Russia. Linguistic and regional dictionary What is Lubok, what does it mean and how to spell it correctly


What is "Lubok"? How to spell this word correctly. Concept and interpretation.

Splint Lubok is a folk picture, a work of graphics (mostly printed), distinguished by the clarity of the image and intended for mass distribution. Lubok is characterized by simplicity of technique, laconism of graphic means (rough strokes, usually bright coloring), often designed for a decorative effect, a tendency towards an expanded narrative (series of popular prints, popular print books), and often the complementarity of the image and explanatory inscription. Lubok, performed, as a rule, by master craftsmen, is a type of folk art, but lubok also usually includes works of professional graphics that borrow certain popular folklore techniques. The oldest popular prints appeared in China and were originally made by hand, and from the 8th century. - in wood engraving. European lubok, made using the woodcut technique, has been known since the 15th century. Since the 17th century Lubok using the technique of copper engraving spread, and from the 19th century. - lithographs. The formation of the European popular print is associated with such types of late medieval mass visual products as paper icons distributed at fairs and places of pilgrimage. Religious images in popular prints acquired a tone of visual and moralizing entertainment. During the years of social revolutionary movements, lubok was used as a journalistic weapon - “flying leaflets” during the Reformation and the Peasant War in Germany 1524-26, lubok during the Great French Revolution of 1789-94, etc.; telling about historical events, battles, rare natural phenomena, popular prints served as mass media. The Russian lubok of the 18th century is unique, distinguished by its decorative unity of composition and coloring, and its independence from the techniques of professional graphics. In the 19th century The images of lubok were increasingly turned to by masters of professional art or those who directly imitated it (in Russia, for example, A. G. Venetsianov, I. I. Terebenev, I. A. Ivanov - the authors of colored etchings dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812), or inspired by individual his techniques and themes (F. Goya, O. Daumier, G. Courbet). Oriental popular prints (Chinese, Indian), which originally often had a magical meaning, are distinguished by their bright colors. A deliberate appeal to popular print forms (see Primitivism) appeared at the end of the 19th-20th centuries. in the works of many artists; A. Derain, R. Dufy, P. Picasso, masters of the “Bridge” association in Germany and so on. In Soviet art, lubok techniques were creatively used by V.V. Mayakovsky and others to create posters and propaganda pictures, as well as by T. A. Mavrina for illustrating children's books. "Jung-hoi, cutting the demon." Woodcut, coloring. China. 19th century "The hunter stabs the bear, but the dogs gnaw." Woodcut, coloring. Russia. 1st half 18th century Literature: D. A. Rovinsky, Russian folk pictures, vol. 1-5 (text), vol. 1-4 (atlas), St. Petersburg, 1881; V. M. Alekseev, Chinese folk picture, M., 1966; (Yu. Ovsyannikov), Lubok. (Album), M., 1968; O. Baldina, Russian folk pictures, M., 1972; Duchartre P.-L., Saulnier R., L'imagerie populaire, P., 1926. (Source: “Popular art encyclopedia.” Edited by Polevoy V.M.; M.: Publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986. )lubok is a folk picture, a work of graphics (mostly printed), characterized by simplicity and intelligibility of the image and intended for mass distribution. The Russian word “lubok” probably comes from “lubok” - the top layer of wood. ; large boxes were made from it, in which folk pictures were carried. Linden, which served as a material for printing boards, was also used. The oldest folk pictures appeared in Europe from the 15th century, in Russia - from the 18th century. and Russian lubok were paper icons sold at fairs and places of pilgrimage. “Yaga Baba rides with a corcodile Lubok,” watercolor, early 18th century. “Jester Farnos, Red Nose,” watercolor. 18th century “Kazansky cat”. Woodcut, watercolor. 18th century 17-beg. 18th century), then into a funny monster - a crocodile, and his wife Catherine I - into Baba Yaga (“Yaga Baba goes to fight with a corcodile”, early 18th century). Professional artists who created patriotic leaflets during the Patriotic War of 1812 (A.G. Venetsianov, I.I. Terebenev, etc.) turned to the biting visual language of folk pictures. The image in popular prints is complemented by text, which is often a dialogue between characters in the spirit of the mischievous jokes of buffoons or performances of a folk square theater.

