Radzivilov Chronicle miniatures. The Tale of Bygone Years original and translation
Preface to the publication of the Radzivilov Chronicle
M. V. Kukushkina
A few early (up to the 15th century) obverse manuscripts have survived in the world, telling about distant events from the history of European peoples. In Byzantium and Western Europe such illustrated texts are presented in chronicles; in Rus', current events were reflected in weather records, and later included in local annals or chronicle codes. Only one Russian chronicle has survived to this day - Radzivilovskaya, illustrated with a large number of miniatures, the facsimile of which occupies a separate volume of this publication (Radzivilovskaya chronicle: Text. Research. Description of miniatures / Editor-in-chief M.V. Kukushkin. St. Petersburg: Verb; M .: Art, 1994. Books 1-2.).
The chronicle is unique, like any handwritten book, but the originality of Radzivilovskaya is in her miniatures, the prototypes of which have not been preserved; the text is close or similar to a number of other chronicles of the XIV-XV centuries known to science.
The chronicle begins with The Tale of Bygone Years and brings the account of events up to 1206. It contains 618 miniatures, some of them are known in world literature. The miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle are extremely interesting. They are made by different masters and reflect in the images of historical persons, domestic and military scenes, recreated by artists of the 15th century, events and objects of centuries ago. According to the unanimous opinion of researchers, the illustrators of the Radzivilov Chronicle used earlier obverse originals when creating drawings.
In terms of their artistic impact, the miniatures produce a dual impression. On the one hand, they are accurate in relation to the text of the chronicle and expressive in terms of colors and drawings. On the other hand, the presence of careless editing in most of the miniatures suggests, already expressed in the literature, that the list that has come down to us was not the final version of the illustrated Radzivilov Chronicle.
The fate of the Radzivilov Chronicle is known for sure only from the middle of the 17th century. At that time, it was in Lithuania, and, according to the assumption of A. A. Shakhmatov, expressed as a result of studying the postscripts on the manuscript, it got there from Belarus at the end of the 16th century. Judging by the Latin entry made on fol. 251 vol. in the 17th century, the owner of the manuscript, Vilkia forester Stanislav Zenovich, brought it to the Vilna voivode, Hetman Jan Radziwill. After Jan's death in 1655, the manuscript continued to be a family heirloom and God gave glory to Radziwill. Glory to God died in 1669, but, apparently, before his death he bequeathed the chronicle to the Königsberg Library, the ex-libris of which with the date of receipt - 1671 - was previously attached to the inside of the upper cover of the manuscript binding.
In the work of the Lithuanian author K. Jablonskis, on the basis of indirect data, an assumption was made that the Radzivilov Chronicle was found in the family of the descendants of the Kyiv voivode (1471-1480) Martynas Gopggautas, related by family ties to the family of the Radzivilov princes. The assumption is admissible, but almost unsubstantiated.
In 1758, during the Seven Years' War with Prussia (1756-1763), Koenigsberg fell into the hands of the Russians and the Chronicle of Radzivilov was returned to Russia, transferred to the Library of the Academy of Sciences, where it is currently stored under the code 34. 5. 30 ( former cipher - Main 130).
From the color facsimile reproduction, which is close to the original, one can already have an idea of the written monument. Let us supplement our acquaintance with the manuscript with its formal description.
The Radzivilovkaya, or Konigsberg, chronicle with additions has a sheet format. There are 251 sheets in the manuscript. Most chronicle sheets are almost equally decorated with one or two miniatures. Three miniatures on four pages. Of the 618 miniatures, five (N0 198a-201a, 218 a) were glued on top of the original drawings, and one more (N0 88) was glued to an empty spot on the left. 38. The pages in the manuscript were numbered in Arabic numerals in the 18th century, and three sheets from the binding are marked with Latin letters “a”, “b”, “c”; l. I about. and the ex-libris (fol. II) are peeled off from the inside of the binding. Below, in the right corner of the sheets, there is the old numbering in Cyrillic, in which A. A. Shakhmatov first noticed errors. He also established that the numbering in Slavic numerals was made after the loss of two sheets from the annals: one - after l. 7 according to the new numbering (which was recorded in the handwriting of the 18th century - see footnote 6), the other - after l. 240 old. In addition, the numbering was done after the pages at the end of the manuscript were mixed up. According to the text after l. 236 must follow l. 239-243, 237, 238, 244 ff.
The filigree dating was made with great care by N.P. Likhachev and confirmed by the compilers of the last description of the manuscript. N. P. Likhachev singled out in the manuscript 14 varieties of bull head filigree, which he reproduced in the album under Nos. 3893-3906, as well as bull heads with a large cross, corresponding to Nos. 3904 and 3905. 7, 248-251 are similar in type to the signs in the album under No. 3864 (1484) and under No. 3857 (1495). Checking the filigrees according to Piccard's new reference book does not contradict N.P. Likhachev's dating (see: Piccard G. Die Ochsenkopfwasserzeichen. 3 Teil. Stuttgart, 1966 / Tab. XI, No. 137 - 1487; No. 149 - 1491-1494. ). Thus, the manuscript dates back to the last decade of the 15th century, and the filigree-bound sheets date back to the 18th century. The date of the manuscript is also confirmed by the letter in which the text of the manuscript is written. This is a clear semi-ustav of one handwriting, and only on the glued part of the left. 38-38 rev. the text is written in a different semi-statutory handwriting, different from the main text. The additions to the text of the chronicle on fl. 246-251.
In the text of the chronicle, probably for the purpose of later writing in cinnabar, initials were omitted at the beginning of sentences and paragraphs. Later to l. 107 initial letters were inscribed in red ink, and on fl. 39 vol. and 58 they were erroneously assigned to the small letters already present in the words. On l. 46 and 96 about. “B” is written instead of “3”. From l. 107 rev. to the end of the chronicle, with the exception of one case per fol. 118 (inscribed "H" in the word "Beginning"), the letters were left unwritten.
The manuscript has annotations that differ in handwriting, time of writing and their meaning. Following A. A. Shakhmatov, they can be divided into four groups: 1) spelling corrections made by the scribe himself in the margins of fol. 56, 136, 204, 210, 227, 241; 2) reader's notes to the text, which A. A. Shakhmatov, using source analysis, dates back to 1528; they are on l. 157 vol. (dating), 88, 90, 93v, 134v, 204, 205v, 207v (here, next to the postscript, a hand with an outstretched index finger is drawn), 210, 220v., 231, 239; 3) on a number of sheets (38, 41 rev., 42, 49, etc.) there are additions of individual letters with remote ones, made in black ink, in our opinion, perhaps when the Petrovsky copy was made. Handwriting of the 17th century - corrections and additions on the back of the sheet. 2 and postscript on l. 51; 4) this group is represented by captions to the drawings on the first eight sheets, made in red-brown ink, semi-usual, perhaps by one of the artists of the late 15th century. Only one caption to the drawing on fol. 9 - “Novgorod”, which earlier researchers did not mark at all, was made in black ink, in a different handwriting, probably somewhat later.
The manuscript is bound from planks covered with leather with an embossed geometric ornament; spine is torn off. The manuscript has now been untwisted for restoration and preparation for publication. The manuscript consists of 32 notebooks, of which 28 have 8 sheets, two have 6 (sheets 1-6 and 242-247), one has 10 sheets (sheets 232-241) and one has 4 sheets (sheets 248-251). ). In the Laboratory for the Restoration and Conservation of Documents of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Chronicle of Radzivilov was cleaned from dust page by page, the shabby sheets were restored. The drawings of the manuscript were not subjected to special restoration. After publication, the binding will be restored and reunited with the manuscript.
On the top cover of the binding, on its inner side, where the ex-libris of Boguslav Radzivil was previously glued (after restoration, glued to a blank sheet of paper, marked with the number II), the following entries: ; 2) “In rock six hundred and three, for the neck of the weeks before the great day, the water of the old calendar, a gray mare foaled”; 3) “Roku 1606, the month of May, on the 30th of the day, pan Tsypla Kryshtof was dawned before the great old one for three weeks before the Great old old Khri (not finished. - M.K.)”; on l. I three entries: 1) “I, Fure Soroka, recognize the fuss of Gorodensky’s povet with this my ticket”; 2) “Zhigimon, the third king of Poland, by the grace of God, Grand Duke of Lithuania”; 3) “Rock of the six hundred Kryshtof Tsyplyat married at Great Lent under the old calendar, three weeks before the Great Day”; below the litter in 18th century ink “No. 9”, and in the left corner “No. 348” and certification of sheets. On l. “a” is a brief description of the composition of the manuscript, written in German no later than 1713; on l. “c” there is a record signed by President S. S. Uvarov and librarian P. I. Sokolov about the ownership of the manuscript by the Academy of Sciences and about its inclusion in the printed catalog of 1818 under No. 5; on l. “s” were copied in the 19th century from the above entries, located on fl. I.
It should also be noted that in addition to the Radzivilov Chronicle, the manuscript contains the following texts: l. 246 - “The legend of Danilo the humble hegumen, who walks like his feet and sees his eyes”; l. 250 - “Word of St. Dorotheus, Bishop of Tours, about the 12 apostle saints”; l. 250v.- “The word of St. Epiphanius, the legend of the prophets and prophetesses”.
The history of the study of the Radzivilov Chronicle spans more than two centuries. Great interest in the chronicle of Peter I is known. There is evidence that as early as 1697 Peter saw this manuscript in Koenigsberg, when the Great Embassy, in whose retinue he was, was heading to Europe. In 1711, Peter again visited the Royal Library of the city of Koenigsberg and ordered to make a copy from the Radzivilov Chronicle for his personal library. A copy was sent to Peter in 1713, and in 1725, after his death, it entered the Library of the Academy of Sciences as part of his other things and books that were in the Drawing Office.
Since the researchers of the first half of the 18th century had only the Petrovsky copy of the chronicle in their hands, it became the object of their study. I.-V. worked on the Petrovsky copy. Pause, who translated it into German, G.-Z. Bayer, V.N. Tatishchev, G.-F. Miller and M. V. Lomonosov. Under the leadership of the latter, it was prepared for publication.
After the receipt of the original in 1761 by the Library of the Academy of Sciences, the interest of scientists in the Radzivilov Chronicle increased significantly. The professor of history A.-L., who had just arrived from Germany, began to study the original. Schletser, then Russian professors X. A. Chebotarev and N. I. Cherepanov, who used the Radzivilov Chronicle to sum up options when publishing the Laurentian Chronicle. The edition remained unfinished and perished during the fire of 1812. Apparently, in connection with the preparation of this edition, the original of the Radzivilov Chronicle ended up in the personal use of the Privy Councilor M. N. Muravyov, to whom it was transferred by royal order in June 1804. In 1814, after the death of Muravyov, the manuscript was kept by the well-known archeographer, director of the Imperial Public Library, A. N. Olenin, who, despite all demands, refused to return it to the Academy of Sciences. The reason for the refusal is clear: in 1815, A. N. Olenin asked the Academy of Sciences for 3,000 rubles for its publication. At that time, the chronicle was prepared for publication by the “diligence” of the curator of the Public Library A. I. Ermolaev. According to A. N. Olenin, the publication should have been supplied with “some of the most curious drawings relating to ancient customs”.
However, this illustrated edition did not take place. From the 20s of the last century, the Radzivilov chronicle began to be constantly used to summarize options for the publication of other chronicles. As A. A. Shakhmatov noted, at the beginning of the last century, when studying other early chronicles, the Radzivilov Chronicle was used by N. M. Karamzin.
In 1902, the Radzivilov Chronicle was completely photomechanically reproduced by the Society of Lovers of Ancient Literature (comrade SHUSH) at the suggestion of the founder of the OLDP, Prince P. P. Vyazemsky, with the support of Count S. D. Sheremetev. The publication allowed a large circle of researchers to study the chronicle in various aspects. True, with the exception of L. 13, the edition was made in black and white and in a slightly reduced size (29 x 19 cm) compared to the original (31.5 x 21 cm). And although these shortcomings in the publication still did not give a complete picture of the features and colorful tone of the miniatures, the study of drawings, as well as the study of the text, became significantly more active.
A detailed study of the manuscript began with the articles that accompanied the publication. The significance of the two articles, the author of which was Academician A. A. Shakhmatov, can be said to remain enduring to this day; the purpose of a short article by Academician N.P. Kondakov was the desire to draw the attention of researchers to the drawings of the chronicle.
The first of Shakhmatov's articles, already mentioned above, is devoted to a detailed description of the manuscript in its paleographic and codicological originality, the second - to the study of the text. In this study, consisting of seven chapters, A. A. Shakhmatov established as an indisputable fact that “the drawings of the Radzivilov Chronicle, as well as its text, reproduce an illustrated monument of the 13th century” . In subsequent works, he clarified his conclusions regarding the origin of the text of the Radzivilov Chronicle. By means of a fine source study and textual analysis, Shakhmatov proved the closeness and similarity, turning "mostly into the sameness" of the texts of the Radzivilov Chronicle and the Moscow Academic Code of the 15th century (RSL, MDA No. 51/182), in which the presentation of events was brought up to 1419. The dependence of both lists on a common illustrated protograph was confirmed by Shakhmatov on such examples as the omission of texts in the Moscow Academic List under 1025, where in the Radzivilov Chronicle the text was between two miniatures. The scribe of the Moscow Academic Code could take this text as captions for drawings and omit it. In addition, both lists have an overlapping confusion in the presentation of events under the years 1203-1206. A. A. Shakhmatov called the general illustrated original the Vladimir Code of the 13th century and found common readings for the Radzivilovskaya and Ipatiev Chronicles, which lead to this code. Subsequent researchers - M. D. Priselkov, Yu. A. Limonov - tried to clarify the origin of the Radzivilov Chronicle. Unlike Shakhmatov, who believed that the text of the Radzivilov Chronicle directly goes back to the chronicle of Pereyaslavl of Suzdal, brought to 1214, Yu. A. Limonov draws a direct connection from the Vladimir Code, which he dates from January 1215 to March 1216 Radzivilov Chronicle.
In this edition, an article by G. M. Prokhorov is devoted to the study of the text. Already the title of the article is “The Radzivilov List of the Vladimir Code for 6714 (1205/6).” directs the reader to the final result of the research conducted by the author. The starting position of G. M. Prokhorov is the indisputable position of A. A. Shakhmatov that the code of the beginning of the 13th century is the basis of the Radzivilov Chronicle. Since there was still no consensus among scientists about which code was the direct protographer of the Radzivilov Chronicle - Vladimir or Pereyaslavl Suzdal - and what year it can be dated, G. M. Prokhorov focused his attention precisely on these problems and unexpectedly came to very interesting and important conclusions for Russian chronicle writing. Having established the correctness of the opinion of K. M. Obolensky that in the presentation of events after 1206 the Pereyaslav Chronicle is independent from the Lavrentiev Chronicle, G. M. Prokhorov, on the basis of textual analysis and source studies, proves that the all-Russian Vladimir Code can be dated to 1205/6 , and it was he who became the basis of the early chronicles: Radzivilovskaya, Moscow-Academic, Pereyaslavskaya, and also Lavrentievskaya. Along the way, the author emphasizes the dependence of the Ipatiev and Novgorod first chronicles on the chronicle of Vladimir. Thus, the Radzivilov Chronicle, moreover, the only one richly illustrated, occupied “a very important place in the history of not only Vladimir, but also the entire Russian chronicle”.
The name of A. A. Shakhmatov is connected with another problem in the study of the Radzivilov Chronicle. He suggested that the chronicle was compiled in Western Rus', "most likely in Smolensk." This conclusion was supported by his student, the philologist V. M. Gantsov, who, under the guidance of Shakhmatov, carried out a thorough linguistic analysis of the chronicle. However, there are other points of view on the issue of the place of creation of the manuscript, which will be discussed below.
The photomechanical reproduction of the chronicle, as already mentioned, made it possible for researchers to begin studying the remarkable, according to N.P. Kondakov, monument of ancient Russian art. The problems that historians and art critics posed when studying the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle can be summarized in the following points: 1) the number of masters who took part in illustrating the chronicle; 2) sources and artistic features of miniatures; 3) source study value of miniatures; 4) the place of creation of the chronicle, based on its illustrations; 5) ways of further study of miniatures.
Each of the researchers solved these issues with varying degrees of completeness and thoroughness, depending on knowledge and interests. Since all these problems are closely related, and often the judgment about the other depends on the solution of one, we will consider them in a complex according to the authors.
Already the first researcher of miniatures, academician N.P. Kondakov, did not speak very clearly, but spoke on each of the issues raised. In his opinion, the drawings of the chronicle belonged to one hand and are a copy from an ancient obverse list (XIII-XIV centuries) of Suzdal origin. According to the general structure, compositions and artistic skill, the drawings represent “the main Greek type of facial chronicles of the 13th-14th centuries, of Byzantine proper and also of South Slavic origin.” In the everyday details of the miniatures, the author was able to see features that reflect “the connection of the West Slavic world with Suzdal Rus of the XIII-XIV centuries.” And finally, for further study of miniatures, according to N.P. Kondakov, it is necessary to engage in historical and comparative analysis.
The next researcher, V. I. Sizov, correctly identified the difficulty of studying the drawings of the chronicle. “Here we are dealing not with one illustrator, but with several diverse and, perhaps, at different times, and the drawings of a later illustrator distort and cover up the original illustrations, and this distortion is done very diligently,” writes Sizov. He focused on the distinctive features of each of the artists. In his opinion, the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle were made by five masters, of which three worked in brown ink, the same color as the text of the chronicle, the fourth master in black paint, and the fifth in cherry. Sizov managed to more or less clearly distinguish the artistic style of each of the masters. He took to the hand of the first master those miniatures, whose faces are distinguished by straight noses, large eyes, and figures - by a skillful pattern of draperies. These features, in his opinion, indicate that the artist was "familiar with the Russian school of icon painting, which kept the traditions of the Byzantine school." The first master worked with a pen and "a few transparent paints"; his drawings dominate under layers of black outlines throughout the chronicle. The second master, who also worked in an archaic manner with a brown outline, “is distinguished by great boldness of composition, free realism in the transfer of types and positions of figures.” He had no noticeable connection with the icon-painting school. The drawings of the third master are “the weakest” and have an “unstable student character”. The first three masters, unlike the next, Sizov considered Russian illustrators.
In the drawings of the fourth master, who worked with a brush, there are many foreign features that are the result of the influence of German painting, and therefore Sizov, without any special evidence, considered this master a German. The artistic manner of the fourth master was expressed “in changing the plans of the composition, adding new actors and changing the poses of the extreme figures”, performed “with haste and carelessness”. The last master, the fifth, worked with a pen; his hand belongs to the decorations of the horse harness of the riders, made in cherry-colored ink.
Our detailed excursus about the masters who, according to V. I. Sizov, created the drawings of the Radzivilov Chronicle, is due to the fact that in this work an attempt was made to determine the individual style of the artists, which makes it possible to find links in the artistic solutions of miniatures with both Byzantine and Western European art.
Sizov compiled a summary of all the features that can be traced in the clothes of the characters, weapons and other everyday details according to the miniatures drawn by the fourth master, or according to those that he corrected and supplemented. These features are given in the form of figures in the appendix to the researcher's article.
Sizov suggested that Novgorod was the place of creation of the Radzivilov Chronicle. He made this assumption on the basis of some observations of the source study and proceeding from the fact that it was in this city that the influence of German culture could be especially strong.
The next researcher, D. V. Ainalov, apparently was not familiar with the work of Sizov. On the issue of the number of illustrators of the Radzivilov Chronicle, he relied on the note by N.P. Kondakov and expressed doubts that the drawings in the first and second parts of the chronicle, so different in artistic manner, could have been created by one master. In his opinion, which coincides with the opinion of other researchers, all the miniatures in the first part bear “the imprint of archaic Byzantine painting of the 12th-13th centuries.” and among them there is “none with clear traces of German painting and engraving, so abundant in subsequent miniatures.”
