Signs and wonders. The idea of ​​time in medieval Russian culture of the 11th-17th centuries - Abstract Russian truth and Pskov charter

The idea of ​​the ancient Russian man about the world, about the place of Rus' in it

Plan:
1. Settlement of the Slavs.
2. Formation of a state among the glades.
3. Neighbors of Kievan Rus and contacts with them. The path from the Varangians to the Greeks.
4. Awareness by the Russian people of their place in the world.
5. “The Tale of Bygone Years” and its central ideas.
6. Development of the idea of ​​unity and patriotism in tales of princely strife.
7. Conclusion: cosmopolitanism in assessing the events of world history.

Favorsky V.A. Screensaver illustration for "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (1950)

The glorious deeds and achievements of the great Russian people, their rich life and moral experience, the breadth and depth of their worldview, mindset, philosophical optimism and faith in a bright tomorrow for their Motherland were vividly reflected in the works of ancient Russian literature, monumental and unusually serious works.

The monumentality of the literature of Ancient Rus' is enhanced by the fact that its monuments are devoted mainly to historical themes. In them, than in subsequent literature, there is less fictional, imaginary, designed for entertainment, for entertaining. The seriousness is also due to the fact that the main works of ancient Russian literature are civic in the highest sense of the word. The authors of that distant era are most concerned about the historical fate of their Motherland, the defense of the Russian land, the correction of social shortcomings, and the defense of justice in the relationships of people. Old Russian literature is filled with patriotism. Above all, she revered loyalty to her land and selfless love for the Motherland, which more than once stood in the way of enemy hordes and at the highest cost - the cost of the lives of her sons and daughters - saving the peoples of other countries from enslavement and destruction.

Old Russian authors paid great attention to the problems of the place of Rus' in world history, trying to present it as clearly and in detail as possible on the pages of their works. This was not a mere whim of the chronicler; such tasks were dictated by history itself: the young state wanted to recognize itself among many other countries with different levels of economic, political and cultural development. And, of course, the Russians really wanted to enter the system of peoples not just on equal terms, but to become the heralds of new thinking, showing the way to the “kingdom of God.” The idea of ​​the special mission of Rus' was widely reflected in the works of the Kyiv period, again not by chance: it was prompted by the developing self-awareness of the Russian people, and without this quality, as we know, equal entry of the people into the system of world civilization is impossible.

To answer the question about the origins of this patriotism, where did the ancient Russian writer come from such a high assessment of the place of Rus' among the states surrounding it, we must at least briefly consider “where the Russian land came from.”

The monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor asked this question back in the 12th century. And he answered it with all the seriousness of a medieval scientist, drawing on all the materials available to him. The chronicler absolutely accurately determined that the Slavs are only part of the pan-European flow of peoples. Based on the biblical legend that after the “Great Flood” the sons of Noah divided the land among themselves, Nestor believes that one of them - Japheth - took under his protection the “midnight countries and the western”, that is, the countries of Europe. The peoples who sit in the “Afetova part” included Rus', Chud (Baltic peoples), Poles (Poles), Pruss (the disappeared Baltic tribe that gave the name to Prussia), as well as Svei (Swedes), Urmans (Norwegians), Agnyans (English), Fryags and Romans (Italians), Germans and other European peoples.

Nestor talks about the settlement of European peoples and places the Slavs on the Danube, where the Hungarians and Bulgarians later began to live. And from those Slavs, he writes, “they spread throughout the land and were called by their own name.” But the chronicler is not entirely sure of his hypothesis. He does not exclude that the Slavs may have lived in the land of the Scythians, who in the VI-IV centuries. BC. occupied vast spaces of Eastern Europe, including the Dnieper and Northern Black Sea regions, or even in the land of the Khazars, who settled in the steppes of the Azov and Lower Volga regions (1).

Two circumstances are striking in their reality in the reasoning of the ancient author: the understanding of the Slavs as the most ancient and integral part of the entire European community of peoples and the idea of ​​​​the appearance of the Slavs in the territory of the Dnieper region, between the Oka and Volga rivers, in the region of the Russian North as a result of migration from other places.

And another very curious circumstance was noticed by Nestor: at the beginning of their ancient history, from the very time they appeared on the banks of the Dnieper, Dniester, Oka, Volga, and Lake Ilmen, the Slavs lived surrounded by numerous peoples who, like them, developed these lands. The chronicler mentions Chud, Merya, Muroma, Ves, Mordovians, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Yugra (belonging to the Finno-Ugric linguistic and ethnic group of peoples) and Lithuania, Letgola and Zemigola (ancestors of the current Lithuanians, Latvians), belonging to the Baltic peoples.

In all these observations the chronicler was not far from the truth. Modern research has confirmed that the Slavs belonged to the general Indo-European group of peoples who settled during the Neolithic period (VI-III millennium BC). Then throughout Europe there was “one race and one language,” as Nestor put it, that is, until the 3rd millennium BC. The Indo-Europeans still represented a single whole, spoke the same language, and prayed to common gods (2).

It has been established that in the 2nd millennium BC. the ancestors of the Slavs, who had not yet divided into separate nations, lived somewhere between the Balts, Germans, Celts and Iranians. The Proto-Slavs belonged to some region in the area of ​​the Vistula River basin. In mid. II millennium BC we find the ancestors of the Slavs occupying a vast territory of Eastern Europe. Their center still remains the lands along the Vistula River, but their migration already extends to the Oder River in the west and the Dnieper in the east. The southern border of this settlement abuts the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube, the northern part reaches the Pripyat River (3). As you can see, the territory of the Carpathian region and the Danube region is already appearing in the form of a distant Slavic ancestral home, as Nestor knew about.