What is lubok? Why and how was it made? What does it have in common with the deck of a ship? And why did the authorities ban it? The answers are in the article!

News of various kinds have become an integral part of the life of a modern person. And it doesn’t matter where we get them from: from the Internet, from newspapers or on television. It is important for us that the information is fresh, varied and constant. And if you think that our ancestors managed without this, then you are very mistaken. In the old days, they also had their own media. And they, too, were wildly popular. And some of them were also prohibited. And they also advertised something, scolded someone, suggested something. So what did the editors of that time produce?

In the old days, there was one type of media, and it was popular print. Lubok, also known as a popular sheet or picture, is a stylized image printed on paper with comments. And since it reflects the creativity of the people rather than of professionals, it was distinguished by its simplicity, conciseness and intelligibility.

Short story

The first popular prints (nianhua) appeared in China. Moreover, at first, each sheet was drawn by hand, and only after the 8th century did the Chinese learn to make prints. From the Middle Kingdom, popular art spread to India and Arab countries. Like all oriental painting, Asian popular prints were distinguished by their richness of colors and abundance of elements.

Lubok has been known in European countries since the 15th century. At first the images were black and white, and resembled unsightly children's coloring books; They gained color a little later. European popular prints were distinguished by a variety of subjects and were similar to modern newspapers and magazines: in large cities there were editorial factories (which later became printing houses) and shops selling them.

In some countries, lubok existed until the 19th century. They were replaced by ordinary printed newspapers and comics.

Popular prints

In the East, pictures had predominantly religious and philosophical content, but as soon as lubok came to Europe, their themes expanded significantly. Fairy tales or epics, historical and legal (images of trials filled with satire and morality) appeared. As well as pictures depicting saints (like modern calendars), horsemen and folk heroes. Jokers - humorous popular prints with caricatures, satire, jokes, toasts and fables - had a special place and great popularity.

In addition, in Europe, some large firms and enterprises ordered advertising prints telling about their products or services. Very often, lubok were used by the government and the church as propaganda or agitation. In general, popular prints used to play the same role as modern newspapers and leaflets.

Lubki in Russia

Lubok came to Russia from Europe in the 16th century and it was then called “Fryazhsky leaf”. At first, only imported pictures were on sale, but from the end of the 17th century, the Moscow Court Printing House learned how to produce them independently. Based on the method of production, they received their new name - lubok. But more on that below.

Despite the availability of domestic products for sale, imported jokers were very popular. The Orthodox Church was outraged by their “immorality and obscenity,” and things went so far as to ban the sale of “sheets of heretics.” The ban was introduced in 1674, and in 1721, at the insistence of the church, censorship was introduced on domestic popular prints. The so-called Izugraphic Chamber monitored the morality of the pictures.

But, fortunately, printing houses that knew how to bypass censorship flourished. Otherwise, we would not have wonderful popular prints demonstrating the folk customs of past times.

Making splints

In Russia, manufacturers of popular prints were called “Fryazh carving masters.” The very process of drawing and coloring a drawing is a sign.

The work consisted of the following: the artist (banner) drew an image on the board, and the engraver cut it out, that is, made a print. Then the copyist applied dark paint to it and made an imprint on the paper - the result was a simple picture. These sheets were handed over to the artels engaged in coloring. As a rule, children and women worked in them. The professional workers of such cartels were called flower workers. But with the advent of new, more advanced methods of drawing (lithography and engraving), such artels were disbanded.

So why did the printed pictures get such a name - lubok? Answer: the design for the imprint was applied to a linden board obtained by a special sawing method from the lower part of the tree bark. Such boards were called bast. They were used to make roofs of houses and decks of ships, and the bast obtained from young trees was good for bast.

This is the history of lubok - a special type of folk art, the predecessor of newspapers, magazines and now popular comic books.

What is lubok? Why and how was it made? What does it have in common with the deck of a ship? And why did the authorities ban it? The answers are in the article!

News of various kinds have become an integral part of the life of a modern person. And it doesn’t matter where we get them from: from the Internet, from newspapers or on television. It is important for us that the information is fresh, varied and constant. And if you think that our ancestors managed without this, then you are very mistaken. In the old days, they also had their own media. And they, too, were wildly popular. And some of them were also prohibited. And they also advertised something, scolded someone, suggested something. So what did the editors of that time produce?