He makes the solution of the question of the number of chronicle draftsmen and the nature of their artistic manner dependent on the sources that were originals in the process of work. The master or craftsmen who worked in an archaic manner followed, according to Ainalov, the originals they copied. The Radzivilov Chronicle, itself richly illustrated, in this case is proof of the existence of ancient obverse manuscripts that have not come down to us. In particular, it assumes the existence and use of the personal lives of Vladimir, Svyatoslav, Boris and Gleb of the 12th-13th centuries when creating the protograph of the Radzivilov Chronicle. These illustrated lives were supposed to preserve details not known in the painting of the 15th-16th centuries. Ainalov believed that in the future, the study of the Radzivilov Chronicle should be aimed at determining the composition of the miniatures and their correspondence to the text.
The interest of M. I. Artamonov in the study of miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle was focused on the process of creating miniatures and identifying the number of masters who worked on it. In a sharp polemic with Sizov, Artamonov proves that only two masters illustrated the chronicle. The first master was just a conscientious performer, incapable of “innovating” himself in the miniatures he copied, so at some stage he was suspended from work, and almost all of his drawings were corrected by the second master acting as editor. At the same time, Artamonov denied the possibility of artists using the originals of the 13th century, suggesting that miniatures of the 14th century, such as the Madrid chronicle of Skylitsa or the Bulgarian chronicle of Manasseh, could serve as models for the drawings of the Radzivilov Chronicle.
A well-known researcher, who had a good command of archaeological material, A. V. Artsikhovsky analyzed the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle in the source study aspect. He tried to compare the military and everyday realities depicted in the drawings with identical archaeological finds preserved in museums. In this way, he studied images of various types of ancient weapons: swords, axes, spears, six-bladed poles, cannons, as well as objects of religious worship and agricultural implements - plows, axes, shovels, scissors. According to Artsikhovsky, they can be considered in miniature as a reliable historical source. Objects symbolizing the existing hierarchy are truthfully depicted in miniatures: various kinds of crowns, hats, helmets and types of clothing. The results of the fur trade are also reliable - bundles of furs, which confirm the tribute of the conquered peoples. Artsikhovsky gave a convincing interpretation of the content of some miniatures, which depict scenes of the reign, veche, popular uprising, etc.
Following Artamonov, Artsikhovsky considered the creators of the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle to be two craftsmen from Novgorod. For only the ideology of the city-dweller-craftsman, according to the researcher, can explain the Germanisms found in the drawings of the annals.
The history of studying the manuscript was in such a state when O. I. Podobedova wrote a book in which a significant section is devoted to the study of the Radzivilov Chronicle, and where, in terms of its artistic significance, it is placed on a par between the chronicle of Georgy Amartol of the 13th century and the Illuminated Chronicle of the 16th century. Since all the questions that arose among the researchers remained debatable even after their study, Podobedova in her research tried to find new ways in the study of miniatures and turned to modern technology. With the help of ultraviolet rays, she managed to establish that three masters worked on the miniatures, two of which were within the same workshop, where the manuscript was rewritten and decorated with illustrations, and the third worked after some time.
The first master, according to the author, “carefully and carefully” copied the ancient obverse original, almost without introducing innovations into his illustrations that the culture of the 15th century gave him. In connection with this observation, Podobedova measured the miniatures, analyzed their compositions and came to the conclusion that the copied original was written in two columns and in each column the miniatures were placed symmetrically against each other. When illustrating the Radzivilov Chronicle, which was written on a full sheet, the artist, according to Podobedova, mechanically combined both images of the copied original. In some cases, such an artificial combination of two different plots into a single composition occurred “painlessly”, in others, events of different times and different characters were combined. It should be said that one can hardly agree with such an opinion of Podobedova. Of the descriptions of all the miniatures that we have carried out, most contain a story about two or even three successive actions corresponding to the presentation of events in the text of the annals. True, conventional techniques and the absence in most miniatures of a portrait resemblance even of the same prince when depicted on adjacent miniatures makes it very difficult to decipher them. As Podobedova herself notes, almost all miniatures were edited and changed by the hand of a second or third master. She assumes that the second master, when working on illustrations, had a more modern facial original, in the miniatures of which, or in some of their details, Western European motifs were reflected. The third master worked with a brush. It was he who edited the faces of the characters in the initial drawings, he corrected the beards, completed the faces, gave them the appropriate expression depending on the plot. Observing the "table of ranks", he painted princely hats.
O. I. Podobedova also raised the issue of the origin of the Radzivilov Chronicle and put forward a new hypothesis that the manuscript was created by order of the Moscow Grand Duke from December 1497 to February 1498.
This hypothesis of O. I. Podobedova unexpectedly finds confirmation in the list of the Radzivilov Chronicle previously published and published in this edition (Radzivilov Chronicle: Text. Research. Description of miniatures / Editor-in-chief M.V. Kukushkin. St. Petersburg: Verb; M .: Art, 1994. Books 1-2.). In the text of The Tale of Bygone Years, under the year 862, there is a well-known story about the calling of three brothers “from the Varangians” to reign in Rus'. Miniature number 15 depicts Rurik in Ladoga, Sineus on Beloozero and Truvor in Izborsk. At the same time, only in the text of the Radzivilov Chronicle do we find important evidence for the history of the creation of the list of the 15th century: “... and the old Rurik is sitting in Ladoz, and the other is sitting with us on Beleozero ...”. It is curious that the scribe who copied this list from a common protograph both for the Radzivilov Chronicle and for the Moscow Academic Code, having corrected the second letter now poorly distinguishable in the word “side” to “and”, in the Radzivilov list missed the name of Prince Sineus, but unlike other lists, he wrote a clarification that is unique in its significance for the history of the manuscript: “we have it on Beleozero”.
Probably, in the 17th century, the name of the second prince “Sineus” was added to the text, and already in this form the phrase entered the Petrovsky copy of the Radzivilov Chronicle of the 18th century.
It is difficult to say at the present time where exactly the list of the Radzivilov Chronicle of the 15th century was written and illustrated. It could be the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, known since the 15th century as the largest book center in Rus'. There could also be an office of the Prikaz administration of Belozerye, which in those years was already a county of Muscovy.
A completely new literary and art history aspect in the study of miniatures is given by Academician D.S. Likhachev. Summarizing his observations on illustrating historical monuments, chronicles and annals in general, he writes that the artists developed special “narrative techniques”. They are also characteristic of the Radzivilov Chronicle. Therefore, despite the “sketchy manner” of the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle, they demonstrate to us the “extraordinary art of pictorial narration”. This technique was intended to overcome the temporal and spatial limitations depicted in the miniature. Using, for example, “narrative diminution” and other aspects of the conditional language of illustrators, the artist could tell in sufficient detail about chronicle events in miniature.
D.S. Likhachev is absolutely right when he notes that illustrators also used symbols and allegories in the drawings of the Radzivilov Chronicle, therefore, when deciding on the reliability and revealing the real in miniatures, it is necessary to exclude everything unreal - conditional.
A new original conception of the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle is associated with the name of Academician B. A. Rybakov. Back in 1946, in a review of A. V. Artsikhovsky’s book, Rybakov expressed a wish to divide the Radzivilov Chronicle into separate parts in order to identify “if possible, different originals of each part.” This wish is more specifically developed by Rybakov in a 1971 book.
In the article to this edition “Miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle and Russian Front Manuscripts of the 10th-12th Centuries.” B. A. Rybakov presented his concept in its final form. He traces the dependence of the decoration of individual parts of the chronicle on the political orientation of their originals. As a result of studying the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle in conjunction with its text and the text of the Ipatiev and other early chronicles, as well as literary monuments, he came to the conclusion that the compiler of the Vladimir Code had 16 obverse manuscripts or their fragments in his hands. This interesting, but to a certain extent controversial in relation to a specific list of chronicles, the conclusion is extremely important in historical and cultural terms. Pre-Mongolian Rus', from which masterpieces of fresco painting have come down to us, as well as books of outstanding artistic design, such as the Ostromirov Gospel of 1057, Prince Svyatoslav’s Izbornik of 1073, undoubtedly had richly illustrated books, the tradition of which was preserved or revived in later written monuments, such as the Chronicle Georgiy Amartol XIV century, Radzivilov Chronicle, Front chronicle of the XVI century, containing 16 thousand miniatures.
Some private observations of B. A. Rybakov, based on the involvement of archaeological material, make his conclusions about the use by artists of the Radzivilov Chronicle through the Vladimir Code of the 13th century of earlier obverse manuscripts indisputable. These are his observations about amphoras-korchags that existed in the 9th-10th centuries and disappeared after the Mongol invasion, the original forms of the Church of the Tithes and other realities.
Thus, a comprehensive analysis of the chronicle drawings confirms their significance as a very reliable historical source. However, a historiographical review of the study of the Radzivilov Chronicle convinces us that almost none of the problems put forward by researchers has found a final solution. And this is not surprising, because the monument is extremely complex both in text and in the nature of the miniatures, and it will probably take more than one decade before it can be said that the Radzivilov Chronicle has been fully studied.
This facsimile edition, as if replicating a unique monument, makes it possible for a wider circle of researchers of ancient Russian culture and all those who promote it to study it, on the one hand, and will contribute to the preservation of the manuscript, on the other. Taking into account the interests of readers, in addition to research articles, the text of the annals and descriptions of miniatures printed in modern type are published. As can be seen from the facsimile edition, there is no division into words in the text of the chronicle, words are abbreviated with the help of titles, grammatical errors occur in the text, punctuation marks are arranged in accordance with Old Russian spelling, which makes it difficult for modern readers to understand the text. In addition, there are incorrect readings in the text of the chronicle, since this list is almost three centuries younger than the original.
The preparation of the text in accordance with the rules for the publication of historical monuments of the 15th century (for more details, see p. 16) in this edition was carried out by O.P. Likhacheva.
The published description of the miniatures was undertaken for the first time in the history of the study of the Radzivilov Chronicle in order to reveal the content of all 618 drawings. A simple arithmetic calculation shows that the knowledge of the miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle is very low. Only 340 out of 618 miniatures, that is, 55 percent, have been studied by scientists to some extent. A much smaller number of drawings were reproduced as illustrations in monographs and articles.
Above we spoke about the source study and art history significance of miniatures, about the complexity of interpreting their content. Not only do modern researchers judge the content of a number of miniatures in different ways, but also the artists of the 15th century, who had earlier facial originals in their hands, apparently could not always correctly understand the plot of the drawing or recognize the character depicted on it.
The team of authors, based on a more or less formalized sample, prepared descriptions of the miniatures in the following order: M. V. Kukushkina described the drawings under No. 1-206, O. A. Belobrova - No. 207-413, A. A. Amosov - No. 414-613 . The descriptions are provided with references to the literature, in which the content of a particular miniature or group of drawings is studied, individual elements of illustrations are examined. Links are also given to those reproductions of miniatures that accompany special studies or publications as illustrations, even in variants of this list of the Radzivilov Chronicle.
To read the miniature, each of the authors of the description had to study the text of his part of the chronicle, or at least delve deeply enough into the events it tells about. This allowed us to form a general idea of the principles of illustration and come to the conclusion that the text of the Radzivilov Chronicle was the main source for the artist's choice of the plot of the miniature, although other chronicles could also be involved. Following the idea of the artist, we correlated a certain piece of the text of the chronicle with the narrative story of the miniature itself. Such linking of the miniature to the text, which is cited in the description with abbreviations (but with a link to its full version in this volume) allows the reader to check for himself the accuracy of the disclosure of the content of the miniature. In a number of cases, however, the composition of the miniature allows for an ambiguous interpretation of the content and its correlation with a certain passage of text. In difficult cases, when a double interpretation is possible or the content of a miniature cannot be precisely determined at all, a question is posed at the end of the description. In one case, the left half of the figure (N0 17) was left undefined, in the other (N2 46), two versions of the text and, accordingly, two captions were given. In drawings No. 310 and 353, the content of the miniatures was determined by O. A. Belobrova using the text from the Ipatiev Chronicle. The text of the Ipatiev Chronicle, when determining the content of a number of miniatures, is attracted by B. A. Rybakov in a published article, to which the compilers of the descriptions of the miniatures also provide references.
Thus, different interpretations will allow the reader to form his own opinion about the content of these drawings. Most of the drawings illustrate the last lines of text before the thumbnail. However, deviations from this rule are not uncommon, especially in the second and third parts of the chronicle, where the miniature is significantly torn off from the text that it illustrates. In this regard, it should be emphasized that the chronicle in terms of decoration was not finally edited.
As noted by D.S. Likhachev, miniatures are mostly “read” from left to right, but there are quite a few compositions consisting of two subsequent actions that unfold in miniature from right to left. To facilitate the understanding of such miniatures, the direction of their reading is indicated by an arrow.
Since the question of the number of masters illustrating the manuscript is still debatable, this publication attempts to determine the hand of each of the masters who took part in the creation of the main composition or its individual details. This kind of analysis was carried out by I. N. Sergeeva with the participation of A. A. Amosov. In brief formalized descriptions, Sergeeva defines the hand of the main master illustrator, the nature of the corrections and additions made by other masters. Complex cases of changes, corrections and original drawings were viewed using infrared or ultraviolet rays in the Laboratory for the Restoration and Conservation of Documents of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Thus, the compilers of the description of the drawings in their brief captions tried to give the most important for researchers, the most verified set of information in order to increase the reference value of the volume accompanying the facsimile edition of the chronicle.
In conclusion, I want to express my deep gratitude to Doctors of Philology L.P. Zhukovskaya and N.A. Meshchersky for carefully reading the text of the chronicle prepared by O.P. Likhacheva and for the comments made. For reviewing the book as a whole, I thank Doctor of Historical Sciences A. I. Kopanev and Doctor of Philology G. N. Moiseeva. For the assistance provided in preparing the manuscript for publication, I express my special gratitude to Doctor of Historical Sciences A. A. Amosov.
About the features of miniatures
M. V. Kukushkina, O. A. Belobrova, A. A. Amosov, I. N. Sergeeva
The study of valuable monuments of art - miniatures of the Radzivilov Chronicle - is complicated by the fact that the drawings created by several masters were subjected to subsequent editing, redrawing, contouring, which sometimes completely concealed the original image. An analysis of the artistic features and technique of miniatures execution allows us to conditionally divide them into three groups. The most characteristic - in most cases the best - examples of each of these groups served as a starting point for determining the work of a particular master miniaturist.
Group I (sheet 3-95v). The manner of execution of miniatures is archaic, based on Byzantine samples. The figures are large-headed, static. Obviously - and all researchers agree with this point of view - the masters copy earlier obverse originals (or the original), which makes it possible, to a certain extent, to judge also the miniatures of early obverse manuscripts. The drawing of the miniatures of this group is graphically clear, executed with a pen, with continuous wide lines. The ink, which was based on iron oxides and therefore may have changed its original color, is now brown with a gray tint at the beginning of the manuscript, then brown in varying degrees of concentration up to deep brown.
Most of the drawings of this group were created by one miniaturist, conventionally called "Master A". In the descriptions of his work, they are abbreviated as “Fig. m. A”: l. 8 about. - 38 in., 39 century - 70, 70 about. n.- 72, 73 c.- 74 rev. n., 76 about. n.- 79 about. in., 81 about. n., 82v., 83v., 85v., 85v., 86, 86v. c., 88, 90 - 92 c. - 163 miniatures in total. Samples of his work: l. 15v. - image of people; l. 19v. - image of a horse; l. 88 - under the sticker (original drawing without editing).
Works that cannot be definitely attributed to those created by “master A”, mainly because the images of faces in them are dissimilar to the iconographic scheme to which the bulk of the miniatures of this group is subject, are designated as “Fig. m. A*”: l. 3 - 8 n. A number of miniatures cannot be considered as the work of “master A”, since they are distinguished by a weak, “student” execution (this is clearly seen in the images of horses with large, as if twisted ears, standing like horns; see sheet 80). These thumbnails are labeled “Fig. m. A**”: l. 70 rpm in., 75 about., 76 about. in, 79 about. n.- 81 about. c., 82, 83 n.- 84v. n., 85 about. in., 86 about. pp., 88v.- 89n., 92n.- 95p., 95v., 235v., 240v.- 33 miniatures in total.
Group II (folio 96v. - 194v.). The manner of execution of the miniatures of this group is free, the proportional figures are full of movement, the faces are expressive. There are images of faces in profile and horses in foreshortening, which was absent in the first group. In a number of miniatures, there is a desire to convey volumes and different planes with hatching. The drawing was done with a pen, with light thin strokes. The ink is currently a light brown, heavily faded, and therefore many of the original images, which have been corrected, are difficult to see. Apparently, this led to the fact that most researchers attributed the work of this group to the first master. Perhaps there are original compositions here, but in general, the creators of the miniatures also copy the early original. The miniatures of this group are designated as the works of “master B” - “Fig. m. B”: l. 86 rev. n. - 87 n., 95 n., 99 - 194 c. - 262 miniatures in total. Samples of the work of “master B”: 141 BC - human figures; l. 180v. - images of horses.
The drawings, which cannot undoubtedly be considered as the work of this master, are disproportionate figures in relation to each other and the manner of execution of faces is sharply different: l. 96 rev.- 97 rev. n. - are designated as “Fig. m. B*” (see sheet 97 v. c.). It is possible to assume that the miniatures of the first and second groups were created simultaneously.
Group III (fol. 194 BC to the end of the manuscript). The miniatures of this group were made by one master, conventionally called “master B”. His first compositions are found on l. 38-38v., then episodically throughout the chronicle (he fills in the remaining empty spaces, creates his own drawings on stickers) and, starting to eat. 194 AD, he illustrates (with two exceptions) the manuscript to the end. It is likely that “master B” worked somewhat later than the previous masters. If their miniatures were mostly copies, then this master creates, of course, original compositions full of dynamics, which also testify to his excellent knowledge of the achievements of Western European art of that time. to l. 216 he worked with a brush of black paint of various concentrations and a pen with brown ink, and in the first drawings the lines are wavy, as if the hand of the master was trembling. For the most part, his drawings are of a sketchy nature, sometimes they are virtuoso, but not sufficiently developed sketches, which is especially evident in the schematic execution of faces with sharp strokes of the brush or pen strokes in the form of commas. Samples of the work of “master B”: l. 212 century - human figures, pen drawing; l. 195 AD - human figures, brush drawing; l. 196 AD - depiction of people and animals, brush drawing. From l. 216 the technique of “master B” is changing. After coloring, he redraws his compositions, while using, along with a pen and a brush, a cane both for the initial drawing and for drawing. The use of a cane gave him the ability to draw continuous, clear lines of the same width, and the thin, now black, filled ink gave some "grain" to these lines. Thus, the miniatures of "master B" in the last part of the manuscript are no longer sketches, but carefully worked out drawings, in which the main attention was paid to a clear outline, although the depiction of faces remains schematic. Miniatures of “master V”: l. 38 n.- 38 rev. N., 72v., 76, 88 (on a sticker on top of the miniature sheet 88), 88v. (on a sticker on top of the miniature sheet 88v.), 89th c. (on a sticker on top of the miniature, sheet 89 c.), 89 n. (on a sticker on top of the miniature fol. 89 n.), ob. in., 89 about. n., 95 about. (on a sticker on top of the miniature sheet 95 rev.), 194 n. - 235, 236 - 239 rev., 241 - 245 rev. - 142 miniatures in total.
In addition to creating original drawings, “master B” edited the miniatures of the entire manuscript, starting from the first sheets. In most cases, he whitened the images (this whitening changed the color of the ink, making it gray), leaving only one or two heads in the center unpainted. Sometimes he did not do this either, and applied a new drawing according to the previous one. This editing, sometimes reduced to individual strokes and clearly unfinished, was done with a brush with black paint (it was impossible to work with a pen because the ink was blurry) and was a preliminary stage, after which the contour stroke was to follow. The master made the figures proportional, and the compositions, supplementing them with new figures and details, more dynamic. He added architecture, refined or supplemented the images of hats, swords, banners, etc., which significantly increased and sometimes changed the semantic information of the miniatures, especially in terms of the hierarchy of characters. In addition to editing by “master B”, the miniatures of the chronicle were corrected by tracing the contours of the drawings.
