What is a chronicle? Ancient Russian Chronicles. The most famous chronicles...

Speaking about the scribes of books in ancient Rus', we should also mention our chroniclers

Almost every monastery had its own chronicler, who, in brief notes, enters information about the most important events of his time. It is believed that the chronicles were preceded by calendar notes, which are considered the founder of any chronicle. According to their content, the annals can be divided into 1) state annals, 2) family or tribal annals, 3) monastery or church annals.

Family chronicles are compiled in the genera of service people in order to see public service all ancestors.

The sequence observed in the annals is chronological: the years are described one after another.

If in some year nothing remarkable happened, then nothing is recorded against this year in the annals.

For example, in the chronicle of Nestor:

“In the summer of 6368 (860). In the summer of 6369. In the summer of 6370. Expelling the Varangians across the sea, and not giving them tribute, and more often in their own hands; and there is no truth in them ....

In the summer of 6371. In the summer of 6372. In the summer of 6373. In the summer of 6374, Askold and Dir went to the Greeks ... "

If a “sign from heaven” happened, the chronicler noted it as well; if it was solar eclipse, the chronicler innocently wrote down that such and such a year and date "the sun died."

The Monk Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, is considered the father of the Russian chronicle. According to the studies of Tatishchev, Miller and Schlozer, he was born in 1056, entered the monastery at the age of 17 and died in 1115. His chronicle has not been preserved, but a list from this chronicle has come down to us. This list is called the Laurentian List, or the Laurentian Chronicle, because it was written off by the Suzdal monk Lavrenty in 1377.

In the Paterik of Pechersk it is said about Nestor: “that he is contented with the summer, laboring in the affairs of chronicle writing and remembering the eternal summer.”

The Laurentian Chronicle is written on parchment, on 173 sheets; up to the fortieth page it is written in an ancient charter, and from page 41 to the end - in a semi-charter. The manuscript of the Laurentian Chronicle, which belonged to Count Musin-Pushkin, was presented by him to Emperor Alexander I, who presented it to the Imperial Public Library.

Of the punctuation marks in the annals, only a period is used, which, however, rarely stands in its place.

This chronicle included events up to 1305 (6813).

The Lavrentiev chronicle begins with the following words:

“Here are the stories of bygone years, where did the Russian land come from, who in Kyiv began to reign first and where did the Russian land come from.

Let's start this story. After the flood, the first sons of Noah divided the earth .... ”, etc.

In addition to the Laurentian Chronicle, the “Novgorod Chronicle”, “Pskov Chronicle”, “Nikon Chronicle” are known, so named because the “sheets have a signature (staple) of Patriarch Nikon, and many others. Friend.

In total, there are up to 150 variants or lists of annals.

Our ancient princes ordered that everything that happened under them, good and bad, be entered into the annals, without any concealment or embellishment: “our first sovereigns without anger commanded to describe all the good and bad who happened to be described, and other images of the phenomenon will be based on them.”

During the period of civil strife, in case of any misunderstanding, the Russian princes sometimes turned to the annals as written evidence.

Modern libraries are actively engaged in the study of the past of their region. They traditionally accumulate information from the history of cities and rural areas. settlements: arrange albums and folders newspaper clippings, write down the memories of old-timers - eyewitnesses of various memorable events, collect manuscripts, diaries, letters, photographs of fellow countrymen.
At present, many libraries have started writing chronicles of their villages. We hope the proposed guidelines will assist the chroniclers in their work, help in collecting and fixing materials about the history and modern life villages.

What is a chronicle?

