WHAT are the original Russian pre-Slavic roots? Perhaps, in the way it was already reflected in the origins of the Russian stories the struggle of Good and Evil in the problem of war and peace. As already mentioned, Russia in the history of mankind stands alone. The role and significance of wars for it have always been fundamentally different than for the other great powers, and Russian history, like no other, gives us many reasons for reflection in this direction, because the Russian state, by the criterion of “power - restraint”, turns out to be uniquely peaceful towards throughout most important periods of its existence. And there are reasons for that - unlike other great powers, Russia lost more on big wars than gained.
The French say: “In war as in war,” but this is not the philosophy of the soldier, the defender of the Fatherland, but justification for violating the laws and norms of ordinary life in a situation where the limits of permissiveness are determined only by brute force. The French say: “The corpse of the enemy amuses,” and they also say: “The corpse of the enemy always smells good” ...
The Russian people have no such “catch phrases”. For a Russian person, war has always been a difficult ordeal imposed from the outside, and always a hard work. I do not know, but I can assume that the phrase "military work" is only in Russian! It is understandable ... Is it possible to call hiking, for example, Alexander the Great, as a military campaign? Or Hannibal and Caesar? Or - Napoleon? Or - the Hundred and Thirty Years War, the War for the Spanish Succession, for the independence of the North American colonies?
Hardly…
And the Russians have always preferred peaceful labor in their own land to the armed seizure of foreign lands. But the Russians had to deal with military work on their own land all the time - not at all according to their will. Including, therefore, the Russian people, knowing how to fight, always sought peace.
This particular peace-loving trait manifests itself even in language. If the word “war” in Russian, as in all others, has one - a formidable and unambiguous meaning, then the word “world” in Russian means two, though internally related, interdependent, but still different concepts.
The modern spelling concealed a characteristic detail that was evident in the pre-revolutionary language. The word “peace” in the Dahl dictionary is defined as “the absence of quarrel, enmity, disagreement, war; lad, accord, unanimity, stingy, friendship, goodwill; peace, tranquility, calm. "
And the word “peace” (through “i”!) The same Dal interprets as “the universe; our earth, the globe, svt; All people, all of them, the human race ... ”By the way, the same word“ peace ”also means“ community, society of peasants ”.
In English, for example, the language “peace” is “peace”, and “mip” is already “world”.
In fact, the modern Russian norm, which united the two concepts in one spelling, seems to be quite successful. It is even deeper and more symbolic than the old norm. There is no world of people without peace in the world.
There is hardly any other great and mighty people besides the Russian, who would perceive and enforce this principle so consistently and “massively” from the very beginning of their national history. But when did the story begin?
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FAMOUS our historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky, the first section of the 5 lecture from his course on Russian history, titled "The Initial Chronicle as the main source for studying the first period of our history." Well, for the end of the XIX century, this approach was valid. And archaeological excavations, and Slavic folklore as sources of historical knowledge were not yet in use. Therefore, Klyuchevsky could count our history from its chronicle beginning ...
The bad thing is that at the beginning of the XXI century we often perceive the Russian history all the same - from the times of Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Svyatoslav, Vladimir ... However, this is the end of the first millennium of our era. We remember about the Drevlians and the glades, about the Rus and the Viatches ... But these are also the early centuries of our era. That is - no more than two thousand years.
But the first period of our history, in which the roots of the Russian people are found, begins not a thousand years, not two years ago, but at least ten to fifteen thousand years ago! Now we know that the ancient Slavs of Tszniecko-Komarovskaya, for example, cultures lived in the Bronze Age. This is ten thousand years ago. And on the banks of the Don in the Voronezh region, near the village of Kostenki, the most ancient settlement of people of Cro-Magnon (that is, modern) type was found in Europe. Over 10 square kilometers, more than 60 sites of the Upper Paleolithic era, ranging from 15 to 45 thousands (Kostenki-12 parking) years, were excavated. That is, once having come here, people from these - since ancient times Slavic, Russian - places have not gone away for tens of thousands of years!
Klyuchevsky has no words about those times. He simply had no idea about them. And his “Ancient” Rus is, in fact, Kievan Rus of the early Middle Ages!