In the thumbnails of the first group, there is a partial stroke of the outline. The participation of the master, designated as “master G”, was limited to clarifications and additions to the architecture, “tables” and background, in rare cases it concerned the image of heads, hats, clothes, weapons and banners. He traced the outlines with confident, sharp lines, using a pen and ink of various concentrations (now the ink ranges from deep brown to deep black). “Master G” worked at the same time as “Master B”, since in a number of miniatures his first lines intersect the lines of “Master A” drawn with a brush, while in other miniatures, on the contrary, the brush overlaps the pen.
There are thumbnails at the beginning and at the end that have been solidly stroked along the outline. The outline is done (on the last sheets with varying degrees of care) mainly with a cane and ink with fillers. Now the ink has a thick black color and partially crumbled on the first miniatures. This work is designated as the work of "Master G*". It seems to us that all the miniatures of the chronicle should have undergone such a stroke. The question of whether “master C” and “master D*” worked together, or whether they were separated by some period of time, is debatable. One can only assume that, since the work on secondary drawing - in fact, outlining the contours of one's own drawings - was begun by “master V” and, as it were, continued by “master G *”, and on the other hand, on the first sheets - l. 3-3 vol., 5 vol. c., on the contrary, “master G” * starts, and “master C” continues to stroke the contours of the picture, then both masters worked at the same time.
The coloring of the miniatures throughout the manuscript was not the same. The miniatures of the first group were first carefully painted with light transparent paints. Secondary coloring with darker, thicker, opaque colors, along with partial whitewashing of the images, preceded the editing of “master C” and “master G”. Miniatures of the second and third groups were painted with similar opaque paints, but laid in a less thick layer. The miniatures at the end of the manuscript were painted, apparently, repeatedly, with thick bright colors, after which a continuous stroke of the contour followed. The coloring of the miniatures played not only a decorative role, but also a semantic one: the symbols of princely power, such as hats and swords, were specified with colors, halos were added, banners were added, etc. There are additions in the miniatures of the chronicle. The first drawings, made throughout the entire manuscript with a vermilion pen, relate exclusively to the image of horse harness and stirrups, spearheads, and the tops of flagpoles. These drawings were made before the coloring of the miniatures and the stroke of the contours on the last sheets: the coloring in some cases “blurred” the cinnabar of the drawings. Later drawings, made with a pen in ink that is now greenish-brown in color - these are images of harnesses, spurs, pipes, stone-throwing tools, etc. - are unprofessional in nature. In the descriptions, such additions are also noted.
| The RUNIVERSE project is being implemented with the support of Transneft. |
Or the Königsberg Chronicle - an annalistic monument presumably of the beginning of the 13th century, preserved in two lists of the 15th century - the Radziwill itself, illustrated with numerous miniatures, and the Moscow Academic. It is a "Tale of Bygone Years", continued with annual records until 1206.
Names - on behalf of the commander of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Vilna voivode Janusz Radziwill, who owned the first (actually Radziwill) list in the 17th century, and from the city of Königsberg, where this list was kept in the 18th century, until during the Seven Years' War it was taken to Russia in as a trophy (1761) and did not get into the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
The place where the list was created has not been precisely established, but there is an opinion that this monument belongs to Western Russian origin, it is possible that the manuscript was written in Smolensk.
The list is stored in the Library of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
Miniatures
Of greatest interest are the painted miniatures (there are 617 in total) that illustrate the Radziwill list. This is one of the three surviving illustrated lists of ancient Russian chronicles. The other two are the Chronicle of George Amartol in the Tver list of the 14th century (translated by the Byzantine chronograph, it is not actually a Russian chronicle) and the multi-volume Facial Code of the 16th century.
Judging by the fact that in a number of cases in the Moscow Academic List the scribe omitted the text between the miniatures in the Radziwill List, the common protograph of both lists was illustrated.
Thus, the illustrations of the 15th century are a copy from earlier ones - as some researchers suggest, the original miniatures could even date back to the 11th century.
The miniatures of the Radziwill Chronicle, despite the schematized style, give an idea of the life, construction, and military affairs of medieval Rus'. They are called "windows to the vanished world". The plots of the miniatures are diverse: battle scenes, peasant uprisings, folk holidays, domestic scenes, specific historical episodes (“Battle on the Nemiga”, “Capturing Prince Vseslav of Polotsk”).
1. Prophecy about Kyiv
It is obvious that the pagans are just the Byzantines, and this is their own naked Apollo with a shield and a spear is depicted. Snake ... Maybe they wanted to kill in this way? Moreover, we remember the circumstances of the death of the Prophetic Oleg.
4. Oleg's death
And Oleg lived, the prince in Kyiv, having peace with all countries. And autumn came, and Oleg remembered his horse, which he had previously set to feed, deciding never to sit on it, For he asked the Magi and sorcerers: "What will I die of?" And one sorcerer said to him: "Prince! From the horse of your beloved, on which you ride, - from him will you die?" These words sunk into Oleg's soul, and he said: "I will never sit on him and I will not see him again." And he ordered to feed him and not to bring him to him, and lived for several years without seeing him, until he went to the Greeks. And when he returned to Kyiv and four years had passed, on the fifth year he remembered his horse, from which the sorcerers predicted his death. And he called the elder of the grooms and said: "Where is my horse, which I ordered to feed and take care of?" The same answered: "He died." Oleg laughed and reproached that sorcerer, saying: "The magi speak incorrectly, but all that is a lie: the horse died, but I am alive." And he ordered to saddle his horse: "Let me see his bones." And he came to the place where his bare bones and naked skull lay, dismounted from the horse, laughed and said: "Will I accept death from this skull?" And he stepped with his foot on the skull, and a snake crawled out of the skull, and bit him in the leg. And because of that, he fell ill and died. All the people mourned him with a great cry, and they carried him and buried him on a mountain called Shchekovitsa; there is his grave to this day, it is reputed to be Oleg's grave. And all the years of his reign were thirty and three.
The snake really crawled out of the skull ... but, that's just, a horse? And the snake itself in appearance is Krayt Red-headed, which is found in India and Southeast Asia. The guy on the left has two pairs of eyes and two noses, the second on the left has also clearly been redrawn. I wouldn't be surprised if before the corrections, they were in turbans.
5. Igor's campaign against the Greeks
In the year 6449 (941). Igor went to the Greeks. And the Bulgarians sent a message to the tsar that the Russians were going to Tsargrad: 10 thousand ships. And they came, and sailed, and began to fight the country of Bithynia, and captivated the land along the Pontic Sea to Heraclia and to the Paphlagonian land, and captured the whole country of Nicomedia, and burned the whole Court. And those who were captured - some were crucified, while others, putting them in front of them, shot, grabbed, tied their hands back and drove iron nails into their heads. They set fire to many holy churches, burned monasteries and villages, and seized a lot of wealth along both banks of the Court. When the warriors came from the east - Panfir-Demestik with forty thousand, Foka the Patrician with the Macedonians, Fedor the Stratilat with the Thracians, and with them the high-ranking boyars, they surrounded Rus'. The Russians, having consulted, went out against the Greeks with weapons, and in a fierce battle the Greeks barely defeated. The Russians, by evening, returned to their squad and at night, sitting in the boats, sailed away. Theophanes met them in the boats with fire and began to fire with pipes on the Russian boats. And a terrible miracle was seen. The Russians, seeing the flame, rushed into the sea water, trying to escape, and so the rest returned home. And, having come to their land, they told - each to their own - about what had happened and about the boat fire. "It's like heavenly lightning," they said, "the Greeks have in their place, and by letting it go, they set fire to us; that's why they didn't overcome them." Igor, on his return, began to gather a lot of soldiers and sent across the sea to the Varangians, inviting them to the Greeks, again intending to go to them.
Firearms?
6. Igor's treaty with the Greeks
The ambassadors sent by Igor returned to him with the Greek ambassadors and told him all the speeches of Tsar Roman. Igor called the Greek ambassadors and asked them: "Tell me, what did the king punish you?" And the tsar's ambassadors said: "Here the tsar sent us, delighted with the world, he wants to have peace and love with the Russian prince. Your ambassadors swore our kings, and we were sent to swear you and your husbands." Igor promised to do so. The next day, Igor called on ambassadors and came to the hill where Perun stood; and they laid down their weapons, and shields, and gold, and Igor and his people swore allegiance - how many pagans were among the Russians. And Russian Christians were sworn in in the church of St. Elijah, which stands above the Brook at the end of the Pasyncha conversation and the Khazars - it was a cathedral church, since there were many Christians - Varangians. Igor, having established peace with the Greeks, released the ambassadors, endowing them with furs, slaves and wax, and released them; the ambassadors came to the king and told him all the speeches of Igor, and about his love for the Greeks.
Church of St. Elijah in pre-Christian Rus', specially built for Russian Christians, because many Christian Varangians and... Khazars. There is also an old acquaintance - a naked Apollo-Perun on an antique stand.
This is some kind of brain drain!
7. Revenge of Princess Olga
Olga was in Kyiv with her son, the child Svyatoslav, and his breadwinner was Asmud, and the governor Sveneld was the father of Mstisha. The Drevlyans said: "Here we have killed the Russian prince; we will take his wife Olga for our prince Mal and Svyatoslav we will take and do to him what we want." And the Drevlyans sent their best husbands, twenty in number, in a boat to Olga, and landed in a boat near Borichev. And they told Olga that the Drevlyans had come, and Olga called them to her, and said to them: "Good guests have come." And the Drevlyans answered: "Come, princess." And Olga said to them: "So tell me, why did you come here?" The Drevlyans answered: "The Derevskaya land sent us with these words:" We killed your husband, because your husband, like a wolf, plundered and plundered, and our princes are good, because they protect the Derevskaya land, - marry our prince for Mala "". After all, his name was Mal, the prince of the Drevlyansk. Olga said to them: "Your speech is kind to me - I can no longer resurrect my husband; but I want to honor you tomorrow before my people; now go to your boat and lie down in the boat, magnifying, and in the morning I will send for you, and you say: “We will not ride horses, we will not go on foot, but carry us in a boat,” and they will carry you in a boat,” and she sent them to the boat. Olga ordered to dig a great and deep hole in the courtyard of the tower, outside the city. The next morning, sitting in the tower, Olga sent for the guests, and they came to them and said: "Olga is calling you for the great honor." They answered: "We do not ride either on horses or on wagons, and we do not go on foot, but carry us in a boat." And the people of Kiev answered: "We are in bondage; our prince is killed, and our princess wants for your prince," and they carried them in a boat. They sat, magnifying themselves, leaning on their sides and in great chest badges. And they brought them to the yard to Olga, and as they carried them, they threw them together with the boat into the pit. And, leaning towards the pit, Olga asked them: "Is honor good for you?" They answered: "Worse for us than Igor's death." And ordered them to fall asleep alive; and covered them up.
The Drevlyans are depicted as some kind of Europeans in cloaks and wigs, which appear only in the 14th century.
8. Battle of Svyatoslav with the Greeks
And in the evening Svyatoslav defeated, and took the city by storm, and sent to the Greeks with the words: "I want to go to you and take your capital, like this city." And the Greeks said: "It is unbearable for us to resist you, so take tribute from us and for your entire squad and tell us how many you are, and we will give according to the number of your warriors." So the Greeks spoke, deceiving the Russians, for the Greeks are deceitful even to this day. And Svyatoslav said to them: "We are twenty thousand," and added ten thousand: for there were only ten thousand Russians. And the Greeks put up a hundred thousand against Svyatoslav, and did not give tribute. And Svyatoslav went to the Greeks, and they came out against the Russians. When the Russians saw them, they were greatly frightened by such a great multitude of warriors, but Svyatoslav said: “We have nowhere to go, whether we want to or not, we must fight. if we run, it will be a disgrace to us. So we won’t run, but we’ll stand strong, and I will go ahead of you: if my head lies down, then take care of your own.” And the soldiers answered: "Where your head lies, there we lay our heads." And the Russians were executed, and there was a fierce slaughter, and Svyatoslav defeated, and the Greeks fled. And Svyatoslav went to the capital, fighting and smashing the cities that stand empty to this day.
I'm having a hard time figuring out where...
9. Idol of Vladimir
And Vladimir began to reign in Kyiv alone, and set up idols on a hill outside the terem courtyard: Perun of wood - a silver head, and a golden mustache, and Horsa-Dazhbog, and Stribog, and Simargl, and Mokosh. And they worship them, calling them gods, and bring their sons and daughters, and worship demons, and defile the earth with their sacrifices.
Purun Zlatous, silver head, where? - I see only, already well known, red Apollo. But I see painted demons.
A large piece of the chronicle is dedicated to civil strife, and then the real trash begins.
10. Demons
There was also another elder, named Matvey: he was perspicacious. Once, when he was standing in his place in the church, he raised his eyes, circled them around the brethren, who stood and sang on both sides of the kliros, and saw a demon walking around them, in the form of a Pole, in a cloak, carrying a flower called lepok under his coat. And, going around the brethren, the demon took out a flower from under the hem and threw it on someone; if a flower stuck to one of the singing brothers, he, after standing for a while, with a relaxed mind, having come up with an excuse, left the church, went to his cell and fell asleep and did not return to church until the end of the service; if he threw a flower on another and the flower did not stick to him, he remained standing firmly in the service until Matins was served, and then he already went to his cell. Seeing this, the elder told his brethren about it. Another time the elder saw the following: as usual, when this elder stood for matins, the brethren went to their cells before dawn, and this elder left the church after everyone else. And then one day, when he was walking like this, he sat down to rest under the beater, for his cell was at a distance from the church, and now he sees how the crowd is coming from the gate; looked up and saw someone riding a pig, while others were walking beside him. And the elder said to them: "Where are you going?" And the demon sitting on the pig said: "For Mikhal Tolbekovich." The elder made the sign of the cross and went to his cell. When dawn broke and the elder understood what was the matter, he said to the cell-attendant: "Go and ask if Michal is in the cell." And they told him that "this morning, after matins, he jumped over the fence." And the elder told the abbot and the brethren about this vision.
At the same time, Theodosius reposed, and Stephen became abbot, and according to Stephen, Nikon: all this was with the elder. Once he stands at matins, raises his eyes to look at Abbot Nikon, and sees a donkey standing in the abbot's place; and he realized that the abbot had not yet risen. The elder saw many other visions, and he reposed in a venerable old age in this monastery.
And there was also another Chernorian, named Isakiy; when he was still living in the world, he was rich, for he was a merchant, a native of Toropchan, and he planned to become a monk, and distributed his property to the needy and monasteries, and went to the great Anthony in a cave, asking to be tonsured him as a monk, and accepted his Anthony, and put on him a robe of black, and gave his name Isakius, and his name was Black. This Isakiy led a strict life: he put on a sackcloth, ordered to buy a goat for himself, tore off his fur and put it on a sackcloth, and the raw skin dried on it. And he closed himself in a cave, in one of the passages, in a small cell, four cubits, and there he prayed to God with tears. Prosphora alone was his food, and that every other day, and drank water in moderation. The great Antony brought food to him and served it through a window - such that he could only put his hand through, and so he took food. And so he labored for seven years, never going out into the light, never lying down on his side, but, sitting, he slept a little. And one day, according to custom, with the onset of evening, he began to bow and sing psalms at midnight; when tired, he sat on his seat. One day, when he sat like that as usual and put out the candle, suddenly a light shone in the cave, as if from the sun, as if taking out the eyes of a man. And two beautiful young men came up to him, and their faces shone like the sun, and they said to him: "Isaki, we are angels, and there Christ comes to you, fall down and worship him." He, not understanding the demonic delusion and forgetting to cross himself, got up and bowed, as if to Christ, to the demonic action. The demons shouted: "You are ours, Isakiy, already!" And, having led him into the cell, they sat him down and began to sit around him, and his cell was full and the whole passage of the cave. And one of the demons, called Christ, said: "Take snot, tambourine and harp and play, let Isakiy dance for us." And the demons burst into snot, and into the harp, and into tambourines, and began to amuse themselves with it. And, having exhausted him, they left him barely alive and left, having so abused him.
Songs and dances of evil spirits.
Isakii is on the lookout, as if the demon will not calm down and defends himself from them with the sign of the cross.
What is the power of the saving life-giving cross - nothing is done to Isakia from the visions of the devil!
Such were the Chernorizians of the Theodosius Monastery, they shine even after death, like luminaries, and they pray to God for the brethren living here, and for the worldly brethren, and for those who donate to the monastery, in which to this day they all live a virtuous life together, together, in singing and in prayers , and in obedience, to the glory of Almighty God, kept by the prayers of Theodosius, to him eternal glory, amen.
11. Mystical phenomena in the annals
An unusual natural phenomenon is the fall of a serpent from heaven during the hunt of Vsevolod Yaroslavich of Kyiv near Vyshgorod.
The serpent is the same - red-headed, which bites the Prophetic Oleg.
Pestilence in Polotsk and zombies
Yako Navier beats Polotsk
Invasion of locusts on the Russian land.
Judging by the picture, the locust is incinerated by the sun.
A sign - three suns and a month in the sky.
A similar event at a later time
Earthquake
A fiery pillar of fire hollows the earth like lightning illuminating the whole earth
12. Unknown animals
Teddy bear is dancing
The dog ran
The monkey eats an apple and shits
???
Jackal tortures a small dog
bear disease
Never let children draw in books!
The entry of the troops of Yaropolk Vladimirovich Kievsky into Pereyaslavl, which was in the hands of Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky for 8 days, on the left is an allegorical image of the Dolgoruky coat of arms, clearly painted over the existing image.
Knight in armor of the 15th century makes hara-kiri
It is believed that this version of the naked Apollo is Perun, but judging by ... the acorn is Veles.
Troubadour from medieval Europe in pantyhose
Another
And further
Eight-legged horse
Battle of the Troubadours
Robin Hood?
Brother Took?
Imagine, some even try to explain this logically!
You will be met there by a fire-maned lion and a white ox full of eyes...
A strange feeling remained after getting acquainted with the text and illustrations of the chronicle. And, perhaps, I will neither declare this document a fake, nor prove its authenticity. Clearly, the illustrations have been edited many times. Some of the pictures look like they were drawn by the demon-possessed Isakius, and the beginning of the chronicle is more adequate in quality and content, both illustrations and text. Much does not fit into the generally accepted history. This applies to clothing, uniforms of soldiers. In the entire chronicle there is not a single battle scene from which it would be possible to clearly understand where the enemies are and where the Russians are, everyone is dressed the same. All the differences come down only to the headdresses of the rulers. About the ambiguous history of the baptism of Rus', the illustrations themselves speak. The mere fact that the first Christian church in the illustrations of the chronicle appears to be located on the territory of the Old Russian state speaks volumes. Vladimir after baptism, in all illustrations is depicted with a halo, although the first reliable information about the official veneration of Vladimir as a holy equal to the apostles refers only to the XIV century, i.e. after the chronicle was written.
The Tale of Bygone Years is an ancient Russian chronicle created at the beginning of the 12th century. The story is an essay that tells about the events that took place and are taking place in Rus' at that time.
The Tale of Bygone Years was compiled in Kyiv, later rewritten several times, but was not greatly changed. The chronicle covers the period from biblical times up to 1137, dated articles begin from 852.
All dated articles are compositions beginning with the words “In the summer such and such ...”, which means that entries were added to the annals every year and told about the events that took place. One article per year. This distinguishes the Tale of Bygone Years from all the chronicles that were written before. The text of the chronicle also contains legends, folklore stories, copies of documents (for example, teachings of Vladimir Monomakh) and extracts from other chronicles.
The story got its name thanks to its first phrase, which opens the narrative - "The Tale of Bygone Years ..."
The history of the creation of the Tale of Bygone Years
The author of the idea of the Tale of Bygone Years is the monk Nestor, who lived and worked at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries in the Kiev Caves Monastery. Despite the fact that the author's name appears only in later copies of the chronicle, it is the monk Nestor who is considered the first chronicler in Rus', and The Tale of Bygone Years is considered the first Russian chronicle.
