries, the 13th century brought significant changes to ancient Russian history. The dependence of most of the Russian lands on the Golden Horde, the growth of their fragmentation into autonomous destinies, the differences in the forms of statehood, fixing on the thrones

Tales of Old Russian

Archaeological excavations indicate that the writing of the ancient Slavs existed even in the pre-Christian period.. Most of the preserved written monuments have come down to our days after the Mongol period.

Agree that in the numerous fires and invasions, after which there was no stone left unturned, it is difficult to save anything. With the advent of the alphabet in the 9th century, created by the monks Cyril and Methodius, the first books began to be written. Mostly they were on church topics.

Divine services were held in national languages, so writing also developed in people's native languages. Literate in Rus' were different segments of the population . This is evidenced by the found birch bark letters. They recorded not only civil and legal cases, but also everyday letters.

What is ancient Russian literature?

Ancient Russian literature includes handwritten or printed works written in the 11th-17th centuries. At this time, historical and business chronicles were kept, travelers described their adventures, but special attention was paid to Christian teachings.

The life of people ranked among the saints by the church was studied in schools and read by ordinary literate people. All creativity reflected the characteristic way of life of that time. Old Russian literature is characterized by the anonymity of writers.

How did literature develop in ancient Rus'?

Initially, handwritten texts were rewritten, exactly copying the original. Over time, the narrative became somewhat distorted due to changes in literary tastes and the preferences of translators. By comparing edits and multiple versions of texts, it is still possible to find the text closest to the original source.

You can read original books that have come down from the depths of centuries only in large libraries. . For example, "Instruction" by Vladimir Monomakh, written in the XII century by the great prince of Kyiv. This work is considered the first secular revelation.

Characteristic features of Old Russian literature

The works of this period are characterized by the repetition of certain situations and comparative characteristics in different works. Characters always behave in accordance with the concepts of that time. So, the battles were depicted in a solemn language, majestically, in accordance with traditions.

Over seven hundred years of development, ancient Russian literature has made a huge breakthrough. Over time, new genres appeared, and writers increasingly rejected literary canons and showed writer's individuality. Nevertheless, patriotism and unity of the Russian people are visible in the texts.

At the beginning of the XIII century, Rus' was threatened by external enemies of the Pechenegs and Polovtsy, there was an internecine struggle between the principalities. The literature of that period called for an end to civil strife and fight with real enemies. The study of the events of those years is of great historical value.

From the monuments of writing, you can learn about the events that took place in our homeland, the life and moral values ​​​​of an entire people. Russian authors have always been concerned about the fate of the Russian heritage, and this is clearly seen from their sincere works.

Tell Old Russian news, literary works (11th-17th centuries), covering various types of narration. Translated stories with moralizing tendencies and developed plots were widespread in the literature (the story of Akira the Wise; the story "About Barlaam and Joasaph"; the military narrative "History of the Jewish War" by Josephus Flavius; "Alexandria"; "Deed of Devgen," etc.). The original Russian stories were originally of a legendary-historical nature and were included in the annals (about Oleg Veshchem, about Olga's revenge, about the baptism of Vladimir, etc.). In the future, P. d. developed in two main directions - historical-epic and historical-biographical. The first cultivated the principles of narration about events, mainly military ones (tales about the internecine wars of princes; about wars with the Polovtsians of the 11th-12th centuries; about the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the 13th-14th centuries; "The Tale of the Mamaev Battle", 15th century). Military tales often turned into extensive fictionalized “stories” (“The Tale of Tsar-Grad”, 15th century; “The History of the Kazan Kingdom”, 16th century, etc.), in some cases acquired a folklore-epic coloring (“The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu”, 14th century; “The Tale of the Sea of ​​Azov”, 17th century, etc.). The stories of this type include retinue-epic (12th century) and (14th century). Military stories are characterized by patriotic ideals, colorful battle descriptions. Among the narratives about events, there are also stories dedicated to the problems of statehood. Legendary and historical narratives of the period of formation of the Russian centralized state were devoted to the succession of world monarchies and the origin of the Rurik dynasty (the stories “On the Kingdom of Babylon”, “On the Princes of Vladimir”, etc., 15-16 centuries). Then the main theme of the stories becomes the historical and journalistic description of the crisis of Moscow statehood in the "time of troubles" and the change of reigning dynasties ("The Tale of 1606", "The Tale" by Avraamy Palitsyn, "Chronicle Book" by I. Katyrev-Rostovsky, etc.)..