But the Russian national character to the times of the Kiev Grand Duke Vladimir had long been formed, and it was initially formed as an awareness of a deep connection with nature. So - it was basically harmonious. Then it was repeatedly distorted and warped, but something that had entered the soul of Russian Slavs for thousands of years remained and passed down from generation to generation. And in what the approach of our outstanding historian is not outdated, it’s in the combination of the origins of the Russian national character with the nature of Russia. Klyuchevsky wrote:
"The forest, the steppe and the river are, one can say, the basic elements of Russian nature in their historical significance."
“The forest,” he notes, “served as the most reliable refuge from external enemies, replacing the mountains and castles with the Russian man. The steppe - wide, detached, brought up the feeling of breadth and distance, the idea of a spacious horizon. The Russian river has taught its coastal inhabitants to the hostel and sociability. The river fostered the spirit of enterprise, the habit of joint, artel action, forced to reflect and contrive, brought together scattered parts of the population, taught to feel like a member of society, treat strangers, observe their customs and interests, change goods and experience, know the attitude. ”
“The forest,” he notes, “served as the most reliable refuge from external enemies, replacing the mountains and castles with the Russian man. The steppe - wide, detached, brought up the feeling of breadth and distance, the idea of a spacious horizon. The Russian river has taught its coastal inhabitants to the hostel and sociability. The river fostered the spirit of enterprise, the habit of joint, artel action, forced to reflect and contrive, brought together scattered parts of the population, taught to feel like a member of society, treat strangers, observe their customs and interests, change goods and experience, know the attitude. ”
A wonderful, accurate characteristic, quite applicable, by the way, to the USSR. At the same time, in such a characteristic nothing indicates the conditions that would push the Russian Slavs to the sword, and not to the plow. Holding the sword constantly in our hands was forced not by impulses of Evil coming from within, but by the need to defend ourselves from the pressure of external Evil.
Academician B. A. Rybakov in his book “The Paganism of the Ancient Slavs” writes (for the sake of convenience, as above, omit for convenience):
“Clavians threatened the Proto-Slavs from the south. The Dnieper Slavs were for the first time in their history under the blows of the first steppe nomads. However, the Proto-Slavs, who lived in the Dnieper forest-steppe, found enough strength in themselves to, firstly, create their own armed equestrians after the Cimmerian model, and secondly, build approximately in the 9th-8th centuries. BC. (this is more than one and a half thousand years before St. Vladimir! - SK) on the border with the Cimmerian steppe there is a whole system of fortresses in which the entire population of the surrounding tribe could escape from the raid. ”
Let me emphasize that it was the Alaska who defended everyone, not the elect. Thus, by the 6th century BC there was a construction - with the participation of the entire population - of a huge fortification in Povorskale with an area of about 40 square kilometers, with the perimeter of the walls almost 30 km. “The whole complex is rightly viewed as a fortification built for the union of the tribes located along Vorskla. In case of danger, tens of thousands of people with their belongings and herds could really hide here, ”Rybakov notes.
This is the excavation data. But Academician Rybakov is also conducting an interesting study of the connection with the real archaeological data of the southern Russian, Ukrainian legends of the Dnieper region about the terrible Serpent and the Blacksmiths of the Serpentineers. Turning to the connection of life and myth, he writes:
“Proto-Slavs on Tiasmin and Vorskla - on the border with the Cimmerian-Scythian steppe - build a variety of powerful fortifications, which required nationwide participation. Here primitiveness approaches its highest limit, and we are entitled to expect the birth of new ideas and have the right to look for their traces in later folklore. Philologists rightly consider the era of metal and patriarchy, when ethnic and political consolidation takes place, as the time of the birth of a new form — the heroic epic. ”
And who becomes the epic hero of our pre-Slavic ancestors? Rybakov answers this question like this:
“In the pre-Slavic region, the birth of a plow, a forge, and warrior warriors occurs at a single time; the cultural hero-blacksmith and the warrior who defends his people are chronologically merged together. ”
So, the Slavic hero is not the conqueror, but the protector. And the defender, which unites in itself both the creative principle, and the force, capable of protecting it with an armed hand, created by it!