The oldest version of the annalistic code, which has come down to the present, is dated to the 14th century and is a copy made by the monk Lavrenty (Laurentian Chronicle). The original edition of the creator of the Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor, has been lost, today there are only revised versions from various scribes and later compilers.
Today, there are several theories regarding the history of the creation of The Tale of Bygone Years. According to one of them, the chronicle was written by Nestor in Kyiv in 1037. It was based on ancient legends, folk songs, documents, oral stories and documents preserved in monasteries. After writing, this first edition was rewritten and revised several times by various monks, including Nestor himself, who added elements of Christian ideology to it. According to other sources, the chronicle was written much later, in 1110.
Genre and features of the Tale of Bygone Years
The genre of the Tale of Bygone Years is defined by experts as historical, but scientists argue that the chronicle is neither a work of art nor historical in the full sense of the word.
A distinctive feature of the chronicle is that it does not interpret events, but only tells about them. The attitude of the author or scribe to everything that is told in the annals was determined only by the presence of God's Will, which determines everything. Causal relationships and interpretation from the point of view of other positions was uninteresting and was not included in the annals.
The Tale of Bygone Years had an open genre, that is, it could consist of completely different parts - from folk tales to notes about the weather.
The chronicle in ancient times also had a legal significance, as a set of documents and laws.
The original purpose of writing the Tale of Bygone Years is to study and explain the origin of the Russian people, the origin of princely power and a description of the spread of Christianity in Rus'.
The beginning of the Tale of Bygone Years is a story about the appearance of the Slavs. The Russians are presented by the chronicler as the descendants of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah. At the very beginning of the narrative, stories are given that tell about the life of the East Slavic tribes: about the princes, about the calling of Rurik, Truvor and Sineus to reign, and about the formation of the Rurik dynasty in Rus'.
The main part of the content of the chronicle is made up of descriptions of wars, legends about the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, the exploits of Nikita Kozhemyaka and other heroes.
The final part consists of descriptions of battles and princely obituaries.
Thus, the basis of the Tale of Bygone Years is:
- Traditions about the resettlement of the Slavs, the calling of the Varangians and the formation of Rus';
- Description of the baptism of Rus';
- Description of the life of the Grand Dukes: Oleg, Vladimir, Olga and others;
- Lives of the Saints;
- Description of wars and military campaigns.
The significance of the Tale of Bygone Years can hardly be overestimated - it was it that became the first document in which the history of Kievan Rus was recorded from its very formation. The chronicle later served as the main source of knowledge for subsequent historical descriptions and research. In addition, due to the open genre, the Tale of Bygone Years has a high value as a cultural and literary monument.
In the year 6454 (946). Olga with her son Svyatoslav gathered many brave warriors and went to the Derevskaya land. And the Drevlyans came out against her. And when both troops came together for a fight, Svyatoslav threw a spear at the Drevlyans, and the spear flew between the ears of the horse and hit the horse on the legs, for Svyatoslav was still a child. And Sveneld and Asmud said: “The prince has already begun; let's follow, squad, for the prince. And they defeated the Drevlyans. The Drevlyans fled and shut themselves up in their cities. Olga, however, rushed with her son to the city of Iskorosten, since they killed her husband, and stood with her son near the city, and the Drevlyans shut themselves up in the city and staunchly defended themselves from the city, for they knew that, having killed the prince, they had nothing to hope for. And Olga stood all summer and could not take the city, and she planned this: she sent to the city with the words: “What do you want to sit out for? After all, all your cities have already surrendered to me and agreed to tribute and are already cultivating their fields and lands; and you, refusing to pay tribute, are going to starve to death.” The Drevlyans answered: “We would be happy to pay tribute, but you want to avenge your husband.” Olga told them that “I already avenged my husband’s insult when you came to Kyiv, and for the second time, and for the third time, when I arranged a feast for my husband. I no longer want to take revenge - I just want to take a small tribute from you and, having made peace with you, I will go away. The Drevlyans asked: “What do you want from us? We are glad to give you honey and furs.” She said: “Now you have neither honey nor furs, so I ask you a little: give me from each yard three doves and three sparrows. I don’t want to impose a heavy tribute on you, like my husband, that’s why I ask you little. You were exhausted in the siege, that's why I ask you for this smallness. The Drevlyans, rejoicing, gathered three doves and three sparrows from the court and sent them to Olga with a bow. Olga said to them: “So you have already submitted to me and my child, go to the city, and tomorrow I will retreat from it and go to my city.” The Drevlyans entered the city with joy and told the people about everything, and the people in the city rejoiced. Olga, having distributed to the soldiers - one for a dove, one for a sparrow, ordered to tie tinder to each dove and sparrow, wrapping it in small handkerchiefs and attaching a thread to each. And when it began to get dark, Olga ordered her soldiers to release doves and sparrows. Pigeons and sparrows flew into their nests: pigeons into dovecotes, and sparrows under the eaves, and so they caught fire - where are the dovecotes, where are the cages, where are the sheds and haylofts, and there was no yard where it would not burn, and it was impossible to extinguish, since all the yards immediately caught fire. And people fled from the city, and Olga ordered her soldiers to grab them. And when she took the city and burned it, she took the city elders into captivity, and killed the rest of the people, and gave others into slavery to her husbands, and left the rest to pay tribute.
And she laid a heavy tribute on them: two parts of the tribute went to Kyiv, and the third to Vyshgorod Olga, for Vyshgorod was the city of Olgin. And Olga went with her son and with her retinue through the Drevlyane land, setting tributes and taxes; and the places of its parking and places for hunting have been preserved. And she came to her city Kyiv with her son Svyatoslav, and stayed here for a year.
In the year 6455 (947). Olga went to Novgorod and established graveyards and tributes along Msta and along Luga - quitrents and tributes, and her traps have been preserved throughout the earth, and there are testimonies of her, and her places and graveyards, and her sleigh stands in Pskov to this day, and to The Dnieper has its places for catching birds, and along the Desna, and its village Olzhichi has survived to this day. And so, having established everything, she returned to her son in Kyiv, and there she remained with him in love.
In the year 6456 (948).
In the year 6457 (949).
In the year 6458 (950).
In the year 6459 (951).
In the year 6460 (952).
In the year 6461 (953).
In the year 6462 (954).
In the year 6463 (955). Olga went to the Greek land and came to Constantinople. And then there was Tsar Constantine, the son of Leo, and Olga came to him, and seeing that she was very beautiful in face and reasonable, the king marveled at her mind, talking with her, and said to her: “You are worthy to reign with us in our capital.” . She, on reflection, answered the king: “I am a pagan; if you want to baptize me, then baptize me yourself, otherwise I will not be baptized.” And the king and the patriarch baptized her. Enlightened, she rejoiced in soul and body; and the patriarch instructed her in the faith, and said to her: “Blessed are you in the wives of Russians, because you loved the light and left the darkness. The sons of Russia will bless you until the last generations of your grandchildren. And he gave her commandments about the church charter, and about prayer, and about fasting, and about almsgiving, and about keeping bodily purity. She, bowing her head, stood, listening to the teachings, like a drunken sponge; and bowed to the patriarch with the words: “Through your prayers, Vladyka, may I be saved from the nets of the devil.” And she was given the name Elena in baptism, as well as the ancient queen - the mother of Constantine the Great. And the patriarch blessed her and let her go. After the baptism, the king called her and said to her: "I want to take you as a wife." She answered: “How do you want to take me when you yourself baptized me and called me daughter? And Christians don't allow it - you know yourself." And the king said to her: "You outwitted me, Olga." And he gave her numerous gifts - gold, and silver, and curtains, and various vessels; and sent her away, calling her his daughter. She, having gathered home, came to the patriarch, and asked him to bless the house, and said to him: “My people and my son are pagans, may God save me from all evil.” And the patriarch said: “Faithful child! You were baptized into Christ and put on Christ, and Christ will preserve you, as He preserved Enoch during the time of the forefathers, and then Noah in the ark, Abraham from Abimelech, Lot from the Sodomites, Moses from Pharaoh, David from Saul, the three youths from the furnace, Daniel from beasts, so he will deliver you from the wiles of the devil and from his nets. And the patriarch blessed her, and she went in peace to her land, and came to Kyiv. It happened, as under Solomon: the Ethiopian queen came to Solomon, trying to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and saw great wisdom and miracles: in the same way, this blessed Olga was looking for real divine wisdom, but that one (the Ethiopian queen) - human, and this - God's. "For those who seek wisdom will find." "Wisdom proclaims in the streets, ways raises his voice, preaching on the city walls, loudly speaking at the city gates: how long will the ignorant love ignorance?"(). This same blessed Olga, from an early age, sought with wisdom what was best in this world, and found a valuable pearl - Christ. For Solomon said: "The desire of the faithful good for the soul"(); and: "Incline your heart to contemplation" (); "Those who love me I love, and those who seek me will find me"(). The Lord said: "He who comes to me I will not cast out" ().
The same Olga came to Kyiv, and the Greek king sent ambassadors to her with the words: “I gave you many gifts. After all, you told me: when I return to Rus', I will send you many gifts: servants, wax, and furs, and soldiers to help. Olga answered through the ambassadors: “If you stand with me in Pochaina as I do in the Court, then I will give it to you.” And she dismissed the ambassadors with these words.
Olga lived with her son Svyatoslav and taught him to be baptized, but he did not even think of listening to this; but if someone was going to be baptized, he did not forbid it, but only mocked him. “For for unbelievers, Christian faith is foolishness”; "For don't know, don't understand those who walk in darkness "(), and do not know the glory of the Lord; "Hardened hearts them, hard to hear them, but the eyes see "(). For Solomon said: "The deeds of the wicked are far from understanding"(); “Because I called you and did not listen to me, I turned to you and did not heed, but they rejected my advice and did not accept my reproofs”; "Hated wisdom, but the fear of God they did not choose for themselves, they did not want to accept my advice, they despised my reproofs.(). So Olga often said: “I have known God, my son, and I rejoice; if you know, you too will rejoice.” But he did not heed this, saying: “How can I alone accept a different faith? And my squad will laugh.” She said to him: “If you are baptized, then everyone will do the same.” He did not obey his mother, continuing to live according to pagan customs, not knowing that whoever does not listen to his mother will fall into trouble, as it is said: "If someone does not listen to his father or mother, then he will die." Svyatoslav, moreover, was angry with his mother, Solomon said: “The one who teaches the evil will amass troubles for himself, but the one who denounces the wicked will be offended himself; for reproofs are like plagues to the ungodly. Do not rebuke the wicked, lest they hate you" (). However, Olga loved her son Svyatoslav and used to say: “God's will be done; if God wants to have mercy on my family and the Russian land, then he will put in their hearts the same desire to turn to God that he gave me.” And, saying this, she prayed for her son and for the people every night and day, raising her son to his manhood and to his coming of age.
In the year 6464 (956).
In the year 6465 (957).
In the year 6466 (958).
In the year 6467 (959).
In the year 6468 (960).
In the year 6469 (961).
In the year 6470 (962).
In the year 6471 (963).
In the year 6472 (964). When Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors, and he was fast, like a pardus, and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, he did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate it like that; he did not have a tent, but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in his head - the same were all his other soldiers, And he sent to other lands with the words: "I want to go against you." And he went to the Oka River and the Volga, and met the Vyatichi, and said to the Vyatichi: “To whom do you give tribute?” They answered: “We give to the Khazars a crack from a plow”.
In the year 6473 (965). Svyatoslav went to the Khazars. Having heard, the Khazars went out to meet them, led by their prince Kagan, and agreed to fight, and Svyatoslav the Khazars defeated them in the battle, and took their capital and the White Tower. And he defeated the yas and kasogs.
In the year 6474 (966). Vyatichi defeated Svyatoslav and laid tribute to them.
In the year 6475 (967). Svyatoslav went to the Danube against the Bulgarians. And both sides fought, and Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgarians, and took their 80 cities along the Danube, and sat down to reign there in Pereyaslavets, taking tribute from the Greeks.
In the year 6476 (968). For the first time, the Pechenegs came to the Russian land, and Svyatoslav was then in Pereyaslavets, and Olga locked herself with her grandchildren - Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir in the city of Kyiv. And the Pechenegs laid siege to the city with a great force: there were countless of them around the city, and it was impossible to leave the city, nor to send, and people were exhausted from hunger and thirst. And the people of that side of the Dnieper gathered in boats, and stood on the other side, and it was impossible for any of them to get into Kyiv, nor from the city to them. And people in the city began to grieve, and said: “Is there anyone who could get over to the other side and tell them: if you don’t approach the city in the morning, we will surrender to the Pechenegs.” And one youth said: "I will make my way", and they answered him: "Go." He left the city, holding a bridle, and ran through the Pechenegs' camp, asking them: "Did anyone see a horse?" For he knew the Pecheneg language, and they took him for his own, And when he approached the river, then, throwing off his clothes, rushed into the Dnieper and swam. Seeing this, the Pechenegs rushed after him, shot at him, but could not do anything to him, On the other side they noticed this, rode up to him in a boat, took him in a boat and brought him to the squad. And the youth said to them: “If you don’t come to the city tomorrow, then people will surrender to the Pechenegs.” Their governor, named Pretich, said: “Tomorrow we will go in the boats and, having captured the princess and princes, we will rush to this shore. If we do not do this, then Svyatoslav will destroy us. And the next morning, close to dawn, they got into the boats and blew loudly, and the people in the city shouted. The Pechenegs, on the other hand, decided that the prince had come, and fled from the city in all directions. And Olga went out with her grandchildren and people to the boats. The Pecheneg prince, seeing this, returned alone to the voivode Pretich and asked: “Who came?” Pretich answered: “I am his husband, I came with the vanguard, and behind me comes the army with the prince himself: there are countless of them.” He said so to scare them. The prince of the Pechenegs said to Pretich: "Be my friend." He replied, "I will." And they gave each other hands, and gave the Pecheneg prince Pretich a horse, a saber and arrows. The same gave him chain mail, a shield and a sword. And the Pechenegs retreated from the city, and it was impossible to water the horse: the Pechenegs stood on Lybid. And the people of Kiev sent to Svyatoslav with the words: “You, prince, are looking for a foreign land and take care of it, but you left your own, and the Pechenegs almost took us, and your mother, and your children. If you do not come and protect us, then they will take us. Don't you feel sorry for your fatherland, your old mother, your children? Hearing this, Svyatoslav with his retinue quickly mounted his horses and returned to Kyiv; he greeted his mother and children and lamented about what he had suffered from the Pechenegs. And he gathered the soldiers, and drove the Pechenegs into the steppe, and peace came.
In the year 6477 (969). Svyatoslav said to his mother and his boyars: “I don’t like to sit in Kyiv, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - for there is the middle of my land, all good things flow there: from the Greek land - gold, curtains, wines, various fruits, from the Czech Republic and from Hungary silver and horses, from Rus' furs and wax, honey and slaves. Olga answered him: “You see, I am sick; where do you want to go from me? Because she's already sick. And she said: “When you bury me, go wherever you want,” Olga died three days later, and her son, and her grandchildren, and all the people wept for her with great tears, and they carried her and buried her in the chosen place, Olga bequeathed not to perform feasts on her, since she had a priest with her - he buried blessed Olga.
She was a harbinger of the Christian land, like a daylight before the sun, like a dawn before dawn. She shone like the moon in the night; so she shone among the pagans, like pearls in the mud; then people were polluted with sins, not washed by holy baptism. This same one washed in the holy font, and threw off the sinful clothes of the first man Adam, and put on the new Adam, that is, Christ. We appeal to her: "Rejoice, Russian knowledge of God, the beginning of our reconciliation with him." She was the first of the Russians to enter the kingdom of heaven, and the Russian sons praise her - their initiator, for even after death she prays to God for Rus'. For the souls of the righteous do not die; as Solomon said: "The people rejoice to the praised righteous"(); the memory of the righteous is immortal, since he is recognized by both God and people. Here, all people glorify her, seeing that she lies for many years, untouched by decay; for the prophet said: "I will glorify those who glorify me"(). Of these, David said: “In eternal memory there will be a righteous man, he will not be afraid bad rumor; his heart is ready to trust in the Lord; his heart is fixed and will not tremble" (). Solomon said: “The righteous live forever; their reward from the Lord and their care from the Almighty. Therefore they will receive a kingdom beauty and the crown of kindness from the hand of the Lord, for he will cover them with his right hand and protect them with his arm.”(). After all, he protected this blessed Olga from the enemy and adversary - the devil.
In the year 6478 (970). Svyatoslav planted Yaropolk in Kyiv, and Oleg with the Drevlyans. At that time, the Novgorodians came, asking for a prince: "If you do not go to us, then we will get ourselves a prince." And Svyatoslav said to them: “And who would go to you?” And Yaropolk and Oleg refused. And Dobrynya said: "Ask Vladimir." Vladimir was from Malusha, Olgina's housekeeper. Malusha was Dobrynya's sister; their father was Malk Lubechanin, and Dobrynya was Vladimir's uncle. And the Novgorodians said to Svyatoslav: "Give us Vladimir", He answered them: "Here he is for you." And the Novgorodians took Vladimir to themselves, and Vladimir went with Dobrynya, his uncle, to Novgorod, and Svyatoslav to Pereyaslavets.
In the year 6479 (971). Svyatoslav came to Pereyaslavets, and the Bulgarians shut themselves up in the city. And the Bulgarians went out to fight with Svyatoslav, and there was a great slaughter, and the Bulgarians began to overcome. And Svyatoslav said to his soldiers: “Here we will die; let us stand courageously, brothers and squad! And in the evening Svyatoslav defeated, and took the city by storm, and sent to the Greeks with the words: "I want to go to you and take your capital, like this city." And the Greeks said: “We are unbearable to resist you, so take tribute from us for all your squad and tell us how many you are, and we will give according to the number of your warriors.” So the Greeks spoke, deceiving the Russians, for the Greeks are deceitful even to this day. And Svyatoslav said to them: “We are twenty thousand,” and added ten thousand: for there were only ten thousand Russians. And the Greeks put up a hundred thousand against Svyatoslav, and did not give tribute. And Svyatoslav went to the Greeks, and they came out against the Russians. When the Russians saw them, they were very frightened of such a great multitude of soldiers, but Svyatoslav said: “We have nowhere to go, whether we want to or not, we must fight. So let us not disgrace the Russian land, but let us lay our bones here, for the dead know no shame. If we run, we will be disgraced. So we won’t run, but we’ll stand strong, and I will go ahead of you: if my head lies down, then take care of your own.” And the soldiers answered: "Where your head lies, there we will lay down our heads." And the Russians were executed, and there was a fierce slaughter, and Svyatoslav defeated, and the Greeks fled. And Svyatoslav went to the capital, fighting and smashing the cities that stand empty to this day. And the tsar called his boyars into the chamber, and said to them: “What should we do: we can’t resist him, after all?” And the boyars said to him: “Send gifts to him; let's test him: does he love gold or curtains? And he sent gold and curtains to him with a wise man, punishing him: "Watch his appearance, and face, and thoughts." He, having taken the gifts, came to Svyatoslav. And they told Svyatoslav that the Greeks had come with a bow, And he said: "Bring them in here." They entered and bowed to him, and laid before him gold and curtains. And Svyatoslav said to his youths, looking to the side: "Hide." The Greeks returned to the king, and the king summoned the boyars. The messengers said: “We came to him and brought gifts, but he didn’t even look at them - he ordered them to be hidden.” And one said: "Try him again: send him a weapon." And they listened to him, and sent him a sword and other weapons, and brought them to him. He took and began to praise the king, expressing his love and gratitude to him. The messengers returned to the king again and told him everything as it had been. And the boyars said: “This husband will be fierce, because he neglects wealth, but takes weapons. Accept the tribute." And the king sent to him, saying this: “Do not go to the capital, take tribute as much as you want,” for he did not reach Tsargrad a little. And they gave him tribute; he also took for the dead, saying: “He will take his kind for the slain.” He also took many gifts and returned to Pereyaslavets with great glory, Seeing that he had few squads, he said to himself: “If only they had killed my squad and me with some cunning.” as many died in battle. And he said: "I will go to Rus', I will bring more squads."
