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LIKHACHEV Dmitry

He who talks a lot does not have time to think. – Dmitry Likhachev

Culture is what largely justifies the existence of a people and a nation before God. - Dmitry Likhachev

Culture is a huge holistic phenomenon that makes the people inhabiting a certain space from just the population into a people, a nation. The concept of culture should and has always included religion, science, education, moral and moral norms of behavior of people and the state. - Dmitry Likhachev

Culture is the shrines of the people, the shrines of the nation. - Dmitry Likhachev

Literature “speaks” for the entire national culture, just as a person “speaks” for all life in the universe. - Dmitry Likhachev

Literature in Russian conditions always invaded life, and life - into literature, and this determined the character of Russian realism. - Dmitry Likhachev

The literature created by the Russian people is not only their wealth, but also a moral force that helps the people in all the difficult circumstances in which the Russian people find themselves. We can always turn to this moral principle for spiritual help. - Dmitry Likhachev

Love for your native land, for your native culture, for your native village or city, for your native speech begins small - with love for your family, for your home, for your school. And also - with respect for the same feelings of people who also love their home, their land, their own - albeit incomprehensible to you - native word.
These are the most important human qualities that history will help you discover in your soul: love, respect, knowledge.
Dmitry Likhachev

Marxism is a boring philosophy (and primitive). - Dmitry Likhachev

Wisdom is intelligence combined with kindness. Mind without kindness is cunning. - Dmitry Likhachev

We [Russia] must not lose anything from our great heritage. - Dmitry Likhachev

We rarely and too little think about death. That we are all finite, that we are all here for a very short time. This forgetfulness helps meanness, cowardice, carelessness to flourish... In human relationships, the most important thing is to be careful: not to offend, not to put another in an awkward position, do not forget to caress, smile... - Dmitry Likhachev

On the basis of moral forces, Russian culture, the exponent of which is Russian literature, unites cultures various peoples. It is this association that is its mission. We must heed the voice of Russian literature. - Dmitry Likhachev

We, Russians, need to finally gain the right and strength to be responsible for our own present, to decide our own policies - both in the field of culture, and in the field of economics, and in the field of state law. - Dmitry Likhachev

The present has always been perceived in Russia as being in a state of crisis. And this is typical of Russian history. - Dmitry Likhachev

Science is creativity, and creativity gives happiness to both the creators themselves and those who listen to this creativity. - Dmitry Likhachev

Scientific truth is the most precious thing, and it must be followed in all the details of scientific research in the life of a scientist. If one strives in science for “small” goals - for proof by “force”, contrary to the facts, for the “interestingness” of conclusions, for their effectiveness, or for any forms of self-promotion, then the scientist inevitably fails. Maybe not right away, but eventually! When exaggerations of the obtained research results or even minor manipulations of facts begin and scientific truth is pushed into the background, science ceases to exist, and the scientist himself sooner or later ceases to be a scientist. - Dmitry Likhachev

Scientific work is the growth of a plant: first it is closer to the soil (to the material, to the sources), then it rises to generalizations. So with each work separately and so with the general path of a scientist: he has the right to rise to broad (“broad-leaved”) generalizations only in mature and elderly years.

We must not forget that behind the wide foliage there is a strong trunk of springs, work on the springs.
Dmitry Likhachev

Nationalism is a manifestation of the weakness of a nation, not its strength. It is mostly weak peoples who become infected with nationalism... - Dmitry Likhachev

Nationalism... is the worst misfortune of the human race. Like any evil, it hides, lives in darkness and only pretends to be born of love for its country. But it is actually generated by anger, hatred of other peoples and that part of one’s own people that does not share nationalist views. – Dmitry Likhachev

The national ideals of the Russian people are most fully expressed in the works of its two geniuses - Andrei Rublev and Alexander Pushkin. It was in their work that the dreams of the Russian people about the best person, about the ideal human beauty…
Rublev's era was an era of revival of faith in man, in his moral strength, in his ability to sacrifice himself in the name of high ideals. This was an era of revival of interest in one’s own history, in the culture of the time of independence of Rus', which preceded the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Rublev's era was the heyday of literature, epic, and political self-awareness.
Dmitry Likhachev

There should not be people who are blind to beauty, deaf to words and real music, callous to goodness, or forgetful of the past. And for this you need knowledge, you need intelligence, which is given by culture. - Dmitry Likhachev

Ignorance and half-knowledge are almost a disease. – Dmitry Likhachev

You cannot be indifferent to your future. - Dmitry Likhachev

You cannot believe in God “in passing,” “by the way,” recognize God as a postulate and remember him only when asked. - Dmitry Likhachev

Undivided joy is not joy. - Dmitry Likhachev

There is no doubt that the spiritual direction in the development of Russian culture received significant advantages over the state direction. - Dmitry Likhachev

Dissatisfaction with the present is one of the main features of Russian literature, which brings it closer to popular thought: the religious quest typical of the Russian people, the search for a happy kingdom, where there is no oppression by bosses and landowners, and outside of literature - a tendency to vagrancy, and also in various searches and aspirations. - Dmitry Likhachev

In no country in the world from the very beginning of its emergence has literature played such a huge role in the state and public role like Eastern Slavs. - Dmitry Likhachev

No country in the world is surrounded by such contradictory myths about its history as Russia, and no people in the world are assessed as differently as the Russians. - Dmitry Likhachev

Education and intellectual development are precisely the essence, the natural state of a person, and ignorance and lack of intelligence are abnormal states for a person. – Dmitry Likhachev

Public speaking is now common in our lives. Everyone needs to be able to speak at meetings, and perhaps give lectures and reports.
Thousands of books have been written in all centuries about the art of orators and lecturers. It is not worth repeating here everything that is known about oratory. I will say only one thing, the simplest thing: for a performance to be interesting, the speaker himself must be interested in performing. It should be interesting for him to present his point of view, to convince him of it, the material of the lecture should be attractive to him, to some extent surprising. The speaker himself must be interested in the subject of his speech and be able to convey this interest to the audience - make them feel the speaker’s interest. Only then will it be interesting to listen to him.
And one more thing: the speech should not contain several equally valid thoughts and ideas. In every speech there must be one dominant idea, one thought to which others are subordinated. Then the performance will not only be of interest, but also memorable.
Essentially, always speak with good positions. Even when speaking against any idea or thought, try to construct it as support for the positive that is in the objections of the person arguing with you. Public speaking should always be with public positions. Then it will meet with sympathy.
Dmitry Likhachev

Conscious love for one's people cannot be combined with hatred of others. – Dmitry Likhachev

An error in the conclusions indicates that the researcher’s work is flawed; the fallacy of the method is the fault of the researcher himself. - Dmitry Likhachev

Feeling like a heir to the past means realizing your responsibility to the future. - Dmitry Likhachev

In my deepest conviction, the 21st century should be the century of humanitarian culture. Her dominant is required. Technology must have a clear service role defined.
After all, nature has been managing its own difficulties for millions of years, giving birth to life in any conditions. Nature is a miracle of miracles.
And man is the highest point in the development of nature. He should not endlessly test his mother’s patience, demand everything from nature immediately. Finally, there is man's duty to nature. Man, as the most conscious phenomenon of the universe, is obliged to help animals, birds, plants, even “inanimate nature.” Help without expecting immediate reward.
Dmitry Likhachev

Counterfeiting the old kills the old. - Dmitry Likhachev

Raising humanitarian culture throughout the world is the concern of the whole world. - Dmitry Likhachev

Correct scientific construction allows for amendments and additions; incorrect construction - tightly clogged well. - Dmitry Likhachev

Teaching history, literature, arts, and singing is designed to expand people’s ability to perceive the world of culture and make them happy for life. - Dmitry Likhachev

November 28, 2016 marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of the philologist, art historian and cultural critic.

The researcher made a great contribution to the study of ancient Russian literature, it was he who became the author best works based on “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “The Tale of Igor’s Host”, “The Prayer of Daniil the Zatochnik” and other works. Moreover, it is to Likhachev that we owe the fact that many historical buildings of St. Petersburg are still preserved; he also actively participated in the creation of the Monrepos park in the vicinity of the northern capital, partly thanks to his assistance, school for gifted children No. 1113 was founded in Moscow in-depth study of music and choreography.