In the old days, there was one type of media, and it was popular print. Lubok, also known as a popular sheet or picture, is a stylized image printed on paper with comments. And since it reflects the creativity of the people rather than of professionals, it was distinguished by its simplicity, conciseness and intelligibility.

Short story

The first popular prints (nianhua) appeared in China. Moreover, at first, each sheet was drawn by hand, and only after the 8th century did the Chinese learn to make prints. From the Middle Kingdom, popular art spread to India and Arab countries. Like all oriental painting, Asian popular prints were distinguished by their richness of colors and abundance of elements.

Lubok has been known in European countries since the 15th century. At first the images were black and white, and resembled unsightly children's coloring books; They gained color a little later. European popular prints were distinguished by a variety of subjects and were similar to modern newspapers and magazines: in large cities there were editorial factories (which later became printing houses) and shops selling them.

In some countries, lubok existed until the 19th century. They were replaced by ordinary printed newspapers and comics.

Popular prints

In the East, pictures had predominantly religious and philosophical content, but as soon as lubok came to Europe, their themes expanded significantly. Fairy tales or epics, historical and legal (images of trials filled with satire and morality) appeared. As well as pictures depicting saints (like modern calendars), horsemen and folk heroes. Jokers - humorous popular prints with caricatures, satire, jokes, toasts and fables - had a special place and great popularity.

In addition, in Europe, some large firms and enterprises ordered advertising prints telling about their products or services. Very often, lubok were used by the government and the church as propaganda or agitation. In general, popular prints used to play the same role as modern newspapers and leaflets.

Lubki in Russia

Lubok came to Russia from Europe in the 16th century and it was then called “Fryazhsky leaf”. At first, only imported pictures were on sale, but from the end of the 17th century, the Moscow Court Printing House learned how to produce them independently. Based on the method of production, they received their new name - lubok. But more on that below.

Despite the availability of domestic products for sale, imported jokers were very popular. The Orthodox Church was outraged by their “immorality and obscenity,” and things went so far as to ban the sale of “sheets of heretics.” The ban was introduced in 1674, and in 1721, at the insistence of the church, censorship was introduced on domestic popular prints. The so-called Izugraphic Chamber monitored the morality of the pictures.

But, fortunately, printing houses that knew how to bypass censorship flourished. Otherwise, we would not have wonderful popular prints demonstrating the folk customs of past times.

Making splints

In Russia, manufacturers of popular prints were called “Fryazh carving masters.” The very process of drawing and coloring a drawing is a sign.

The work consisted of the following: the artist (banner) drew an image on the board, and the engraver cut it out, that is, made a print. Then the copyist applied dark paint to it and made an imprint on the paper - the result was a simple picture. These sheets were handed over to the artels engaged in coloring. As a rule, children and women worked in them. The professional workers of such cartels were called flower workers. But with the advent of new, more advanced methods of drawing (lithography and engraving), such artels were disbanded.

So why did the printed pictures get such a name - lubok? Answer: the design for the imprint was applied to a linden board obtained by a special sawing method from the lower part of the tree bark. Such boards were called bast. They were used to make roofs of houses and decks of ships, and the bast obtained from young trees was good for bast.

This is the history of lubok - a special type of folk art, the predecessor of newspapers, magazines and now popular comic books.

Russian popular prints are the creations of nameless folk artists. Lubok is a type of fine art that is characterized by clarity and capacity of the image. Lubki are very popular in Russia. Lubok - (folk picture) - a type of graphics, an image with a caption, characterized by the simplicity and accessibility of images. Lubok is also called a folk (folklore) picture and is associated with a colored graphic image replicated in printing.

Lubok is originally a sheet art edition with a primitive picture and signature designed for undemanding tastes. Lubok - This term has other meanings, see Lubok (meanings). This is the so-called a folklore picture with a signature, a very special type of graphic art, characterized by simplicity of execution and laconicism.

Then the so-called “Fryazhsky sheets”, and later small paper pictures began to be called simply lubok (popular folk picture). Lubok, along with other goals, was called upon to perform an educational function, introducing illiterate sections of the population to reading. Russian lubok differs from others in its consistency of composition, and, for example, Chinese or Indian lubok sheets - in their bright colors.