K ser. In the 2nd millennium, the process of consolidation of related tribes settled in their places into large ethnic groups began. The Slavs had to defend their independence, defending themselves from the invasion of the Scythians and Sarmatians. Later, in the 5th century. BC, part of the Slavic tribes was carried away by the powerful flow of the Huns moving to the West (4). At this time, there was a constant movement of the ancient Slavs, their exploration of new lands, mixing with the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes that had previously lived here, which did not cause cruel wars and bloody clashes.

How can we explain such a peaceful nature of Slavic colonization? The reason here is not only in some peculiarities of the mental makeup of the Slavs and the tribes they met, but in the conditions in which the settlement took place. The population density in the forest thickets was very low. The aliens did not have to capture the developed places. Therefore, there was no reason for bloody conflicts. The Slavs brought to this taiga region a higher agricultural culture developed in the fertile south. Gradually, proximity, exchange of experience, and borrowing of achievements led to the mutual assimilation of the Finno-Ugric and Slavs.

The Tale of Bygone Years notes that on the eve of the unification of most East Slavic tribes under the rule of Kyiv, at least fifteen large tribal unions existed here. In the Middle Dnieper region there lived a powerful union of tribes, united by the name “polyane”, that is, inhabitants of the fields. The center of the Polyana lands has long been the city of Kyiv; the colorful legend about its founding by the brothers Kiy, Shchek, Khoryv and their sister Lybid is known to us from the same “Tale of Bygone Years”. To the north of the glades lived the Novgorod Slovenes, grouped around the cities of Novgorod and Ladoga. To the northwest were the Drevlyans, that is, forest dwellers, whose main city was Iskorosten. Further, in the forest zone on the territory of modern Belarus, a tribal union of Dregovichi was formed, that is, swamp inhabitants (from the word “dryagva” - swamp, quagmire). In the northeast, in the forest thickets between the Oka, Klyazma and Volga rivers, lived the Vyatichi, in whose lands the main cities were Rostov and Suzdal. Between the Vyatichi and glades in the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina lived the Krivichi, who later penetrated into the lands of the Slovenians and Vyatichi. Smolensk became their main city. In the basin of the Western Dvina River lived the Polotsk people, who received their name from the Polota River, which flows into the Western Dvina. Polotsk later became the main city of Polotsk. The tribes that settled along the Desna, Seim, and Sula rivers and lived east of the glades were called northerners or inhabitants of the northern lands; Chernigov eventually became their main city. The Radimichi lived along the Sozh and Seim rivers. To the west of the glades, in the Bug River basin, Volynians and Buzhanians settled; Between the Dniester and Danube lived the Ulichs and Tivertsy, bordering the lands of Bulgaria. The chronicle also mentions the tribes of Croats and Dulebs who lived in the Danube region and the Carpathian region (5).

Strong and populous East Slavic tribal unions subordinated the surrounding small peoples to their influence and imposed tribute on them. There were clashes between them, but relations were mostly peaceful and good neighborly. Against an external enemy, the Slavs and their neighbors - the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes - often acted as a united front.

Collecting tribute from surrounding tribes, some Slavs themselves were in tributary dependence on stronger foreign neighbors. So, the Polyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazars for a long time - a squirrel and an ermine from the “smoke”; the Novgorod Slovenes and Krivichi, together with the Chud and Meri, paid tribute to the Varangians. And the Slavs themselves, having defeated and subjugated any other Slavic tribe, imposed tribute on it. The Polyans, having begun to “gather” the East Slavic lands under their control, imposed tribute on the Radimichi, Northerners, and Vyatichi, who had previously paid it to the Khazars. By the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century. the Polyanian core of the Eastern Slavs is liberated from the power of the Khazars. During this period, the independent state of Kievan Rus began to form.

The Slavs were not isolated from other peoples. Economic, political and cultural connections between them were carried out regularly, and trade routes played an important role in this. Having not yet become an independent political entity, the East Slavic tribal unions conducted brisk trade with their neighbors. It was in the VIII-IX centuries. the famous path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” was born, which contributed not only to various contacts of the Slavs with the outside world, but also connected the East Slavic lands themselves together. This is how the Tale of Bygone Years describes this route: “from Greece [from Byzantium] along the Dnieper, and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper - a drag to Lovot, and along Lovot you can enter Ilmen, the great lake; The Volkhov flows from the same lake and flows into the great Lake Nevo [Lake Ladoga] and the mouth of that lake enters the Varyazhskoe [Baltic] Sea. And along that sea you can sail to Rome, and from Rome you can sail along the same sea to Constantinople, and from Constantinople you can sail to the Pontus [Black] Sea, into which the Dnieper River flows” (6).

We see that the “path from the Varangians to the Greeks,” closing in a circle, passed through the territory of many countries with a way of life different from the Slavic one. But besides this, there were other roads. First of all, this is an eastern trade route, the axis of which was the Volga and Don rivers. To the north of this Volga-Don route ran roads from the Bulgar state, located on the Middle Volga, through the Voronezh forests to Kyiv, and up the Volga through Northern Rus' to the Baltic regions. From here, the Muravskaya Road, named so later, led south to the Don and the Sea of ​​Azov. It was followed by both traders from the north from the Vyatichi forests, and those who moved north, heading from the countries of the East. Finally, there were western and southwestern trade routes that gave the Eastern Slavs direct entry into the heart of Europe (7).

All these routes covered the lands of the Eastern Slavs with a kind of network, crossed each other, and, in essence, firmly tied the Eastern Slavic lands to the states of Western Europe, the Balkans, the Northern Black Sea region, the Volga region, the Caucasus, the Caspian region, Western and Central Asia.

It must also be said that the countries with which Kievan Rus maintained connections were at different stages of social development, which is why mutual influence was especially intense. In European countries, for example, phenomena of great importance occurred (8).