To each cultured person well known historical works XI-XVII centuries, in which the narration was conducted by years. These chronicles are the most significant monuments of the social thought and culture of Ancient Rus'.
Subsequently, the annals not only reflected historical information, but also included records of contemporary chronicler events over the years.
In our case, the chronicle is a handwritten text of the history and modern life of the village in chronological order.
The chronicle regularly records information about socially significant, extraordinary, political, economic, cultural and community events of this village:

statistics of births, marriages, divorces and deaths;

the total population of the village, the number of schoolchildren, conscripts, pensioners, other statistical information;

various information on the economy, culture, infrastructure of the settlement;

information about institutions and organizations located in the village, significant milestones and achievements in their activities, full names of leaders from the beginning of the activities of institutions and organizations to the present;

labor, combat, educational and other socially significant achievements of the villagers or other persons related to the rural settlement;

decisions of rural and higher administrations and bodies related to the life of the village;

publications in the media on issues related to the history and current situation rural settlement;

major events in the life of a rural school;

information about events and celebrations celebrated in the village, natural features and phenomena on its territory;

information about employment, folk crafts, hobbies and interests of the villagers;

economic activity of individuals and organizations in the village;

other events, facts, figures and dates of social significance for the area.

Founder of the chronicle, his duties

The founder of the chronicle is the administration of the local self-government body.

Her responsibilities include:

making a decision on the creation of the chronicle and the composition of the team of authors (compilers);

registration of this document;

providing compilers with information that is within the competence of the village administration;

assistance to compilers in collecting information from institutions, organizations and individuals related to this rural settlement;

check the availability of the chronicle as a document of the village administration within the prescribed time limits for the inventory.

The team of authors (compilers), their duties and reporting

The composition of the team of authors (compilers) is approved by the decision of the head of the local government. On a voluntary basis, local historians, representatives of the administration, librarians, teachers, war and labor veterans, villagers, and schoolchildren can enter it. It is advisable to involve local poets, artists, and photographers in compiling the chronicle.
Participants need to be prepared in advance for this work - help to master the methodology independent work with a book and archival sources, teach them:

work deeper with historical literature;

record the memories of eyewitnesses on various media;

make a correct bibliographic record.

The work will require close contact with local and regional archives, museums, public organizations.
It is very important that the team of authors (compilers) of the chronicle have the opportunity to work with modern technical means: a computer, a scanner, a copier. With their help, any written or printed document, as well as a photo archive, will become available to anyone who wants to see it.
Within the deadlines set by the village administration, the compilers prepare a report on the work done and prospects further activities to create an annals.

What is important for a chronicler?

It is fundamentally important for modern creators of the annals of their settlements to observe the principles of ethics and reliability when communicating with people who provide information:

feel responsible for the people they work with and whose lives and cultures they study: avoid moral harm or mistreatment, respect well-being, work for the long-term preservation of artifacts, actively consult with those they study to establish working relationships;

ensure that research does not harm the safety, dignity or privacy people in respect of whom professional actions are carried out;

find out if the persons who provided the information wish to remain anonymous or be known, and do everything to fulfill these wishes. However, they should be warned about possible consequences such a choice: despite compliance with the conditions, anonymity may be disclosed, and wide recognition may not take place;

Obtain prior consent of study subjects who may be affected by the study. This concerns, first of all, old-timers and veterans. rural settlements;

responsibly and in a timely manner to plan work on the creation of an annals, both now and in the future.

Thus, the modern chronicler is responsible not only to the people whom he touches with his research, but also for the truth of the information that he disseminates and ensures its correct understanding.

How to start work on the annals?

Preparation for the collection and systematization of materials:

preliminary acquaintance with the history of their area and the administrative-territorial position of the village;

a conversation with scientists and researchers involved in local history on the subject of methods for collecting materials and their systematization;

planning.

Study of literature and other information sources:

books, magazines, newspapers;

regulations;

archives of your village and district;

regional and central archives;

family documents;

testimonies and memoirs of old-timers, settlers.

The structure of the chronicle, the order of its maintenance

The structure of the chronicle is developed by the team of authors (compilers) and approved by the head of the local administration. As a rule, the chronicle consists of two main parts:
1. History of the settlement.
2. Chronicle (chronicle) of the settlement.