Only the good are able to protect the weak, they are offended by the evil. Is not it? And Russian blacksmiths, heroes in the legends are fighting with the merciless serpent, devouring both old and small. In the image of the Snake, researchers rightly see the personification of steppe nomads who burned everything to the ground. As you can see, the fiery languages of foreign misfortunes blazed on the Russian Land long before the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Deep, deep origins of Russian Good!
Having defeated the Serpent, the divine Blacksmiths harnessed him into the plow forged by them and plow a gigantic furrow on it. And weapons Victory becomes not a sword, but a blacksmith. And when the wonderful Blacksmith grabbed the Serpent with ticks, the Serpent suggested: “Enough, let us put up: let your light be half, and half - of our ... let's change it.” In response, he hears: "It is better to reroot the light so that you do not climb onto our side to take people."
So, the force of Good creates a state of affairs when an insurmountable obstacle is erected on the path of aggression. Accordingly, not aggressiveness, but deterrence of aggression - the original military philosophy of Russian pre-Slavicism! Russia's peaceful policy goes back to the traditions of several millennia.
Plain immense Russia has always been a convenient field for the invasion of the aggressor, therefore, during the creation of the pre-Slavic legends, and much later the Russian people had to fight often and bloodily. Not always, I must say, it was only a defensive war. But aggressiveness did not take root in the basis of our national character — as can be seen from the composition of the pantheon of the main pagan Russian gods.
The list of them was made by St. Vladimir in 980, AD, when he was preparing the baptism of Russia. Here is the list: the thunderer Perun, the lord of the winds Stribog, the sun-fiery Dazhbog and Chora, the winged dog Simargl, guarding the crops, and the goddess Makosh are the fate of fate. This list is a kind of official result of the myth-making of many generations.
After eight years, the pagan "idols" will be chopped to the glory of Christ. Only the silver-headed and gold-bearing Perun, Vladimir's warriors with honor will float across the Dnieper to the rapids. But god of war in this company there was no place.
It is neither among the main nor among the minor Russian gods. Svarog-smith ... "Earthly" cattle god Velez ... Yarilo - the power of grain ... Lada-spring, bringing joy and happy marriage ... All these images are filled with peaceful cares and aspirations, a peaceful life and a peaceful outlook. They are filled with Good.
In the life of the Slavs there was another god - Rod, whose importance in the first folklore studies was downplayed to the role of almost a simple brownie. However, Rod is not just the personification of the strength and indivisibility of the tribal race, the collection of descendants, but also the Slavic analogue of Savaof, the Creator, the Creator.
God Rod is more ancient than Perun!
And the fact that the deity, which came from the epoch of first comprehension of Being, was identified by the Slavs as a deity of the big “family,” also says a lot about the national Slavic character. And this "much" is also colored not with blood, but with the thought of the world.
The ancient matriarchal cult of rozhanits, the two Elks — the mother and the daughter, firmly entered the Slavic consciousness and survived until the XIX century. It can be said that the ideas of universal kindness became not so much the philosophy of the Russian Slavs, as the vital and social principle deeply ingrown into the life of the people.
Even in relation to its heroic epos, Russia stands out in the history of the world. We do not have our own "Legend of Gilgamesh", there is no own "Iliad", although the Russians nailed the Russian shield to the gates of Constantinople. But we have epics about the knights - the defenders of Russia and the people. Moreover, these are all-Russian heroes, heroes of not only southern Kievan Rus, but also the northern state of Moscow. This is evident from the fact that the “Kiev” cycle of Russian epics was discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries in the Great Russian north as a result of records of the live narration of narrators in Zaonezhie, on the banks of the Pechora and the White Sea.
Yes, the Russian North became known as the “Iceland of the Russian Epos”, but the heroes of this epic were the Russian Kiev princes and the Russian heroes of the Russian Kiev squad. And although poetic images appear in epics, they are basically historical. And even from the poetic epic it is clear that their heroes are figures of a completely centralized state. However, Kievan Rus acts as a single state with the capital Kiev (caput regni) and in the chronicles of foreign chronicles, for example, in the Polish Latin-speaking medieval source "The Chronicle of Galla Anonymous", dating back to the beginning of the XII century. And this territory was already the territory of Good.