The famous role of the Frankish tribe and its leaders ended in the beginning. XI century, when, with the help of Charlemagne, the political ideas of Rome and the Roman Church finally conquered the barbarian world, and the leader of the Franks was proclaimed Emperor of Rome. The spiritual unity of Western Europe was finally sealed with the help of Rome; Now another, new beginning came forward, brought by the barbarians, the Germans to the soil of the empire, now the material disintegration of the Charles Monarchy begins, individual states, members of Western European confederations, begin their formation; The 9th century was the century of state formation for both Eastern and Western Europe, a century of great historical definitions that sometimes remained valid until modern times.

At a time when the difficult, painful process of the decomposition of the Charles Monarchy and the formation of new states, new nationalities is taking place in the West, Scandinavia, this ancient cradle of nations, sends out numerous crowds of its pirates, who have no place in their native land; but the continent is already occupied, and the Scandinavians cannot move to the south by land, as their predecessors moved, only the sea is open to them, they must be content with plunder and devastation of the sea and river banks.

An important phenomenon is also taking place in Byzantium: the theological disputes that have worried it until now cease; in 842, the year of the accession to the throne of Emperor Michael III, from which our chronicler begins his chronology, the last, seventh Ecumenical Council was convened for the final approval of the dogma, as if in order to transfer this finally established dogma to the Slavic peoples, among whom at the same time Christianity begins to spread; then, to help this dissemination, thanks to the special zeal of Cyril and Methodius, the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language is carried out.

Economic and cultural ties with the Byzantine Empire, strengthened after the introduction of Christianity, were of particular importance for the culture of Kyiv and Rus'. In Kyiv, construction began on huge religious buildings, decorated with monumental paintings - mosaics and frescoes, carved stone. New palace buildings, powerful fortifications to protect the city - all this was influenced by Byzantium. Advances in the study of ancient Russian architecture showed that by the beginning of the 12th century, Byzantine construction principles, techniques and schemes, advanced at that time, had undergone significant changes and rethinking in Rus', as a result of which new original architectural solutions emerged that met local conditions and aesthetic tastes. Translated literature, mainly Byzantine, occupied an important place in the spiritual life of ancient Russian society. In the 11th century works on world history, instructive and entertaining literature were translated from foreign languages: Chronicle of George Amartol, Chronicle of Sincellus, “History of the Jewish War” by Josephus, “Life of Basil the New”, “Christian Topography” by Kozma Indikoplov, “Alexandria”, “The Tale of Akira the Wise” and others. In Rus', collections called “Bee” were known, which included excerpts from the works of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, Plutarch, Sophocles, Herodotus and other ancient authors.

So, the Eastern Slavs, on the eve of the creation of their statehood, on the eve when tribal unions began to fight for primacy in the Slavic lands, occupied their own place in the history of Europe, unlike any of their surrounding neighbors. At the same time, East Slavic society bore features common to other countries and peoples. Thus, the Eastern Slavs found themselves at an average level in terms of the pace of economic, social, political and cultural development. They lagged behind Western countries - France, England. The Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate with their developed statehood, the highest culture, and writing stood at an unattainable height for them, but the Eastern Slavs were on a par with the lands of the Czechs, Poles, Scandinavians, significantly ahead of the Hungarians who were still at the nomadic level, not to mention the nomadic Turks, Finno-Ugric forest dwellers or Lithuanians living isolated and withdrawn.

The Russian people, who were at the stage of forming statehood, could not help but realize their difference from other countries, their individuality. From generation to generation, Russians carefully preserved the memory of the past, driven by a natural desire not to get lost in a huge number of nations, not to drown in the whirlpool of history. Memories of the events of Russian history were of a heroic nature and were connected by a common, unified idea of ​​​​the glorious deeds of their ancestors.

We find wonderful words about the historical knowledge of Ancient Rus' from Kirill of Turov, a Russian writer of the 12th century. He distinguishes two types of keepers of historical memory - chroniclers and songwriters, therefore, creators of written history and creators of oral history, but in both he finds the same goal of their activity as historians: the glorification of heroes and, especially, their military exploits. Kirill proposes to glorify church “heroes” in the same way as the people glorify their secular heroes (9). In this regard, let us turn to a wonderful work of ancient Russian literature - “The Tale of Law and Grace.”

Old Russian literature, although it was a serious literature that did not allow any jokes or pranks, was simply full of stories about miracles, fantastic plots that we, modern people, perceive as something fictitious, fabulous. The belief in miracles was so deep and universal that it bewilders us, because ancient Russian literature is literature created by smart, believing, and not naive people.

It's all about the medieval man's perception of the world. This perception had many features. The fundamental feature was the complete absence of a strict opposition between the two worlds: earthly and divine. These two worlds were in constant contact. Human life could not be imagined without something supernatural; it affected all spheres of people’s lives. They believed in a miracle and did not forget about it so much that they performed all actions with the understanding that in everyday, worldly life, at any moment something miraculous, fantastic, not subject to the laws of human existence, could be encountered.

But along with the constant readiness to perceive miracles by ancient Russian people, it was not spontaneous, but rather meaningful, because in order to see miracles, identify this miracle from simple life, analyze it, and even more so, evaluate it, some kind of intellectual preparation was necessary. It probably happened that an amazing phenomenon itself caught the eye, be it an unusual natural phenomenon or a randomly lined up chain of facts that formed an apparent cause-and-effect relationship, etc., but in order for all of the above to become a “miracle” or “sign” ", it had to be meaningful.

Assuming that supernatural phenomena actually occurred in reality, this does not change the matter: in any case, they had to be, at a minimum, noticed, realized and perceived accordingly, otherwise they simply would not leave a trace in human consciousness and would disappear altogether. This awareness and comprehension was the more successful, and had the greater resonance, the higher the corresponding preparation of the interpreter.