Foreigners brought popular prints to give as gifts. And all this was done with pictures. Secondly, lubok served as decoration. Russian craftsmen gave the popular print a joyful character. Traders walked around fairs with such bast baskets, selling funny pictures. The first popular prints were in the form of paper icons, biblical pictures, and described the lives of saints. Luboks were also used for serious purposes. For example, in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a popular print about Ilya-Muromets served as a call to fight against enemies.

If in the 18th century the boards from which popular prints were printed were wooden, then in the 19th century they became metal, and therefore it became possible to make linear drawings more subtle and elegant. The technique of making hand-drawn popular prints is unique. Often the splint had a decorative purpose. Often the popular print contains explanatory inscriptions and additional (explanatory, complementary) images to the main one.

Eastern lubok (China, India) is distinguished by its bright colors. The lubok was made in the following way: the artist drew a pencil drawing on a linden board (lubo), then using a knife to make indentations using this drawing in those places that should remain white. Lubok (not to be confused with pubis) is an art form that was very popular in pre-revolutionary, that is, imperial Russia.

Black and white prints were painted with hare's feet by women near Moscow and Vladimir. If possible, please send versions of Russian lubok, preferably on the topic of drinking with maximum resolution for preparing an article on the history of mead making in Rus'. Thank you in advance, editors. In the 18th century bast replaced copper boards in the 19th and 20th centuries. These pictures were already produced using the printing method, but their name “popular prints” was retained for them. This type of simple and crude art for mass consumption became widespread in Russia in the 17th – early 20th centuries, even giving rise to popular popular literature.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Russian popular print, which came to the attention of young avant-garde artists M. F. Larionov, N. S. Goncharova and others, influenced the formation of their individual style to varying degrees.

Lubki have always been affordable even for the most insolvent buyers; they were distinguished by the intelligibility of texts and visuals, the brightness of colors and the complementarity of images and explanations. As a genre that combines graphics and literary elements, lubok were not a purely Russian phenomenon. Thematically, all the popular prints they created had a religious content, but biblical heroes were often depicted on them in Russian folk clothing (like Cain plowing the land on Vasily Koren’s popular print).

I immediately remember the bright pictures “Kazan Cat”, “Goat with a Bear” and, well, maybe “Red Nose Farnos”. Nothing else especially comes to mind. The question of the origin of the name “lubok” remains open.

Mostly popular prints were made in the suburbs of Moscow. Well, that's what the sources say. Alas, as I already said, in the 19th century there began a decline in interest in these pictures, which previously served to decorate the houses of both the nobility and commoners. Books and oil paintings came into fashion. Short-lived paper pictures have disappeared from the scene. No matter how sad they are, they remained, mainly in the private collections of true connoisseurs of folk art, on the other hand, and for this we thank you very much.

Who and why called them “popular prints” is not known. We can see evidence that lubok were popular in Moscow even now. By the end of the century, popular prints had exhausted themselves - new pictures appeared, produced in factories. Such popular prints were often distributed among the people for free. From the 17th century popular prints were ubiquitous in Europe. Sometimes there were texts on popular prints. Obviously, this was the case, but it is not clear why the pictures stubbornly continued to be called popular prints.

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Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Splint (popular print, popular sheet, amusing sheet, simpleton) - a type of graphics, an image with a caption, characterized by the simplicity and accessibility of images. Originally a type of folk art. It was made using the techniques of woodcuts, copper engravings, lithographs and was supplemented with hand coloring.

Popular prints are characterized by simplicity of technique and laconism of graphic means (rough strokes, bright colors). Often the popular print contains a detailed narrative with explanatory inscriptions and additional (explanatory, complementary) images to the main one.

Story

The most ancient popular prints are known in China. Until the 8th century, they were drawn by hand. Starting from the 8th century, the first popular prints made in woodcut are known. Lubok appeared in Europe in the 15th century. Early European popular prints are characterized by the woodcut technique. Copper engraving and lithography are later added.

Due to its intelligibility and focus on the “broad masses,” the popular print was used as a means of propaganda (for example, “flying leaflets” during the Peasant War and the Reformation in Germany, popular prints during the French Revolution).