In accordance with Russian legislation, the paper version of the rural chronicle, which is registered with the village administration, has the status of a document. All entries in the book are kept with the date of the event, the text of information about the past event.
Sources of information can be official and unofficial, written and oral, presented in the form of photo, video and audio recordings. Each source of information has its own value, degree of reliability and significance. Even a plate on a grave monument, as a source of information, gives three types of information: the date of birth, death, and the place of burial of a person.
On title page Chronicle contains information about modern name villages indicating the district, region and time of the beginning of the maintenance of this document.
When the previous book of the annals is completely filled, work continues in the next one. In this case, on the title page of the chronicle, under the name of the settlement, its number is indicated (book 1, book 2, book 3, etc.).
The chronicle is filled in with black ink, even beautiful handwriting, medium-sized letters using various stencils. The text should not contain corrections, strikethroughs. Recordings are made on both sides of the sheet.
Pages are placed in the upper outer corner. Footnotes are given at the bottom of the sheet in smaller handwriting and are separated by a short line from the main text. Footnotes are marked with asterisks.
Add value materials collected accompanying photo albums, originals (photocopies) of documents, samples of folklore of the area, audio, video sequences, separate review and thematic materials, which, due to the large volume, were not included in the text of the chronicle itself. These materials are stored as independent units. It is not allowed to paste photographs, documents, etc. into the chronicle book.

The section "History" contains a literary processed text of the history of the settlement from the moment of its foundation.
IN historical reference It is recommended that you include the following information:

the location of the settlement relative to the regional center and railway station;

location on the river bank or remoteness from it;

geographical location, natural and climatic conditions;

date of foundation of the settlement;

founder's name;

name changes;

the origin of the name, the legends associated with it, etc.

Reflection in the annals of modern village life

In the second part of the chronicle, on the second sheet of the chronicle book, the following information is placed: full name, position of the person responsible for maintaining the book, the period in which he kept records.
The chronicle of modern village life begins with overview its socio-economic and cultural life: area, number of inhabitants, enterprises, organizations, institutions located on the territory of this settlement.
Center line large print figures are allocated with the designation of the year of events (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, etc.).
The date of the event is highlighted in red ink and a text-free field.

For example:
January 12 __________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
In the upper part of the front side of the sheet, on the first line of the stencil, the year is affixed.
The records are kept in chronological order. At the beginning - events with known dates, at the end of the month - with unknown dates. If the month is unknown, the event is recorded at the end of the year. After that, orders, resolutions of the local administration are listed. Next is a brief statistical review (based on data from authorities, enterprises, institutions, organizations, etc.).
Entries in the chronicle book must be kept regularly (at least once a quarter) in chronological order.

About the electronic version of the annals

Simultaneously with the paper version of the chronicle, if possible, its electronic version is maintained. It should completely duplicate the paper text. Under this condition, the electronic version is a full-fledged author's copy of the annals.
If the paper version is lost, it must be restored on the basis of its electronic copy.
After graduation and passing rural library the next book of the annals, its electronic copy is recorded on digital media in two copies and then transferred one copy to the village library and local administration.

Collection and processing of materials

The main sources for creating chronicles are documentary sources obtained from archives and museums.
The collection of materials involves the identification of information about the village from books, collections, magazines, newspapers and various information materials. You need to be prepared for the fact that in many cases information will have to be collected literally bit by bit. It could be a chapter or paragraph from a book, just a few lines in a newspaper article, or one of the dates in a timeline.
The identification of information must begin with the study of the local history fund. Local history bibliographic manuals should be especially carefully studied, first of all, local history manuals prepared by employees of regional (inter-settlement) libraries, as well as publications of regional library centers (“Literature about the Altai Territory”, “Pages from the history of Altai”, etc.). The files of local, regional newspapers and magazines are closely looked through.
In order to fill in the "blank spots" in the history of the settlement, to capture the knowledge of fellow villagers about their village with the greatest completeness and bring them to posterity, the local history fund is replenished with unpublished local history documents. These are typewritten and handwritten materials, photographs, archival documents or their copies, documents of local administrations, slides, video and audio recordings, illustrative material. These can be memoirs, diaries, letters, drawings, memoirs of old-timers, migrants, famous or well-known fellow countrymen - natives of the village - marked “from words”. The collection of such material from local residents carried out on a voluntary basis. Each "contribution" is subject to processing: registration, editing and determining the place of storage in the fund.
Registration of such documents as a storage unit is carried out in a special notebook (book) or on a card. When registering, it is necessary to put down the number, inventory number of the received document, indicate its title, exact name, patronymic and surname of the author, type of document, annotation, method of acquiring the document (donated, discovered by accident, etc.). If this is a copy, then indicate the place where the original is stored, and also refer to the author who compiled the description.
If a link is given to an eyewitness account, then it is necessary to indicate his last name, first name, patronymic, year of birth and address of residence.
Documents are stored in folders. Photos - in envelopes, in a vertical position, each picture separately.