Accordingly, the ability to mystically interpret earthly events required a certain intellectual skill. This skill was an integral part of ancient Russian book learning, which was based on the acquisition of the ability to comprehend the hidden meaning of things and the development of the ability to interpret the surrounding reality through the prism of Christian ideology. Representatives of the educated elite jealously guarded the exclusive right to comprehend, interpret and even perform miracles, signs and prophecies. And this is not surprising, because... The “monopoly on miracles” was very important for controlling the mass consciousness of ordinary people of that era. Therefore, it was important that it was a representative of the church or secular government who drew people’s attention to a certain phenomenon and explained that they were seeing a miracle or a sign, giving it an appropriate interpretation. It was this intellectual skill that was the result of special training that allowed the ideological leaders of society to influence the minds and consciousness of society.

So, the miraculous is an integral part of the picture of the world of man in the early Russian Middle Ages. The man of Ancient Rus' was characterized by psychological openness to the perception of the supernatural, a constant mood for miracles, and a readiness to believe in everything. This phenomenon can also be defined as a reduced, due to the battle with modern man, criticality towards supernatural explanations of the phenomena of the surrounding world.

The perception of the world by medieval man had many features. One of them (perhaps one of the fundamental ones) was the absence of a strict opposition between the divine and earthly worlds. These spheres were in direct mutual contact.

The supernatural literally permeated everyday life and penetrated into all spheres of life105. They believed in its possibility, remembered it, and performed actions with the understanding that in everyday life, at any moment, something miraculous could be encountered, not subject to the laws of everyday existence.

Very indicative in this regard is the famous story about “Belgorod jelly”, which constitutes one of the plots of the history of the long-term confrontation with the Pechenegs, described in the “Tale of Bygone Years” under 997.106. It already seemed unlikely to Karamzin107. Indeed, from the standpoint of modern rational consciousness, it seems to be evidence of the extreme (implausible) inexperience of the Pechenegs, who lifted the siege, believing that the inhabitants of Belgorod had “food from the earth” in the form of jelly and satiety, which they drew from wells. And the Belgorodians themselves in this situation hardly look more advantageous, since their cunning was, in general, quite naive and the successful result of the planned operation was ensured, as it were, only by the even greater naivety of the enemy.

Usually the strange combination of naivety and recklessness in the story of Belgorod jelly is usually explained by the folklore (implied, fictional) of the initial part of the PVL. This explanation, however, is rather superficial, because this story was placed in the chronicle, which means there are serious doubts about its truth. at least, the chronicler himself did not.

How could this happen? The meaningfulness of the actions of the participants in the events and the explanation for the seeming uncriticality of the summer scribe may suggest that the people of that time were confident that somewhere far away, even if not in Belgorod, there really was a land where food could be easily scooped up in buckets from wells (“milk river - jelly banks" Russian fairy tales). Then the actions of the “old man” acquire the character of a rationally planned operation, and not an adventure. The deception in this case consisted not in the fact that the Pechenegs were convinced of the very possibility of the existence of such a miracle, but in the fact that it was revealed directly in Belgorod. And this is a trick of a completely different type. It is no fundamentally different from the “cunning” of I.V. Stalin, who tried to create confidence among the US government and Western allies that the USSR had nuclear weapons at a time when their development had not yet been completed. The possibility of the existence of nuclear weapons, like the possibility of drawing jelly from a well, was a given for the participants in these events, and only a small matter remained. The bluff was successful in both cases. The idea worked. The Americans believed that the Soviet Union had a bomb, the Pechenegs believed that there was a wonderful well on the territory of Belgorod. The cloudy liquids made by the elder (and this is exactly what both the tszhets - flour mash and the “velmily dissolved” honey) should have looked like) could well have been perceived by them as liquids actually oozing from the ground. The miracle appeared visible and convincing. The Pechenegs had the opportunity to see for themselves that the contents of the wells were edible and could satisfy hunger.

Thus, it is not a matter of naivety. With a high degree of confidence, we can assume that we are dealing with a unique state of social consciousness, characterized by psychological openness to the perception of the supernatural, a constant mood for a miracle, and a willingness to believe in its fundamental possibility. Old Russian literature is filled with stories about miracles, serious, official literature that did not allow jokes and practical jokes. Literature created by smart, subtle, not at all naive people. Faith in miracles was deep and, to one degree or another, universal.

At the same time, it should be noted that, despite the indicated constant readiness, the perception of miracles by the people of Ancient Rus' was not immediate and spontaneous. An analysis of ancient Russian literature shows that in order to see miracles, isolate a miracle from the stream of life phenomena, and evaluate it, some intellectual preparation was necessary.

It probably happened that an amazing phenomenon itself, so to speak, caught the eye: an unusual natural phenomenon or a randomly lined up chain of facts that formed an apparent cause-and-effect relationship, etc., but in order for all of the above to become a “miracle” or “a sign”, it had to be meaningful as such. Even if we assume that miracles (that is, supernatural phenomena) really took place in reality, this does not change the matter: in any case, they had to be, at a minimum, noticed, realized and perceived accordingly, otherwise they simply would not leave a trace in human consciousness and will be lost in vain. This comprehension was the more successful, and as a result had a greater resonance, the higher the corresponding preparation of the interpreter.