And he sent messengers to the king in Dorostol, for the king was there, saying this: “I want to have lasting peace and love with you.” The king, hearing this, rejoiced and sent him more gifts than before. Svyatoslav accepted the gifts and began to think with his retinue, saying this: “If we do not make peace with the tsar and the tsar finds out that we are few, then they will come and besiege us in the city. And the Russian land is far away, and the Pechenegs are hostile to us, and who will help us? Let's make peace with the king: after all, they have already pledged to pay tribute to us - that's enough for us. If they stop paying tribute to us, then again from Rus', having gathered many soldiers, we will go to Tsargrad. And this speech was loved by the squad, and they sent the best men to the king, and came to Dorostol, and told the king about it. The next morning the tsar called them to him and said: "Let the Russian ambassadors speak." They began: “This is what our prince says: “I want to have true love with the Greek king for all future times.” The king was delighted and ordered the scribe to write down all the speeches of Svyatoslav on the charter. And the ambassador began to speak all the speeches, and the scribe began to write. He spoke like this:
“A list from the agreement concluded under Svyatoslav, the Grand Duke of Russia, and under Sveneld, was written under Theophilus Sinkel to John, called Tzimiskes, the king of Greece, in Dorostol, the month of July, the 14th indict, in the year 6479. I, Svyatoslav, the Russian prince, as I swore, I confirm my oath with this agreement: I want, together with all the Russian subjects of me, with the boyars and others, to have peace and true love with all the great kings of Greece, with Basil and Constantine, and with the divinely inspired kings, and with all your people to the end of the world. And I will never plot against your country, and I will not gather warriors against it, and I will not bring another people to your country, nor to the one that is under Greek rule, nor to the Korsun country and all the cities there, nor to the Bulgarian country. And if someone else plots against your country, then I will be his opponent and I will fight with him. As I already swore to the Greek kings, and with me the boyars and all Russians, may we keep the agreement unchanged. If we do not comply with any of what has been said before, may I and those who are with me and under me be cursed by the god in whom we believe - in Perun and Volos, the god of cattle, and may we be yellow as gold and we will be cut down with our weapons. Do not doubt the truth of what we have promised you today, and have written in this charter and sealed with our seals.
Having made peace with the Greeks, Svyatoslav went to the rapids in boats. And the governor of his father, Sveneld, said to him: “Go around, prince, the thresholds on horseback, for the Pechenegs are standing at the thresholds.” And he did not listen to him, and went in the boats. And the Pereyaslavites sent to the Pechenegs to say: “Here Svyatoslav is going past you to Rus' with a small squad, taking from the Greeks a lot of wealth and captives without number.” Hearing about this, the Pechenegs set foot on the thresholds. And Svyatoslav came to the rapids, and it was impossible to pass them. And he stopped to spend the winter in Beloberezhye, and they had no food, and they had a great famine, so that half a hryvnia was paid for a horse's head, and here Svyatoslav wintered.
In the year 6480 (972). When spring came, Svyatoslav went to the rapids. And Kurya, the prince of the Pechenegs, attacked him, and they killed Svyatoslav, and took his head, and made a cup from the skull, bound him, and drank from him. Sveneld came to Kyiv to Yaropolk. And all the years of the reign of Svyatoslav were 28.
In the year 6481 (973). Yaropolk began to reign.
In the year 6482 (974).
In the year 6483 (975). Once Sveneldich, by the name of Lut, went out of Kyiv to hunt and chased the beast in the forest. And Oleg saw him, and asked his people: “Who is this?”. And they answered him: "Sveneldich." And, having attacked, Oleg killed him, since he himself hunted there, And because of this, hatred arose between Yaropolk and Oleg, and Sveneld Yaropolk constantly persuaded, trying to avenge his son: "Go to your brother and capture his parish."
In the year 6484 (976).
In the year 6485 (977). Yaropolk went to his brother Oleg in the Derevskaya land. And Oleg went out against him, and both sides were filled. And in the battle that began, Yaropolk defeated Oleg. Oleg, with his soldiers, ran to a city called Ovruch, and a bridge was thrown across the moat to the city gates, and people, crowding on it, pushed each other down. And they pushed Oleg off the bridge into the moat. Many people fell, and the horses crushed people, Yaropolk, entering the city of Oleg, seized power and sent to look for his brother, and they searched for him, but did not find him. And one Drevlyan said: “I saw how yesterday they pushed him off the bridge.” And Yaropolk sent to find his brother, and they pulled the corpses out of the ditch from morning until noon, and found Oleg under the corpses; carried it out and laid it on a rug. And Yaropolk came, wept over him and said to Sveneld: “Look, this is what you wanted!” And they buried Oleg in a field near the city of Ovruch, and there is his grave near Ovruch to this day. And Yaropolk inherited his power. Yaropolk also had a Greek wife, and before that she was a nun, at one time her father Svyatoslav brought her and married her to Yaropolk, for the sake of beauty of her face. When Vladimir in Novgorod heard that Yaropolk had killed Oleg, he got scared and fled across the sea. And Yaropolk planted his posadniks in Novgorod and owned the Russian land alone.
In the year 6486 (978).
In the year 6487 (979).
In the year 6488 (980). Vladimir returned to Novgorod with the Varangians and told the posadniks of Yaropolk: “Go to my brother and tell him: “Vladimir is coming against you, get ready to fight him.” And he sat down in Novgorod.
And he sent to Rogvolod in Polotsk to say: "I want to take your daughter as my wife." The same one asked his daughter: “Do you want for Vladimir?” She replied: “I don’t want to undress the son of a slave, but I want for Yaropolk.” This Rogvolod came from across the sea and held his power in Polotsk, and Turov held power in Turov, and the Turovites were nicknamed after him. And the youths of Vladimir came and told him the whole speech of Rogneda, the daughter of the Polotsk prince Rogvolod. Vladimir gathered a lot of warriors - Varangians, Slovenes, Chuds and Krivichi - and went to Rogvolod. And at this time they were already going to lead Rogneda for Yaropolk. And Vladimir attacked Polotsk, and killed Rogvolod and his two sons, and took his daughter as his wife.
And went to Yaropolk. And Vladimir came to Kyiv with a large army, but Yaropolk could not go out to meet him and closed himself in Kyiv with his people and with Fornication, and Vladimir stood, dug in, on Dorohozhich - between Dorohozhich and Kapich, and that ditch exists to this day. Vladimir sent to Blud - the governor of Yaropolk - with cunning saying: “Be my friend! If I kill my brother, then I will honor you as a father, and you will receive great honor from me; I didn't start killing the brothers, but he did. I, being afraid of this, went out against him. And Blud told the ambassadors Vladimirov: "I will be with you in love and friendship." O evil deceit of man! As David says, "The man who ate my bread has slandered me." This same deceit conceived a betrayal of his prince. And again: “They flattered with their tongue. Condemn them, O God, let them renounce their designs; reject them because of the multitude of their wickedness, for they have angered you, O Lord.” And the same David also said: "A man quick to shed blood and treacherous will not live even half his days." Angry is the advice of those who push for bloodshed; fools are those who, having received honors or gifts from their prince or master, plot to ruin the life of their prince; they are worse than demons, so fornication betrayed his prince, having received from him much honor: therefore he is guilty of that blood. Fornication (in the city) shut himself up together with Yaropolk, and, deceiving him, he often sent to Vladimir with calls to attack the city, plotting at that time to kill Yaropolk, but because of the townspeople it was impossible to kill him. Fornication could not destroy him in any way and came up with a trick, persuading Yaropolk not to leave the city for battle. Fornication said to Yaropolk: “The people of Kiev are sending to Vladimir, telling him: “Proceed to the city, we will betray Yaropolk to you.” Run away from the city." And Yaropolk obeyed him, ran out of Kyiv and shut himself up in the city of Rodnya at the mouth of the Ros River, and Vladimir entered Kyiv and laid siege to Yaropolk in Rodnya, And there was a severe famine, so the saying has remained to this day: "The trouble is like in Rodnya" . And Fornication said to Yaropolk: “Do you see how many soldiers your brother has? We cannot defeat them. Make peace with your brother,” he said, deceiving him. And Yaropolk said: "So be it!" Vladimir, having heard this, entered his father's courtyard of the tower, which we have already mentioned, and sat there with the soldiers and with his retinue. And Blud said to Yaropolk: "Go to your brother and tell him:" Whatever you give me, I will accept. Yaropolk went, and Varyazhko told him: “Do not go, prince, they will kill you; run to the Pechenegs and bring the soldiers, ”and Yaropolk did not listen to him. And Yaropolk came to Vladimir; when he entered the door, two Varangians lifted him with swords under their bosoms. But fornication shut the door and did not let his own come in after him. And so Yaropolk was killed. Varyazhko, seeing that Yaropolk was killed, fled from the courtyard of that tower to the Pechenegs and fought for a long time with the Pechenegs against Vladimir, Vladimir hardly attracted him to his side, giving him an oath, Vladimir began to live with his brother’s wife, a Greek woman, and she was pregnant, and Svyatopolk was born from her. From the sinful root, the fruit is evil: firstly, his mother was a nun, and secondly, Vladimir lived with her not in marriage, but as an adulterer. That is why his father did not love Svyatopolk, because he was from two fathers: from Yaropolk and from Vladimir.
After all this, the Vikings said to Vladimir: “This is our city, we captured it, we want to take a ransom from the townspeople at two hryvnias per person.” And Vladimir said to them: "Wait a month until the kunas are collected for you." And they waited for a month, and Vladimir did not give them a ransom, and the Vikings said: "He deceived us, so let him go to the Greek land." He answered them: "Go." And he chose from them good, intelligent, and brave men, and gave them cities; the rest went to Constantinople to the Greeks. Vladimir, even before them, sent envoys to the tsar with the following words: “Here the Varangians are coming to you, don’t try to keep them in the capital, otherwise they will do you the same evil as here, but settle them in different places, but don’t let them in here.” one."
And Vladimir began to reign in Kyiv alone, and set up idols on a hill outside the tower courtyard: a wooden Perun with a silver head and a golden mustache, and Khors, Dazhbog, and Stribog, and Simargl, and Mokosh. And they sacrificed to them, calling them gods, and brought their sons and daughters, and sacrificed to demons, and defiled the earth with their sacrifices. And the Russian land and that hill were defiled with blood. But the most good God did not want the death of sinners, and on that hill now stands the church of St. Basil, as we will tell about it later. Now let's go back to the previous one.
Vladimir planted Dobrynya, his uncle, in Novgorod. And, having come to Novgorod, Dobrynya placed an idol over the Volkhov River, and the Novgorodians offered sacrifices to him as to a god.
Vladimir was defeated by lust, and he had a wife: Rogneda, whom he settled on Lybid, where the village of Predslavino is now located, from her he had four sons: Izyaslav, Mstislav, Yaroslav, Vsevolod, and two daughters; he had Svyatopolk from a Greek woman, Vysheslav from a Czech woman, and Svyatoslav and Mstislav from another wife, and Boris and Gleb from a Bulgarian woman, and he had 300 concubines in Vyshgorod, 300 in Belgorod and 200 in Berestovo, in a village that now called Berestovoye. And he was insatiable in fornication, bringing married women to him and corrupting girls. He was the same womanizer as Solomon, for they say that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He was wise, but in the end he perished, This same one was ignorant, and in the end found himself eternal salvation. “Great is the Lord, and great is his strength, and his understanding He has no end!” (). Female seduction is evil; This is how Solomon, having repented, said about wives: “Do not heed an evil wife; for honey drips from her wife's mouth adulterers; for a moment only delights your larynx, after which it is bitterer than bile will become ... Those who approach her will go to hell after death. She does not follow the path of life, her dissolute life imprudent"(). This is what Solomon said about adulterers; and about good wives he said this: “It is more precious than a precious stone. Her husband rejoices at her. After all, she makes his life happy. Having taken out wool and linen, he creates everything necessary with his own hands. She, like a merchant ship engaged in trade, gathers wealth for herself from afar, and rises still at night, and distributes food in her house and work to her slaves. Seeing the field, he buys: from the fruits of his hands he will plant arable land. Having firmly girded his camp, he will strengthen his hands for work. And she tasted that it was good to work, and her lamp did not go out all night. He stretches out his hands to the useful, directs his elbows to the spindle. He stretches out his hands to the poor, gives the fruit to the beggar. Her husband does not care about his house, because wherever he is, all her household will be dressed. She will make double garments for her husband, but scarlet and scarlet robes for herself. Her husband is visible to everyone at the gate, when he sits in council with the elders and inhabitants of the earth. She will make the bedspreads and sell them. He opens his mouth with wisdom, speaks with his tongue with dignity. She was clothed in strength and beauty. Her mercies are extolled by her children and pleasing to her; her husband praises her. Blessed is the wise woman, for she will praise the fear of God. Give her of the fruit of her mouth, and let her husband be glorified at the gate.
In the year 6489 (981). Vladimir went to the Poles and captured their cities, Przemysl, Cherven and other cities, which are still under Russia. In the same year, Vladimir defeated the Vyatichi and laid tribute on them - from each plow, as his father took it.
In the year 6490 (982). The Vyatichi rose up in a war, and Vladimir went to them, and defeated them a second time.
In the year 6491 (983). Vladimir went against the Yotvingians, and defeated the Yotvingians, and conquered their land. And he went to Kyiv, offering sacrifices to idols with his people. And the elders and boyars said: "Let's cast lots on the lad and the maiden, on whom it falls, we will slaughter him as a sacrifice to the gods." There was only one Varangian then, and his courtyard stood where the Church of the Holy Mother of God, which Vladimir built, is now. That Varangian came from the Greek land and professed the Christian faith. And he had a son, beautiful in face and soul, and the lot fell on him, through the envy of the devil. For he did not endure him, having power over all, but this one was like thorns in his heart, and the accursed one tried to destroy him and set the people. And those who were sent to him, having come, said: “The lot fell on your son, the gods chose him for themselves, so let us sacrifice to the gods.” And the Varangian said: “These are not gods, but a tree: today there is, but tomorrow it will rot; they do not eat, they do not drink, they do not speak, but they are made by hands from wood. God is one, the Greeks serve and worship him; he created the sky, and the earth, and the stars, and the moon, and the sun, and man, and destined him to live on earth. And what did these gods do? They themselves are made. I will not give my son to demons." The messengers left and told the people about everything. The same, taking weapons, went to him and smashed his yard. The Varangian stood in the hallway with his son. They said to him: "Give me your son, let us bring him to the gods." He answered: “If they are gods, then let them send one of the gods and take my son. Why are you doing what they want?" And they called, and cut down the canopy under them, and so they killed them. And no one knows where they were put. After all, there were then people of ignorance and non-Christ. The devil rejoiced at this, not knowing that his death was already near. So he tried to destroy the entire Christian race, but was driven out by an honest cross from other countries. “Here,” thought the accursed one, “I will find a home for myself, for the apostles did not teach here, for the prophets did not predict here,” not knowing that the prophet said: “And I will call people not mine my people”; about the apostles it is said: “Their words went out all over the earth, and to the end of the world their words.” If the apostles themselves were not here, however, their teaching, like trumpet sounds, is heard in churches all over the world: by their teaching we defeat the enemy - the devil, trampling him under his feet, as these two of our fathers trampled, accepting the crown of heaven on a par with the holy martyrs and the righteous.
In the year 6492 (984). Vladimir went to the Radimichi. He had a voivode Wolf's Tail; and Vladimir sent the Wolf Tail ahead of him, and he met the Radimichi on the Pischan River, and defeated the Radimichi Wolf Tail. That is why the Russian Radimichi are teased, saying: "Pishchantsy run from the wolf's tail." There were Radimichi from the kind of Poles, they came and settled here and pay tribute to Rus', the cart is being driven to this day.
In the year 6493 (985). Vladimir went to the Bulgarians in the boats with his uncle Dobrynya, and brought the Torks along the shore on horseback; and defeated the Bulgarians. Dobrynya said to Vladimir: “I examined the captive convicts: they are all in boots. Do not give us this tribute - let's go and look for ourselves bast shoes. And Vladimir made peace with the Bulgarians, and they swore an oath to each other, and the Bulgarians said: “Then there will be no peace between us when the stone begins to float, and the hops sink.” And Vladimir returned to Kyiv.
In the year 6494 (986). The Bulgarians of the Mohammedan faith came, saying: “You, prince, are wise and sensible, but you don’t know the law, believe in our law and bow to Mohammed.” And Vladimir asked: "What is your faith?" They answered: “We believe God, and Mohammed teaches us this: to circumcise, not to eat pork, not to drink wine, but after death, he says, you can commit fornication with wives. Mohammed will give each of them seventy beautiful wives, and he will choose one of them the most beautiful, and put on her the beauty of all; she will be his wife. Here, he says, one should indulge in all fornication. If anyone is poor in this world, then in the next, ”and all sorts of other lies were spoken, about which it is a shame to write. Vladimir listened to them, since he himself loved wives and all fornication; That's why I listened to them. But this is what he did not like: circumcision and abstinence from pork meat, but about drinking, on the contrary, he said: “Rus' is fun to drink: we cannot live without it.” Then foreigners from Rome came and said: “We have come, sent by the pope,” and turned to Vladimir: “So dad tells you:“ Your land is the same as ours, and your faith is not like our faith, since our faith - light; we bow to God, who created heaven and earth, the stars and the moon and everything that breathes, and your gods are just a tree. Vladimir asked them: “What is your commandment?” And they answered: “Fasting according to strength:“ if anyone drinks or eats, then all this is for the glory of God, ”as our teacher Paul said.” Vladimir said to the Germans: "Go where you came from, for our fathers did not accept this." Hearing about this, the Khazar Jews came and said: “We heard that Bulgarians and Christians came, each teaching you their faith. Christians believe in the one whom we crucified, and we believe in the one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Vladimir asked: “What kind of law do you have?” They answered: "Be circumcised, do not eat pork and hare, keep the Sabbath." He asked: "Where is your land?" They said, "In Jerusalem." And he asked: "Is it really there?" And they answered: “God was angry with our fathers and scattered us into different countries for our sins, and gave our land to Christians.” Vladimir said to this: “How can you teach others, while you yourself are rejected by God and scattered? If God loved you and your law, then you would not be scattered over foreign lands. Or do you want the same for us?