Chronicle - a monument of spiritual culture

Significant assistance in replenishing the historical part of the chronicle can be provided by the use of the Internet, electronic catalogs, full-text databases, etc.
The information presented in the annals refers to materials of high demand. In order to widely popularize the information collected in it and at the same time preserve the original documents, the compilers can propose the creation of printed publications based on these materials.
The information presented on the pages of newspapers, magazines, on radio and television will raise the authority and significance of both the chronicle itself and its creators, will involve them in the work of restoring and studying the history of their small motherland new stakeholders.
The electronic version of the chronicle can be legitimately placed on the Internet, providing access to it to as many people as possible who are interested in this topic.
The created chronicle of the village is not just a listing of historical events. This is a monument of Russian spiritual culture. She is unique.

1. To help the local history work of libraries / Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation; State. Pub. ist. b-ka; comp. E. V. Besfamilnaya. - M., 1992. – 83 p.
2. Zakharova, G. We keep a chronicle / G. Zakharova, E. Zubkova // Chronicles of a local historian. - 2008. - No. 3. - P. 13–16; No. 4. - P. 10–12; No. 5. - P. 13-18.
3. Chronicle of the village: method. recommendations / comp. I. A. Stupko; resp. for issue T. A. Maksoeva; Irkut. region publ. b-ka them. I. I. Molchanov-Sibirsky. - Irkutsk: [b. and.], 1996. - 6 p.
4. Compilation of the chronicle of settlements: (from work experience) / G. N. Reznichenko, L. A. Zakharova; Ryazan. UNB, Starozhylovskaya Central District Hospital. - Ryazan: [b. and.], 2002. - 5 p.
5. Tolkunova, V. Return to the "small motherland": [experience of the department. local historian. Bibliography Vladimir. OUNB] / V. Tolkunova // Library. - 1995. - No. 10. - P. 83–84.
6. Udalova, L. Chroniclers of professional affairs / L. Udalova // Bibliopole. - 2006. - No. 12. - P. 12–14.
7. Churochkin, B. Chronicle art / B. Churochkin // Chronicle of local history. - 2009. - No. 4. - P. 8–21.
8. Shadrina, L. V. In my village - my destiny: (from the experience of local lore. Baklushin activities. Historical local lore. library named after F. F. Pavlenkov Bolshesonov. district) / L. V. Shadrina // To the librarian for implementation in practice. - Perm, 2001. - Issue. 28. – P. 4–20.
9. Chronicles: [ Electronic resource] // Access mode: http://interpretive.ru/dictionary
10. Chronicles: [Electronic resource] // Access mode: http://his95.narod.ru/leto.htm

UDC 9(s) + 913
BBC 63.3(2) + 26.891
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Production and practical edition
How to make a chronicle of your village: guidelines
Compiled by: L. I. Lukyanova, E. M. Terentyeva
Responsible for the release of L. V. Farafonova
Proofreader M. V. Sigareva
Computer layout by S. N. Arsentiev
Signed for publication on 28.01.2011. Format 60×84 1/16. Conv. oven l. 0.70.
Circulation 1 copy. Order No. 559.
GUK "Altai regional universal science Library them. V. Ya. Shishkov. 656038, Barnaul, st. Youth, 5.
© GUK "Altai Regional Universal Scientific Library. V. Ya. Shishkova

The Tale of Bygone Years - It is customary to associate the beginning of Old Russian chronicle writing with a stable general text, which begins the vast majority of chronicles that have come down to our time. The text of The Tale of Bygone Years covers a long period - from ancient times to the beginning of the second decade of the 12th century. This is one of the oldest chronicle codes, the text of which was preserved by the chronicle tradition. In different chronicles, the text of the Tale reaches different years: before 1110 (Lavrentiev and related lists) or until 1118 (Ipatiev and related lists). This is usually associated with repeated editing of the Tale. The chronicle, which is usually called the Tale of Bygone Years, was created in 1112 by Nestor, who is supposedly the author of two well-known hagiographic works - Readings about Boris and Gleb and The Life of Theodosius of the Caves.