Passed through Stalin's camps, this amazing man did not become embittered; hatred, judging by his memories, is a feeling alien to him. And who knows, maybe it was love and interest in everything that surrounds him that helped the researcher become a great scientist.

We have collected 20 quotes from memoir books:

• Read fiction and understand it, read books on history and love the past of humanity, read travel literature, memoirs, read literature on art, visit museums, travel with meaning and be spiritually rich. Yes, be philologists, that is, “lovers of words,” for the word stands at the beginning of culture and completes it, expresses it.
• Life is, first of all, creativity, but this does not mean that every person, in order to live, must be born an artist, ballerina or scientist. Creativity can also be done. You can simply create a good atmosphere around you. "Letters about goodness"
• Envy develops primarily where you are a stranger to yourself. Where you don't differentiate yourself from others. If you are jealous, it means you haven’t found yourself. "Letters about goodness"
• ...beware of dividing trips into interesting and uninteresting, and places visited into significant and insignificant. Try not to establish even the degree of significance of the places you visit. Divide the trips into those for which you prepared and those for which you were not prepared or poorly prepared... The impressions of artists are always interesting. Read notes and memoirs of artists about their trips. I don’t know why, but all artists write amazingly well. Wonderful writers - Korovin, Benois, Dobuzhinsky, Grabar... How they knew how to look and see, and then capture what they saw not only in painting, but also in their notes! "Letters about goodness"
• Belinsky, I remember, has this idea somewhere in his letters: scoundrels always prevail over decent people because they treat decent people like scoundrels, and decent people treat scoundrels like decent people. "Notes about Russian"
• Mediocrity strives to teach, talent strives to set an example. But if time is taken away from talent, then talent will teach more than teach by example. "Notes about Russian"
• At the heart of all good manners is care - care that a person does not interfere with another, so that everyone feels good together. "Letters about goodness"
• Knowledge opens doors for us, but we must enter them ourselves. "Letters about goodness"
• Every people should be judged by the moral peaks and ideals by which it lives. Be benevolent to any people, even the smallest ones! This position is the truest, the most noble. "Letters about goodness"
• For a performance to be interesting, the speaker must be interested in performing. "Letters about goodness"
• Improving your language is a great pleasure, no less than dressing well, only less expensive... "Memories"
• Caring for the past is also caring for the future. "Letters about goodness"
• In the dining room, every time I met familiar faces, I thought: “This one is alive.” People in the dining room were greeted with the words: “You are alive! How glad I am!” They learned from each other with alarm: so-and-so had died, so-and-so had left. People counted each other, counted those who remained, as if they were checking in at a camp. "Memories"
• A specific finger movement appeared, by which Leningraders recognized each other during the evacuation: they pressed bread crumbs on the table with their fingers so that they would stick to them, and sent these food particles into their mouths. It was simply unthinkable to leave bread crumbs. The plates were licked, although the “soup” that was eaten from them was completely liquid and without fat: they were afraid that some fat would remain (“zhirinka” is a Leningrad word of those years, like “additional weight”). "Memories"
• Someone told me: when Rachmaninoff was asked what is the main thing in art, he answered: “There should be no main thing in art.” "Notes about Russian"
• Philosophical systems are not only true or false, but interesting, rich and uninteresting, poor, boring. Same with religions. There may also be an aesthetic approach to them. "Notes about Russian"
• Folk art teaches us to understand the conventions of art. "Letters about the good and the beautiful"
• All the actions committed in youth remain in memory. The good ones will make you happy, the bad ones will not let you sleep! "Letters about goodness"
• It is impossible to correct humanity, it is easy to correct yourself. "Letters about goodness"
• Happiness is achieved by those who strive to make others happy and are able to forget about their interests and themselves, at least for a while. "Letters about goodness"

READING D.S. LIKHACHEV. Seven lessons from the life and books of academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev: Educational and methodological manual for teachers and students of gymnasiums, lyceums and secondary schools / Orthodox Gymnasium in the name of St. Sergius Radonezh. Novosibirsk: NIPKiPRO Publishing House, 2006.

To the 100th anniversary of the birth of D.S. Likhachev

Recommended by the expert council of NIPKiPRO for teachers, teachers and students of lyceums, gymnasiums, secondary schools, educational institutions of the system additional education, vocational education systems

Preface

Contemporary of the 20th century

Seven centuries of Russian literature

From this earliest memory of his, the following can be concluded. Little Mitya Likhachev, not yet learning to speak freely, was able not only to observe how all babies do it, but managed to remember his observations! He watched and admired what he saw as a huge event.

And it is very symbolic that Dmitry Sergeevich’s first childhood memory is associated with a flying dove! IN European culture rooted in the Christian tradition, The dove is a messenger and symbol of peace. Academician D.S. Likhachev had a solid, tempered by many life's trials character. However, his strength of character was combined with an amazing love of peace. Having a peaceful disposition, he always exuded peace around himself. One of his spiritual and moral commandments reads: “Love the world in yourself, not yourself in the world.” One has only to look closely at the photographs of D.S. Likhachev or watch a film about him to be convinced of his cheerful peacefulness. Therefore, we can say that the dove, imprinted in the earliest memory of the future scientist, became for him messenger of peace in the upcoming so unpeaceful 20th century.

Dmitry Sergeevich was born in the capital Russian Empire- St. Petersburg. His father was an engineer. Mother came from a merchant environment. The beginning of it school studies(autumn 1914) practically coincided with the beginning of the World War. First, he entered the senior preparatory class of the Gymnasium of the Imperial Philanthropic Society. And in 1915 he went to study at the famous Karl Ivanovich May gymnasium on Vasilyevsky Island.

Since his school years, Dmitry Likhachev has loved books. Moreover, he was interested not only in reading various books, but was also very interested in the process of preparing a book for publication and printing. The Likhachev family lived in a government apartment at the printing house of the current Printing House. “The smell of a freshly printed book is still the best scent for me that can lift my spirits,” the scientist recalled in 1996, on the eve of his 90th birthday.

After graduating from high school, Dmitry Likhachev studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Leningrad State University from 1923 to 1928. Here he gets his first skills research work with manuscripts. But, having barely graduated from the university, in 1928 the young scientist ended up in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (abbreviated as SLON). The reason for his arrest and imprisonment in the camp was his participation in the work of the half-joking student “Space Academy of Sciences” (abbreviated as CAS).

Student Dmitry Likhachev wrote for this “Space Academy” report on old Russian spelling(replaced by a new one in 1918), sincerely considering the old spelling more perfect than the new one. This act was enough to accuse him (like most of his comrades in CAS) of counter-revolutionary activities! Dmitry Likhachev was sentenced to 5 years: he spent six months in prison, then was sent to a camp on Solovetsky Island, and ended his sentence on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

Writer Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin, who knew academician D.S. Likhachev closely, speaks about the Solovetsky impressions of the scientist-prisoner: “In the stories about Solovki, where he was imprisoned in the camp, there is no description of personal adversity. What is he describing? Interesting people with whom he sat, telling what he did. The rudeness and dirt of life did not harden him and, it seems, made him softer and more responsive.”

Dmitry Sergeevich himself recalled Solovki as follows: “My stay on Solovki was the most significant period of my life all my life.” .

Why does he call the most difficult time of his life “the most significant period of his life”? Yes, because it was there, in the most severe conditions and trials, that he learned to cherish every day of his life, learned to appreciate sacrificial mutual assistance. Highly moral people remained themselves even in inhuman conditions and even helped others. It was much more difficult for evil people and scoundrels to endure the trials of life.

From his conclusion on Solovki, the scientist drew the following conviction:

“If a person does not care about anyone or anything, his life is also “spiritless.” He needs to suffer from something, to think about something. Even in love there must be a share of dissatisfaction” (“I didn’t do everything I could”).