An example of this is “The Tale of Bygone Years,” written by southern monks who had absorbed a significant share of Byzantine education. It pays much more attention to miracles and their interpretation than the less intellectually sophisticated Novgorod chronicle. The Novgorod chronicler phlegmatically records a natural phenomenon: “In the summer of 6615. The earth shook on February 5.”108 This is where the weather record ends. Surprisingly, the chronicler did not consider it necessary to comment in any way on this probably unusual event - what was it? Earthquake? In any case, HIJI does not give us any, not only supernatural, but also simply everyday interpretation. Mentions of certain signs “in the sun”109 are stereotypical, but what these “signs” actually signified is not clear from the subsequent text. There are many similar passages in the Novgorod chronicle. In addition to the solar ones, there were signs “in the moon”110, or thunder would strike a certain clerk singing on the choir in St. Sophia, so much so that “the choir was all falling with people”111 - this is also a “sign”, in the meaning of which the chronicler of the reader doesn't dedicate. How the participants in the events realized what had happened, how the scribe himself interpreted what was described remains unknown. The northern chronicler rises at most to the awareness of an unusual natural phenomenon as a sign, but its meaning remains for him either unclear, or uninteresting, or so obvious that it makes no sense to write about it from his point of view. One way or another, he uses the opportunity to introduce a mystical component into the narrative, which seems so obvious, and uses it extremely sparingly.

A southern scribe is a completely different matter. Descriptions of miracles and lengthy discussions about them are actively used by him to construct a narrative. Local material is widely compared with the news of translated literature, and interpretation is most often carried out using theoretical calculations borrowed from Byzantine chroniclers. In The Tale of Bygone Years, miracles and signs are filled with a deep, often unkind, meaning.

For example, the years 1065 and 1091-92 were especially rich in miracles and signs. Before us appears an almost complete set of all possible manifestations of the supernatural. In 1065, a “great star” appeared with rays that looked like blood. Then from the r. Segomli fishermen pulled out a drowned child, on whose face there were “shameful ouds” and something else that the chronicler did not consider it possible to talk about on the pages of his work “for shame’s sake.” There was an incomplete solar eclipse: the sun “did not shine brightly, but like the month did”112. No less ominous signs happened in 1091-92. This is “a sign in the sun that it would perish” (also, apparently, a solar eclipse), and the fall of a “great serpent” from the sky during Prince Vsevolod’s hunt for Vyshgorod, and the appearance of a circle in the middle of the sky, and, finally, the most a terrible sign that the residents of Polotsk had to endure: the appearance on the streets of a kind of invisible dead people (“Naviev”), who struck Polotsk people to death with invisible spears, carelessly looking out of the house at the sound of horse trampling and groans113

The events described are given detailed explanations. The bloody star predicts bloodshed. This sign was certainly “not good.” After him, “there was much strife and an invasion of the filthy on the Russian land.” Here, for comparison, is a whole series of examples of similar events in Jerusalem, Byzantium, Africa and Syria, borrowed from George Amartol114, where a shining star and a “child” without eyes, without hands and with a fish tail grown “into the loins” also appeared , and much more. And everywhere the appearance of signs preceded great troubles. “There are signs in the heavens, or in the stars, or in the sun, or in birds, or in nature, that are not for good, but signs are for evil, or the manifestation of an army, or a famine, or to manifest death,” the chronicler summarizes. “No less thoroughly the events of 1092 are analyzed. Signs are directly associated in the text of the chronicle with the Cuman invasions, droughts, fires and mass deaths. These misfortunes are interpreted as punishment sent by God for sins, as an incentive to repentance115.

So, the author of PVL sees in the verified miracles and signs an indication of a higher power about the misfortunes and troubles that happened after. The mechanism of this kind of semiogization appears to be as follows. In some cases, an anomalous natural phenomenon, or a judgment about the future expressed by an indisputable authority, which made an impression on contemporaries, forces the chronicler to look for “consequences” in further events - something that would give the phenomenon the sense of a formidable omen (fortunately, Russian history provided a lot of material for this) , or judgment - the status of prophecy. In others, on the contrary, a large-scale historical event that aroused the need for comprehension forced the scribe to look for (and if he did not find it, then perhaps speculate) “signs”, “prophecies” that would show non-randomness, mystical predestination, and therefore the highest pattern of what happened.

Examples of constructions of the first type can be considered the description of the events of 1092, since both Polovtsian invasions and droughts obviously happened before. Most chronicle prophecies are structured according to the second type. Such, for example, as the prophecy of the Apostle Andrew, who predicted grace to the mountains, “where Kiev would be”116. The prophecy of a certain sorcerer, who predicted death from a horse to the Prophetic Oleg, was built approximately according to the same template. The famous warrior prince died, strictly speaking, not from a horse, but from a snake, but as if the fulfilled prophecy gave his death a special mystical aura. However, this division is largely conditional, since both natural anomalies and historical disasters occur quite regularly, therefore, it is not difficult to find a correspondence if desired. Thus, the appearance of a comet (the above-mentioned “great star” with bloody rays) in 1065 became a quite suitable “sign” of all subsequent princely strife for several years after its appearance and, of course, the arrival of the Polovtsians in 1068. The same can be said about “prophecies”: those that did not come true are forgotten, but those that can somehow be put into action (like the prediction of the sorcerer mentioned above about the death of Oleg) - being interpreted in a favorable context, remain in history. In any case, the semiotized miracle and “sign” play a very definite role in the compositional structure of the history (as, indeed, in other works of ancient Russian literature); with their help, the facts of everyday life were connected with another, higher, mystical reality.

As shown above, the ability to mystically interpret earthly events required a certain intellectual skill. This skill was an integral part of ancient Russian book learning, the basis of which was the acquisition of the ability to comprehend the hidden meaning of things and the development of the ability to interpret the surrounding reality through the prism of Khripan ideology1-" Representatives of the educated elite jealously guarded the exclusive right to comprehension and interpretation and even the performance of miracles, signs and prophecies. This is not surprising, since the “monopoly on miracles” was very important for controlling the mass consciousness of ordinary people of that era. It was important that it was the representative of the church or secular authorities who attracted the attention of the population to a certain phenomenon. explained that there was a miracle or a sign before them, giving it an appropriate interpretation. All kinds of competitors in the struggle for the minds of the world were mercilessly destroyed.