Another trend in literary history developed the principles of narrative about heroes, originally based on a Christian providential, solemnly rhetorical description of the deeds of prominent princes in the struggle against external enemies (the lives of Alexander Nevsky and Dovmont of Pskov, 13th century; Dmitry Donskoy, 15th century); these works occupied an intermediate position between traditional military stories and the lives of saints. Gradually, the historical and biographical narrative began to move its heroes into everyday situations: the story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom (15-16 centuries), imbued with fairy-tale symbols; the story of the noblewoman Juliana Lazarevskaya (17th century), etc. Interest in the exploits of the heroes is supplanted by attention to the relationships of people, to the behavior of the individual in everyday life, which, however, was still determined by church ethical norms. The stories of the biographical type branched into instructive autobiographical biographies (the lives of Avvakum and Epiphanius) and narratives of a semi-secular, and then secular nature, imbued with medieval-traditional morality (the folklore-lyrical Tale of Grief-Misfortune, the book-fictional Tale of Savva Grudtsyn, 17th century). The narrative increasingly breaks away from the historical canvas and masters the art of plotting. At the end of the 17th century there are satirical stories with an element of literary parody ("The Tale of Yersh Ershovich", "Shemyakin Court", etc.). Acute difficult everyday situations are equipped with naturalistic details characteristic of the early short story (the stories about the merchant Karp Sutulov and his wife, 17th century; The Tale of Frol Skobeev, early 18th century). Translated stories are again in vogue, the characters of which are Russified in a fairy-tale spirit (“About Bova-Korolevich”, “About Yeruslan Lazarevich”, etc.), collections of Western European short stories (“Great Mirror”, “Facetia”, etc.). P. d. make a natural evolution from the medieval historical narrative to the fictional story of the new time.

Lit .: Pypin A. N., Essay on the literary history of old Russian stories and fairy tales, St. Petersburg, 1857; Orlov A. S., Translated stories of feudal Rus' and the Moscow state of the XII-XVII centuries, [L.], 1934; Old Russian story. Articles and research. Ed. N. K. Gudziya, M. - L., 1941; The origins of Russian fiction. [Resp. ed. Ya. S. Lurie], L., 1970; History of Russian literature, vol. 1, M. - L., 1958 ..

1. The concept of ancient Russian literature and folklore

Baptism of Rus' and the beginning of the "book teaching"

Literature of Kievan Rus (XI - the first third of the XIII century)

Apocrypha

Bibliography

1. The concept of ancient Russian literature and folklore

The concept of Old Russian literature denotes in a strict terminological sense the literature of the Eastern Slavs of the XI-XIII centuries. before their subsequent division into Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. From the 14th century distinct book traditions are clearly manifested, which led to the formation of Russian (Great Russian) literature, and from the 15th century. - Ukrainian and Belarusian (for example, Belarusian First Chronicle around 1441, all-Russian in nature).