By his own admission, Solovetsky nature helped Dmitry Sergeevich maintain mental health in Solovki. Here is a fragment of his memories (before the camp there was an old Orthodox monastery on the island):

“Despite the strictest ban on appearing in the coastal zone, several times I went to the Metropolitan Gardens, where sunny days lay for an hour or two in the sun, completely forgetting about the danger. On Zayaya Guba, near the Metropolitan Gardens, I met a wonderful hare family. I lay in the bushes and dozed off. When I opened my eyes, I saw right opposite me, at a distance of a little more than an outstretched hand, a charming hare and several small bunnies. They looked at me without looking away, like I was a miracle. The monks taught animals not to be afraid of humans. The hare obviously brought her kids to show me to them. I didn't move and neither did they. We looked at each other, probably, with the same feeling of cordial affection. Such thoughtless contemplation could not last forever: I moved, and they disappeared, but an amazingly warm feeling of love for all living things remained for a long time.”

In August 1931, on the occasion of the successful completion of the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, Dmitry Likhachev, like most of those who worked on it, received early release. And in 1936, at the request of the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.P. Karpinsky, Likhachev’s criminal record was cleared.

In 1932–1935, Dmitry Sergeevich worked in Leningrad as a literary editor. And since 1938 he became a research fellow at the Institute of Russian Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This institute is better known as Pushkin House. In 1941, for his dissertation “Novgorod chronicle vaults XII century" he receives the degree of candidate of philological sciences.

From the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1942, Dmitry Sergeevich and his family were in besieged Leningrad. His father dies during the blockade. In 1942, the scientist published the book “Defense of Ancient Russian Cities.”

During the war years, D.S. Likhachev was engaged not only in scientific work, but also in every possible way helping the people around him. In 1942, he received the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad,” and in 1946, the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.”

In 1947, the scientist defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Essays on the history literary forms chronicles of the 11th–16th centuries.” By the middle of the 20th century, he became the largest specialist in ancient Russian literature. His brilliant studies of the texts “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “The Tale of Igor’s Host”, “The Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”, “The Tale of Law and Grace”, “The Prayer of Daniel the Zatochnik” and other monuments of ancient Russian literature became a real discovery of history and history for Russia in the 20th century. culture of Ancient Rus', the discovery of native origins and sources. For these works, dedicated to ancient Russian chronicles and, in general, to the literature and culture of Ancient Rus', Dmitry Sergeevich receives both national and international recognition. In the 60s of the 20th century, D.S. Likhachev finally received state recognition: in 1969, the book “The Poetics of Old Russian Literature” (1967) was awarded the USSR State Prize.

Even an incomplete index of his works contains more than 1000 titles. The list of his awards is several pages long. But his main reward was the sincere love of his many readers, who have been reading his books and articles with unflagging attention for decades.

He had a great gift of love - to their native land and native people, to their relatives, to their native science, native literature and the entire native culture. Having such spiritual wealth, he knew and appreciated perfectly world literature and culture.

On September 22, 1999, just eight days before the end of his earthly life, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev handed over the manuscript of the book to the book publishing house "Thoughts about Russia". This was a new, revised and expanded version of the book, and on the first page of the manuscript it was written: “I dedicate it to my contemporaries and descendants”. This means that even before his death, Dmitry Sergeevich thought most of all about Russia, about his beloved Fatherland, and he bequeathed this devotion to the Motherland to his contemporaries and descendants, that is, to all of us.

Soon, in 2000, another wonderful book was published by the publishing house “Iskusstvo” - "Russian culture". This is a collection of articles by Dmitry Sergeevich, which in their content are also the cherished words of the great son of Russia to his contemporaries and future generations about his native country, about his native culture and about the truth of life.

Reading the books of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, you always find a lot of interesting and useful things. But the most valuable thing about them is that through them everyone can find themselves, find the meaning of their life.

Here is one of the wise sayings of the scientist - contemporary of the 20th century:

“There is light and darkness, there is nobility and baseness, there is purity and dirt: one must grow to the former, but is it worth descending to the latter? Choose what is worthy, not what is easy” (from “Letters about Good”).

The ability to be surprised, as the sages noted, gives rise to philosophy - the love of wisdom. The world seems gray and uninteresting only if you are unable to look searchingly and admire the revealed beauty of the mysterious world. By observing and admiring, a person becomes an active participant in the events taking place.

In the book “Notes and Observations,” Academician D.S. Likhachev wrote:

“All my life I have not remained an observer. I always needed to be a participant. Always intervened and got bumps. But if there were no cones, I would be more unhappy. And when I achieved it, I received joy.”

The life of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is amazing. He experienced so many sorrows (he received so many bumps!), but he preserved his soul in the world, preserved the joy of life, and for us he preserved a lot of the treasures of the cultural and historical heritage of Russia.

Instead of a task

• Let’s think about the content of Dmitry Sergeevich’s sayings...
• Anyone who wishes can try to get acquainted with his biography in more detail and make a message, report or essay about him. life path. Any edition of his Memoirs can help here.

Lesson 2.
SEVEN CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE

Once academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev was asked: what does he think main task own life? The scientist replied: "Revival of interest in seven centuries of ancient Russian literature". And he worked in science for more than 70 years to fulfill this mission! This unique phenomenon in the history of Russian and world science.

After the brilliant research of Dmitry Sergeevich, the history of ancient Russian literature appears not as the sum of literary monuments on some time scale, but as a vitally continuous growth (like the growth of a mighty tree!) of Russian literature, surprisingly accurately reflecting the cultural, historical and spiritual and moral path of many generations of our ancestors .

In Russian historical and philological science, the 20th century should be called century of Likhachev.

Seven centuries of Russian history - the period from the 10th to the 17th centuries - are commonly called in science the era of Ancient Rus'. Accordingly, the domestic literature of this vast era is called ancient Russian literature.

Dmitry Sergeevich has said more than once that ancient Russian literature is “still silent” and has not yet become well known and understandable to the modern reader. Indeed, those studying the history of their native writing and literature at school might have thought that apart from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” there is almost nothing in ancient Russian literature or almost nothing has survived from it. Therefore, for millions of his fellow citizens (not to mention foreign readers), Dmitry Sergeevich became one of the pioneers of ancient Russian literature - this huge cultural continent, which the scientist himself considered the spiritual homeland of all Russian culture.

There is a well-known expression: “A poet in Russia is more than a poet.” Academician D.S. Likhachev considered the greatest value of ancient Russian literature to be that in ancient Rus' it “was more than literature.” In the article “Miscellaneous about Literature,” he makes stunning conclusions: “In no country in the world, from the very beginning of its emergence, has literature played such a huge state and social role as among the Eastern Slavs.” “At a time of decline in political unity and military weakening, literature replaced the state. Hence, from the very beginning and throughout all centuries, the enormous social responsibility of our literatures - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian."

“Literature rose above Russia like a huge protective dome - it became a shield of its unity, a moral shield» .

How the scientist Dmitry Sergeevich tried to understand the spiritual origins and literary sources this great feat-phenomenon: why was ancient Russian literature able to carry out such an important mission, what made such a high service possible? Considering the merits of Russian literature of the New Time, the scientist gave the following answer: “The literature of the New Time took over from the Old Russian its teaching character, its moral basis and its “philosophy”, i.e. the connection of philosophy with general cultural phenomena - art, science, etc.

The literature of modern times has preserved the most valuable things that were in the literature of Ancient Rus': high level moral principles, interest in ideological problems, richness of language."

“Someday, when Russian readers become more interested in their past, greatness literary feat Russian literature will become completely clear to them and the ignorant denunciation of Rus' will be replaced by informed respect for its moral and aesthetic values.”

Love for the Motherland, which nourished both joy and pain in Ancient Rus', defense of good and opposition to evil, the desire to preserve one’s national traditions and thirst for the new - all this, according to the scientist, “was the great glory of ancient Russian literature, which created good soil for the dawn new literature. In essence,” wrote Dmitry Sergeevich, “all the works of ancient Russian literature, due to the unity of their focus and commitment to the historical basis (“historicism”), together represented a single huge work - about humanity and the meaning of its existence.”

What are the origins of ancient Russian literature?

Likhachev began many of his works on ancient Russian literature with the exclamation that “ the appearance of Russian literature at the end of the 10th – beginning of the 11th century was “like a wonder”". Why, according to the scientist, did the appearance of Russian national literature turn out to be like a wondrous miracle?

Old Russian literature appears as if suddenly, believes D.S. Likhachev. “We immediately see before us works of literature that are mature and perfect, complex and deep in content, testifying to a developed national and historical self-awareness.”