Very indicative are the descriptions of the events that took place in 1071 in the Rostov land, where, during a crop failure, the “Vestastadvamagos” began to perform actions designed to mystically free the local population from the impending disaster. The human nature of events in Rostov land is shown by I.Ya. Fromnov117. Arriving at the churchyard, the Magi named the best women, announcing. that it was they who “kept” the harvest, and then cut it up “for a fee” and took out “any livestock, any fish,” etc. The action ended with the murder of many wives. Isn't it a miracle? But Yan Vyshatich, who happened to be nearby, mercilessly exterminates the magicians, and my scribe, many years later, described these events very caustically and with rare sanity, exposes all these hostile miracles of the pagan sorcerers as harmful tricks, trouble, and shows that in reality there is no connection with the higher dangerous deceivers do not have the strength. The most they have is the advice of ill-informed demons, which ultimately led them to death16 The pseudo-prophets look comical in the chronicle’s depiction (although the humor is rather gloomy): only the “magician” in Novgorod self-confidently declares: “I will do great miracles.” , and here he is already lying 14

For more information about this, see V.V. Dolgov. Essays on the social consciousness of Ancient Rus'. Tutorial. Izhevsk: Udmurt University Publishing House. 1999. P. 170. 15

Froinov I.Ya. Ancient Rus'. Experience in researching the history of social and political struggle. M.-SPb.: Zlatoust, 1995. P. 113-173.

""PSRL.T. I.Stb. 175-179. dead from the blow of Prince Gleb118 The comic is incompatible with the sacred - a funny miracle worker is unthinkable.

Thus, the ideological struggle was carried out using the harshest methods. AND I. Froyanov, however, seems inclined to somewhat unduly downplay the ideological component of the reasons that forced representatives of the princely authorities to intervene - pagan ritual murders. Analyzing similar events in the Suzdal land in 1024119, the researcher sees the reasons) for Yaroslav’s intervention solely in the need to make a “reversal” of tribute due to lean years120 He rejects confrontation on the ideological front due to the fact that at the beginning of the 11th century. The Suzdal land still remained entirely in the power of paganism, and there could be no talk of any competition with Christianity2." One cannot but agree with this last position, however, as an assumption, it should be noted that ideological (religious, in this case) opposition could unfold not only along the line of Christianity-paganism, but also along the line of “mana”, the magical power of the prince (nus 11, already in a Christian shell) is the “mana” of the pagan sorcerers-troublemakers. After all, according to the opinion expressed by the same I.Ya. Froyanov in the image of the ancient Fus prince, even after Christianization, many remnants of the image of the leader of the tribal era continue to be preserved. Therefore, the appearance of Yaroslav in the Suzdal land and the massacre of the Magi can be regarded, among other things, as a desire to protect and once again show their monopoly on the mystical (and anything else). primacy (“reversal” of tribute in this case looks like an integral part of this event).

In addition to the emotional means of debunking the “imaginary miracle workers,” there was also a rational explanation of how it happens that supernatural powers can end up in the hands of individuals to whom, according to church concepts, God should not give this. In addition to their pagan magicians, the list of such could also include ancient magicians, the memory of whom has survived in written sources, perhaps of ancient origin. A large theoretical account on this issue is given in the chronicle in connection with the history of the prophecy about the death of Prince Oleg (912). The story of the prince’s death is noteworthy in that, while describing it, the ancient Russian scribe found himself in a rather difficult situation. On the one hand, he could not, of course, exclude such a vivid and probably widely known plot from the story; on the other, the ideological content of this entire story seemed very doubtful, since the seer in this case was not a Christian saint or ascetic, but a pagan priest , which in itself could be interpreted by weak minds as an indirect confirmation that even the “filthy” can sometimes turn out to be right. To neutralize possible undesirable conclusions, immediately after the story about the fulfilled prediction in the chronicle there is an extensive insertion from the “Chronicle of George Amartol”121, beginning with the phrase “It’s no wonder that sorcery comes from sorcery,” that is, it is not surprising that pagan witchcraft can have force, this does not violate the order of things destined by God and preached by the church. Next is the story about the life and miracles of the sorcerer Apollonius of Tyana, who arrived during the reign of Diocletian from Rome to Byzantium. In general, there was nothing wrong with his miracles (he delivered the inhabitants of Antioch from mosquitoes and scorpions), but his activity is interpreted as madness and temptation, carried out by “the weakening of God and the creation of demons”122, because Apollonius was a pagan - For petty sorcerers, the scale of whose activities was small (when we were not talking about mass pagan uprisings, destroying the peace of entire cities and towns), the legislation provided for private punishment. The Charter of Yaroslav, drawn up by the prince together with the metropolitan, in the event that a woman turns out to be “a sorceress, a prisoner, or a magician, or a greengrocer” Gives the right to “execute” her husband123

We see a completely different attitude in ancient Russian literature towards “their” miracle workers - saints, monks and miraculous icons. Their activities were widely promoted and constituted one of the pillars of the practice of influencing the minds of believers.

The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon provides us with rich material for studying this type of miracles and miracle workers. one of the main indicators of their holiness.