All attempts to find traces of East Slavic literature before the baptism of Rus' in 988 ended in failure. The evidence cited is either gross fakes (the pagan chronicle "Vlesova Book", covering a huge era from the 9th century BC to the 9th century AD inclusive), or untenable hypotheses (the so-called "Chronicle of Askold" in the Nikon code of the 16th century among articles 867-889). This does not mean at all that writing was completely absent in pre-Christian Rus'. Archaeological finds show that in the 10th century, even before the baptism of Rus', the Cyrillic alphabet could be used in everyday life and the state apparatus, gradually preparing the ground for the spread of writing. The forerunner of ancient Russian literature was folklore, which was widespread in the Middle Ages in all strata of society: from peasants to the princely-boyar aristocracy. Long before Christianity it was already litteratura sine litteris, literature without letters, with a special genre system. In the ancient Russian written era, folklore and literature with their own system of genres existed in parallel, mutually complementing each other, sometimes coming into close contact. Folklore has accompanied ancient Russian literature throughout its history (from chronicle writing in the 11th - early 12th centuries to the Tale of Woe-Misfortune of the transitional era), although it was generally poorly reflected in writing.

2. Baptism of Rus' and the beginning of the "book teaching"

The adoption of Christianity in 988 under the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir the Holy brought Rus' into the orbit of the Byzantine world. After baptism, rich Old Slavonic literature created by the Thessalonica brothers Cyril the Philosopher, Methodius and their students was transferred to the country from the southern and, to a lesser extent, from the western Slavs. A huge body of translated (mainly from Greek) and original monuments included biblical and liturgical books, patristics and church teaching literature, dogmatic-polemical and legal writings, etc. This literary fund, common to the entire Byzantine-Slavic Orthodox world, ensured within it the consciousness of religious, cultural and linguistic unity for centuries. From Byzantium, the Slavs learned primarily church and monastic book culture. The rich secular literature of Byzantium, which continued the traditions of the ancient one, with a few exceptions, was not in demand by them. South Slavic influence at the end of the X-XI century. marked the beginning of ancient Russian literature and book language.

Ancient Rus' was the last of the Slavic countries to adopt Christianity and got acquainted with the Cyril and Methodius book heritage. However, in a surprisingly short time, she turned it into her national treasure. Compared with other Orthodox Slavic countries, Ancient Rus' created a much more developed and genre-diverse national literature and immeasurably better preserved the pan-Slavic fund of monuments.

Old Russian literature, for all its originality, possessed the same basic features and developed according to the same general laws as other medieval European literatures. Her artistic method was determined by the theocentric and providential nature of medieval thinking and was distinguished by a symbolic worldview, historicism, didacticism and etiquette. She was characterized by canonicity, traditionalism and retrospectiveness.

According to a reasonable position, dating back to the works of E. R. Curtius, all European literatures developed up to the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. as literature of the rhetorical type, regardless of the presence or absence of theoretical treatises on the art of eloquence in them. Old Russian literature was no exception, although the first rhetoric in Russia appeared only at the beginning of the 17th century. and was preserved in the earliest list of 1620 (the original translation was the short Latin “Rhetoric” by Philip Melanchthon of the 16th century). Throughout the entire Old Russian era, Church Slavonic biblical and liturgical books, containing poetic and structural models of various types of texts, determined the cultural consciousness and the nature of the literary process. Exemplary works replaced the theoretical manuals on the art of the word that existed in Western Europe. Reading them, many generations of ancient Russian scribes comprehended the secrets of literary technique. The medieval author constantly turned to "revered writings", used their vocabulary and grammar, sublime symbols and images, figures of speech and tropes. Literary samples, consecrated by hoary antiquity, seemed unshakable and served as a measure of writing skills. This rule was the alpha and omega of ancient Russian creativity.

Bible books contained standards of literary genres. In the Izbornik of 1073, an Old Russian manuscript dating back to the translation from the Greek collection of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon (893-927), in the article “from the Apostolic Rules” a classification of biblical texts is given as ideal models for imitation: the standard of historical and narrative works is the Old Testament Books of Kings, an example in the genre of church hymns is the Psalter, exemplary “cunning and creative" works (Greek. relating to the writing of the wise and poetic ) - the books of the prophet Job and Proverbs of Solomon. Such views, inherited from Byzantium, were extremely stable. Almost 4 centuries later, the monk of Tver, Thomas, in his “Word of Praise for the Grand Duke Boris Alexandrovich” (c. 1453) called the apostolic letters a model of historical and narrative works of the Book of Kings, the epistolary genre - the apostolic epistles, and “soul-saving books” - lives.