The scientist is referring to the sudden, at first glance, “appearance of such works of ancient Russian literature as Metropolitan Hilarion’s “The Word of Law and Grace,” as “The Initial Chronicle” with a different range of works included in it, as “The Teachings of Theodosius of Pechersk,” as “The Teachings of Prince Vladimir Monomakh”, “The Lives of Boris and Gleb”, “The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk”, etc.” .

How did the miracle of the birth of such a mature literature of Rus' happen, which until quite recently did not have any written language at all? - asks Likhachev. And he answers that the leap into the kingdom of literature occurred simultaneously with the emergence of Orthodoxy and the Church in Rus', which needed writing and church literature.

“Rus' adopted Christianity from Byzantium, and the Eastern Christian Church allowed Christian preaching and worship in its national language. Therefore, in the history of Russian literature there were neither Latin nor Greek periods. From the very beginning, unlike many Western countries“Rus' had literature in a literary language understandable to the people.”

Such a strong beginning determined the “shape” of ancient Russian literature and affected its entire subsequent development. Analyzing in one of his works the qualities common to Russian literature of its first seven centuries, D.S. Likhachev wrote: “First of all, let us note its religious character, and at the same time the special weight of the moral principle in it. This determines its teaching character and its ritual purpose. Literature at its most high genres was, as it were, the extension of “worship” to all humanity, a “worldview” to the entire world of history, as it was represented in the Middle Ages, and to all phenomena of everyday life. In its most general manifestations, literature was a ceremonial dressing up of life from the point of view of Christian ideals, a call for better things, and its authors were servants of good.”

As Dmitry Sergeevich believed, Russian literature - both ancient and new - does not just create its own special world, but strives to correct the existing one, “does not always idealize reality, but always fights for the ideal. She is patriotic because she strives to bring goodness and holiness to the Russian Land. She is patriotic both in her glorifications and in her exposures of the lies of princes and the machinations of enemies.”

D.S. Likhachev found and showed such high ideals to the reader in all the works of the first seven centuries of Russian literature. How is this ideal reflected in specific works?

One of the most beloved monuments of ancient Russian literature for D.S. Likhachev himself was the “Instruction” of Vladimir Monomakh. Under this name, three different works of Monomakh are usually combined, among which, in addition to the “Teaching” itself, there is also the autobiography of the prince himself and his letter to his enemy Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich - “Gorislavich,” as the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” calls him for that great the grief that he brought with his fratricidal wars to the Russian land.

The “Instruction” is addressed to the princes - the children and grandchildren of Monomakh and, in general, to all Russian princes. Citing excerpts from Christian holy books, Vladimir Monomakh suggests that all Russian princes, in order to improve their situation and achieve peaceful success, first of all, learn justice, compassion, and even, as D.S. Likhachev notes, “compliance.” Monomakh directly advises princes (hereditary warriors and rulers!) to be meek, not to strive to seize other people’s estates, to be content with little and to seek success and prosperity not through force and violence over others, but through a righteous life.

“The autobiography of Monomakh,” notes Likhachev, “is subject to the same idea of ​​peace. In the chronicle of his campaigns, Vladimir Monomakh gives an expressive example of the prince’s love of peace,” concerning his voluntary compliance with his sworn enemy, Prince Oleg Ryazansky. But his own “Letter” to Oleg Ryazansky, the murderer of the son of Vladimir Monomakh, who at that time was defeated and fled beyond the borders of Rus', further embodies the ideal of Monomakh’s “Teachings”. This letter shocked the researcher with its moral force.

"About what, - asks Likhachev, - could the most powerful prince, whose possessions were then the most extensive in Europe, write to his sworn enemy, who had suffered a terrible defeat?<…>Maybe Monomakh is celebrating his victory over him? Maybe he is writing him a malicious letter? Maybe he sets some conditions for him and demands that he confess and renounce his rights to possessions in Russian land?

No! Monomakh's letter is amazing,- continues Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. - I don’t know anything in world history similar to this letter from Monomakh. Monomakh forgives the murderer of his son. Moreover, he consoles him. He invites him to return to the Russian land and receive the principality due to inheritance, asks him to forget the grievances.”

Vladimir Monomakh admits his own sins. His letter begins with this recognition, and true morality begins with this recognition. Monomakh's letter was written with amazing sincerity and sincerity. According to D.S. Likhachev, it “should take one of the first places in the history of human Conscience, if only this History of Conscience is ever written.” This work of ancient Russian literature was so highly appreciated by the scientist and thinker.

“Monomakh introduced a strong and high ethical principle into his political activities. He wrote essays, openly discussed his actions from an ethical point of view, admitted openly, in front of everyone, his mistakes, not prompted by anyone or anything, in the name of truth alone,” concludes Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. “His example is amazing” .

The reason for writing the “Teaching” was the following circumstance. Ambassadors of his brothers came to Monomakh with a proposal to oppose the princes of Rostislavich and expel them from their homeland. Vladimir Monomakh was sincerely upset by this proposal. To pacify civil strife, at the Lyubech Congress (1097), the Russian princes unanimously decided: “Let each one keep his fatherland,” that is, each prince owns his own land and does not encroach on the possessions of other princes.

Therefore, when the princes came to Monomakh with a proposal to violate this principle, he already stood with all his heart against new internecine warfare. Previously, he himself did this, but he repented and managed to give up what he had illegally seized! Now, with sadness, he took the Psalter (book of prayers), opened it and immediately saw the answer to the proposals of the warlike princes: “Do not be jealous of those who are evil (that is, do not compete with evildoers), nor envy (do not envy) those who commit iniquity, forbidden (because) those who are evil will be consumed (that is, they will be destroyed, perish).” And he began to write his “Teaching” to children and “others who follow him.” “The autobiography of Monomakh,” Likhachev notes, “is subject to the same idea of ​​\u200b\u200bpeace. In the chronicle of his campaigns, Vladimir Monomakh gives an expressive example of the prince’s love of peace,” Vladimir Monomakh constantly quotes the Psalter as the basis of spiritual and moral laws.

Under Vladimir Monomakh, the “Tale of Bygone Years” was also created with its central idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe brotherhood of all Russian princes as representatives of a single princely family, going back to a single ancestor. They are brothers, among them there are elders and younger ones, so the elders must respect the rights of the younger ones, and the younger ones must fulfill their duties towards the elders.

In 1950, the first edition of The Tale of Bygone Years, prepared by Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, was published in the “Literary Monuments” series. And on the occasion of the scientist’s 90th birthday, the second edition of this book was published. Old Russian text, its translation into modern literary language, scientific articles and comments - all this made the book a real encyclopedia of the life and culture of Ancient Rus'.

Literature is not a natural science theory, not a teaching, and not an ideology. p Literature teaches us to live by depicting. She teaches to see, to see the world and man. This means that ancient Russian literature taught to see a person capable of good, taught to see the world as a place for the application of human kindness, as a world that can change for the better. Therefore, one of Dmitry Sergeevich’s spiritual and moral commandments reads:

“Be conscientious: all morality is in conscience.”

In recent years, the word “tolerance” has entered our lives. Initially, in biology and medicine, this word had a passive meaning: it, in particular, meant the body’s ability to tolerate the adverse effects of any substance or poison. In the current social lexicon, the word “tolerance” (translated as “tolerance”) began to acquire a certain ethical and peacemaking meaning. With the help of the doctrine of tolerance, they try to reconcile individuals, parties, peoples, states - and thereby weaken the aggression or enmity that arises everywhere.

Carefully studying ancient Russian literature and, in particular, the “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh, Dmitry Sergeevich paid special attention to the Christian moral rules that underlay Monomakh’s peacemaking. IN modern life more difficult to find or define common moral principles, since morality itself is called into question. However, without overcoming selfishness, without overcoming the conflict with one’s conscience, it is difficult, or rather even impossible, for a person to reconcile the people around him. Is this why Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev loved ancient Russian literature so passionately and cherished his conscience like the apple of his eye?!

As a scientist, he tried to show that Russian literature of the first seven centuries was able to fulfill its great mission for the formation, unity, cohesion, education, and sometimes even salvation of the people in Hard times devastation and decay precisely because it was based and guided by the highest ideals: the ideals of morality and spirituality, the ideals of the high, measured only by the eternity of man’s destiny and his equally high responsibility. And he believed that everyone could and should learn this great lesson of ancient Russian literature. Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev devoted both his numerous scientific works and his life to learning this lesson. And he also dreamed that someday it would be written world history of conscience.