Then the Greeks sent a philosopher to Vladimir, who said: “We heard that the Bulgarians came and taught you to accept your faith; their faith defiles heaven and earth, and they are cursed above all people, they are like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, on whom the Lord sent a burning stone and flooded them, and drowned, so the day of their destruction awaits them, when God will come to judge the nations and destroy all those who do iniquity and do evil. For, having washed themselves, they pour this water into the mouth, smear it on the beard and commemorate Mohammed. Likewise, their wives do the same filth, and even more... Hearing about this, Vladimir spat on the ground and said: "This business is unclean." The philosopher said: “We also heard that they came to you from Rome to teach you their faith. Their faith is slightly different from ours: they serve on unleavened bread, that is, on wafers, which God did not command, commanding to serve on bread, and taught the apostles, taking bread: "This is my body, broken for you ...". So he took the cup and said: "This is my blood of the new covenant." Those who do not do this believe wrongly.” Vladimir said: “The Jews came to me and said that the Germans and Greeks believe in the one whom they crucified.” The philosopher replied: “We truly believe in him; their own prophets predicted that he would be born, while others predicted that he would be crucified and buried, but on the third day he would rise and ascend into heaven. They beat some prophets and tortured others. When their prophecies came true, when he descended to earth, he was crucified and, having risen, ascended to heaven, but God expected repentance from them for 46 years, but did not repent, and then sent the Romans to them; and destroyed their cities, and scattered them into other lands, where they remain in slavery. Vladimir asked: “Why did God come down to earth and accept such suffering?” The philosopher answered: “If you want to listen, then I will tell you in order from the very beginning why God came down to earth.” Vladimir said: "Glad to hear it." And the philosopher began to speak like this:
“In the beginning, on the first day, God created the heavens and the earth. On the second day he created a firmament in the midst of the waters. On the same day, the waters parted - half of them ascended to the firmament, and half descended under the firmament, On the third day he created the sea, rivers, springs and seeds. On the fourth day - the sun, the moon, the stars, and God adorned the sky. The first of the angels, the elder of the rank of angels, saw all this, and thought: “I will descend to the earth, and I will take possession of it, and I will be like God, and I will set my throne on the clouds of the north.” And immediately he was overthrown from heaven, and after him fell those who were under his command - the tenth angelic rank. The name of the enemy was Satanail, and in his place God put Elder Michael. Satan, being deceived in his plan and having lost his original glory, called himself an adversary to God. Then, on the fifth day, God created whales, fish, reptiles and feathered birds. On the sixth day God created the beasts, the cattle, the creeping things of the earth; created man. On the seventh day, that is, on the Sabbath, God rested from his works. And God planted paradise in the east in Eden, and brought into it the man whom he had created, and commanded him to eat the fruit of every tree, and not to eat the fruit of one tree - the knowledge of good and evil. And Adam was in Paradise, he saw God and praised him, when the angels praised, And God brought a dream to Adam, and Adam fell asleep, and God took one rib from Adam, and created a wife for him, and brought her into Paradise to Adam, and said Adam: “This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she will be called wife. And Adam gave names to cattle and birds, beasts and creeping things, and gave names even to the angels themselves. And God subjected Adam to beasts and cattle, and he possessed them all, and everyone listened to him. The devil, seeing how God honored the man, began to envy him, was transformed into a serpent, came to Eve and said to her: “Why don’t you eat from a tree growing in the middle of paradise?” And the woman said to the serpent: “God said: “Do not eat, but if you eat, you will die the death.” And the serpent said to the woman: “You will not die by death; For God knows that on the day you eat from this tree, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And the woman saw that the tree was edible, and taking it, she ate the fruit, and gave it to her husband, and they both ate, and the eyes of both were opened, and they realized that they were naked, and they sewed a girdle for themselves from the leaves of a fig tree. And God said: “Cursed is the earth for your deeds, in sorrow you will be satisfied all the days of your life.” And the Lord God said: "When you stretch out your hands and take from the tree of life, you will live forever." And the Lord God drove Adam out of paradise. And he settled opposite paradise, weeping and cultivating the earth, and Satan rejoiced at the curse of the earth. This is our first fall and bitter retribution, falling away from the angelic life. Adam gave birth to Cain and Abel, Cain was a plowman, and Abel was a shepherd. And Cain offered the fruits of the earth as a sacrifice to God, and God did not accept his gifts. Abel brought the firstborn lamb, and God accepted the gifts of Abel. Satan entered into Cain and began to incite him to kill Abel. And Cain said to Abel, "Let's go into the field." And Abel listened to him, and when they went out, Cain rose up against Abel and wanted to kill him, but did not know how to do it. And Satan said to him, "Take a stone and strike it." He took a stone and killed Abel. And God said to Cain, "Where is your brother?" He answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And God said: "The blood of your brother cries out to me, you will groan and tremble for the rest of your life." Adam and Eve wept, and the devil rejoiced, saying: "Whom God has honored, I have caused to fall away from God, and now I have brought grief upon him." And they wept for Abel for 30 years, and his body did not decay, and they did not know how to bury him. And by the command of God, two chicks flew in, one of them died, the other dug a hole and put the deceased in it and buried him. Seeing this, Adam and Eve dug a hole, put Abel in it, and buried him with weeping. When Adam was 230 years old, he gave birth to Seth and two daughters, and took one Cain and the other Seth, and therefore people began to be fruitful and multiply on the earth. And they did not know Him who created them, they were filled with fornication, and all uncleanness, and murder, and envy, and people lived like cattle. Noah alone was righteous in the human race. And he begat three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. And God said: "My spirit shall not dwell among men"; and again: "I will destroy what I have created, from man to beast." And the Lord God said to Noah: "Build an ark 300 cubits long, 80 wide, and 30 high"; The Egyptians call a fathom a cubit. Noah made his ark for 100 years, and when Noah told the people that there would be a flood, they laughed at him. When the ark was made, the Lord said to Noah: “Enter into it you, and your wife, and your sons, and your daughters-in-law, and bring to you a pair of every beast, and of every bird, and of every creeping thing.” And Noah brought in whom God commanded him. God brought a flood on the earth, all living things drowned, and the ark floated on the water. When the water subsided, Noah went out, his sons and his wife. From them the earth was populated. And there were many people, and they spoke the same language, and they said to each other: "Let us build a pillar to the sky." They began to build, and their elder was Nevrod; And God said: “Behold, people have multiplied and their vain plans.” And God came down and divided their speech into 72 languages. Only the language of Adam was not taken from Eber; this one of all remained uninvolved in their crazy work and said this: “If God ordered people to create a pillar to the sky, then God himself would have commanded with his word, just as He created heaven, earth, sea, everything visible and invisible.” That is why his language has not changed; Jews came from him. So, people were divided into 71 languages and dispersed to all countries, and each nation took on its own character. By teaching they offered sacrifices to groves, wells and rivers and did not know God. From Adam to the flood, 2242 years passed, and from the flood to the separation of the peoples, 529 years. Then the devil misled people even more, and they began to create idols: some - wooden, others - copper, third - marble, and some - gold and silver. And they bowed down to them, and brought their sons and daughters to them, and slaughtered them before them, and the whole earth was defiled. Serukh was the first to make idols, he created them in honor of dead people: some former kings, or brave people and wise men, and adulterous wives. Serug begat Terah, and Terah begat three sons: Abraham, Nahor, and Aaron. Terah, on the other hand, made idols, having learned this from his father. Abraham, having begun to understand the truth, looked at the sky, and saw the stars and the sky, and said: “Truly, it is the God who created heaven and earth, and my father deceives people.” And Abraham said: “I will test the gods of my father,” and turned to his father: “Father! Why are you deceiving people by making wooden idols? The God who created the heavens and the earth." Abraham took fire and set fire to the idols in the temple. Aaron, the brother of Abraham, seeing this and honoring the idols, wanted to carry them out, but he himself immediately burned down and died before his father. Before this, the son did not die before the father, but the father before the son; and from that time on, sons began to die before fathers. But God loved Abraham and said to him: "Get out of your father's house and go to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and the generations of men will bless you." And Abraham did as God commanded him. And Abraham took his nephew Lot; this Lot was both his brother-in-law and his nephew, since Abraham took for himself the daughter of Aaron's brother, Sarah. And Abraham came to the land of Canaanite to a tall oak, and God said to Abraham: “To your offspring I will give this land.” And Abraham bowed to God.
Abraham was 75 years old when he left Harran. Sarah, on the other hand, was infertile, suffering from infertility. And Sarah said to Abraham, "Come in to my servant." And Sarah took Hagar, and gave her to her husband, and Abraham went in to Hagar, and Hagar conceived and bore a son, and Abraham called him Ishmael; Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. Then Sarah conceived, and gave birth to a son, and called his name Isaac. And God commanded Abraham to circumcise the boy, and they circumcised him on the eighth day. God loved Abraham and his tribe, and called him his people, and calling him his people, separated him from others. And Isaac matured, and Abraham lived 175 years, and died, and was buried. When Isaac was 60 years old, he gave birth to two sons: Esau and Jacob. Esau was deceitful, but Jacob was righteous. This Jacob worked for his uncle for seven years, seeking his youngest daughter, and Laban, his uncle, did not give her to him, saying this: “Take the eldest.” And he gave him Leah, the eldest, and for the sake of the other he said to him: "Work for seven more years." He worked seven more years for Rachel. And so he took two sisters for himself and begat eight sons from them: Reuben, Simeon, Levgia, Judah, Isachar, Zaulon, Joseph and Benjamin, and from two slave women: Dan, Nephthalim, Gad and Asher. And the Jews went from them, but Jacob, when he was 130 years old, went to Egypt, along with all his kind, the number of 65 souls. He lived in Egypt for 17 years and died, and his offspring were in slavery for 400 years. After these years, the Jews grew stronger and multiplied, and the Egyptians oppressed them as slaves. At that time, Moses was born to the Jews, and the magi said to the Egyptian king: "A child was born to the Jews, who will destroy Egypt." And immediately the king ordered all born Jewish children to be thrown into the river. The mother of Moses, frightened by this destruction, took the baby, put him in a basket, and carrying it, placed it near the river. At this time, the daughter of Pharaoh Fermufi came to bathe and saw a crying child, took him, spared him, and gave him the name Moses, and fed him. That boy was handsome, and when he was four years old, Pharaoh's daughter brought him to her father. Pharaoh saw Moses and fell in love with the boy. Moses, somehow grabbing the king's neck, dropped the crown from the king's head and stepped on it. The sorcerer, seeing this, said to the king: “O king! Destroy this boy, but if you do not destroy, then he himself will destroy all Egypt. The king not only did not listen to him, but, moreover, ordered not to destroy Jewish children. Moses matured and became a great man in Pharaoh's house. When another king became in Egypt, the boyars began to envy Moses. Moses, having killed an Egyptian who offended a Jew, fled from Egypt and came to the land of Midian, and when he was walking through the wilderness, he learned from the angel Gabriel about the existence of the whole world, about the first man and about what happened after him and after the flood, and about the confusion of tongues, and who lived for how many years, and about the movement of the stars, and about their number, and about the measure of the earth, and all wisdom, Then God appeared to Moses by fire in the thorn bush and said to him: “I saw the disasters of my people in Egypt and came down to free them from the power of the Egyptians, to bring them out of this land. Go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him: "Let Israel out so that they make demands of God for three days." If the king of Egypt does not listen to you, then I will beat him with all my miracles.” When Moses came, Pharaoh did not listen to him, and God sent 10 plagues on him: first, bloody rivers; secondly, toads; thirdly, midges; fourthly, dog flies; fifthly, the death of livestock; sixthly, abscesses; seventh, hail; eighth, locusts; ninth, three-day darkness; tenthly, pestilence on people. Therefore, God sent ten plagues on them, because for 10 months they drowned the Jewish children. When the pestilence began in Egypt, Pharaoh said to Moses and his brother Aaron: "Go away quickly!" Moses, having gathered the Jews, left Egypt. And the Lord led them through the deserts to the Red Sea, and a pillar of fire went ahead of them at night, and by day it was cloudy. Pharaoh heard that the people were fleeing, and he pursued them, and pressed them to the sea. When the Jews saw this, they cried out to Moses: “Why did you lead us to death?” And Moses called to God, and the Lord said: “Why do you call to me? Strike the sea with the rod." And Moses did this, and the water parted in two, and the children of Israel went into the sea. Seeing this, Pharaoh pursued them, and the sons of Israel crossed the sea on dry land. And when they came ashore, the sea closed over Pharaoh and his soldiers. And the God loved Israel, and they went from the sea three days through the wilderness, and came to Marah. The water was bitter here, and the people murmured against God, and the Lord showed them a tree, and Moses put it in the water, and the water became sweet. Then the people again murmured against Moses and against Aaron: “It was better for us in Egypt, where we ate meat, onions and bread to the full.” And the Lord said to Moses, “I heard the murmuring of the children of Israel,” and gave them manna to eat. Then he gave them the law on Mount Sinai. When Moses ascended the mountain to God, the people cast the head of a calf and worshiped it like a god. And Moses cut off three thousand of these people. And then the people murmured again against Moses and Aaron, for there was no water. And the Lord said to Moses: "Strike the stone with the rod." And Moses answered: “What if he does not emit water?” And the Lord was angry with Moses, that he did not magnify the Lord, and he did not enter the promised land because of the grumbling of the people, but led him up to Mount Vam and showed him the promised land. And Moses died here on the mountain. And Joshua took over. This one entered the promised land, slew the tribe of Canaan, and brought the sons of Israel into their place. When Jesus died, judge Judas took his place; and there were 14 other judges. With them, the Jews forgot God, who brought them out of Egypt, and began to serve demons. And he got angry and handed them over to foreigners for plunder. When they began to repent, God had mercy on them; and when he delivered them, they again turned away into the service of demons. Then there was the judge Elijah the priest, and then the prophet Samuel. And the people said to Samuel, "Set us a king." And the Lord was angry with Israel, and appointed Saul king for them. However, Saul did not want to obey the law of the Lord, and the Lord chose David, and made him king of Israel, and David pleased God. God promised this David that God would be born of his tribe. He was the first to prophesy about the incarnation of God, saying: "From the womb before the morning star he begat you." So he prophesied for 40 years and died. And after him his son Solomon prophesied, who built a temple to God and called it the Holy of Holies. And he was wise, but in the end he sinned; reigned 40 years and died. After Solomon, his son Rehoboam reigned. Under him, the Jewish kingdom was divided in two: one in Jerusalem, and another in Samaria. Jeroboam reigned in Samaria. servant of Solomon; he made two golden calves and set them up, one at Bethel on the hill, and the other at Dan, saying, "Here are your gods, O Israel." And people worshiped, but God was forgotten. So in Jerusalem they began to forget God and worship Baal, that is, the god of war, in other words, Ares; and have forgotten the God of their fathers. And God began to send prophets to them. The prophets began to accuse them of iniquity and serving idols. They, rebuked, began to beat the prophets. God was angry with Israel and said: “I will reject from myself, I will call other people who will be obedient to me. Even if they sin, I will not remember their iniquity.” And he began to send prophets, saying to them: "Prophesy about the rejection of the Jews and about the calling of new nations."
Hosea was the first to prophesy: “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel... I will break the bow of Israel... I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but, brushing aside, I will reject them,” says the Lord. And they will be wanderers among the nations. Jeremiah said, "Though Samuel and Moses rise up... I will not have mercy on them." And the same Jeremiah also said: “Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I swore by my great name that my name would not be pronounced by the lips of the Jews.” Ezekiel said: “This is what the Lord says to Adonai: “I will scatter you, and I will scatter all your remnant to all the winds ... Because they defiled my sanctuary with all your abominations; I will reject you... and I will not have mercy on you. Malachi said: “Thus says the Lord:“ My favor is no longer with you ... For from the east to the west my name will be glorified among the nations, and in every place they offer incense to my name and a pure sacrifice, because my name is great among the nations . For this I will hand you over to be reviled and scattered among all peoples. Isaiah the Great said: “Thus says the Lord: I will stretch out my hand against you, I will rot and scatter you, and I will not gather you again.” And the same prophet also said: “I have hated the feasts and the beginnings of your months, and I do not accept your Sabbaths.” Amos the prophet said: “Hear the word of the Lord: “I will raise a cry for you, the house of Israel has fallen and will not rise again.” Malachi said: “Thus says the Lord: I will send a curse on you and I will curse your blessing ... I will destroy it and it will not be with you.” And the prophets prophesied much about their rejection.
The same prophets were commanded by God to prophesy about the calling of other nations in their place. And Isaiah began to cry out, thus saying: “From me shall come the law and my judgment, a light to the nations. My righteousness will soon approach and ascend... and the people will hope for my arm.” Jeremiah said: “Thus says the Lord: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah. Isaiah said, “The former is past, but the new I will proclaim—before the announcement, it was revealed to you. Sing a new song to God." "My servants will be given a new name, which will be blessed throughout the earth." "My house shall be called the house of prayer of all nations." The same prophet Isaiah says: "The Lord will bare his holy arm before the eyes of all nations, and all the ends of the earth will see salvation from our God." David says, "Praise the Lord, all peoples; glorify him, all people."
So God loved the new people and revealed to them that he would come down to them himself, appear as a man in the flesh, and redeem the suffering of Adam. And they began to prophesy about the incarnation of God, before the others David: "The Lord said to my Lord:" Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet. And again: “The Lord said to me: “You are my son; I have now begotten you. Isaiah said, "Not an ambassador, not a messenger, but God himself, when he comes, will save us." And again: “A baby will be born to us, dominion is on his shoulders, and his name will be called a great light angel ... His power is great, and his world has no limit.” And again: “Behold, a virgin will conceive in her womb, and they will call her name Emmanuel.” Micah said: “You, Bethlehem, the house of Ephrantus, are you not great among the thousands of Judas? For out of you will come one who is to be ruler in Israel, and whose outcome is from the days of eternity. Therefore he sets them up until the time when he brings forth those who give birth, and then the rest of their brethren shall return to the children of Israel.” Jeremiah said, “This is our God, and no one else can compare with him. He found all the ways of wisdom and gave it to his youth Jacob... After that, he appeared on earth and lived among people.” And again: “He is a man; who knows what he is? for he dies like a man. Zechariah said: "They did not listen to my son, but I will not hear them, says the Lord." And Hosea said, "Thus says the Lord: My flesh is of them."
And they also prophesied his sufferings, saying, as Isaiah said: “Woe to their souls! For they made a council of evils, saying, "Let us bind the righteous." And the same prophet also said: “Thus says the Lord: “... I do not resist, I will not say contrary. I gave my spine to inflict wounds, and my cheeks to behead, and I did not turn away my face from reproach and spitting. Jeremiah said, "Come, let us put a tree for his food, and let us cut off his life from the earth." Moses said of his crucifixion: "See your life hanging before your eyes." And David said, "Why do the nations rage?" Isaiah said, "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter." Ezra said, "Blessed is he who stretches out his hands and saves Jerusalem."
And about the resurrection David said: “Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you will inherit among all nations.” And again: "As if from a dream the Lord arose." And again: "Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered." And again: “Rise up, O Lord my God, let your hand be lifted up.” Isaiah said, "You who descend into the land of the shadow of death, a light will shine on you." Zechariah said, “And for the sake of the blood of your covenant, you freed your captives from the pit that had no water.”
And they prophesied a lot about him, which all came true.
Vladimir asked: “When did this come true? And did it all come true? Or is it just now coming true? The philosopher answered him: “All this has already come true when he was incarnated. As I said, when the Jews beat the prophets, and their kings transgressed the laws, God betrayed them for plunder, and they were taken captive to Assyria for their sins, and were in slavery there for 70 years. And then they returned to their own land, and they did not have a king, but the bishops ruled over them until the foreigner Herod, who began to rule over them.
In the reign of the latter, in the year 5500, Gabriel was sent to Nazareth to the virgin Mary, who was born in the tribe of David, to say to her: “Rejoice, rejoice. The Lord is with you!" And from these words she conceived in the womb the Word of God, and gave birth to a son, and named him Jesus. And behold, the magi came from the east, saying: “Where is the born king of the Jews? For they have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Hearing about this, King Herod was perplexed, and all Jerusalem with him, and, calling the scribes and the elders, he asked them: “Where is Christ born?” They answered him: "In Jewish Bethlehem." Herod, hearing this, sent with the order: “Beat all the babies up to two years old.” They went and destroyed the babies, and Mary, frightened, hid the baby. Then Joseph and Mary, taking the baby, fled to Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod. In Egypt, an angel appeared to Joseph and said: "Get up, take the baby and his mother and go to the land of Israel." And when he returned, he settled in Nazareth. When Jesus grew up and was 30 years old, he began to work miracles and preach the kingdom of heaven. And he chose 12, and called them his disciples, and began to work great miracles - to raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, heal the lame, give sight to the blind - and many other great miracles that the former prophets predicted about him, saying: “He healed our diseases and He took our illnesses upon himself. And he was baptized in the Jordan by John, showing renewal to new people. When he was baptized, the heavens opened, and the Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and a voice said: “Behold, my beloved son, whom I have pleased.” And he sent his disciples to preach the kingdom of heaven and repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And he was going to fulfill the prophecy, and began to preach about how it is fitting for the son of man to suffer, be crucified, and rise on the third day. When he was teaching in the church, the bishops and scribes were filled with envy and wanted to kill him, and seizing him, they took him to the governor Pilate. Pilate, realizing that they brought him without fault, wanted to let him go. And they said to him: "If you let him go, you will not be a friend of Caesar." Then Pilate ordered that he be crucified. They took Jesus and led him to the place of the skull, and then they crucified him. Darkness fell over the whole earth from the sixth hour until the ninth, and at the ninth hour Jesus gave up his spirit, the curtain of the Church was torn in two, many dead rose up, whom he commanded to enter Paradise. They took him down from the cross, put him in a coffin, and the Jews sealed the coffin with seals, set guards, saying: "Lest his disciples steal it." He rose again on the third day. Having risen from the dead, he appeared to his disciples and said to them: "Go to all nations and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." He stayed with them for 40 days, coming to them after his resurrection. When 40 days had passed, he commanded them to go to the Mount of Olives. And then he appeared to them, and blessed them, and said: "Stay in the city of Jerusalem until I send you the promise of my father." And having said this, he ascended into heaven, and they worshiped him. And they returned to Jerusalem, and were always in the church. After fifty days, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. And when they received the promise of the Holy Spirit, they dispersed throughout the world, teaching and baptizing with water.”