Chronicle compilations that preceded the Tale of Bygone Years: the text of the chronicle code that preceded the Tale of Bygone Years has been preserved in the Novgorod I Chronicle. The Tale of Bygone Years was preceded by a set, which was proposed to be called the Initial. Based on the content and nature of the presentation of the chronicle, it was proposed to date it to 1096-1099. It was he who formed the basis of the Novgorod I chronicle. Further study of the Primary Code, however, showed that it was based on some kind of chronicle work. From this we can conclude that the basis of the Primary Code was some chronicle compiled between 977 and 1044. The most probable in this interval is considered to be 1037, under which the praise of Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich is placed in the Tale. The researcher suggested calling this hypothetical chronicle work the Most Ancient Code. The narrative in it has not yet been divided into years and was plot. Annual dates were introduced into it by the Kiev-Pechersk monk Nicoya the Great in the 70s of the 11th century. Chronicle Narrative Old Russian

Internal structure: The Tale of Bygone Years consists of an undated "introduction" and annual articles of varying length, content, and origin. These articles may be:

• 1) brief factual notes about a particular event;
• 2) an independent short story;
• 3) parts of a single narrative, spaced apart different years when timing the original text, which did not have a weather grid;
• 4) "annual" articles of complex composition.

The Lviv Chronicle is a chronicle covering events from ancient times to 1560. Named after the publisher N.A. Lvov, who published it in 1792. The chronicle is based on a set similar to the 2nd Sophia Chronicle (in part from the end of the 14th century to 1318) and the Yermolinskaya Chronicle. The Lvov Chronicle contains some original Rostov-Suzdal news), the origin of which may be associated with one of the Rostov editions of the all-Russian metropolitan codes.

The front annalistic code - the annalistic code of the 2nd floor. 16th century The creation of the code lasted intermittently for more than 3 decades. It can be divided into 3 parts: 3 volumes of a chronograph containing an exposition world history from the creation of the world to the tenth century, the annals of the "old years" (1114-1533) and the annals of the "new years" (1533-1567). IN different time the creation of the code was led by prominent statesmen (members of the Chosen Rada, Metropolitan Macarius, okolnichiy A.F. Adashev, priest Sylvester, clerk I.M. Viskovaty, etc.). In 1570, work on the vault was stopped.

The Lavrentiev Chronicle is a parchment manuscript containing a copy of the chronicle code of 1305. The text begins with The Tale of Bygone Years and brought to the beginning of the 14th century. The manuscript lacks news for 898-922, 1263-1283 and 1288-1294. Code 1305 was a grand princely Vladimir code compiled at a time when the prince of Tver was the grand prince of Vladimir. Mikhail Yaroslavich. It was based on the set of 1281, supplemented with 1282 chronicle news. The manuscript was written by the monk Lavrenty in the Annunciation Monastery Nizhny Novgorod or in the Vladimir Nativity Monastery.

The chronicler of Pereyaslavl-Suzdal is a chronicle monument preserved in one manuscript of the 15th century. titled Chronicler of the Russian Tsars. The beginning of the Chronicler (before 907) is found in another list of the 15th century. But actually the Chronicler of Pereyaslavl-Suzdal covers the events of 1138-1214. The chronicle was compiled in 1216-1219 and is one of the oldest of those that have survived to this day. The Chronicler is based on the Vladimir Chronicle of the beginning of the 13th century, close to the Radziwill Chronicle. This set was revised in Pereslavl-Zalessky with the involvement of local and some other news.