Instead of a task

• What works of ancient Russian literature do we know, besides “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”?
• What plots and ideas of ancient Russian literature, which D.S. Likhachev talks about, were continued in Russian literature of modern times?
• Which of the books you read seemed consonant with ancient Russian literature?

Lesson 3.
ART OF MEMORY

“Human culture as a whole not only has memory, but it is memory par excellence. The culture of humanity is the active memory of humanity, actively introduced into modernity,” Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev wrote in his “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful.” In the article "The Art of Memory and the Memory of Art" he especially noted: “Culture unites all aspects of the human personality. You cannot be cultured in one area and remain ignorant in another. Respect for different aspects of culture, for its different forms - this is a trait of a truly cultured person.”

Culture and memory. In the worldview of Academician D.S. Likhachev, these concepts were indissoluble.

For us, the sacred memory of Russia is inseparable from the memory of those who lived before us on the Russian land, who cultivated and protected it, as well as with the memory of all deceased (in the old-fashioned way - deceased) relatives and friends. This mysterious connection was beautifully expressed by the greatest Russian poet A.S. Pushkin:

Two feelings are wonderfully close to us,
The heart finds food in them:
Love for the native ashes,
Love for fathers' coffins.

Based on them since centuries
By the will of God Himself
Human independence -
The key to his greatness.

Life-giving shrine!
The earth would be dead without them;
Without them, our small world is a desert,
The soul is an altar without the Divine.

Dmitry Sergeevich quoted these lines from A.S. Pushkin in many of his works. At the same time, he tried to reveal the connection between the well-known lines about love “for the native ashes and for the tombs of the fathers” - with the subsequent (little-known) words about the life-giving shrine of the Native Land. He wrote: “Pushkin’s poetry is wise. Not a single word in it is meaningless. Why is love for fathers’ tombs “life-giving”? Yes, because it has values, is creatively active, because it is one of the components of culture.” He also saw a deep moral meaning in the poet’s words about the “independence of man”, about his true greatness.

In Rus', the word “memory” had, first of all, a spiritual and moral meaning. This word is sacred! It always reminds a person of the most important things in the past and future, of life and death, of the dead as if they were alive, of our inescapable debt to all relatives who lived before us, to those who sacrificed their lives for us.

Not only in the history of our Fatherland, but also in the life of every person, in the life of an individual family, school and city, events take place - large and small, simple and heroic, joyful and sorrowful. For their own memory, people write diaries and memoirs. Folk memory is preserved through oral tradition. Chroniclers wrote down what they wanted to make known to future generations. Much in cultural life Russia has been preserved thanks to manuscripts, archives, books and libraries.

“Memory resists the destructive power of time. This property of memory is extremely important. It is customary to simply divide time into past, present and future. But thanks to memory, the past enters the present, and the future is, as it were, predicted by the present, connected with the past. Memory is overcoming time, overcoming death. This is the greatest moral significance of memory. “Unmemorable” is, first of all, an ungrateful, irresponsible person, and therefore incapable of good, selfless actions… Conscience is basically memory, to which is added a moral assessment of what has been done. But if what is accomplished is not retained in memory, then there can be no evaluation. Without memory there is no conscience."

That is why it is so important to preserve family memory, folk memory, and cultural memory. The folk scientist considered the protection of cultural monuments to be one of the ways to preserve memory. He devoted many years and a lot of effort to this.

Modern Russian culture is, first of all, our speech, our holidays, our schools and universities, our attitude towards our parents, towards our family, towards our Fatherland, towards other peoples and countries. Academician D.S. Likhachev wrote: “If you love your mother, you will understand others who love their parents, and this trait will not only be familiar to you, but also pleasant. If you love your people, you will understand other peoples who love their nature, their art, their past."

The foundation without which no great building can be erected or maintained. national culture- This is the historical memory of the people.

“Memory is the basis of conscience and morality, memory is the basis of culture, “accumulated” culture, memory is one of the foundations of poetry - the aesthetic understanding of cultural values. To preserve memory, to preserve memory - this is ours moral duty before ourselves and before our descendants. Memory is our wealth."

Now, at the beginning of a new century and a new millennium, the words of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev about memory and culture sound like a spiritual testament to his people.

Instead of a task

• We habitually use the word “memory” when talking about computers. We really appreciate various modern methods of transmitting and storing information. But, unfortunately, we may forget to help another person. Is our memory failing us?!
• The easier it is to obtain information, the more carelessly it is stored. When there are no technical devices at hand, necessity forces you to take a pen and write on paper. What is written in one’s own hand is remembered better. Easily received by fax or photocopied text, you can put it in a folder without looking and forget about it for a long time. This means that technology will never be able to replace human memory. This also demonstrates “human independence.” Think about this and write an essay: “Memory is the basis of culture,” or “Memory is the basis of conscience,” or “Memory is our wealth.”

Lesson 4.
HOW WE SPEAK

The word is a special gift to man.

“Our language is the most important part of our general behavior in life. And by the way a person speaks, we can immediately and easily judge who we are dealing with,” wrote Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev in one of his letters about the good and the beautiful.

What does a person’s speech most often indicate? About what's in his heart. A person can hide his thoughts through silence. A person can embellish his actions with flattering words about himself. But with all the art of behavior, language cannot hide what lives the human heart. No wonder the saying has spread so widely: “My tongue is my enemy!” And he should be a friend of man.

That is why Dmitry Sergeevich argued that by the way a person speaks, we can easily judge who we are dealing with.

Academician D.S. Likhachev himself spoke in simple, clear, pure and expressive language. He learned eloquence involuntarily, all his life enjoying the beautiful language of works of ancient Russian literature. How many monuments of Russian Literature he explored! “The Tale of Law and Grace”, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land”, many other Words, Stories, Tales of the literature of Ancient Rus'. He spoke, naturally, in ordinary modern language, but at the same time his words were distinguished by special power and beauty.

He believed that you need to learn good, calm speech for a long time and carefully - listening, remembering, noticing, reading and studying. “But even though it’s difficult, it’s necessary, it’s necessary. Our speech is the most important part not only our behavior, but also our personality, our soul, mind, our ability not to succumb to the influences of the environment if it “addicts”".

In the book “Notes and Observations” there is a chapter “On oral and written language, old and new.” This chapter is dedicated to the Russian language.

“The greatest value of a people is its language, the language in which it writes, speaks, and thinks. He thinks! This must be understood thoroughly, in all the polysemy and significance of this fact. After all, this means that all conscious activity of a person passes through his native language. Emotions, sensations - only color what we think, or push the thought in some way, but our thoughts are all formed by language.

The surest way to know a person is his mental development, his moral character, his character - to listen to the way he speaks."

Academician D.S. Likhachev owns the expression “ecology of culture”. He also attributed the impoverishment of the vocabulary of the Russian language to the cultural and environmental disasters occurring in our time. “Cinema, the classical repertoire of theaters, and partly music may turn out to be an ecological disaster zone,” the scientist wrote.

Unfortunately, his words turned out to be prophetic. IN last decade Obscene language burst onto the stages of Moscow and other theaters, and the vocabulary of the classical repertoire of drama theaters and opera began to compete with the criminal one.

What does this mean? About an environmental disaster in the culture of scriptwriters, directors, actors and those who are drawn to bad words. If out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, then what lies in the hearts of these people?

Dmitry Sergeevich also wrote about jargon, about slang:

“Flaunting with rudeness in language, as well as flaunting with rudeness in manners, sloppiness in clothing, is a very common phenomenon, and it mainly indicates a person’s psychological insecurity, his weakness, and not at all about strength. The speaker tries to suppress in himself with a rude joke, harsh expression, irony, cynicism the feeling of fear, apprehension, sometimes just apprehension.<…>The basis of any slang, cynical expressions and swearing is weakness. People who “spit words” demonstrate their contempt for the traumatic phenomena of life because they bother them, torment them, worry them, because they feel unprotected against them.

A truly strong and healthy, balanced person will not speak loudly unnecessarily, will not swear and use slang words. After all, he is sure that his word is already significant.”

