When there was an ancient Russian literature and why?

The question of when Old Russian literature arose is of concern to all those who are interested in the history and culture of our country today. We will try to give an exhaustive answer to it.

What is Old Russian literature?

Old Russian literature is called the monuments of bookishness of Kievan Rus, which appeared at the stage of the creation of the state of the Eastern Slavs, called Kiev Rus. The Old Russian period in the history of Russian literature, according to some literary critics, ends in 1237 (during the ruinous Tatar invasion), according to other literary critics, it continues for another 400 years and gradually ends in the era of the revival of the Moscow state after the Time of Troubles.

However, the first version is more preferable, which partly explains to us when and why Old Russian literature appeared.

In any case, this fact shows that our ancestors approached such a stage of social development when folklore works ceased to satisfy them, and new genres - of hagiographic literature, teachings, selectors and "words" were required.

When the Old Russian literature arose: the history and main factors of the emergence

There is no exact date for writing the first Old Russian work in history, however, the beginning of bookishness in Rus is traditionally associated with two events. The first - the appearance in our country of Orthodox monks - Methodius and Cyril, who created the alphabet Glagoliticus, and later made their efforts to create the Cyrillic alphabet. This made it possible to translate liturgical and Christian texts of the Byzantine Empire into the Old Slavonic language.

The second key event was the actual Christianization of Russia, which allowed our state to closely associate with the Greeks - the bearers of then wisdom and knowledge.

It should be noted that the question of what year Old Russian literature arose can not be answered also because a huge number of monuments of Old Russian bookishness were lost due to the devastating Horde yoke, most of them were burnt in the numerous fires brought to our country by bloodthirsty nomads .

The most famous monuments of the bookishness of Ancient Rus

Answering the question about when Old Russian literature arose, one should not forget that works of this period represent a sufficiently high level of literary mastery. One famous "Word" about the trip of Prince Igor to Polovtsy is just worth it.

Despite the devastating historical circumstances, the following monuments have survived to this day.

Let's briefly list the key ones:

1. The Laurentian Chronicle.
2. Ostromir Gospel.
3. Numerous educational collections.
4. Collections of life (for example, collections of the lives of the first Russian saints from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra).
5. "A word about the law and grace" of Hilarion.
6. Life of Boris and Gleb.
7. Reading about the princes Boris and Gleb.
8. "The Tale of Bygone Years."
9. "Instruction of Prince Vladimir, nicknamed Monomakh."
10. "A word about the shelf of Igor."
11. "Tale of the death of the Russian land."

Chronology of ancient Russian literature

A connoisseur of the ancient Russian written tradition, academician D.S. Likhachev and his colleagues assumed that the answer to the question of when Old Russian literature arose was to be found in the first monuments of Russian literature.

According to these chronicles, in our country in the 10th century, first appeared translation works from the Greek language. At the same time, folklore texts of legends about the exploits of Svyatoslav Igorevich were created, as well as epics about Prince Vladimir.

In the 11th century, thanks to the activities of Metropolitan Hilarion, literary works were written. For example, this is the already mentioned "Word of Law and Grace," a description of the adoption of Christianity by the Russian people, and others. In the same century, the texts of the first selectors were created, as well as the first texts of the lives of the princes Boris and Gleb, who died as a result of the priests' quarrel and later ranked as saints.

In the 12th century original author's works were written, which told about the life of Theodosius, hegumen of Pechersky, the lives of other saints of the Russian land. At the same time, the text of the so-called Galician Gospel was created, the talented Russian speaker Cyril Turovsky wrote parables and "words." The same century is the creation of the text of "The Lay of Igor's Host". At the same time, a large number of translated works come from Byzantium and carry the foundations of both Christian and Hellenic wisdom.

Consequently, it is possible to answer with all objectivity the question of the century in which ancient Russian literature arose, thus: it happened in the 10th century together with the appearance of the Slavic script and the creation of Kievan Rus as a single state.