For ancient Russian scribes, the existence of a special hierarchy of literary texts was obvious. Genre classification is given in Metropolitan Makariy's preface to the Great Menaion Chetii (completed c. 1554). The works that formed the core of traditional book writing are arranged in strict accordance with their place on the hierarchical ladder of genres. Its top rung is occupied by the Gospel with theological interpretations. This is followed by the Apostle with interpretations, then - the Explanatory Psalter, after them - the works of the Church Fathers: collections of works by John Chrysostom "Chrystostom", "Margaret", "Chrysostom", the works of Basil the Great, the words of Gregory the Theologian with comments by Metropolitan Nikita of Heraclius, "Pandekty" and "Taktikon" by Nikon Chernogorets, etc., followed by oratorical prose with its genre subsystem: 1) prophetic, 2) apostolic, 3) patristic, 4) festive, 5) commendable, and concludes a number of hagiographic literature, which has a special hierarchy: 1) lives of martyrs, 2) monastic, 3) patericons Alphabet, Jerusalem, Egyptian, Sinai, Skete, Kiev-Pechersk and 4) lives of Russian saints th, canonized by the cathedrals of 1547 and 1549. The ancient Russian genre system, formed under the influence of the Byzantine system, was rebuilt and developed over the course of seven centuries of its existence. However, it was preserved in its main features until the New Age.

literature folklore bookishness apocrypha

3. Literature of Kievan Rus (XI - the first third of the XIII century)

The “Book Teaching”, begun by St. Vladimir, quickly achieved significant success. Numerous finds of birch bark letters and epigraphic monuments in Novgorod and other ancient Russian cities show a high level of literacy already in the 11th century. The oldest surviving book of Rus' is the Novgorod Code (no later than the 1st quarter of the 11th century) - a triptych of three waxed tablets, found in 2000 during the work of the Novgorod archaeological expedition. In addition to the main text - two psalms, the codex contains "hidden" texts, scratched on wood or preserved in the form of faint imprints on tablets under wax. Among the “hidden” texts read by A. A. Zaliznyak, a previously unknown work of four separate articles on the gradual movement of people from the darkness of paganism through the limited good of the law of Moses to the light of the teachings of Christ (tetralogy “From paganism to Christ”) is especially interesting.

According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the son of Vladimir, the Grand Duke of Kiev, Yaroslav the Wise, organized translation and book-writing work in Kyiv. In the XI-XII centuries. in ancient Rus', there were different schools and centers engaged in translations mainly from the Greek language. From this time, the following have survived: “The Miracles of Nicholas of Myra” (1090s) - the most revered saint in Russia, “The Life of Basil the New” (XI century), depicting vivid pictures of hellish torments, paradise and the Last Judgment, as well as those Western European legends (like the “Visions of Tnugdal”, middle of the XII century) that fed Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, the North Russian translation of the “Life Andrew the Holy Fool" (XI century or not later than the beginning of the XII century), under whose influence the feast of the Intercession of the Virgin was established in Russia in the 1160s, an outstanding work of world medieval literature "The Tale of Barlaam and Joasaph" (not later than the middle of the XII century), possibly in Kiev. Obviously, in the south-west of Rus', in the Principality of Galicia, a monument of ancient historiography was translated - "The History of the Jewish War" by Josephus Flavius ​​(not later than the 12th century).

Translation work was carried out, obviously, at the metropolitan department, founded in 1037 in Kyiv. Translations of dogmatic, ecclesiastical teaching, epistolary and anti-Latin writings by the Metropolitans of Kiev John II (1077-1089) and Nicephorus (1104-1121), Greeks by origin, who wrote in their native language, have been preserved. Nikifor's letter to Vladimir Monomakh "on fasting and abstinence of feelings" is marked by high literary merit and professional translation technique. In the first half of the XII century. Theodosius the Greek was a notable scribe, who translated for the monk-prince Nicholas (Holy One) the message of Pope Leo I the Great about the Chalcedon Cathedral.