Why did Academician D.S. Likhachev so advocate for the purity of oral speech, for the correctness and beauty of the word? Because he, as a subtle connoisseur of the soul (as a true psychologist), clearly saw the relationship between the word and the inner dignity of a person. Just as an experienced doctor makes a diagnosis based on the symptoms he understands, so the connoisseur of ancient Russian literature D.S. Likhachev clearly makes a diagnosis of modern culture. “And our language is becoming poorer...”, he wrote, concluding his reflection with an ellipsis. And further: "The main drawback modern literature- defective sense of language" .

Classical literary example- dictionary of Ellochka the Ogress from the famous novel by Ilf and Petrov. She only needed 30 words! Or the character of actor Alexei Buldakov, for whom in some films one word is enough... It’s good if, after laughing at these characters, we ourselves will be fluent in Russian. But it will be very sad if, having laughed a lot while looking at them, we, voluntarily or unwittingly, begin to speak like them!

In the books of Dmitry Sergeevich you can find a whole series simple tips about word and language. For example, this advice: “Try not to speak pretentiously. Don’t say “explain”, “exciting”. There is no need to use police terms and expressions that came from detective novels: “to obtain registration” - in the sense of “to settle” some plant, fish, animal in a new place (“whitefish received registration in Lake N”), “to contact someone or" in the meaning of "to contact someone" or "to gain access to someone." And do not use cliched expressions (if a particular word is often used in newspapers, be afraid of it): “highlight”, “highlight”, “emotional mood”, “contacts” instead of “connection” and some others.”

About the language scientific works the scientist wrote: “The main advantage of scientific language is clarity.” “Another advantage of scientific language is ease, brevity, freedom of transition from sentence to sentence, simplicity.”

Reading books and articles by Dmitry Sergeevich is an excellent lesson in Russian literature. His statements about the Russian word are the highest praise for Russian culture. It is impossible to imagine Academician D.S. Likhachev admiring those figures modern culture, which, for example, do not leave TV screens in New Year's Eve, just as it is impossible to imagine, for example, A.S. Pushkin or F.M. Dostoevsky admiring the tongue-tiedness of modern showmen. It is impossible to imagine N.V. Gogol or A.P. Chekhov laughing at the profanity of modern theatrical productions.

The new scourge of the Russian language is the intrusive language of advertising. The purpose of advertising is to attract our attention, to convince us to buy the advertised product and not any other product. And in order to attract our attention, advertising tries to shock the potential buyer: as a result, the Russian language is broken, familiar concepts are vulgarized, and as a result, the dignity of the person himself is humiliated. Therefore, the warning of Academician D.S. Likhachev is very timely: “Be careful with your words!”

And he also liked to recall the words of N.V. Gogol: “Words must be handled honestly.”

Instead of a task

• Let's think: why do people use vulgar and nasty words so easily? Can a “rotten” word really enrich or make a person’s soul happy?
• “Fashion comes in a variety of words,” said Dmitry Sergeevich. These newfangled words displace other words from the active stock into the passive stock. Do we really not have our own meaningful word?

Lesson 5.
ABOUT GOOD AND EVIL

A person must live in the realm of good.

D.S. Likhachev

Reading books, articles, letters and memoirs of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, it is impossible not to notice what important place in his scientific works, reflections, the topic “Good and Evil” is occupied in numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Moreover, when speaking about good and evil, Likhachev never writes philosophical maxims abstracted from life. All his thoughts and thoughts about good and evil were connected with his scientific interests, his own life principles or events happening in the world. He always believed in the life-giving power of good, believed even when the reality around him spoke and, one might say, shouted about the triumph of evil.

“Goodness is higher than practical need!“- stated Dmitry Sergeevich.

Good, in his opinion, is inextricably linked with traditions native culture Therefore, he always drew strength for a virtuous life from the study of ancient Russian literature. In goodness he found unshakable foundations for Everyday life. It’s easier to say - Dmitry Sergeevich was devoted to good with all his heart. His face shone with kindness. And the most valuable thing is that even in the face of militant evil, he did not cease to faithfully serve good!

One of the most remarkable books by academician D.S. Likhachev is called: "Letters about goodness". There are 47 letters in this book, and each of them is a wonderful and unobtrusive lesson in kindness. The themes of the letters are indicated by their names, for example: “What unites people?”, “About good manners”, “What is the meaning of life?”.

Let's read a few passages about goodness from the books of Dmitry Sergeevich.

“A person must live in the sphere of goodness. This sphere of goodness is largely created by himself. It is created from his good deeds, good feelings, good effects on the environment, memory for good.

An evil deed is forgotten faster than a good one. Maybe this happens because remembering good things is more pleasant than bad things? But the point is different. Evil fragments society. It is “separate” in nature. Good is social in in a broad sense this word. It connects, unites, makes it related. It evokes sympathy, friendship, love. Therefore, evil associations do not last long. They are based on a commonality of temporary interests.

“The wolf pack” sooner or later ends in a fight between wolves.

Unification on the basis of a good deed, good feelings, lives even when the good deed itself, which served as the reason for its creation, is completed. Good unification lives in the souls of people even when the practical need for unification is completed and forgotten.

Goodness is higher than practical needs! .

Perhaps to some, Dmitry Sergeevich’s reasoning about good and evil will seem irrational and even inapplicable to modern life, where it seems that good and evil are so often and bizarrely mixed...

Let's try to find the answer to this question from the scientist himself. And he further writes: “The sphere of goodness is large. It is strong, although it is more difficult to achieve than the sphere of evil that is formed. The sphere of goodness is closer to eternity.

That is why the sphere of good requires each of us to pay attention to history - our own and the world's, to the cultural values ​​accumulated by all humanity.<…>And without morality, social and economic, historical and any other laws that create the well-being and self-awareness of mankind do not apply.

And this is a huge practical result of a good that is “impractical” in nature.

That is why the job of everyone individually and everyone together is to increase goodness, preserve traditions, know and appreciate the history of one’s own, one’s own, and of all humanity.”

Dmitry Sergeevich does not hide the fact that it is more difficult to achieve the sphere of good than to find himself in the sphere of evil. But his thoughts about good and evil help, firstly, to shake off the aura of “inevitable” superiority over good from evil (“The sphere of good is large. It is strong”), and secondly, they clearly show that it is precisely because of the “lightness” “evil and the “difficulties” of good - good requires heroism from each of us.

To a simple question a person asks himself: “Who would I rather become: an ascetic or a scoundrel?” - very few people will seriously want to think of themselves as a scoundrel who trusts in evil. And the feat of goodness is immortal. That is why the scientist says that “the sphere of goodness is closer to eternity.”

In life, as if at a masquerade, evil often takes on the guise of good. Sometimes evil acts like a swindler, trying to seduce a person through deception or forgery and lure him to his side. But sometimes evil appears in its own guise, threatening a person in the most terrible way, if a person does not want to lean toward an evil deed or undertaking. In the modern world there is a fully formed symbol of evil - terrorism. As people lose their devotion to goodness, evil intensifies and increasingly reveals its terrorist essence. Therefore, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev taught not to allow compromises with one’s conscience even in small things and never take the side of evil.

What is “good” in the understanding of D.S. Likhachev? This is, first of all, the absence of selfishness - in everything, in every detail, and caring for another person.

Caring for people!

“The basis of all good manners is care - care that a person does not interfere with another, so that everyone feels good together.

We must be able to not interfere with each other. Therefore, there is no need to make noise. You can’t stop your ears from the noise - this is hardly possible in all cases.”

“You don’t need to remember hundreds of rules, but remember one thing - the need to respect others. And if you have this and a little more resourcefulness, then manners will come to you on their own, or, better said, the memory of the rules of good behavior will come, the desire and ability to apply them.”

To the question: “What unites people?” - Likhachev answers: “Floors of care”, “care unites people.”

“Caring strengthens relationships between people. It binds families together, binds friendships, binds fellow villagers, binds together residents of one city, one country.”

Happiness is achieved by those who strive to make others happy and are able to forget about their interests and themselves, at least for a while. This is an “unchangeable ruble,” D.S. Likhachev liked to say.