In Germany, picture factories were located in Cologne, Munich, Neuruppin; in France - in the city of Troyes. In Europe, books and pictures with obscene content are widespread, for example, “Tableau de l'amur conjual” (Picture of Married Love). “Seductive and immoral pictures” were imported to Russia from France and Holland.

Russian lubok of the 18th century is distinguished by its consistent composition.

In Russia

Story

In Russia from the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, prints were sold that were called “Fryazhsky sheets” or “German amusing sheets”. In Russia, drawings were printed on specially sawn boards. The boards were called lube (from where deck). Drawings, drawings, plans were written on the bast since the 15th century. In the 17th century, colorable bast boxes. Later, paper pictures were called lubok, lubok picture.

At the end of the 17th century, a Fryazhsky printing mill was installed in the Upper (Court) printing house for printing Fryazhian sheets. In 1680, master Afanasy Zverev cut “all sorts of Fryazhian cuttings” on copper boards for the Tsar.

German amusing sheets were sold in Vegetable Row, and later on Spassky Bridge.

Censorship and bans

The plots and drawings were borrowed from foreign Almanacs and Calendars. At the beginning of the 19th century, plots were borrowed from the novels and stories of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Anne Radcliffe, Sophie Cotten, François René de Chateaubriand and other writers.

At the end of the 19th century, pictures on themes from the Holy Scriptures, portraits of the imperial family prevailed, then there were genre pictures, most often of a moral and instructive nature (about the disastrous consequences of gluttony, drunkenness, greed), front editions of “Eruslan Lazarevich” and other fairy tales, images in faces of folk songs (“The boyars were traveling from Nova-Gorod”, “The husband beat her husband”), women’s heads with absurd inscriptions, images of cities ( Jerusalem - the navel of the earth).

Types of splints

  • Spiritual and religious - in the Byzantine style. Icon type images. Lives of saints, parables, moral teachings, songs, etc.
  • Philosophical.
  • Legal - depictions of trials and legal actions. The following subjects were often encountered: “Shemyakin trial” and “The Tale of Ersha Ershovich”.
  • Historical - “Touching stories” from the chronicles. Image of historical events, battles, cities. Topographic maps.
  • Fairy tales - magical tales, heroic tales, “Tales of Daring People”, everyday tales.
  • Holidays - images of saints.
  • Cavalry - popular prints with images of horsemen.
  • Joker - amusing popular prints, satires, caricatures, babbles.

Production of splints

One of the first Russian figure factories appeared in Moscow in the middle of the 18th century. The factory belonged to the merchants Akhmetyev. There were 20 machines at the factory.

19th century

In the middle of the 19th century, large figured printing houses operated in Moscow: Akhmetyev, Loginov, Shchurov, Chizhov, Kudryakov, Rudnev, Florov, Lavrentieva, Sharapova, Kirilova, Morozov, Streltsov, Yakovlev.

In the second half of the 19th century, one of the largest producers and distributors of printed popular prints was I. D. Sytin. In 1882, the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition took place in Moscow, at which Sytin's products were awarded a silver medal.

I. D. Sytin collected boards from which popular prints were printed for about 20 years. The collection, worth several tens of thousands of rubles, was destroyed during a fire in Sytin's printing house during the 1905 Revolution.

At the end of the 19th century, Sytin annually produced about 2 million copies of calendars, about 1.5 million pictures of biblical subjects and 900 thousand pictures of secular content, Morozov produced up to 1.4 million pictures annually, Golyshev’s lithography - about 300 thousand. Prostovikov, that is, the cheapest pictures, costing 1/2 a kopeck each, were printed and colored in the Moscow district about 4 million annually. The highest price for popular prints was 25 kopecks.

