Monuments of spiritual literature from the times of Grand Duke Yaroslav I

Among the monuments of Russian antiquity, the word is found in our manuscripts: about the Law of Moses given to him and about the grace and truth of Jesus Christ, to which is added praise to our Prince Vladimir, namely St. Vladimir, who enlightened the Russian land with baptism 1 But not in all lists it is found in its full, original form. Of the four lists we have seen, three lack an extensive conclusion in which the preacher, turning to St. Vladimir, asks him to look at Vladimirov’s son Georgiy or Yaroslav, who adorns the throne of the Russian land, his wife Irina, their children and grandchildren, and to offer a prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ for the prosperity of the newly enlightened Russian people. “In such a complete form it is found in the manuscript of the Synodal Library (in 4. dol. under N 591. folio. 168 et seq.), written on paper, probably in the 16th century, in different handwritings. Following this, in a word in the same manuscript are placed: the Symbol of Nicaea-Constantinograd and another, more extensive statement of the Faith, signed by Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv, elected in 1051, under V. Prince Yaroslav, from the Russian presbyters. All these articles were written with one hand, and as if they were one article, without any separation of one from the other, except that only above the second is inscribed in cinnabar: a prayer, which, however, is often found in the handwritten lives of the Saints, although these prayers belong to the same lives. “There is no doubt that the last article, that is, the presentation of the Faith, belongs to Hilarion. The signature is clear: I am by the grace of the humane-loving God and nicknamed Hilarion, by His will, from the pious the Bishop would be sacred and enthroned in the great city of Kiev, as if to be a Metropolitan, a shepherd and a teacher in it. It was in the summer (1051) of the reigning Kagan Yaroslav, son of Vladimir. “From the same signature it is clear that this confession was written at the consecration of Hilarion to Metropolitan; This is indicated by the addition of the names monk and presbyter to Hilarion’s name. The Confession is preceded by the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol, as the basis of this confession. “As for the word, it bears very clear signs of modernity to the same Yaroslav, under whom Hilarion was elected and dedicated. The preacher, glorifying the memory of St. Vladimir, points out, as a special proof of his good faith, the deeds of his son Yaroslav or George, which are still ongoing. “Your son George has listened well, and the Lord will create him as a viceroy for you, your rule, not destroying your charter, but affirming, not diminishing your position of good faith, but rather applying it, not showing off, but inflicting.” Then, calling on St. Vladimir himself, he says: “Get up, see your child George, see your womb, see your sweetheart. see, even if not in body, but in spirit.” All this could only be said during the lifetime of Yaroslav and his wife Irina. Finally, the preacher prays to St. Vladimir: “Pray for your son, our blessed Kagan George, in peace and health, fill the abyss of life.” “After the death of Yaroslav, such a prayer could be said. Therefore, it is clear why in other lists of this word, most found in manuscripts, everything that so vividly points to the time of Yaroslav is omitted, and the word stops at this point: “your son George listened kindly,” and so on. More precisely, the time of compilation of this word is determined by the following features: 1) Yaroslavov’s wife Irina, who died in 1050 2, is still alive. 2) mention is made of the creation of the Church of the Annunciation on the Great or Golden Gate, the construction of which is mentioned by Nestor in 1037 3. “At the end of the 13th century, the chronicler of Volyn 4, glorifying the memory of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich of Vladimir and his successor brother Mstislav, used, with some variation, the words of a preacher from the time of Yaroslav in praise of St. Vladimir, but in such a way that this borrowing obviously speaks in favor of the antiquity of this preacher. To prove this, let us present some passages from both. While in St. Vladimir’s laudatory words the church he created in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos could rightly be called a monument to his benevolence, the chronicler praises Vladimir Vasilkovich the church created by his great-grandfather. Moreover, the expression: on an orthodox basis, in