At one time in the Soviet Union, Vasnetsov's Three Bogatyrs hung in almost every teahouse. Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich - the famous Russian epic Trinity, born in different parts of a single Russian land.
The “small” birthplace of Ilya is already clear from his nickname - he hails from the city of Murom, from the village of Karacharov. And Ilya, “thirty years old”, who has been sitting on the stove, is the image of that Russia, which - according to Bismarck's later characterization - “harnesses for a long time, but it drives fast”.
As for Dobrynya, he, as V. I. Kalugin, the author and compiler of the wonderful collection “Bylina” (Moscow: Sovremennik, 1991. - Treasures of Russian folklore), informs us, is likely to have a real historical prototype - the uncle of the prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, posadnik Novgorod, and then the governor of Kiev Dobrynya. Mention of it is in the "Tale of Bygone Years".
Alyosha Popovich has several historical prototypes at once.
And all three are serving, as well as their military comrades (and they are mentioned in the epics up to fifty!), “Blush the sun” to “gentle Prince Vladimir”, which reigns in “red Kiev-city”. And more precisely, they serve the Russian people.
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TODAY Russian epics are read differently than a decade ago - in stable times of mighty Soviet Russia. Today, there was a challenge to the most historical future of the Russian state. And it forces us to take a fresh look at the ideas of the “heroic” cycle of Russian epics.
“The bogatyr outposts are not just poetic fiction, the fruit of popular fantasy, but a reflection of a very real historical reality. For centuries such bogatyr guards protected Russia from the Wild Field, were the first to take upon themselves the blows of kosogs, Khazars, Polovtsy, and later - tongues of the unknown, were, in fact, military fortresses, border outposts of Russia. And so it was not only in the times of Kievan and pre-Kiev Rus, but also in the more distant, when the defense of the Slavs passed in the Dnieper region ... - the famous “Zmiev ramparts”. ”
That is, the epic warriors, battle comrades of Vladimir for the protection of the Russian Good, are the continuators of the traditions of the mighty Slavonic tribal unions, descendants of the legendary Dnieper Kuznetsov snake fighters, who fought the terrible Serpent.
And should we, and Europe, forget that the Pro-Slavic Blacksmiths blocked not only Russia, but also Europe from the pressure of the Wild Field? But only Good can not give in to force. Evil is always inferior to her!
Of course, as the power of medieval Russia developed and strengthened, the attitude to the problem of Good and Evil at the princely, sovereign level began to blur. The famous prince Svyatoslav Igorevich waged external wars in the Balkans and — in the opinion, for example, of the Soviet historian A.N. Sakharov — had plans to create an empire in the South, and therefore went to Byzantium, nailing the shield to the gates of Constantinople-Constantinople ... It would seem Well, what is not the eastern analogue of Western Charlemagne? The difference is that Karl was more successful in his plans than Svyatoslav.
Anyway, Svyatoslav in the history of the formation of the Russian Universe was an episode. Already his son, Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, who baptized Russia, and his grandson, Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise, in which Russkaya Pravda was compiled, were concerned about the development of their own lands, and not about dreams of others. The grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, Kiev Grand Prince Vladimir II Vsevolodovich Monomakh, in 1108, was founded by Vladimir-on-Klyazma, giving rise to Vladimir-Suzdal land. And after 130 years, Russia had a special lot - in the new historical setting, in the Middle Ages, we again had to find ourselves in the path of a wild nomadic wave.
And again, Russia has covered Europe. We often forget about that, and the evil forces of Europe, the world and the “Russian” do everything so that we never remember about it. They are trying to put the Russian barbarians in order that the historical fact that the early Russian civilization was not inferior only to the emerging, medieval European civilization and that this very promising and distinctive civilization took upon itself the blow of the steppe nomadic barbarism and did not completely repel this blow, was destroyed.
Initially, the Russians were not barbarians, but they were thrown into barbarism by the barbarians, allowing Western Europeans to develop their civilization. The Russian Good again assumed the mission of confronting Evil - just like during the time of the Serpent-Blacksmiths. Although this time the outcome of such a mission was tragic. For the Russian Good, the era of the first severe trials has come.