Under Yaroslav the Wise, the “Russian Truth” (Short edition of the 1st half of the 11th century) began to take shape - the main written code of laws of Kievan Rus, the oldest chronicle was compiled at the metropolitan see (1037 - early 1040s), one of the deepest works of the Slavic Middle Ages appeared - “The Word of Law and Grace” by Hilarion (between 103 7-1050). Using the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians (4:21-31), Hilarion proves with dogmatic impeccability the spiritual superiority of the New Testament (Grace) over the Old Testament (Law). In a rhetorically sophisticated form, he writes about the global significance of the baptism of Rus', glorifies the Russian land, a full power in the family of Christian states, and its princes - Vladimir and Yaroslav. The work of Hilarion, who in 1051, with the support of Yaroslav the Wise, became the first Eastern Slavic metropolitan of Kyiv, fully corresponds to the level of medieval Greek and Latin church eloquence. Even in the most ancient period, it became known outside of Rus' and influenced the work of the Serbian hagiographer Domentian (XIII century).

The rhetorically embellished work of Jacob "Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir of Russia" (XI century) is also dedicated to the solemn glorification of the baptist of Russia. Jacob had access to the annals that preceded the Primary Compendium and used its unique information.

The most important literary center was the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, which brought up a bright galaxy of ancient Russian writers, preachers and educators. Quite early, in the second half of the 11th century, the monastery established book links with Constantinople and, apparently, with the Sazava Monastery, the last center of Slavic Glagolitic writing in the Czech Republic in the 11th century.

The life of one of the founders of the Kiev Caves Monastery Anthony (d. 1072-1073) is one of the earliest monuments of ancient Russian hagiography. Not come down to us, it was used in the Primary Chronicle Code. Anthony's disciple Theodosius of the Caves (d. 1074), "the father of ancient Russian monasticism", was the author of ecclesiastical teaching and anti-Latin writings, and the initiator of translations of ecclesiastical and liturgical literature in the 1060s. in connection with the introduction in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery (and after it throughout Rus') of the Constantinople Studite typikon: the statute itself, the catechumens of Theodore the Studite, his life, etc.

Annals were kept in the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, the code of Nikon the Great (c. 1073) and the Primary Code (c. 1095) were compiled. Both of them were included in The Tale of Bygone Years (1110s) - the most valuable monument of ancient Russian culture and historical thought. The creator of its first edition (1110-1112 or 1113) is the Kiev-Pechersk monk Nestor. "The Tale of Bygone Years" is a collection of complex composition and sources. It includes retinue-epic legends (about the death of Prince Oleg the Prophetic from the bite of a snake crawling out of the skull of his beloved horse, under 912, about the revenge of Princess Olga on the Drevlyans under 945-946), folk tales (about the old man who saved Belgorod from the Pechenegs, under 997), toponymic legends (about the youth-kozhemyak, victories who lived a Pecheneg hero, under 992), stories of contemporaries (governors Vyshata and his son, governor Yan), agreements with Byzantium in 911, 944 and 971, church teachings (a speech by a Greek philosopher under 986), hagiographic texts (about princes Boris and Gleb under 1015), military stories, etc. in its structure, presentation of material and events by year, The Tale of Bygone Years is similar to the Latin annals and differs from the Byzantine chronicles, which did not know the weather records. The Tale of Bygone Years has become a role model in the chronicle genre for centuries and has been preserved as part of the later collections of the 14th-16th centuries.

The chronicle includes the Tale of the Blinding of Prince Vasilko Terebovlsky (1110s), which arose as an independent work, written with great literary skill by an eyewitness of dramatic events Vasily. By genre, this is a historical story about princely crimes during the internecine wars of 1097-1100.