the chronicle has no meaning: whereas in the preacher it indicates the spread of the Orthodox faith by St. Vladimir. The preacher talks about Yaroslav's construction of the Church of the Wisdom of God, that is, St. Sophia, which was consecrated in 1039. The chronicler could not point out a similar deed of Mstislav, and therefore obscured the speech, so that it remains unknown what kind of church he is talking about and who created it. Your faithful allegiance was not quickly dried up by the heat of unbelief: for the preacher it means that the seeds of faith planted by St. Vladimir were not drowned out by unbelief under Yaroslav. And rightly so. But such merit in the proper sense cannot be attributed to Vladimir and Mstislav: because the Prince of Volyn was not a spreader of Christianity in his land; yes at the end of the XIII century. There was no longer any need to fear that the Christian Faith, which had been growing for three centuries, would be drowned out by unbelief. The title of Vladimir of Volynsky as a teacher and mentor of good faith obviously does not suit the Prince without special merits of this kind, which Equal to the Apostles Vladimir acquired for him. So, all these expressions, transferred to the chronicle from words of praise, serve as new proof of his antiquity and, at the same time, the respect that ancient Russian writers had for him. Similar borrowings from words in praise of St. Vladimir are found in words of praise to Prince Konstantin of Murom, to whom is credited with converting Murom to Christianity 5 . Prayer, directly connected to the word, is not anything special, but forms part of the word. For 1) without this, the word would not have its conclusion, which usually consists of glorifying the name of the Holy Trinity; and at the end of the prayer it is there. 2) In the initial words of the prayer, the connection of thoughts with the previous words of the preacher is visible. At the conclusion of the word, the preacher turns with prayer to St. Vladimir, and asks for his prayers for his son George, may the Lord honor him, “for the work of the flock of his people, receiving from Him the crown of incorruptible glory with all the righteous who worked for Him.” And the prayer begins like this: “Now, O Lord, King and our God, high and glorious, loving of mankind, reward those who labor with glory and honor, and those who are partakers of the creation of Your kingdom, remember that we are good, and we are Your poor.” These words continue the idea of ​​reward for labor; Meanwhile, the prayer is naturally transferred from the saint of God to God himself, and after the Prince, God’s mercies are asked for the people. 3) Prayer is mentioned in the title or statement of the content of the word itself, according to the Synodal list. But besides this, the modernity of this prayer to the word of praise is obvious from the fact that it contains references to the first times of the Church in Russia. “We are Your people,” the prayer says, “and the sheep of Your pasture, and the flock that we must begin to shepherd.” “Do not open us, even if we still sin, You, like the servants of the new purchase, displease your Lord in everything. Do not be disdainful, even if the flock is small, speak to us: do not be afraid, little flock, for your heavenly Father has deigned to give you the kingdom.” “Do not allow sorrow and famine to come upon us... lest the unsteady in faith fall away from the faith.” “Let not your city be called captive, and let your flock be sojourners in a land that is not their own.” This prayer is mentioned in the Synodal list in a note, and for the summer, this prayer is the same, and similar, - that is, this same or a similar prayer is read on the holiday of the New Year, September 1st. Indeed, in the ancient order of prayer, which was performed on this day, there is a prayer that is almost in every way similar to this one, only with some changes and abbreviations. It is inscribed: prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ for the King and for all Christians 6. In 1555, when the first Archbishop Guria was sent to the newly conquered Kazan, this Saint was ordered to read a prayer in Moscow and other cities through which he would pass: the work of Metropolitan Hilarion of Russia for the Tsar and for all Orthodoxy 7. Without a doubt, this was the same prayer that constitutes the conclusion of the laudatory speech. Those expressions that relate to the first times of the Russian Church were very befitting of the present circumstances of the newly conquered kingdom. If this guess is true, then the word itself should belong to Hilarion