Very curious are the miracles that accompanied the transfer of the icon of the Mother of God by A11-Drei Bogolyubsky from the Visegrad convent in the land of Kyiv to Vladimir, which are narrated in “The Tale of the Miracles of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.” The North-Eastern scribes turned out to be worthy disciples of the South in the skill of seeing in the everyday the action of higher powers and use the results of this “supersensible” vision of ideological needs. On the way to the Rostov land, various troubles occur with the retinue accompanying Prince Andrei: a guide who rode on horseback to look for a ford on the river. Vachuse almost drowned, then the horse harnessed to the cart broke free and attacked the wife of priest Mikula, knocked her down and bit her so that she fell and everyone decided that she was dead, but in fact it turned out that the horse’s teeth only damaged the fringe her clothes, and she herself is alive and unharmed. Thus, in the cases themselves there was, in general, nothing unusual. If what is described by the Kiev-Pechersk Paterpas is difficult for a modern person to believe, then the reality of the events described by the “Legend” is easy to believe: a man was drowning, but he was lucky - he got out; the boy had a large stye (“sore”) on his eye, and then it broke through and went away; “Chyudo 6th” and “Chyudo 8th” are cases of curing some women from pain in the heart; “miracle” 4th and 9th - successfully completed difficult childbirth. In a different situation, it is unlikely that anyone would look for echoes of mystical reality in what happened. But in the “Tale” the successful outcome of these, in general, not particularly significant incidents, is unambiguously interpreted as miracles, the appearance of which the victims owe to the Mother of God and to the fervent prayers offered during critical situations to the icon that was with them. And this is understandable, because they happened during the acquisition of Vladimir-Suzdal Russia by its main shrine. The brilliant victory won by Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1164 over the Volga Bulgarians was attributed to the patronage of the same icon125. For chroniclers and ideologists, it was more important to see in a successfully carried out military operation not evidence of the prince’s brilliant military leadership talents, but evidence of the miraculous nature of the image that this land became the owner of. The move is quite logical, because the prince would have died sooner or later, and the icon is a kind of accumulator of the highest authority for eternity. In both cases, the decisive role in recognizing what happened as a miracle was played not so much by the nature of the events that took place, but by the ideological need to connect political processes with divine providence, which created a suitable mood and a certain psychological readiness to perceive even everyday facts as a manifestation of mystical predestination, and therefore the laws of the aspirations of Vladimir princes to leadership.

We find an even more masterly manipulation of supernatural motives in the story of the Suzdal Chronicle about the events of 1169 associated with the campaign of the united army (Suzdal-Ryazan-Smolensk-Polotsk), directed by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky to Novgorod. The historical outline of events emerges quite clearly: the army led by Mstislav Shay

Andreevich, suffered a severe defeat from the Novgorodians. “And the buyer was judged by 2 nogat,” the Novgorod chronicler concludes the story about these events21. The Suzdal chronicler also talks about the defeat, but how the material is presented! It turns out that three years before the described campaign in Novgorod, in three Novgorod churches, the Mother of God wept on three icons, who foresaw the destruction that “wanted to be over Novgorod” and with her tears she begged her Son not to uproot the cities, as Sodom and Gomorrah had been uprooted before. Because of this, the Lord had mercy and saved the city from complete destruction, “they are not Christians” (that’s why it was not possible to take the city), but decided to roughly punish the Novgorodians for all their crimes “by the hand of the blessed Prince Andrei”126. Thus, the defeated Suzdalians act as the embodiment of the punishing (and at the same time merciful) divine right hand, and Novgorod is represented as a city whose inhabitants are little better than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is curious that in HIJl there is no mention of weeping icons either under 1169 or three years before that.

If it is true that miracles in ancient Russian culture were a means of ideological struggle, an important tool for shaping public opinion, then the question arises: to what extent did the ideological leaders themselves believe in miracles? Was the interpretation of this or that event as a miracle or sign just a propaganda ploy? The above passage from the Laurentian Chronicle suggests just such an assumption. Moreover, how could it happen that things as obviously implausible as the miracles described in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon could end up on the pages of a literary work, because, as was convincingly proven by Academician D.S. Likhachev, did the ancient Russian literary tradition avoid conscious fiction? Or did she still allow it?

Most likely, it is impossible to give a definite answer to the question posed. On the one hand, one should not, of course, exaggerate the irrationality of the public consciousness of the early Middle Ages. There were plenty of sober pragmatists then too. Very remarkable are the reasonings of the boyar Vasily (one of the characters of the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon), sent by the prince from Suzdal to Kyiv with a load of gold and silver for the forging of the tomb of St. Theodosius of Pechersk29 The course of his thoughts is depicted so plausibly that one can hardly doubt its vitality. Vasily sincerely does not understand what is the point of spending wealth on decorating a coffin. He attributes the princely order not to piety, but to a lack of frugality. The boyar does not experience the slightest sacred awe before the robe of Saint Theodosius. The sober mind of a practical person is also felt in the speeches of Jan Vyshatich, who, in response to the picture of the miraculous extraction of life and fish from human flesh by the Magi, said: “God created man from the earth, composed of bones and veins from the blood.” , carrying in him nothingness, not all nothingness, but only one God who is all.”

On the other hand, it would hardly be correct to assume that, for example, the glorification of the miracles of the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God was a subtly and coolly calculated PR campaign to “promote” the Vladimir land to the role of an all-Russian center. Such an interpretation of the material would be an unacceptable modernization. It is also unlikely that the Pechersk monks really deliberately invented fables for the glory of their monastery.

The available material suggests that it is most likely. the news of the miracle (with the corresponding interpretation) was not created specifically for the needs of the “advertising campaign” - This ideological construct developed naturally as a way of understanding reality characteristic of the society of that era. Miracles “appeared” to people where there was an atmosphere conducive to this. a corresponding mood developed, an expectation of a miracle, conditioned by social, political, economic or cultural factors. This situation arose when they were transporting the icon of the Mother of God to Vladimir. The scribe, in a paradoxical way, could clearly “customize” the material, presenting it in a form favorable to his prince or monastery, and at the same time he himself believed, believing that he had only correctly interpreted, seen, read the signs of a higher reality.