Chronicle of Abraham - all-Russian annals; compiled in Smolensk at the end of the 15th century. It received its name from the name of the scribe Avraamka, who rewrote (1495) by order of the Smolensk Bishop Joseph Soltan a large collection, which included this chronicle. The Pskov collection, which united the news of various chronicles (Novgorod 4th, Novgorod 5th, etc.), served as the direct source of the Annals of Abraham. In the Chronicle of Abraham, the most interesting articles are 1446-1469 and legal articles (including Russkaya Pravda), connected with the Chronicle of Abraham.

Chronicle of Nestor - written in the 2nd half of the XI - early XII centuries monk of the Kyiv cave (Pechersk) monastery Nestor chronicle, full of patriotic ideas of Russian unity. Considered valuable historical monument medieval Rus'.

Reverend Nestor came to the famous Kiev-Pechersk monastery, being a seventeen-year-old youth. The holy monastery lived according to the strict Studian rule, which the Monk Theodosius introduced in it, borrowing it from Byzantine books. According to this charter, before taking monastic vows, the candidate had to undergo a long preparatory stage. Newcomers first had to wear lay clothes until they had learned well the rules of monastic life. After that, the candidates were allowed to put on the monastic attire and proceed to the tests, that is, to show themselves in work on various obediences. The one who passed these tests successfully took the tonsure, but the test did not end there - last step Admission to the monastery was tonsure into the great schema, which not everyone was honored with.

The Monk Nestor went all the way from a simple novice to a schemamonk in just four years, and also received the rank of deacon. A significant role in this was played, in addition to obedience and virtue, by his education and outstanding literary talent.

The Kiev Caves Monastery was a unique phenomenon in the spiritual life Kievan Rus. The number of brethren reached one hundred people, which was rare even for Byzantium itself. The severity of the communal charter, found in the archives of Constantinople, had no analogues. The monastery also prospered in material terms, although its governors did not care about collecting earthly riches. They listened to the voice of the monastery powers of the world this, he had a real political and, most importantly, spiritual influence on society.

The young Russian Church at that time was actively mastering the richest material of Byzantine church literature. She was faced with the task of creating original Russian texts in which the national image of Russian holiness would be revealed.

The first hagiographic (hagiography is a theological discipline that studies the lives of the saints, the theological and historical and ecclesiastical aspects of holiness.  - Ed.) work of the Monk Nestor - "Reading about the life and destruction of the blessed martyrs Boris and Gleb" - is dedicated to the memory of the first Russian saints. The chronicler, apparently, responded to the expected all-Russian church celebration - the consecration of a stone church over the relics of Saints Boris and Gleb.

The work of St. Nestor was not the first among the works devoted to this topic. However, he did not begin to present the history of the brothers according to a ready-made chronicle tradition, but created a text that was deeply original in form and content. The author of "Reading about the life of ..." creatively reworked the best examples of Byzantine hagiographic literature and was able to express ideas that are very important for the Russian church and state self-consciousness. As the researcher of ancient Russian church culture Georgy Fedotov writes, “the memory of Saints Boris and Gleb was the voice of conscience in inter-princely appanage accounts, not regulated by law, but only vaguely limited by the idea of ​​tribal seniority.”

The Monk Nestor did not have much information about the death of the brothers, but as a subtle artist he was able to recreate a psychologically reliable image of true Christians, meekly accepting death. The truly Christian death of the sons of the baptizer of the Russian people, Prince Vladimir, is inscribed by the chronicler in the panorama of the global historical process, which he understands as the arena of the universal struggle between good and evil.

Father of Russian monasticism

Second hagiographic work St. Nestor is dedicated to the life of one of the founders of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery - St. Theodosius. He wrote this work in the 1080s, just a few years after the death of the ascetic, in the hope of a speedy canonization of the saint. This hope, however, was not destined to come true. Saint Theodosius was canonized only in 1108.

The inner appearance of the Monk Theodosius of the Caves is of particular importance to us. As Georgy Fedotov writes, “in the person of the Monk Theodosius Ancient Rus' found her ideal saint, to whom she remained faithful for many centuries. Saint Theodosius is the father of Russian monasticism. All Russian monks are his children, bearing his family traits. And Nestor the Chronicler was the man who preserved for us his unique appearance and created on Russian soil an ideal type of biography of the saint. As the same Fedotov writes, “Nestor’s work forms the basis of all Russian hagiography, inspiring feat, indicating the normal, Russian path of labor and, on the other hand, filling in the gaps of biographical tradition with common necessary features.<…>All this makes Nestor's life of exceptional importance for the Russian type of ascetic holiness. The chronicler was not a witness to the life and deeds of the Monk Theodosius. Nevertheless, his life story is based on eyewitness accounts, which he was able to combine into a coherent, vivid and memorable story.