The “Tale of Bygone Years” includes the “Instruction” by Prince Vladimir Monomakh (d. 1125), created in several stages and consisting of an instruction for children, an autobiography - an annals of Monomakh’s life and military campaigns, and a letter to his rival Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich of Chernigov. The ideal of the "Instruction" is a wise and just sovereign, sacredly faithful to treaties, a brave prince-warrior and a pious Christian. Monomakh's combination of elements of teaching and autobiography finds a vivid parallel in the apocryphal Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, known in medieval Byzantine, Latin and Slavic literature. Included in the apocrypha, "The Testament of Judas on Courage" had a direct impact on Monomakh.

Typologically, his work is close to medieval Western European teachings to children - heirs to the throne. It is included in the circle of such works as "Testament", attributed to the Byzantine emperor Basil I the Macedonian, monuments of Anglo-Saxon literature: "Instruction" of King Alfred the Great and used for the education of royal children "Father's Teachings" (VIII century), etc. Monomakh could know some of them in oral retelling. His mother came from the family of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh, and his wife was the daughter of the Anglo-Saxon king Harald Gita.

A prominent writer of the late XI - early XII century. was a Kiev-Pechersk monk Nestor. His "Reading about the life of Boris and Gleb" along with other monuments of hagiography of the XI-XII centuries. (anonymous "The Tale of Boris and Gleb", "The Tale of the Miracles of Roman and David") form a widespread cycle about the bloody internecine war of the sons of Prince Vladimir the Holy for the throne of Kiev. Boris and Gleb (baptized Roman and David), who were killed in 1015 on the orders of their older brother, the usurper Svyatopolk, are portrayed as martyrs not so much of a religious as of a political idea. By their death they affirm the triumph of brotherly love and the necessity of subordinating the younger princes to the eldest in the family in order to preserve the unity of the Russian land. The passion-bearing princes Boris and Gleb, the first canonized saints in Rus', became her heavenly patrons and defenders. “After the “Reading”, Nestor created “The Life of Theodosius of the Caves”, which became a model in the genre of the venerable life and later included in the “Kiev-Pechersk Patericon”.

This last major work of pre-Mongolian Rus' is a collection of short stories about the history of the Kiev Caves Monastery, its monks, their ascetic life and spiritual exploits. The formation of the monument began in the 20-30s. 13th century It was based on the correspondence and writings of two Kiev-Pechersk monks Simon, who by that time had become the bishop of Vladimir-Suzdal, and Polycarp. The source of their stories about the events of the XI - the first half of the XII century. monastic and tribal traditions, folk tales, the Kiev-Pechersk chronicle, the lives of Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves appeared. At the intersection of oral and written traditions (folklore, hagiography, annals, oratorical prose), the patericon genre was formed in Ancient Rus'. The Old Slavic translated patericons served as a model for its creators. In terms of artistic merits, the “Kiev-Pechersk Patericon” is not inferior to the Skitian, Sinai, Egyptian and Roman patericons translated from Greek, which entered the golden fund of medieval Western European literatures. Despite the constant reader success, the Kiev-Pechersk Paterikon did not create a special literary trend for 300 years, until the appearance of the Volokolamsk Paterikon in the 30s-40s. 16th century (see § 6.4), remained the only original monument of this genre in ancient Russian literature.

Apparently, on Athos (or in Constantinople), pan-Orthodox cultural centers, the Prologue was translated from Greek and supplemented with new articles by the joint works of ancient Russian and South Slavic scribes. This hagiographic and church teaching collection, dating back to the Byzantine Synaxar (generic name - compilation ), contains brief editions of hagiographic texts, arranged in the order of the church calendar (since September 1). The translation was carried out no later than the 12th century, since the oldest surviving copy (the Sophia Prologue) dates from the end of the 12th - the beginning of the 13th century. In Ancient Rus', the Prologue was repeatedly edited, supplemented by Russian and Slavic articles, and generally belonged to the favorite circle of reading, as evidenced by a large number of lists and those that began in the 17th century. publications of the monument.