He also spoke and wrote about modesty, about how a person should not strive "take up too much space"- was there any talk about good manners or about scientific activities. Today, when many people teach to be “focused on success”, “to be ambitious”, the words of an academician and world-famous scientist about the need to be modest may surprise you. How can you achieve anything if you are humble? But maybe it’s worth believing his life experience!

Goodness is inseparable from morality, and morality is inseparable from mercy and compassion.

"Morals in highest degree characterized by a feeling of compassion, writes Likhachev in “Letters about the good and the beautiful.” - In compassion there is a consciousness of one’s unity with other people, with a nation, people, country, universe. That is why the forgotten concept of compassion requires its complete revival and development.”. D.S. Likhachev concludes his book with a letter entitled “Ways of Kindness.” And in the letter “At the behest of conscience,” he urges: “Strive to walk the paths of goodness as simply and unconsciously as you walk in general. The paths and roads of our beautiful garden, which is called the surrounding world, are so easy, so comfortable, the meetings on them are so interesting, if only the “initial data” you have chosen correctly.”

This means that in order to follow the “paths of kindness”, you need to learn. The skill of “staying on the path of good” must be developed in oneself. D.S. Likhachev wittily compares this with riding a bicycle: in order to learn how to ride a bicycle, maintain balance, etc., the scientist notes, you must first of all... ride a bicycle! That is, exercise, train. The same is necessary in order to follow the path of kindness... The skill of kindness is acquired - from contact with the Good and the Beautiful, from small good deeds that develop this skill and make a person “able to do Good.”

The expression “the path of goodness” is very ancient. Likhachev, who studied ancient Russian literature, of course, constantly encountered him in ancient Russian and even Byzantine works. And he knew how to apply this wisdom to modern life always and everywhere.

You can see the meaning of life only from a bird’s eye view, that is, from the height of the years you have lived or the height of the wisdom of everything human experience, accumulated by culture, and that is why it is so important to trust good “guides”.

The paths of good have eternal guidelines, the same for all times, and, one might say, tested not only by time, but by eternity itself. The paths of good are not momentary benefits or benefits, but eternal and unshakable principles that should always be observed, even if at some point it seems that it is inconvenient, unprofitable, and even pointless. Yes, at some particular point along the way it may seem so. But each step has its own meaning - this is a movement further - further along the path of Good. And this movement always makes sense, it always brings benefit to a person, making him happier in the end.

Instead of a task

• How do you understand the expression “The path of goodness”?

Lesson 6.
LITTLE NOTHINGS OF LIFE

When talking about our affairs and responsibilities, we, voluntarily or involuntarily, divide these affairs and responsibilities into very important and unimportant, into “great” and small, and so on. Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev had a higher view of human life: he believed that there are no unimportant matters or responsibilities, no trifles, there are no “little things in life”. Everything that happens in a person’s life is important to him.

“In life you need to have service - service to some cause. Let this matter be small, it will become big if you are faithful to it.”

The first letter in the book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful” is called: "Big in small". This letter begins like this: “In the material world you cannot fit the big in the small. In the sphere of spiritual values, it is not so: much more can fit into the small, but if you try to fit the small into the big, then the big will simply cease to exist.

If a person has great goal, then it should manifest itself in everything - in the most seemingly insignificant. You must be honest in the unnoticed and accidental, only then will you be honest in fulfilling your great duty. A great goal embraces the whole person, is reflected in his every action, and one cannot think that a good goal can be achieved through bad means.”

Dmitry Sergeevich’s “general rule” was - “Keep the big in the small”. He learned this philosophy of life on Solovki, when he was serving his sentence in a special purpose camp (1928–1930).

There was a day in his camp life that gave him such life experience, which in the future he perceived every day as a gift.

Prisoners on Solovki were allowed visits with their relatives twice a year. In the late autumn of 1929, his parents, Sergei Mikhailovich and Vera Semyonovna, arrived to Dmitry Likhachev from Leningrad. On the days allotted for the meeting, he spent the night not in the prison company, but in the room of a civilian guard, rented by his parents.

Executions were carried out periodically in the camp on Solovki. Their purpose was twofold: firstly, to keep all prisoners in fear, and secondly, to make room for new “enemies of the people,” he wrote, ending his reflection with an ellipsis. And further:

They shot imaginary “rebels” and simply obstinate prisoners, often shooting on the basis of false denunciations and fictitious accusations. Since the executions were carried out without regulations, those killed were written off as having died of disease.

It so happened that during the arrival of D.S. Likhachev’s parents there was a wave of arrests and executions. At the end of their stay on the Island, people from the company came to Dmitry Sergeevich in the evening and said: “They came for you!”. Everything was clear: they were coming to arrest him. “I told my parents,” recalls D.S. Likhachev, “that I was being called for urgent work, and I left: my first thought was: let them not arrest me in front of my parents.”

And here is a further description of this terrible day in the life of Dmitry Sergeevich (he himself talks about this in some detail in the film “I Remember...”): “When I went out into the yard, I decided not to return to my parents, I went to the wood yard and shoved myself between the woodpiles. The firewood was long - for monastery stoves. I sat there until the crowd rushed to work, and then I got out, surprising no one. What I suffered there, hearing the shots of the executioners and looking at the stars of the sky (I didn’t see anything else all night)! Since that terrible night there has been a revolution in me. I won’t say that everything happened at once. The coup took place over the next 24 hours and became increasingly stronger. The night was just a push. I realized this: every day is a gift from God. I need to live for the day to day, to be satisfied that I live another day. And be grateful for every day. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of anything in the world. And one more thing - since the execution this time was carried out as a warning, I later found out that an even number of people were shot: either three hundred or four hundred people, along with those who followed soon after. It is clear that someone else was “taken” instead of me. And I have to live for two. So that the one who was taken for me would not be ashamed! There was something in me and remained in the future that the “boss” stubbornly did not like. At first I blamed everything on my student cap, but I continued to stubbornly wear it until Belbaltlag. Not “one of our own”, “class alien” - that’s clear. I returned to my parents that day calm.”

And soon an order was received to stop visits between prisoners and relatives.

This is how Dmitry Sergeevich learned to perceive Every day of your life is like a new gift. This is where his amazingly careful attitude to time, to his responsibilities, and to the people around him came from. Therefore, for him there were no longer the little things in life.

Describing his trip to Solovki in 1966, Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev wrote: “My stay on Solovki was the most significant period of my life” .

From this he drew the following conclusion:

“We must resolutely observe the great in everything. Then everything is easy and simple" .

Instead of a task

• Let's think: isn't this the rule - “Keep the big in the small!”-is the main secret of the cheerfulness and love of life of Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev?

Lesson 7.
THOUGHTS ABOUT RUSSIA

In May 1914, even before entering the preparatory class of the gymnasium, seven-year-old Mitya Likhachev, together with his parents and older brother Mikhail, traveled along the Volga on the ship "Belyana". Recalling this trip along the great Russian river, Dmitry Sergeevich wrote that “The Volga made an impression with its songfulness: the vast expanse of the river was full of everything that floats, hums, sings, shouts.”

The observant boy traveler also remembered the names of the steamships of that time that sailed along the Volga: “Prince Serebryany”, “Prince Yuri”, “The Great Sphere of Good”. It is strong, although it is more difficult to achieve than the sphere of evil that is formed. The sphere of good is closer to eternity. We must be able not to interfere with each other. Therefore, there is no need to make noise. You can’t plug your ears from the noise - it’s unlikely to be possible in all cases." “Dmitry Donskoy”, “Alyosha Popovich”, “Dobrynya Nikitich”, “Kutuzov”, “1812”. “Even from the names of the ships we could learn Russian history”, - recalled the great patriot Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, who so sincerely loved both the Volga and all of Russia.

His love for the Motherland, for his native language, for his native literature and culture is perhaps the most important lesson that we can learn from his life and from his books.

Dmitry Sergeevich knew very well world history, all his life he studied world culture, and this not only did not interfere, but, on the contrary, helped him appreciate Russian history and his native Russian culture. « Ancient Rus' interested me also from the point of view of knowledge of the Russian national character", - wrote academician D.S. Likhachev.

A distinctive feature of the scientist was the constant desire to get closer to the secrets human existence, to understanding the meaning of the historical path of their earthly Fatherland. Dmitry Sergeevich began the article “Thoughts about Russia” (published after the death of the scientist in the book “Russian Culture”) with the following words:

“Russia will be alive as long as the meaning of its existence in the present, past or future remains a mystery and people will rack their brains: why did God create Russia?” .