Metropolitan. The similarity of some expressions of Illarion's confession with the expressions of this word, namely in the presentation of the teaching about Jesus Christ, the name of Yaroslav Kagan in the signature under the confession, just as in the word St. Vladimir and Yaroslav himself are named, and finally the high dignity of speech and prayer, reinforce the idea that all this word was written by the same Illarion, whose confession of Faith was preserved. We have very little information about Hilarion himself, the Metropolitan of Kiev. Ave. Nestor, narrating in the chronicle about the beginning of the Pechersk Monastery, writes: “To the God-loving Prince Yaroslav, who loves Berestovoe, and that church of the existing Saints, I will provide the Apostle and priests with many, in them would be a presbyter named Hilarion, a good man, and a scribe, a faster, and who walk from Berestovoe to the Dnieper to the hill where now the old Pechersky Monastery, and doing that prayer; I used to eat that great icon’s little two-story stove, and when I came from Berestovy, I sang the funeral service and prayed to that God in secret. Therefore, God put it in the heart of the Prince, and make him Metropolitan of St. Sophia, and this little stove remains.” Nestor speaks about this appointment as Metropolitan above: “in the summer of 6551 (1051), appoint Yaroslav Hilarion as Metropolitan of Rusyn in St. Sophia, having gathered the Bishops 8.” Here is everything that is known about Hilarion. So Hilarion was a Russian. He received his first education, of course, at the school that St. Vladimir founded in Kyiv, and where he ordered the children of noble persons to be taken 9 . His special talents, or some other circumstances, brought him the position of Priest. In the village of Berestov (near the present Lavra), where there was a grand-ducal palace 10. Yaroslav, the patron of education, generous to the clergy, often visiting his country palace, knew the priests there, and Hilarion especially drew his attention with his knowledge and his piety. The zealous servant of Christ was not content with the ordinary correction of his duties, but, rushing towards higher exploits, he often left his home and went to a neighboring mountain covered with forest, so that there in solitude he could indulge in prayer and the thought of God, and there he built himself another miserable dwelling, cramped in a cave. Such exploits should have endeared the pious Yaroslav to him even more. And so, when Metropolitan Theopemptus passed away in Kyiv, the Grand Duke set out to install Hilarion in his place. The chronicler does not say for what reason Yaroslav did not send him to Constantinople for ordination, but, of course, not in order to interrupt the dependence of the Kyiv Church on the Constantinople; in the very year of Illarionov’s ordination (1051), there were relations between Russia and the Emperor of Constantinople on the troubled affairs of the Church of Constantinople; Based on these relations, it must be concluded that there were Russian ambassadors to Constantinople 11. Be that as it may, Hilarion was installed by the Council of Russian Bishops. The chronicler does not say how long he ruled the Church; but in 1072 another Metropolitan, George, is mentioned. In some lists of Russian Saints, the name of Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv, is among the Russian Holy Men 12, although according to historical monuments it is not known that this was recognized by the entire Russian Church. The word, which, for the above reasons, should belong to Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv, shows in the writer a deep knowledge of the dogmas of the Faith, extensive reading in Holy Scripture, knowledge of the history of the Church, a strong Christian feeling, a bright mind, a vivid imagination, and in general a great spiritual speaker. How subtly and faithfully he depicts the relationship between Law and Grace in the symbolic images of Hagar and Sarah! How often and happily the preacher uses the words of Holy Scripture from the Psalms and Prophets, in general from the Old and New Testaments! 13 How well he makes the remark that for a long time there were no uncircumcised Bishops in Jerusalem! How vividly his feelings are aroused when he talks about St. Vladimir! How powerful is his prayer! – We don’t talk about the correct arrangement and development of thoughts, about witty comparisons and turns of phrase, about the power and abundance of words. 