In the north of Rus', Novgorod was the literary and book center. Already in the middle of the XI century. there, at the Sophia Cathedral, chronicles were kept. At the end of the 1160s. priest Herman Voyata, having revised the previous chronicle, compiled the archiepiscopal code. The Novgorod lords not only supervised chronicle works, but also engaged in creativity. A monument to simple and unadorned ecclesiastical eloquence is the brief “Instruction to the Brethren” (30-50s of the 11th century) by Bishop Luka Zhidyata on the foundations of the Christian faith. (Luke’s nickname is an abbreviation of the ancient Russian name Zhidoslav or George: Gyurgiy-Gyurata-Zhidyata.) Archbishop Anthony (in the world Dobrynya Yadreykovich) in the Book of the Pilgrim described a journey to Constantinople before it was captured by the crusaders in 1204. gami". Written with external impartiality and objectivity, the story significantly complements the picture of the defeat of Constantinople by the Crusaders of the Fourth Campaign, drawn by Latin and Byzantine historians and memoirists. By this time, the theme of the crusades and the genre of "walking" had a hundred-year history in ancient Russian literature.

At the beginning of the XII century. Abbot of one of the Chernigov monasteries Daniel visited the Holy Land, where he was warmly received by the Jerusalem King Baldwin (Baudouin) I (1100-1118), one of the leaders of the First Crusade. In The Journey, Daniel portrayed himself as the envoy of the entire Russian land as a kind of political entity. His work is a sample of pilgrimage notes, a valuable source of historical information about Palestine and Jerusalem. In form and content, it resembles numerous itineraria travel books Western European Pilgrims.

Daniel described in detail the route, the sights and shrines he saw, along the way retelling the church canonical traditions and apocrypha associated with them.

Apocrypha

As in medieval Europe, in Rus', in addition to orthodox literature, the Apocrypha (Greek: secret, hidden ) - legendary works that are not included in the generally recognized church canon. Their main flow came from Bulgaria, where in the X century. the dualistic heresy of the Bogomils was strong. The Apocrypha form a kind of vernacular Bible. Thematically, they are divided into the Old Testament (“The Tale of How God Created Adam”, “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs”, the Apocrypha of Solomon, “The Book of Enoch”), the New Testament (“The Gospel of Childhood”, or “The Gospel of Thomas”, “The First Gospel of Jacob”, “The Gospel of Nicodemus”, “The Tale of Aphrodite”, the legend of King Abgar), eschatological about the afterlife and the final destinies of the world (“The Vision of the Prophet Isaiah”, “The Virgin's Passage Through Torments”, “The Tale of Our Father Agapius”, “The Revelation of Methodius of Patara”), etc.

The "Conversation of the Three Hierarchs" (Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom), which has been preserved in ancient Russian lists from the 12th century, enjoyed great love among the people. Written in the form of questions and answers on a wide variety of topics: from biblical to "natural science", it reveals, on the one hand, clear points of contact with medieval Greek and Latin literature (for example, Joca monachorum Monk Games ), and on the other hand, it experienced a strong influence of folk superstitions, pagan ideas, and riddles throughout its manuscript history. Many apocrypha were included in the dogmatic-polemical compilation "Explanatory Paley" (perhaps, XIII century) and its revision "Chronographic Paley", which are a kind of analogue of the Latin historical Bible (Biblia historiale).

The Apocrypha were included in special lists of renounced books. The oldest Slavic index of the Apocrypha, translated from Greek, is placed in the Izbornik of 1073. Independent lists of renounced books, reflecting the real literary situation, appear in Rus' no earlier than the turn of the 14th-15th centuries. and have a recommendatory, and not strictly prohibitive (with subsequent punitive sanctions) character. Many apocrypha (“The First Gospel of Jacob”, “The Tale of Aphrodite”, etc.) could not be perceived as “false scriptures”, were revered along with canonical literature and were used in church life as readings for the corresponding holidays.

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