Vladimir asked: “Why was he born from a wife, was he crucified on a tree and baptized with water?” The philosopher answered him: “Here's what for. At first, the human race sinned with a wife: the devil seduced Adam by Eve, and he lost paradise, so God took revenge: through the wife was the initial victory of the devil, because of the wife, Adam was initially expelled from paradise; God also became incarnate through a woman and commanded the faithful to enter Paradise. And he was crucified on the tree because Adam ate of the tree and because of it he was expelled from paradise; God, on the tree, accepted suffering, so that the devil would be defeated by the tree, and the righteous would be saved by the tree of life. And the renewal of water was accomplished because under Noah, when the sins of people multiplied, God brought a flood on the earth and drowned people with water; That is why God said: “Just as with water I destroyed people for their sins, so now again with water I will cleanse people from the sins of people - with water of renewal”; for even the Jews in the sea were cleansed of the Egyptian evil disposition, for water was created first, for it is said: The Spirit of God hovered over the waters, therefore now they are baptized with water and the Spirit. The first transfiguration was also water, to which Gideon typified in the following way: when an angel came to him, telling him to go to Madimyan, he, testing him, turned to God, laying a fleece on the threshing floor, said: “If there is dew on all the earth, and the fleece is dry ... ". And so it was. This was also a prototype that all other countries were before without dew, and the Jews were fleece, but after that dew fell on other countries, which is holy baptism, and the Jews were left without dew. And the prophets predicted that renewal would be through the water. When the apostles taught throughout the universe to believe in God, we Greeks accepted their teaching, and the universe believes in their teaching. God also established a single day, in which, descending from heaven, he will judge the living and the dead and reward everyone according to his deeds: the righteous - the kingdom of heaven, beauty inexpressible, joy without end and eternal immortality; for sinners - fiery torment, the unsleeping worm, and torment without end. Such will be the torment for those who do not believe our God Jesus Christ: those who are not baptized will be tormented in the fire.”
And, having said this, the philosopher showed Vladimir the veil, on which the judgment seat of the Lord was depicted, pointed him to the righteous on the right, going to paradise in joy, and the sinners on the left, going to torment. Vladimir, sighing, said: “Good for those on the right, woe to those on the left.” The philosopher said: "If you want to stand with the righteous on the right, then be baptized." This sunk into Vladimir’s heart, and he said: “I’ll wait a little longer,” wanting to find out about all the faiths. And Vladimir gave him many gifts and let him go with great honor.
In the year 6495 (987). Vladimir summoned his boyars and the elders of the city and said to them: “The Bulgarians came to me, saying: “Accept our law.” Then the Germans came and praised their law. Jews came after them. After all, the Greeks came, scolding all the laws, and praising their own, and they talked a lot, telling from the beginning of the world, about the existence of the whole world. They speak wisely, and it is wonderful to hear them, and everyone loves to listen to them, they also tell about another world: if someone, they say, converts to our faith, then, having died, he will rise again, and he will not die forever; but if it be in another law, then in the next world he will burn in fire. What do you advise? what will you answer?" And the boyars and the elders said: “Know, prince, that no one scolds his own, but praises. If you really want to find out everything, then you have husbands with you: sending them, find out who has what service and who serves God in what way. And their prince and all the people liked their speech; they chose 10 glorious and wise men, and said to them: “Go first to the Bulgarians and test their faith.” And they went, and when they came to them, they saw their bad deeds and worship in the mosque, and returned to their land. And Vladimir said to them: “Go to the Germans, look out for everything they have, and from there go to the Greek land.” They came to the Germans, saw their church service, and then came to Constantinople and appeared to the king. The king asked them: “Why did you come?” They told him everything. Hearing this, the king rejoiced and on the same day did them great honors. The next day he sent to the patriarch, saying to him: “The Russians have come to find out about our faith, prepare the clergy and dress yourself in hierarchal robes so that they can see the glory of our God.” Hearing about this, the patriarch ordered to convene the clergy, held a festive service according to custom, and censers were lit, and singing and choirs were arranged. And he went with the Russians to the church, and they put them in the best place, showing them the beauty of the church, the singing and service of the bishops, the presence of the deacons, and telling them about serving their God. They were in admiration, marveled and praised their service. And the kings Basil and Constantine called them, and said to them: “Go to your land,” and let them go with great gifts and with honor. They returned to their own land. And the prince summoned his boyars and elders, and Vladimir said: “The men sent by us have come, let us listen to everything that happened to them,” and turned to the ambassadors: “Speak before the retinue.” They said: “We went to Bulgaria, watched how they pray in the temple, that is, in the mosque, they stand there without a belt; making a bow, he sits down and looks here and there, like a madman, and there is no fun in them, only sadness and a great stench. Their law is not good. And we came to the Germans, and saw their various services in the temples, but we did not see any beauty. And we came to the Greek land, and led us to where they serve their God, and did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth: for there is no such sight and beauty on earth, and we do not know how to tell about it, - we only know that God dwells there with people, and their service is better than in all other countries. We cannot forget that beauty, for every person, if he tastes the sweet, then will not take the bitter; so we can no longer stay here.” The boyars said: “If the Greek law was bad, then your grandmother Olga would not have accepted it, but she was the wisest of all people.” And Vladimir asked: “Where shall we be baptized?” They said: "Where you like."
And when a year had passed, in 6496 (988) Vladimir went with an army to Korsun, a Greek city, and the Korsunians shut themselves up in the city. And Vladimir stood on the other side of the city at the pier, at a distance of an arrow from the city, and fought hard from the city. Vladimir laid siege to the city. People in the city began to tire out, and Vladimir said to the townspeople: “If you don’t give up, then I’ll be idle for three years.” They did not listen to him, but Vladimir, having prepared his army, ordered to pour an embankment to the city walls. And when they poured, they, the Korsunians, having dug up the city wall, stole the poured earth, and carried it to their city, and poured it in the middle of the city. Warriors sprinkled even more, and Vladimir stood. And then a certain Korsunian husband, named Anastas, shot an arrow, writing on it: “Dig and cross the water, it goes through pipes from the wells that are behind you from the east.” Vladimir, having heard about this, looked at the sky and said: “If this comes true, I myself will be baptized!” And immediately he ordered to dig across the pipes and took over the water. The people were exhausted from thirst and gave up. Vladimir entered the city with his retinue and sent to the kings Vasily and Konstantin to say: “Here, your glorious city has already been taken; I heard that you have a maiden sister; if you do not give it to me, then I will do the same to your capital as to this city. And when the kings heard this, they were saddened, and sent him the following message: “It is not fitting for Christians to give wives to pagans. If you are baptized, then you will receive it, and you will receive the kingdom of heaven, and you will be of the same faith with us. If you do not do this, then we will not be able to marry your sister to you.” Hearing this, Vladimir said to those sent to him from the kings: “Say this to your kings: I am baptized, for I have already tested your law and love your faith and worship, about which the men sent by us told me.” And the kings were glad when they heard this, and they begged their sister, named Anna, and sent to Vladimir, saying: “Be baptized, and then we will send our sister to you.” Vladimir answered: “Let those who came with your sister baptize me.” And the kings obeyed, and sent their sister, dignitaries and presbyters. She did not want to go, saying: "I'm going as if I'm full, it would be better for me to die here." And the brothers said to her: “Maybe God will turn the Russian land to repentance by you, and save the Greek land from a terrible war. Do you see how much evil Rus' did to the Greeks? Now, if you don’t go, they will do the same to us.” And they hardly forced her. She got into the ship, said goodbye to her neighbors with weeping, and set off across the sea. And she came to Korsun, and the Korsun people came out to meet her with a bow, and they brought her into the city, and put her in the ward. By divine providence, Vladimir's eyes ached at that time, and did not see anything, and grieved greatly, and did not know what to do. And the queen sent to him to say: “If you want to get rid of this disease, then be baptized as soon as possible; but if you are not baptized, you will not be able to get rid of your illness.” Hearing this, Vladimir said: "If this really comes true, then the God of the Christians is truly great." And he ordered to be baptized. The bishop of Korsun with the tsarina's priests, having announced, baptized Vladimir. And when he laid his hand on him, he immediately received his sight. Vladimir, feeling his sudden healing, glorified God: "Now I know the true God." Many of the warriors, seeing this, were baptized. He was baptized in the church of St. Basil, and that church stands in the city of Korsun in the middle of the city, where Korsun people gather for bargaining; the chamber of Vladimir stands from the edge of the church to this day, and the tsarina's chamber is behind the altar. After the baptism, the queen was brought to perform the marriage. Those who do not know the truth say that Vladimir was baptized in Kyiv, while others say - in Vasilevo, while others will say differently. When Vladimir was baptized and taught the Christian faith, they told him this: “Let no heretics deceive you, but believe, saying this: “I believe in one God, the Almighty Father, creator of heaven and earth” - and to the end this symbol of faith. And again: “I believe in one God, the unbegotten Father and in one begotten Son, in one Holy Spirit, who proceeds: three perfect natures, mental, divided in number and nature, but not in divine essence: for God is inseparably divided and united without confusion, The Father, God the Father, eternally existing, abides in paternity, unbegotten, without beginning, the beginning and first cause of everything, only by his non-birth is older than the Son and the Spirit; from him the Son is born before all time. The Holy Spirit proceeds out of time and out of the body; together there is the Father, together the Son, together the Holy Spirit. The Son is like the Father, only by birth differing from the Father and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is similar in essence to the Father and the Son and eternally coexists with them. For to the Father is fatherhood, to the Son is sonship, but to the Holy Spirit is descent. Neither the Father passes into the Son or the Spirit, nor the Son into the Father or the Spirit, nor the Spirit into the Son or into the Father: for their properties are unchanged ... Not three Gods, but one God, since the deity is one in three persons. By the desire of the Father and the Spirit to save their creation, without changing the human seed, it descended and entered, like a divine seed, into the most pure maiden bed and took on animated, verbal and intelligent flesh, which had not been before, and God incarnate appeared, was born in an indescribable way, keeping indestructible the virginity of the mother, having undergone neither confusion, nor confusion, nor change, but remained as it was, and becoming what it was not, taking on the appearance of a slave - in fact, and not in imagination, to everyone except sin, appearing like us (people). .. He was born of his own free will, he felt hunger of his own accord, he felt thirsty of his own accord, he grieved of his own accord, he was afraid of his own will, he died of his own will - he died in reality, and not in imagination; all inherent in human nature, genuine torment experienced. When the sinless one was crucified and tasted death, he rose again in his own body, not knowing corruption, ascended into heaven, and sat down to the right of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; as I ascended with my flesh, so I will descend ... I confess and only baptism with water and spirit, I approach the most pure mysteries, I truly believe in the body and blood ... I accept church traditions and venerate the holy icons, I bow to the holy tree and every cross, holy relics and sacred vessels. I also believe in the seven councils of the holy fathers, of which the first was in Nicaea 318 fathers who cursed Arius and preached an immaculate and right faith. Second Council in Constantinople 150 Holy Fathers who cursed the Doukhobor Macedonia, who preached the consubstantial Trinity. The third council in Ephesus, 200 holy fathers against Nestorius, having cursed him, they preached the Holy Mother of God. The Fourth Council in Chalcedon 630 Holy Fathers against Eutukh and Dioscorus, whom the Holy Fathers cursed, proclaiming our Lord Jesus Christ perfect God and perfect man, the Fifth Council in Constantinople 165 Holy Fathers against the teachings of Origen and against Evagrius, whom the Holy Fathers cursed. The sixth council in Constantinople 170 holy fathers against Sergius and Kur, damned by the holy fathers. Seventh Council in Nicaea 350 holy fathers who cursed those who do not worship holy icons.
Do not accept the teachings from the Latins - their teaching is distorted: when they enter the church, they do not worship icons, but, standing, they bow and, having bowed, write a cross on the ground, and kiss, and standing up, stand on it with their feet - so, lying down , kiss him, and standing up - trample, This was not taught by the apostles; the apostles taught to kiss the set cross and honor the icons. For Luke the Evangelist first painted the icon and sent it to Rome. As Vasily says: “The honoring of the icon passes to its prototype. Moreover, they call the earth mother. If the earth is their mother, then heaven is their father, - from the beginning God created the sky, and so the earth. So they say: "Our Father, who art in heaven." If, in their opinion, the earth is a mother, then why do you spit on your mother? Do you kiss and desecrate her right there? The Romans did not do this before, but decided correctly at all councils, converging from Rome and from all dioceses. Roman Sylvester sent bishops and presbyters to the first council in Nicaea against Arius (pope), Athanasius from Alexandria, and Mitrofan from Constantinople sent bishops from himself and thus corrected the faith. At the second council - from Rome Damas, and from Alexandria Timothy, from Antioch Meletius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory the Theologian. At the third council - Celestine of Rome, Cyril of Alexandria, Juvenal of Jerusalem. At the fourth council - Leo of Rome, Anatoly from Constantinople, Juvenal of Jerusalem. At the fifth council - the Roman Vigilius, Eutyches from Constantinople, Apollinaris of Alexandria, Domninus of Antioch. At the sixth council - Agathon from Rome, George from Constantinople, Theophanes of Antioch, monk Peter from Alexandria. At the seventh council - Adrian from Rome, Tarasius from Constantinople, Politian of Alexandria, Theodoret of Antioch, Elijah of Jerusalem. All of them met with their bishops, strengthening the faith. After this, the last, council, Peter the Hunniy entered Rome with others, seized the throne and corrupted the faith, rejecting the throne of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Constantinople and Antioch. They revolted all Italy, sowing their doctrine everywhere. Some priests serve, being married to only one wife, while others, having married up to seven times, serve; and one should beware of their teaching. They also forgive sins during the offering of gifts, which is worst of all. God keep you from this."
After all this, Vladimir took the queen, and Anastas, and the Korsun priests with the relics of St. Clement, and Thebes, his disciple, took both church vessels and icons for his blessing. He also set up a church in Korsun on a mountain that was built in the middle of the city, stealing the earth from the embankment: that church stands to this day. Departing, he also captured two copper idols and four copper horses, which even now stand behind the Church of the Holy Mother of God and about which the ignoramuses think that they are marble. Korsun gave the Greeks as a vein for the queen, and he returned to Kyiv. And when he came, he ordered the idols to be overthrown - some to chop and others to burn. Peruna also ordered to tie a horse to the tail and drag him from the mountain along the Borichev vozvoz to the Creek and assigned 12 men to beat him with sticks. This was done not because the tree feels something, but to desecrate the demon, who deceived people in this image, so that he would accept retribution from people. "Great art thou, O Lord, and marvelous are thy works!" Yesterday he was still honored by people, but today we will scold him. When Perun was dragged along the Stream to the Dnieper, the infidels mourned him, since they had not yet received holy baptism. And, having dragged him, they threw him into the Dnieper. And Vladimir assigned people to him, telling them: “If he sticks to the shore somewhere, push him away. And when the rapids pass, then just leave it.” They did what they were ordered to do. And when they let Perun in and he passed the rapids, he was thrown by the wind onto the shallows, and that is why the place was known as the Perunya shallows, as it is called to this day. Then Vladimir sent throughout the city to say: "If someone does not come to the river tomorrow - whether it be rich, or poor, or a beggar, or a slave, he will be my enemy." Hearing this, the people went with joy, rejoicing and saying: "If it weren't for this good, our prince and boyars would not have accepted it." The very next day, Vladimir went out with the Tsaritsyn and Korsun priests to the Dnieper, and an innumerable people converged there. They entered the water and stood there, some up to their necks, others up to their chests, while the young ones near the shore were up to their chests, some held babies, and already adults wandered around, while the priests, standing, made prayers. And joy was seen in heaven and on earth over so many souls being saved; but he said, groaning: “Alas for me! I'm out of here! Here I thought to find a home for myself, for there was no apostolic teaching here, they did not know God here, but I rejoiced at the service of those who served me. And now I have already been defeated by the ignorant, and not by the apostles and not by the martyrs; I can no longer reign in these countries. The people, having been baptized, went home. Vladimir was glad that he himself knew God and his people, looked up to heaven and said: “Christ God, who created heaven and earth! Look at these new people and let them, Lord, know you, the true God, as Christian countries have known you. Establish in them a correct and unswerving faith, and help me, Lord, against the devil, so that I can overcome his wiles, relying on you and your strength. And having said this, he ordered to cut down the churches and put them in the places where the idols used to stand. And he built a church in the name of St. Basil on the hill where the idol of Perun and others stood, and where the prince and people performed for them. And in other cities they began to set up churches and identify priests in them and bring people to baptism in all cities and villages. He sent to collect children from the best people and give them to book education. The mothers of these children wept for them; for they were not yet established in the faith, and wept for them as if they were dead.
When they were given into the teaching of the book, the prophecy came true in Rus', which said: "In those days they will hear the deaf words of the book, and the language of the tongue-tied will be clear." They had not heard the teachings of the book before, but according to God's dispensation and by His mercy, God had mercy on them; as the prophet said: "I will have mercy on whom I want." For he has mercy on us with holy baptism and renewal of the spirit, according to God's will, and not according to our deeds. Blessed be the Lord, who loved the Russian land and enlightened her with holy baptism. That is why we also worship him, saying: “Lord Jesus Christ! How can I repay you for everything that I repaid to us sinners? We do not know what reward to give you for your gifts. “For great are you, and marvelous are your works; there is no limit to your greatness. Generation after generation will praise your deeds.” I will say with David: “Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us exclaim to God and our Savior. Let us present ourselves to his face with praise.”; "Praise Him, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever", because "delivered us from our enemies"(), that is, from pagan idols. And let's say with David: “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth; sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim his salvation from day to day. Proclaim His glory among the nations, His wonders among all people, for the Lord is great and praiseworthy.” (), And his greatness has no end(). What a joy! Not one or two are saved. The Lord said: “Joy happens in heaven and over one repentant sinner” (). Here, not one or two, but an innumerable multitude approached God, enlightened by holy baptism. As the prophet said: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and be cleansed from your idolatry and from your sins." Also another prophet said: "Who is a God like you, forgiving sins and not imputing a crime ..? for he who desires it is merciful. He will turn and have mercy on us ... and cast our sins into the abyss of the sea "(). For the apostle Paul says: “Brethren! All of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death; Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”(). And further: "The old is gone, now everything is new" (). "Now salvation has come near to us ... the night has passed, and the day has come near"(). We will cry out to the Lord our God: “Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as a prey to their teeth! .. The network was broken, and we were delivered” from the deception of the devilish (). “And their memory disappeared with a noise, but the Lord abides forever"(), glorified by the Russian sons, sung in the Trinity, and the demons are cursed by the faithful husbands and faithful wives who received baptism and repentance for the remission of sins - new Christian people, chosen by God.
Vladimir himself was enlightened, and his sons, and his land. He had 12 sons: Vysheslav, Izyaslav, Yaroslav, Svyatopolk, Vsevolod, Svyatoslav, Mstislav, Boris, Gleb, Stanislav, Pozvizd, Sudislav. And he planted Vysheslav in Novgorod, Izyaslav in Polotsk, and Svyatopolk in Turov, and Yaroslav in Rostov. Vladimir, Mstislav in Tmutarakan. And Vladimir said: "It is not good that there are few cities near Kyiv." And he began to set up cities along the Desna, and along the Ostr, and along the Trubezh, and along the Sula, and along the Stugna. And he began to recruit the best husbands from the Slavs, and from the Krivichi, and from the Chud, and from the Vyatichi, and he populated the cities with them, since there was a war with the Pechenegs. And fought with them, and defeated them.