14 In our manuscripts there are also other works with the name of Hilarion; They are usually inscribed with the name of Hilarion the Great, who lived in the 4th century. But one, according to the list of Joseph of the Volokolamsk Monastery, is directly attributed to Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv. The Monk Hilarion, a disciple of the Great Anthony, did not leave any writings of his own; neither in the published works of the Holy Fathers, in Greek and Latin, nor in the Greek manuscripts, as far as is known from the Greek Bible of Fabricius, are there any words or teachings with the name of Hilarion the Great. They are not found among the works of other Hilarions, who wrote in Greek, whose works were enumerated by Fabricius (T. XI. p. 439. Edit. Harles). Therefore, we consider it our duty to list here the works known in our manuscripts with the name of Hilarion, and to show whether they can be attributed to Hilarion the monk and then to the Metropolitan of Kyiv, whose spiritual enlightenment and talents are revealed to us from his Word and Confession. 1. The teaching of Saint Hilarion on the benefit of the soul to all Orthodox Christians. Beginning: “I pray you, brothers and sisters, strive for the brighter eternal life that the Lord, in His mercy, freely gives to us” 15. In one of the manuscripts of the Volokolamsk Library this teaching is inscribed as follows: the word of St. Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv. This inscription distinguishes this word from others mentioned below, as well as by the fact that in its Academic list Hilarion is not called the Great, but only the Saint, and finally, by the fact that this teaching is not monastic instruction, but a teaching to the laity. And since the syllable of the teaching, according to the Volokolamsk copy, shows the great antiquity of the composition; and in its content there does not seem to be anything why it could not be attributed to the Metropolitan of Kyiv: then we have no doubt to recognize it as the teaching of this Archpastor. 2. Punishment of Saint Hilarion to those who renounced the world of Christ for the sake of. 16 It begins like this: “to my oldest brother and servant of Christ, a poor monk and the last in the brotherhood Hilarion.” In the message of Tsar John Vasilyevich to Abbot Cosmas of Kirillov, large excerpts are cited from it. 17 In the Monastic Consumer Book, printed in Moscow under the Patriarchs, it is included in full, but with some corrections. – From Illarionov’s denunciations against the weakness of monastic life, it is clear that during the writer’s life the monasteries were already populous and rich, that they had their own fields, lakes, villages, that the rules of monastic life, from rapprochement with the world, came into disdain. 18 It is also clear that in the country where the writer lived, monasticism was not a new institution, but an old one, that it had spread widely and had already deteriorated. This cannot be said about the state of monasticism in our country in the first half of the 11th century. In addition, in the epistle of Hilarion, according to a manuscript representing the text in an older form, 19 the words of Jesus Christ are read: My yoke is good, in this form: My yoke is anointed. Obviously, this came from a misreading of the Greek word: χρις o ς (anointed), instead of: χρης o ς (good). – And since in the copy of the Ostromir Gospel, contemporary to Hilarion of Kyiv, the words of the Gospel are read in the same form as now, that is, My yoke is good; then from this we must conclude that Hilarion’s epistle was originally written in Greek, and that the Slavic translator was involved in an error by incorrectly reading: χρις o ς, in the epistle written in Greek. True, in other copies this place in Hilarion’s message is read in accordance with Ostromirov and with the current text of the Gospel; but it is impossible to imagine that this reading in the epistle was the most ancient; rather, we must agree that it was subsequently corrected, according to the text of the Gospel. 20 3. The same words of our Reverend Father Larion about the rejection of the world. Beginning: “Strive, brethren, above all to work silently for God” 21 Also published in the Monastic Requirement Book, with significant corrections, and not all; interrupted before citing the words of Moses the ascetic.4. Teachings of our Holy Father Hilarion the Great. Beginning: “Do not have mercy on your body, brother, it brings weakness, nor create mastitis for it with various abuses.” 