Lubok in Russian playing cards by V.M. Sveshnikov

The evolution of Russian popular print

    Lubok Meal of the pious and the wicked.png

    Four-leaf splint "The Meal of the Pious and the Wicked"(XVIII century)

    Lubok How mice buried a cat.png

    “How mice buried a cat”(XVIII century)

    Lubok A bear and a goat are cooling off.jpg

    A bear and a goat are chilling(XVIII century)

    A man weaves bast shoes(XVIII century)

    Lubok the Brave Knight Franz Venetsian.png

    Brave Knight Franz Venetian(XIX century)

    Lubok Lived in the small village of Vanka.png

    Vanka lived in a small village...(XIX century)

see also

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Notes

Literature

  • // Yurkov S. E. Under the sign of the grotesque: anti-behavior in Russian culture (XI-early XX centuries). SPb., 2003, p. 177-187.
  • Folk picture of the 17th-19th centuries, collection. art., ed. Dmitry Bulanin, 1996.
  • Mikhail Nikitin. On the history of the study of Russian popular print // Soviet art history. 1986. Issue 20. P.399-419.
  • Anatoly Rogov“Pantry of Joy”, Moscow, ed. Enlightenment, 1982.
  • Lubok, M., 1968.
  • Ivanov E.P. Russian folk popular print. With 90 monochrome and 13 colorful reproductions. M.: IZOGIZ, - 1937.
  • Popular prints // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
  • Rovinsky D. A., Russian folk pictures, St. Petersburg, 1881.
  • Ivan Snegirev Popular prints of the Russian people in the Moscow world. Moscow. In University type., 1861.
  • Splint- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

Links

  • From the collection of the State Historical Museum

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Excerpt characterizing Lubok