In the year 6497 (989). After that, Vladimir lived in Christian law, and decided to create a church for the Most Holy Theotokos, and sent to bring craftsmen from the Greek land. And he began to build it, and when he finished building, he decorated it with icons, and entrusted it to Anastas the Korsunian, and appointed Korsun priests to serve in it, giving her everything that he had taken before in Korsun: icons, vessels and crosses.
In the year 6499 (991). Vladimir founded the city of Belgorod, and recruited people from other cities for it, and brought many people into it, for he loved that city.
In the year 6500 (992). Vladimir went to the Croats. When he returned from the Croatian war, the Pechenegs came on the other side of the Dnieper from Sula; Vladimir, however, opposed them and met them at the Trubezh at the ford, where Pereyaslavl is now. And Vladimir stood on this side, and the Pechenegs on that side, and ours did not dare to go over to that side, neither those to this one. And the prince of the Pechenegs drove up to the river, called Vladimir and said to him: “You let your husband out, and I let mine out - let them fight. If your husband throws mine to the ground, then we will not fight for three years; but if our husband throws yours to the ground, we will ruin you for three years.” And they parted ways. Vladimir, having returned to his camp, sent heralds around the camp with the words: “Is there no such man who would grapple with the Pecheneg?” And didn't show up anywhere. The next morning, the Pechenegs arrived and brought their husband, but ours did not have it. And Vladimir began to grieve, sending all over his army, and one old man came to the prince, and said to him: “Prince! I have one smaller son at home; I went out with four, and he stayed at home. Since childhood, no one has thrown him to the ground. Once I scolded him, and he crushed the skin, so he became angry with me and tore the skin with his hands. Hearing about this, the prince was delighted, and they sent for him, and brought him to the prince, and the prince told him everything. He replied: “Prince! I don’t know if I can grapple with him, but test me: is there a big and strong bull? And they found a bull, big and strong, and he ordered to enrage the bull; they put red-hot iron on it and let the bull go. And the bull ran past him, and grabbed the bull by the side with his hand and tore out the skin with the meat, as much as his hand grabbed. And Vladimir said to him: "You can fight him." The next morning, the Pechenegs came and began to call: “Where is the husband? Ours is ready!" Vladimir ordered that on the same night to put on armor, and both sides agreed. The Pechenegs released their husband: he was very big and terrible. And the husband of Vladimir came out, and saw his Pecheneg and laughed, for he was of medium height. And they measured the place between the two armies, and sent them against each other. And they grabbed, and began to firmly press each other, and the Pechenezhin's husband strangled his hands to death. And threw him to the ground. And ours called, and the Pechenegs ran, and the Russians chased after them, beating them, and drove them away. Vladimir was delighted and laid the city at the ford and called it Pereyaslavl, for that youth took over the glory. And Vladimir made him a great husband, and his father too. And Vladimir returned to Kyiv with victory and great glory.
In the year 6502 (994).
In the year 6503 (995).
In the year 6504 (996). Vladimir saw that the church was built, entered it and prayed to God, saying this: “Lord God! Look down from the sky and behold. And visit your garden. And accomplish what your right hand has planted, these new people, whose heart you have turned to the truth, to know you, the true God. Look at your church, which I created, your unworthy servant, in the name of the mother of the ever-virgin Mother of God who gave birth to you. If anyone prays in this church, then hear his prayer, for the sake of the prayer of the most pure Mother of God. And, praying to God, he said this: “I give the church of this holy Mother of God a tenth of my riches and my cities.” And he set it up, writing a spell in this church, saying: "If anyone cancels this, let him be damned." And he gave a tenth to Anastas Korsunian. And on that day he arranged a great holiday for the boyars and the elders of the city, and distributed a lot of wealth to the poor.
After that, the Pechenegs came to Vasilev, and Vladimir went out against them with a small retinue. And they agreed, and Vladimir could not resist them, he ran and stood under the bridge, barely hiding from the enemies. And then Vladimir gave a promise to build a church in Vasilevo in the name of the holy Transfiguration, for it was on the day when that battle took place, the Transfiguration of the Lord. Having escaped danger, Vladimir built a church and arranged a great celebration by boiling 300 measures of honey. And he called his boyars, posadniks and elders from all cities and all kinds of people a lot, and distributed 300 hryvnias to the poor. The prince celebrated for eight days, and returned to Kyiv on the day of the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God, and here again he held a great celebration, summoning an innumerable multitude of people. Seeing that his people were Christians, he rejoiced in soul and body. And he did it all the time. And since he loved book reading, he once heard the Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful, for those(); he heard the words of Solomon: “He who gives to the poor lends to God” (). Hearing all this, he ordered every beggar and poor to come to the prince's court and take everything that is needed, drink and food, and money from the treasury. He also arranged this: saying that “the weak and sick cannot reach my courtyard,” he ordered carts to be equipped and, putting on them bread, meat, fish, various fruits, honey in barrels, and kvass in others, to deliver around the city, asking: "Where is the sick, the beggar, or who cannot walk?" And handed out everything they needed. And he did something more for his people: every Sunday he decided to arrange a feast in his courtyard in the Gridnitsa, so that boyars, and grids, and sots, and tenths, and the best men would come there - both with the prince and without the prince. There was a lot of meat there - beef and game - everything was in abundance. When, it happened, they get drunk, they will begin to grumble at the prince, saying: “Woe to our heads: he gave us food with wooden spoons, not silver ones.” Hearing this, Vladimir ordered to look for silver spoons, saying this: “I will not find a squad with silver and gold, but with a squad I will get silver and gold, as my grandfather and father with a squad found gold and silver.” For Vladimir loved the squad and conferred with it about the structure of the country, and about the war, and about the laws of the country, and lived in peace with the surrounding princes - with Boleslav of Poland, and with Stephen of Hungary, and with Andrikh of Czech. And there was peace and love between them. Vladimir lived in the fear of God. And the robberies multiplied greatly, and the bishops said to Vladimir: “Behold, the robbers have multiplied; why don't you execute them?" He answered: "I'm afraid of sin." They said to him: “You were appointed by God to punish the evil, but to the good for mercy. You should execute the robbers, but after investigating." Vladimir rejected vira and began to execute the robbers, and the bishops and elders said: “We have many wars; if we had vira, then it would go to weapons and horses. And Vladimir said: "So be it." And Vladimir lived according to the precepts of his father and grandfather.
In the year 6505 (997). Vladimir went to Novgorod for the northern warriors against the Pechenegs, since at that time there was an uninterrupted great war. The Pechenegs learned that there was no prince, they came and stood near Belgorod. And they didn’t let them leave the city, and there was a strong famine in the city, and Vladimir could not help, since he had no soldiers, and there were many Pechenegs. And the siege of the city dragged on, and there was a severe famine. And they gathered veche in the city, and said: “We will soon die of hunger, but there is no help from the prince. Is it better for us to die like this? Let's surrender to the Pechenegs - who will be left alive and who will be killed; We are still dying of hunger.” And so it was decided at the meeting. There was one elder who was not at that veche, and he asked: “What was the veche about?” And people told him that tomorrow they want to surrender to the Pechenegs. Hearing about this, he sent for the city elders and told them: "I heard that you want to surrender to the Pechenegs." They answered: "People will not endure hunger." And he said to them: "Listen to me, do not give up for three more days and do what I command you." They gladly promised to obey. And he said to them: "Gather at least a handful of oats, wheat or bran." They happily went and collected. And he ordered the women to make a mash, on which jelly is boiled, and ordered to dig a well and insert a cad into it, and pour it into a mash. And he ordered to dig another well and put a cad into it, and ordered to look for honey. They went and took a basket of honey, which was hidden in the prince's medush. And he ordered to make a sweet full of it and pour it into a tub in another well. The next day he ordered to send for the Pechenegs. And the townspeople said, having come to the Pechenegs: "Take hostages from us, and yourself enter about ten people into the city to see what is happening in our city." The Pechenegs were delighted, thinking that they wanted to surrender to them, they took hostages, and they themselves chose the best husbands in their families and sent them to the city to see what was happening in the city. And they came into the city, and the people said to them: “Why destroy yourselves? Can you get over us? If you stand for 10 years, what will you do to us? For we have food from the earth. If you don't believe me, then see with your own eyes. And they brought them to the well, where there was a mash for jelly, and they scooped them up with a bucket, and poured them into patches. And when the jelly was cooked, they took it, and came with them to another well, and scooped up food from the well, and began to eat first themselves, and then the Pechenegs. And they were surprised and said: "Our princes will not believe us if they do not taste it themselves." The people poured them a pot of jelly solution and were fed from the well and gave it to the Pechenegs. When they returned, they told everything that had happened. And, having cooked, the princes of the Pechenegs ate and marveled. And taking their hostages, and letting the Belgorod ones go, they got up and went away from the city.
In the year 6506 (998).
In the year 6507 (999).
In the year 6508 (1000). Malfrida passed away. That same summer, Rogneda, Yaroslav's mother, also passed away.
In the year 6509 (1001). Izyaslav, father of Bryachislav, son of Vladimir, reposed.
In the year 6510 (1002).
In the year 6511 (1003). Vseslav, son of Izyaslav, grandson of Vladimir, reposed.
In the year 6512 (1004).
In the year 6513 (1005).
In the year 6514 (1006).
In the year 6515 (1007). The saints were transferred to the Church of the Holy Mother of God.
In the year 6516 (1008).
In the year 6517 (1009).
In the year 6518 (1010).
In the year 6519 (1011). Queen Anna of Vladimir has passed away.
In the year 6520 (1012).
In the year 6521 (1013).
In the year 6522 (1014). When Yaroslav was in Novgorod, he gave two thousand hryvnias to Kyiv from a year to a year, and distributed a thousand to the squad in Novgorod. And so all the Novgorod posadniks gave it, but Yaroslav did not give it to his father in Kyiv. And Vladimir said: “Clear the paths and bridge the bridges,” for he wanted to go to war against Yaroslav, against his son, but fell ill.
In the year 6523 (1015). When Vladimir was about to go against Yaroslav, Yaroslav, having sent overseas, brought the Varangians, as he was afraid of his father; but God did not give joy. When Vladimir fell ill, Boris was with him at that time. Meanwhile, the Pechenegs went on a campaign against Rus', Vladimir sent Boris against them, and he himself became very ill; in this illness and died on the fifteenth day of July. He died in Berestov, and they concealed his death, since Svyatopolk was in Kyiv. At night, they dismantled the platform between two cages, wrapped it in a carpet and lowered it with ropes to the ground; then, having laid him on a sleigh, they took him away and placed him in the church of the Holy Mother of God, which he himself once built. Having learned about this, people without number came together and wept for him - the boyars as the protector of the country, the poor as about their protector and provider. And they put him in a marble coffin, buried his body, the blessed prince, with weeping.
This is the new Constantine of the great Rome; just as he was baptized himself and baptized his people, so this one did the same. If he had formerly been in filthy lustful desires, however, later he was zealous in repentance, according to the word of the apostle: “Where multiply, there grace abounds.”(). It is worthy of surprise how much good he did to the Russian land by baptizing it. But we Christians do not give him honors equal to his deeds. For if he had not baptized us, then even now we would still be in the error of the devil, in which our forefathers perished. If we had zeal and prayed to God for him on the day of his death, then God, seeing how we honor him, would have glorified him: after all, we should pray to God for him, since through him we came to know God. May the Lord reward you according to your desire and fulfill all your requests - for the kingdom of heaven, which you wanted. May the Lord crown you together with the righteous, reward you with delight in the food of paradise and rejoice with Abraham and other patriarchs, according to the word of Solomon: “Hope will not perish from the righteous” ().
Russian people honor his memory, remembering holy baptism, and glorify God with prayers, songs and psalms, singing them to the Lord, new people, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, waiting for our hope, our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; he will come to give to each according to his labors the inexpressible joy that all Christians are to receive.
After the flood, the three sons of Noah divided the earth - Shem, Ham, Japheth. And Shem got the east: Persia, Bactria, even to India in longitude, and in breadth to Rinokorur, that is, from east to south, and Syria, and Media to the Euphrates River, Babylon, Korduna, Assyrians, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Oldest, Elimais, Indy, Arabia Strong, Kolia, Commagene, all Phoenicia.
Ham got the south: Egypt, Ethiopia, neighboring India, and another Ethiopia, from which flows the Ethiopian Red River, flowing to the east, Thebes, Libya, neighboring Kyrenia, Marmaria, Sirte, another Libya, Numidia, Masouria, Mauritania, located opposite Gadir. In his possessions in the east are also: Cilicnia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Mysia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Kamalia, Lycia, Caria, Lydia, other Mysia, Troad, Aeolis, Bithynia, Old Phrygia and the islands of some: Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus and the river Geona, otherwise called the Nile.
Japheth got the northern and western countries: Media, Albania, Armenia Small and Great, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Colchis, Bosphorus, Meots, Depevia, Capmatia, the inhabitants of Taurida, Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dalmatia, Malosia, Thessaly, Locris, Swaddling, which is also called the Peloponnese, Arcadia, Epirus, Illyria, Slavs, Lichnitia, Adriakia, the Adriatic Sea. The islands also got: Britain, Sicily, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Kitira, Zakynthos, Kefallinia, Ithaca, Kerkyra, a part of Asia called Ionia, and the Tigris River, flowing between Media and Babylon; to the Pontic Sea to the north: the Danube, the Dnieper, the Caucasus Mountains, that is, the Hungarian ones, and from there to the Dnieper, and other rivers: the Desna, Pripyat, Dvina, Volkhov, Volga, which flows east to the part of Simov. In the Japhet part, Russians, Chud and all sorts of peoples are sitting: Merya, Muroma, the whole, Mordovians, Zavolochskaya Chud, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Ugra, Lithuania, Zimigola, Kors, Letgola, Livs. The Poles and the Prussians, the Chud, are sitting near the Varangian Sea. The Varangians sit along this sea: from here to the east - to the limits of Simov, they sit along the same sea and to the west - to the land of England and Voloshskaya. The offspring of Japheth also: Varangians, Swedes, Normans, Goths, Rus, Angles, Galicians, Volokhi, Romans, Germans, Korlyazis, Venetians, Fryags and others - they adjoin the southern countries in the west and neighbor with the Khamov tribe.
Shem, Ham and Japheth divided the land by casting lots, and decided not to enter into the share of a brother to anyone, and each lived in his own part. And there was one people. And when people multiplied on earth, they planned to create a pillar to the sky - it was in the days of Nectan and Peleg. And they gathered in the place of the field of Shinar to build a pillar to heaven, and near it the city of Babylon; and they built that pillar for 40 years, and did not finish it. And the Lord God came down to see the city and the pillar, and the Lord said: “Behold, one generation and one people.” And God confused the nations, and divided them into 70 and 2 nations, and scattered them over all the earth. After the confusion of the peoples, God destroyed the pillar with a great wind; and its remnants are found between Assyria and Babylon, and are 5433 cubits high and wide, and these remnants have been preserved for many years.
After the destruction of the pillar and the division of the peoples, the sons of Shem took the eastern countries, and the sons of Ham - the southern countries, while Japheth took the west and the northern countries. From the same 70 and 2 language came the Slavic people, from the tribe of Japheth - the so-called Noriki, who are the Slavs.
After a long time, the Slavs settled along the Danube, where now the land is Hungarian and Bulgarian. From those Slavs, the Slavs dispersed throughout the earth and were called by their names from the places where they sat down. So some, having come, sat down on the river by the name of Morava and were called Morava, while others were called Czechs. And here are the same Slavs: white Croats, and Serbs, and Horutans. When the Volokhs attacked the Danubian Slavs, and settled among them, and oppressed them, these Slavs came and sat on the Vistula and were called Poles, and from those Poles came Poles, other Poles - Lutich, others - Mazovshan, others - Pomeranians.
In the same way, these Slavs came and sat down along the Dnieper and called themselves glades, and others - Drevlyans, because they sat in the forests, while others sat down between Pripyat and the Dvina and called themselves Dregovichi, others sat down along the Dvina and called themselves Polochans, along the river flowing into the Dvina , called Polota, from which the Polotsk people were named. The same Slavs who sat down near Lake Ilmen were called by their own name - Slavs, and built a city, and called it Novgorod. And others sat down along the Desna, and along the Seim, and along the Sula, and called themselves northerners. And so the Slavic people dispersed, and after his name the charter was called Slavic.
When the glade lived separately along these mountains, there was a path from the Varangians to the Greeks and from the Greeks along the Dnieper, and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper it dragged to Lovot, and along Lovot you can enter Ilmen, a great lake; Volkhov flows out of the same lake and flows into the Great Lake Nevo, and the mouth of that lake flows into the Varangian Sea. And on 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 Sea, into which the Dnieper River flows. The Dnieper flows out of the Okovsky forest and flows south, and the Dvina flows from the same forest, and heads north, and flows into the Varangian Sea. From the same forest, the Volga flows to the east and flows through seventy mouths into the Khvalis Sea. Therefore, from Rus' you can sail along the Volga to the Bolgars and Khvalisy, and go east to the lot of Sim, and along the Dvina to the land of the Varangians, from the Varangians to Rome, from Rome to the Khamov tribe. And the Dnieper flows at its mouth into the Pontic Sea; this sea is reputed to be Russian, - it was taught along the shores, as they say, by St. Andrew, brother of Peter.
When Andrei taught in Sinop and arrived in Korsun, he learned that the mouth of the Dnieper was not far from Korsun, and he wanted to go to Rome, and sailed to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there he went up the Dnieper. And it so happened that he came and stood under the mountains on the shore. And in the morning he got up and said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these mountains? On these mountains the grace of God will shine, there will be a great city, and God will raise many churches.” And having ascended these mountains, he blessed them, and put up a cross, and prayed to God, and descended from this mountain, where Kyiv would later be, and went up the Dnieper. And he came to the Slavs, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people living there - what is their custom and how they wash and whip, and was surprised at them. And he went to the country of the Varangians, and came to Rome, and told about how he taught and what he saw, and said: “I saw a miracle in the Slavic land on my way here. I saw wooden bathhouses, and they would heat them up strongly, and they would undress and be naked, and they would cover themselves with leather kvass, and the young would lift the rods on themselves and beat themselves, and they would finish themselves off so much that they would barely get out, barely alive, and douse themselves with icy water, and that's the only way they'll come alive. And they do this all the time, they are not tormented by anyone, but they torment themselves, and then they make ablution for themselves, and not torment. Those, hearing about it, were surprised; Andrey, having been in Rome, came to Sinop.
The meadows lived separately in those days and were ruled by their own clans; for even before that brethren (which will be discussed later) there were already clearings, and they all lived in their own families in their places, and each was governed independently. And there were three brothers: one named Kyi, the other Shchek, and the third Khoriv, and their sister Lybid. Kiy sat on the mountain, where the Borichev rise is now, and Shchek sat on the mountain, which is now called Shchekovitsa, and Khoriv on the third mountain, which was nicknamed Horivitsa after his name. And they built a city in honor of their elder brother, and called it Kyiv. There was a forest around the city and a large pine forest, and they caught animals there, and those men were wise and sensible, and they were called glades, from them the glade is still in Kyiv.
Some, not knowing, say that Kiy was a carrier; there was then a transfer from the other side of the Dnieper to Kyiv, which is why they said: “To transfer to Kyiv.” If Kiy had been a carrier, he would not have gone to Constantinople; and this Kiy reigned in his generation, and when he went to the king, they say that he received great honors from the king to whom he came. When he was returning, he came to the Danube, and chose the place, and cut down a small town, and wanted to sit in it with his family, but the people living around did not give him; this is how the inhabitants of the Danube still call the settlement that - Kievets. Kiy, returning to his city of Kyiv, died here; and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and their sister Lybid died immediately.
Oratory as a prototype of journalism
Quotes about Napoleon - dslinkov — LiveJournal
Me vengeance The man on the bulldozer destroyed the city