Of course, in order to create a full-fledged literary life, it is necessary to rely on a developed literary tradition, which was not yet in Rus'. Therefore, the Monk Nestor borrows a lot from Greek sources, sometimes making long verbatim extracts. However, they practically do not affect the biographical basis of his story.

The memory of the unity of the people

The main feat of the life of the Monk Nestor was the compilation of the Tale of Bygone Years by 1112-1113. This work is different from the first two known to us. literary works the Monk Nestor for a quarter of a century and refers to another literary genre- annals. Unfortunately, the set of "The Tale ..." has not come down to us in its entirety. It was subjected to processing by the monk of the Vydubitsky monastery Sylvester.

The Tale of Bygone Years is based on the chronicle work of Abbot John, who made the first attempt at a systematic presentation of Russian history from ancient times. He brought his story up to 1093. Earlier chronicles are a fragmentary account of disparate events. It is interesting that these records contain a legend about Kyi and his brothers, a short report about the reign of the Varangian Oleg in Novgorod, about the death of Askold and Dir, a legend about death Prophetic Oleg. Actually Kiev history begins with the reign of "old Igor", the origin of which is silent.

Abbot John, dissatisfied with the inaccuracy and fabulousness of the chronicle, restores the years, based on the Greek and Novgorod chronicles. It is he who first introduces "old Igor" as the son of Rurik. Askold and Dir here for the first time appear as the boyars of Rurik, and Oleg as his governor.

It was the set of Abbot John that became the basis of the work of the Monk Nestor. He subjected the initial part of the chronicle to the greatest processing. The original edition of the chronicle was supplemented with legends, monastic records, Byzantine chronicles of John Malala and George Amartol. Great importance Saint Nestor gave oral evidence - the stories of the elder boyar Jan Vyshatich, merchants, warriors, travelers.

In his main work, Nestor the Chronicler acts both as a historian, as a writer, and as a religious thinker, giving a theological understanding national history, which is integral part history of the salvation of the human race.

For St. Nestor, the history of Rus' is the history of the perception of Christian preaching. Therefore, he fixes in his chronicle the first mention of the Slavs in church sources - 866, tells in detail about the activities of the saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, about the baptism of Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga in Constantinople. It is this ascetic who introduces into the chronicle the story of the first Orthodox church in Kyiv, of the preaching feat of the Varangian martyrs Theodore the Varangian and his son John.

Despite the huge amount of heterogeneous information, the chronicle of St. Nestor has become a true masterpiece of ancient Russian and world literature.

In the years of fragmentation, when there was almost nothing to remind of the former unity of Kievan Rus, The Tale of Bygone Years remained the monument that awakened in all corners of crumbling Rus the memory of its former unity.

The Monk Nestor died about the year 1114, having bequeathed to the chronicler monks of the Caves the continuation of his great work.

Newspaper "Orthodox Faith" No. 21 (545)

CHRONICLE- in Rus' were conducted from the 11th to the 18th centuries. Until ser. 16th century, time Ivan the Terrible, they were the main type of historical narrative, only since that time "yielding primacy to another historiographic genre - chronographs . L. were compiled in monasteries, at the courts of princes (and then kings), in the offices of metropolitans. Chroniclers were almost never private individuals, but carried out an order or order from spiritual or secular rulers, reflecting the interests of certain groups of people. That is why L. often contradicted each other not only in their assessments of events, but also in the factual basis itself, which creates significant difficulties for researchers of chronicle writing and historians who, on the basis of L., recreate the actual course of events.

In terms of their structure, ancient Russian legends represented sets of weather articles, i.e., reports on events that occurred in each year.