- So, what have you decided, Madonna?
I mustered all my courage not to show how my voice was trembling, and said quite calmly:
– I have already answered this question to you so many times, Holiness! What could have changed in such a short time?
There was a feeling of fainting, but, looking into Anna’s eyes shining with pride, all the bad things suddenly disappeared somewhere... How bright and beautiful my daughter was at that terrible moment!..
-Are you crazy, Madonna! Can you really just send your daughter to the basement?.. You know perfectly well what awaits her there! Come to your senses, Isidora!..
Suddenly, Anna came close to Karaffa and said in a clear, ringing voice:
– You are not a judge and not God!.. You are just a sinner! That is why the Ring of Sinners burns your dirty fingers!.. I think it is not by chance that you are wearing it... For you are the most vile of them! You won't scare me, Caraffa. And my mother will never submit to you!
Anna straightened up and... spat in Dad's face. Caraffa turned deathly pale. I've never seen anyone turn pale so quickly! His face literally turned ashen gray in a split second... and death flashed in his burning dark eyes. Still standing in a “tetanus” from Anna’s unexpected behavior, I suddenly understood everything - she was deliberately provoking Karaffa so as not to delay!.. In order to quickly decide something and not torment me. To go to her own death... My soul was wracked with pain - Anna reminded me of the girl Damiana... She decided her fate... and I couldn’t help. I couldn't intervene.
- Well, Isidora, I think you will greatly regret this. You are a bad mother. And I was right about women - they are all the offspring of the devil! Including my poor mother.
- Forgive me, your Holiness, but if your mother is the offspring of the Devil, then who then are you?.. After all, you are flesh of her flesh? – I asked, sincerely surprised by his delusional judgments.
- Oh, Isidora, I have long ago exterminated this in myself!.. And only when I saw you, my feeling for a woman awakened in me again. But now I see that I was wrong! You are just like everyone else! You are terrible!.. I hate you and people like you!
Caraffa looked crazy... I was afraid that this could end for us in something much worse than what was planned in the beginning. Suddenly, suddenly jumping up to me, Dad literally shouted: “Yes” or “no”?!.. I’m asking you for the last time, Isidora!..
What could I answer to this deranged man?.. Everything had already been said, and I could only remain silent, ignoring his question.
– I give you one week, Madonna. I hope that you will come to your senses and feel sorry for Anna. And myself... - and grabbing my daughter by the arm, Caraffa jumped out of the room.
I just now remembered that I need to breathe... Dad shocked me so much with his behavior that I couldn’t come to my senses and kept waiting for the door to open again. Anna mortally insulted him, and I was sure that, having recovered from the attack of anger, he would definitely remember this. My poor girl!.. Her fragile, pure life hung by a thread, which could easily break at the capricious will of Caraffa...
For some time I tried not to think about anything, giving my fevered brain at least some respite. It seemed that not only Caraffa, but along with him the entire world I knew had gone crazy... including my brave daughter. Well, our lives were extended another week... Could anything have been changed? In any case, at the moment there was not a single more or less normal thought in my tired, empty head. I stopped feeling anything, I stopped even being afraid. I think this is exactly how people felt when they were about to die...
Could I change anything in just seven short days, if I failed to find the “key” to Caraffa for four long years?.. In my family, no one ever believed in chance... Therefore, hope that something will unexpectedly bring salvation - that would be the child’s wish. I knew that there was nowhere to wait for help. Father clearly could not help if he offered Anna to take her essence, in case of failure... Meteora also refused... We were alone with her, and we had to help ourselves only. Therefore, I had to think, trying not to lose hope until the last moment, that in this situation it was almost beyond my strength...
The air began to thicken in the room - North appeared. I just smiled at him, without feeling any excitement or joy, because I knew that he had not come to help.
– Greetings, North! What brought you again?.. – I asked calmly.
He looked at me in surprise, as if not understanding my calmness. He probably didn’t know that there is a limit to human suffering, which is very difficult to reach... But having reached even the worst, he becomes indifferent, since there is no strength left even to be afraid...
“I’m sorry I can’t help you, Isidora.” Is there anything I can do for you?
- No, North. Can not. But I will be glad if you stay with me... I am pleased to see you - I answered sadly and after a short pause, added: - We got one week... Then Caraffa, most likely, will take our short lives. Tell me, are they really worth so little?.. Are we really going to leave as easily as Magdalene left? Is there really no one who would cleanse our world, the North, of this inhumanity?..
– I didn’t come to you to answer old questions, my friend... But I must admit - you made me change my mind a lot, Isidora... You made me see again what I had been trying hard to forget for years. And I agree with you - we are wrong... Our truth is too “narrow” and inhumane. She strangles our hearts... And we become too cold to correctly judge what is happening. Magdalene was right when she said that our Faith is dead... Just as you are right, Isidora.
I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at him, unable to believe what I was hearing!.. Was this the same proud and always right North, which did not allow any, even the slightest criticism of its great Teachers and its beloved Meteora? !!
I didn’t take my eyes off him, trying to penetrate his pure, but tightly closed from everyone, soul... What changed his centuries-old opinion?!. What prompted you to look at the world more humanely?..
“I know, I surprised you,” Sever smiled sadly. “But even the fact that I opened up to you won’t change what’s happening.” I don't know how to destroy Karaffa. But our White Magus knows this. Do you want to go to him again, Isidora?
– May I ask what changed you, Sever? – I asked carefully, not paying attention to his last question.
He thought for a moment, as if trying to answer as truthfully as possible...