22 In both teachings, it is impossible to discover signs of the time of their origin: but since they are attributed to the same Hilarion, to whom the above-mentioned extensive message, and are nowhere attributed to Hilarion of Kiev, there is no reason to recognize them as the work of this Archpastor. How much can be seen from what is said in the History of State. Ross. T. I. pr. 110 and 284, this word was known to the Historiographer from a charatean manuscript of the 13th or 15th (X1V?) centuries under the name of the Life of Vladimir. For the words he quotes from his entire life and the name of the Grand Duke Vladimir Kagan are found in this word. Of course, this same word is clearly mentioned in Moskvityanin 1843, Part III. Page 551 and 1844 Part II p. 123. Histor Gosud Ross TII pr.33 Complete collection Russian. Chronicles, vol. II, pp. 221–222. Manuscript of the Lavra Library “The Lives and Stories of Various Saints” No. 54 Some passages from this word are given in the Ist.State.Ros.T.I. Project 214.291. III, pr.153. Handwritten Trebnik, in the Moscow library. Spirits. Academy, No. 183 writing. at the beginning of the 17th century; belonged to St. Dionysius, Archimandrite of the Trinity Lavra. Acts of the archaeographer. Exped T. I page 258 Koenigsberg List of S.P.B. 1767 p.108 St. Vladimir died in this palace In a note about the actions of Cardinal Humbert in Constantinople against Patriarch Michael Cerullarius (in 1051), it is said that the emperor demanded a list of excommunication from the Russian city, probably Kyiv. Placed by Humbert in the Sophia Church Canissi Tesaurus Monument. Ecclesiastes. Edit. a Basnag. T.III. p.326 Manuscript of the Moscow Theological Academy, entitled “Book, verb description of Russian saints,” late 17th or early 18th centuries. The description was compiled during the reign of Theodore Ioannovich and supplemented subsequently. The word contains passages from the Old Testament. From the books of Genesis, Judges, Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Malachi, Jesus son of Sirach. This proves it. That we originally had a complete translation of the Old Testament. Let's remember again. What Polycarp writes (at the beginning of the 13th century) to the Kiev-Pechersk Archimandrite Akindinus about the recluse Nikita, who was during the abbess of Pr. Nikon (from 1078) “no one can acquire with him the books of the Old Testament; I have learned all of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Judges, Kingdoms, and all the prophecies according to order, and all the books of the Jews.” Rukop. Trinity Lavra, Paterik Pechersky, No. 8. When publishing the word about the law given through Moses, we present various readings (options) according to the following lists: A. To the Synodal, which was mentioned at the beginning of this warning B. Lavrsky: Chetya-menaion for the month of July 1, in the 4th beat of the XVI century. C. Academic: Collection No. 198, in 4 beats of the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century. D. Academic. Chetya-menaion for the month of July 1, in a leaf, XVI century. For brevity, we denote these lists by the indicated letters A, B, C, D. Handwritten academic under No. 175 l. 141 on ob. In its entirety, it is placed in the manuscript of the Lavra Library under the name Mirror, under No. 1. The first half of it, containing the book Mirror and questions with answers by St. Athanasius of Alexandria, was written in 1418. “by the intention of Abbot Nikon,” as indicated in the postscript. The latter, which contains the Punishment of Hilarion, was written by a different hand and, probably, a little later. In the Academic manuscript, called Simeon the New Theologian, under No. 154, this teaching is placed with the omission of several pages at the beginning. Acts of History. T.1.p.372 From the description of the manuscripts of the Rumyantsev Museum it is clear that, adapting to the church order, it was divided into several readings. Confirmation of this can be seen in extracts from this message given by Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. Acts of History. T.1 pp. 388–389 The above-mentioned manuscript of the Academic Library under. No. 154 We do not provide evidence of the Greek origin of this message in those places where kings or the King are mentioned, for example. “Each of you seek power from the Tsar and from the nobles, and from the boyars the estate; in another case: “where the King gives to those who are under him what they deserve, then we also ask him for what we need.” For in the above manuscript, instead of the name Tsar, Prince appears everywhere. In the academic manuscript No. 154 l. 682, on rev. And in the Lavra manuscript - Mirror. In the same academy. manuscripts l.689 and another under No. 175, l.143 on ob, with an inscription after the name of Hilarion, about desert life.