If we think in the most general terms, then the function of a miracle in the public consciousness can be defined as follows: it was a niche for “fitting” into the general picture of the world facts that were inexplicable from the perspective of trivial everyday experience. Currently, “miracle” has almost completely been replaced from this “niche” by “science”, which has taken the place of a “universal explainer” for the modern layman, who prefers purely natural (at least in appearance) theories to metaphysical ones. Modern people will understand the reasons for the appearance of a “bloody star” from the corresponding section of an astronomy textbook. Today, political scientists, economists, and historians will undertake to explain the strengthening of the political significance of this or that state (also, by the way, like the ancient “specialists in miracles”, who do not miss the opportunity to introduce the atmosphere of ideological battles into their interpretations). And in Ancient Rus', the above-mentioned and similar phenomena received a “registration” in the structure of worldview through the concept of “miracle”.

The strength of public mood played a major role in the mystical perception of reality. The mood for a miracle, with the postulation of which the present work began as one of the basic features of ancient Russian social consciousness, could have varying degrees of intensity. It is precisely because of a more powerful mood that the miracles of the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon are much more “wonderful” than those of Vladimir - after all, the monks who lived outside the walls of the monastery brought themselves to the highest degree of religious exaltation, feeling the immediate proximity of the heavenly world. To the Monk Isaac, whose story is placed in the PVL, after seven years of voluntary confinement in a cramped cave, where during all this time he never lay, little by little ate and little by little slept, a whole company of demons appeared, introducing themselves as angels, and almost fooling the ascetic to death127 Fantasized is the monk telling the brethren about what happened? Considering Isaac’s lifestyle that preceded their appearance, it’s unlikely. So a modern person, who generally does not believe in food, after watching enough horror films, suddenly becomes genuinely frightened and screams when he sees a whitish silhouette in the darkness. Did he see the ghost, or did he imagine it? Everything will depend on your psychological attitude. Ultimately, a miracle is not a supernatural event, but a supernatural explanation.

Thus, the ancient Russian witnesses and interpreters of signs and signs had no need to lie. As a miracle in? and in the context of the social consciousness of that era, given the right situation - 1

and a completely ordinary fact of everyday life (a passing barley), and an unusual natural phenomenon (for example, the appearance of a comet), and a hallucination, and, in fact, a miracle could be perceived (question; about whether miracles happen in reality not is considered to be worthwhile work, so we will allow this possibility).

So, the analysis allows us to draw the following conclusions: 1.

The miraculous is an integral part of the picture of the world of man in the early Russian Middle Ages. The public consciousness of the population of Ancient Rus' was characterized by psychological openness to

: acceptance of the supernatural, constant attitude towards “before”. willingness to believe. This phenomenon can also be defined as a reduced (compared to modern man) sensitivity towards supernatural explanations of the phenomena of the surrounding world. 2.

To isolate a miracle from the general flow of events in everyday life, a certain intellectual skill was necessary, which, as a rule, was the result of special training.

which gave the ideological leaders of society (initially the pagan priests, and then, after a long struggle, the Orthodox clergy) a powerful weapon of ideological influence on the minds and feelings of society. As a “theoretical basis” interpretative

Les Russian scribes widely used translation - it; works of Byzantine authors. 3.

The appeal to a “miracle”, “sign” had in ancient Russian literature (and therefore, presumably, in consciousness) the meaning of showing the non-randomness, mystical predestination, predestination of an event associated with a miracle or sign. If certain events, a person or an object revealed a connection with a super-mystical reality, they were thereby included in the category. The use of supernatural motives as an ideological weapon in the political struggle did not cancel, however. the faith of the ideologists themselves in miracles. For the needs of the “ideological front,” miracles were not invented, but rather interpreted as needed. The favorable interpretation became the correct interpretation. 5.

Constant readiness to perceive a miracle had a very specific function in the public consciousness: it was a niche for “fitting” into the overall picture of the world facts that were inexplicable from the perspective of trivial everyday experience. 6.

A major role in the perception of a certain phenomenon as a miracle or sign was played by the public mood, which created more or less favorable conditions for this in each specific situation.

The perception of the world by medieval people was significantly different from ours. Man did not feel like a citizen of the universe; the immediate environment was enough for him, and everything else seemed alien and hostile. He determined time approximately, by the sun or by the crow of a rooster, and did not value it. Even historians were satisfied with such insignificant “dates” as “when the days became longer” or “when such and such a king reigned.” At first, people treated themselves and others with disdain, because Christianity considered them sinful by nature. But gradually the idea matured that sins could be atone for through prayers, fasting and work. Since then, man began to respect himself and work. Those who did not work were subject to general condemnation. Man's self-esteem increased so much that God in his earthly incarnation began to be depicted in human likeness.

Social inequality seemed normal. It was believed that everyone should be satisfied with their place in society. To achieve more meant to show pride, to slide down the social ladder - to neglect oneself.

Medieval man was afraid of everything in the world. He was afraid of losing a piece of bread, he was afraid for his health and life, he was afraid of the other world, because the church frightened him, that almost everyone was destined for hellish torment. He was afraid of wolves, which sometimes attacked a person in broad daylight, strangers. The man saw the devil's machinations in everything. In the 12th century. There was an idea about the seven deadly sins (pride, stinginess, gluttony, luxury, anger, envy and laziness). They also invented a remedy against sins - confession. Confessed - and you can sin again... They also relied on the intercession of the Mother of God and the saints, of whom, for greater confidence, they strove to have as many as possible. Material from the site

Medieval people perceived the world through symbols. Individual numbers, colors, images, etc. were considered symbols. Thus, the purple color symbolized royal dignity, green - youth, yellow - evil, gold - power and domination, etc. The Middle Ages also believed in prophetic dreams, longed for a miracle . However, not everyone was racking their brains on how to avoid hellish torment and “save” their soul. There were also those who were only interested in having fun.

From the list of wonders in the kingdom of Arles

Lamia, or masks, or striae, are, as doctors believe, night ghosts, and as Augustine claims, they are demons. Larks also enter homes at night, cause nightmares in those sleeping, disrupt order in the house, and transport children from one place to another. This is exactly what happened to Umberto, Archbishop of Arles, when he was still a child.

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