– This happened a very long time ago... From the very day Magdalene died. I have not forgiven myself and all of us for her death. But our laws apparently lived too deeply in us, and I did not find the strength within myself to admit it. When you came, you vividly reminded me of everything that happened then... You are just as strong and just as giving of yourself for those who need you. You awakened in me a memory that I had been trying to kill for centuries... You revived the Golden Mary in me... I thank you for this, Isidora.
Hidden very deep, pain screamed in Sever's eyes. There was so much of it that it flooded me completely!.. And I couldn’t believe that I had finally discovered his warm, pure soul. That he was finally alive again!..
- North, what should I do? Aren't you scared that the world is ruled by such non-humans as Caraffa?..
– I have already suggested to you, Isidora, that we go again to Meteora to see the Lord... Only he can help you. Unfortunately, I can't...
For the first time, I felt his disappointment so clearly... Disappointment with my helplessness... Disappointment with the way he lived... Disappointment with his outdated TRUTH...
Apparently, a person’s heart is not always able to fight what it is accustomed to, what it has believed in all its adult life... So is the North - it could not so easily and completely change, even realizing that it was wrong. He lived for centuries, believing that he was helping people... believing that he was doing exactly what, one day, would have to save our imperfect Earth, would have to help her finally be born... He believed in goodness and in the future, despite to losses and pain that I could have avoided if I had opened my heart earlier...
But we are all, apparently, imperfect – even the North. And no matter how painful the disappointment may be, we have to live with it, correcting some old mistakes and making new ones, without which our Earthly life would not be real...
– Do you have a little time for me, Sever? I would like to know what you did not have time to tell me the last time we met. Have I tired you with my questions? If yes, tell me and I will try not to bother you. But if you agree to talk to me, you will give me a wonderful gift, since what you know, no one will tell me while I am still here on Earth...
– What about Anna?.. Don’t you prefer to spend time with her?
– I called her... But my girl is probably sleeping, because she doesn’t answer... She’s tired, I think. I don't want to disturb her peace. Therefore, talk to me, North.
He looked me sadly and knowingly in the eyes and quietly asked:
– What do you want to know, my friend? Ask - I will try to answer everything that worries you.
– Svetodar, Sever... What happened to him? How did the son of Radomir and Magdalena live his life on Earth?..
The North began to think... Finally, taking a deep breath, as if throwing off the obsession of the past, he began his next exciting story...
– After the crucifixion and death of Radomir, Svetodar was taken to Spain by the Knights of the Temple to save him from the bloody clutches of the “holy” church, which, no matter the cost, tried to find and destroy him, since the boy was the most dangerous living witness, and also , the direct successor of Radomir’s Tree of Life, which was supposed to someday change our world.
Svetodar lived and learned about his surroundings in the family of a Spanish nobleman, who was a faithful follower of the teachings of Radomir and Magdalene. To their great sadness, they did not have their own children, so the “new family” received the boy very cordially, trying to create for him as comfortable and warm a home environment as possible. They called him Amori (which meant dear, beloved), since it was dangerous for Svyatodar to be called by his real name. It sounded too unusual for someone else’s ears, and it was more than unreasonable to risk Svetodar’s life because of this. So Svetodar became Amory’s boy for everyone else, and only his friends and his family called him by his real name. And then, only when there were no strangers nearby...
Remembering very well the death of his beloved father, and still suffering cruelly, Svetodar vowed in his childish heart to “remake” this cruel and ungrateful world. He vowed to devote his future life to others to show how ardently and selflessly he loved Life, and how fiercely his deceased father fought for Good and Light...
Together with Svetodar, his uncle, Radan, remained in Spain, who did not leave the boy night or day, and was endlessly worried about his fragile, still unformed life.
Radan doted on his wonderful nephew! And he was endlessly frightened by the fact that one day someone would definitely track them down and end the valuable life of little Svetodar, who, even then, from the very first years of his existence, was destined by a harsh fate to carry the torch of Light and Knowledge to our merciless, but so dear and the familiar, Earthly world.
Eight intense years have passed. Svetodar turned into a wonderful young man, now much more like his courageous father, Jesus-Radomir. He matured and became stronger, and in his clear blue eyes the familiar steel tint that had once flashed so brightly in the eyes of his father began to appear more and more often.
Svetodar lived and studied very diligently, hoping with all his heart to someday become like Radomir. The Magus Isten, who came there, taught him Wisdom and Knowledge. Yes, yes, Isidora! – Noticing my surprise, Seever smiled. - the same Isten you met in Meteor. Isten, together with Radan, tried in every possible way to develop Svetodar’s living thinking, trying to open the mysterious World of Knowledge for him as widely as possible, so that (in case of trouble) the boy would not remain helpless and would be able to stand up for himself, coming face to face with an enemy or losses.
Having once said goodbye to his wonderful sister and Magdalena, Svetodar never saw them alive again... And although almost every month someone brought him fresh news from them, his lonely heart deeply missed his mother and sister - his the only real family, not counting Uncle Radan. But, despite his early age, Svetodar even then learned not to show his feelings, which he considered the unforgivable weakness of a real man. He aspired to grow up to be a Warrior like his father, and did not want to show his vulnerability to others. This is how Uncle Radan taught him... and this is what his mother... distant and beloved Golden Maria asked in her messages.
After the senseless and terrible death of Magdalene, Svetodar’s entire inner world turned into pure pain... His wounded soul did not want to come to terms with such an unfair loss. And although Uncle Radan had been preparing him for such an opportunity for a long time, the misfortune that came hit the young man with a hurricane of unbearable torment, from which there was no salvation... His soul suffered, writhing in impotent anger, because nothing could be changed... nothing could be returned back. His wonderful, gentle mother left for a distant and unfamiliar world, taking his sweet little sister with her...