To understand why the scientist so valued the “mystery” of the meaning of existence home country, you should know his view on the interdependence of such philosophical categories as time and freedom. “The entire future running away from us is necessary to preserve our freedom of choice, free will,” and “if we knew everything (in advance), we would not be able to control ourselves.”

In the essay “Notes on the Russian,” the scientist writes about love for his people, his Fatherland: “There are completely wrong ideas that, by emphasizing national characteristics, trying to define national character, we contribute to the separation of peoples and indulge chauvinistic instincts.” On the contrary, the scientist believed that “it is the individual characteristics of peoples that connect them with each other, that make us love a people to which we do not even belong, but with whom fate has confronted us. Therefore, identifying national characteristics character, knowledge of them, reflection on the historical circumstances that contributed to their creation, help us understand other peoples.”

“Conscious love for one’s people cannot be combined with hatred of others. By loving your people, your family, you will be more likely to love other nations and other families and people.” “Therefore, hatred of other peoples sooner or later spreads to part of one’s own people.”

“Patriotism is the noblest of feelings. This is not even a feeling - it is the most important aspect of both personal and social culture of the spirit, when a person and the entire people, as it were, rise above themselves, set themselves super-personal goals.”

“Remember The Tale of Bygone Years”, - wrote D.S. Likhachev in the book for students “ Motherland”, - this is not only a chronicle, our first historical document, it is outstanding work speaking of great feeling national identity, O wide view on the world, about the perception of Russian history as part of world history, connected with it by inextricable ties.”

Since his student years, Dmitry Sergeevich, not only with all the powers of his mind, but also with all his heart, became attached to his native literature, history and culture. And therefore, even then, in the 20s, he perceived with pain all the destructive trends of that terrible era. He wrote about the times of his student youth as follows:

“You always remember your youth well. But I, and my other friends at school, university and clubs, have something that is painful to remember, that stings my memory and that was the most difficult thing in my young years. This is the destruction of Russia and the Russian Church, which took place before our eyes with murderous cruelty and which, it seemed, left no hope for revival.”

But he lived until the very end of the 20th century and saw the revival of domestic cultural and historical traditions. I saw it because I worked for it all my long life. Russian Renaissance.

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is one of those few Russian citizens who are referred to as “the conscience of the nation.” And he was the conscience of the nation in the literal sense: during the years of terrible Stalinist repressions, during the years of the dominance of ideology in culture and science, he managed to preserve, study, and discover for his contemporaries and descendants the cultural heritage of previous eras, which those who wanted “their own, new” fought against. build the world,” and “destroy the old one to the ground.”

He saved for us a lot of Russian cultural and historical heritage: these are monuments of architecture and art, monuments of our native history, which today are again considered the most valuable cultural treasures of Russia and monuments of world culture, although in the years “ cultural revolution"(20–30s of the XX century) they tried to destroy them as supposedly “having no cultural and historical value.” Today, millions come to see these cultural monuments, which have become the “face” of Russia for the whole world. foreign citizens. Dmitry Sergeevich spent many years and a lot of effort defending, saving, preserving these monuments for you and me.

And we can also say about him that for many he was the “face of the nation,” because as a world-famous scientist, he himself was a living testimony of high national culture, its true bearer, one of the most respected, most authoritative representatives of Russia throughout the world.

He survived Stalin's prisons and camps, he experienced the terrible blockade of Leningrad, he endured the “repressions” of Russian culture during the reign of N.S. Khrushchev and L.I. Brezhnev, he also captured the era of the so-called “perestroika” of M.S. Gorbachev. And finally he witnessed global crisis economy and culture that swept Russia as a result of all the political and socio-economic reforms of the 20th century. But fortunately for him, Academician Likhachev managed to see the fruits of his labors: it was his books, articles and oral presentations that helped many of our compatriots discover true story Russia and the richness of its cultural and historical heritage. (For example, a wonderful magazine that began to be published with the active participation of Dmitry Sergeevich during “perestroika” was called « OUR LEGACY ». ) Moreover, he himself was and remains for us a living “connection of eras,” “connection of times.”

In the essay "Notes about Russian" Dmitry Sergeevich wrote the following lines:

“Russian history in the past is a story of endless trials, despite which the people maintained both dignity and kindness.

Let us love our people, our city, our nature, our village, our family.” .

In the first lesson (“Contemporary of the Century”) we already talked about the fact that on September 22, 1999, that is, eight days before his death, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev handed over the manuscript of the book to the book publishing house "Thinking about Russia." This was a new (revised) version of his book. And on the first page of the manuscript submitted for printing was inscribed: “I dedicate it to my contemporaries and descendants.”

This means that even before his death, Dmitry Sergeevich thought most of all about his beloved Fatherland - about Russia, and he bequeathed this devotion to the Motherland to his contemporaries and descendants, that is, to all of us.

Instead of a task

• The birthday of academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is November 28. On this day, or the day before, you can spend an evening dedicated to the memory of the great Russian scientist, thinker, patriot. The main meaningful part of this evening can be READING - reading excerpts from his books and articles that you like: “On the Good and the Beautiful”, “Native Land”, “Great Heritage”, “The Past for the Future” and his other creations.

Instead of an afterword

MORAL COMMANDMENTS OF D.S. LIKHACHEV

1. Love people - both near and far.
2. Do good without seeing any merit in it.
3. Love the world in yourself, not yourself in the world.
4. Be a knight both with a woman and in an argument.
5. Drink from the inexhaustible source of culture, but do not choke.
6. Create to the best of your ability - it's not a matter of scale.
7. Don’t get tired of work and self-improvement: by creatively enriching the world, you change yourself, by morally improving yourself, you change the world.
8. Never allow envy, greed, or malice in your heart.
9. Remember not evil and have pity on evil.
10. Be modest - arrogance is low and ridiculous.
11. Tune yourself - dignity is your tuning fork.
12. Be sincere: if you mislead others, you deceive yourself.
13. Don't punish yourself for a mistake, but learn from it.
14. Learn to read with interest, with pleasure and slowly; Reading is the path to worldly wisdom, don’t disdain it!
15. Man has no power over time, but be the master of your time.
16. Do not give up the temporary, serve the eternal, but do not be a slave to either one or the other.
17. Be a believer - faith enriches the soul and strengthens the spirit.
18. Be mindful - your source is in the past!
19. There is light and darkness, there is nobility and baseness, there is purity and dirt: one must grow to the former, but is it worth descending to the latter? Choose the worthy, not the easy.
20. Try to always maintain a sense of proportion.
21. Don’t despair and don’t get tired in search of the meaning of life - your own, and not taken from someone else’s shoulder.
22. Be conscientious: all morality is in conscience.
23. Honor the past, create the present, believe in the future!
24. Be a patriot and don't be a nationalist.
25. Your home is the earth, your family is humanity, take care of them!

1. Each of the proposed lessons, if desired, can be taught not in one hour, but in two teaching hours. To “expand and deepen” the lesson, it is necessary to take at least one of the cited books by Academician D.S. Likhachev, and the teacher will have additional valuable educational material in his hands.
2. A teacher preparing a specific lesson would do well to read the full text of the book or article cited in the text of that lesson.
3. If, at the teacher’s suggestion, one of the students reads in advance any article or part of D.S. Likhachev’s book on the topic of the lesson, then during the lesson itself he can contribute to the lesson, enlivening it with his discovery.
4. On one of the topics proposed for lessons, you can offer to write a class or home essay.
5. If a series of lessons on the work of D.S. Likhachev is conducted, then as a completion of this cycle of lessons, you can prepare and conduct an interesting discussion about modern problems of life and culture in the light of the work of D.S. Likhachev.
6. Reading fragments from the “Memoirs” and letters of the scientist can be an excellent content for an evening dedicated to the 100th anniversary of his birth.
7. A good gift for school (for school library) V Year of Likhachev could be a memorial album prepared by students with photo illustrations (photo by D.S. Likhachev) and brief extracts from his books.

Appendix 2

MAIN MILESTONES IN D.S. LIKHACHEV’S LIFE