Russian chronicle writing has a long history. At modern level knowledge cannot yet be established when records of historical events, replacing the previous form of historical knowledge - oral stories, traditions and legends. According to the majority of scientists, followers of Acad. A. A. Shakhmatova, L. takes on a stable form and begins to be systematically conducted from the middle. 11th century The oldest L. that has come down to us is The Tale of Bygone Years. Already this chronicle of the beginning. 12th century what distinguishes it is the combination of actual weather records with monuments of other genres and even documents. The Tale of Bygone Years contains texts of treaties with Byzantium, legends about the emergence of the Kiev Caves Monastery, a presentation of sacred history in the form of a “philosopher’s” story that prompted Prince Vladimir to adopt the Christian faith, etc. L. will retain this syncretic character later in further. Of particular interest are the so-called chronicle stories - plot stories about the most significant events in Russian history.

To date, several hundred lists of chronicles have been preserved (some of the records are known in several lists, others in the only ones), and scientists have identified at least several dozen chronicle collections. Strictly speaking, each L. is a code, since it combines - in a revised, abbreviated or, on the contrary, supplemented form - the previous L. and records of events recent years or decades belonging to the chronicler himself. The consolidated nature of L. made possible the path of research into the chronicle, which was discovered and developed by Acad. Chess. If two or more L. up to a certain year coincide with each other, then it follows that either one was written off from the other (this is rare), or they had a common source that reached that year. Shakhmatov and his followers succeeded in identifying a whole chain of chronicle collections that preceded the L. XIV-XVII centuries that have come down to us: the collections of the XIV, XV and earlier centuries, up to the XI century. Of course, determining the exact date and place of compiling the codes is hypothetical, but these hypotheses, based on the texts that have actually come down to us and the relationship between them, allow us to navigate in the monuments included in the series that has been published for a hundred and fifty years - “The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles” (PSRL ).

The chronicle containing the exposition of the ancient history of Rus' is the Tale of Bygone Years. L. South Russian principalities XII-XIII centuries. came to us as part of the Ipatievskaya L. (see. Chronicle Ipatievskaya ). Chronicles of Rostov the Great, Vladimir and Pereyaslavl of Suzdal, late XII-beginning. 13th century best preserved in the composition of the Lavrentievskaya and Radzivilovskaya L. (see. Annals of Lavrentievskaya , Chronicle Radzivilovskaya ), as well as the Chronicler of Pereyaslavl of Suzdal. The annalistic code, associated with Metropolitan Cyprian and brought to 1408, came to Troitskaya L., which burned down in the Moscow fire of 1812. Its text was reconstructed by M. D. Priselkov (Trinity Chronicle: Reconstruction of the text - M .; L., 1950 ).

Around 1412, an annalistic code was created in Tver, reflecting the supplemented processing of the all-Russian annalistic code of the end of the XIV-beginning. XV century, close to Troitskaya L. It was reflected in Simeonovskaya L. (PSRL. - T. 18) and the Rogozhsky chronicler (PSRL. - T. 15. - Issue 1). Another source of the Rogozhsky chronicler was the Tver code of 1375, which was also reflected in the Tver collection of the 16th century. (PSRL.-T. 15). Of particular interest is the all-Russian, so-called Novgorod-Sofia code, compiled, apparently, in the 30s. 15th century (it is often defined as the “code of 1448”) and included extended chronicle stories about the battle on Kalka, the invasion of Batu and stories about the struggle of the princes of Tver with the Tatars, which were absent in Troitskaya L., lengthy editions of the stories about the Battle of Kulikovo, the story about the invasion of Tokhtamysh, “A WORD ABOUT THE LIFE OF DMITRY DONSKOY” and so on. This code, compiled, apparently, at the metropolitan see during the feudal war in Moscow, combined the all-Russian chronicle with the Novgorod one. The code came to Sofia L. I (PSRL.-T. 5; 2nd ed. not completed: in 1925 only the first issue of this volume was published) and Novgorod IV L. (V. 4, issue 1 and 2; 2nd ed. not completed).

The first monuments of the Moscow grand ducal chronicle, which have come down to us, were formed no earlier than ser. 15th century The chronicle of 1472 was reflected in the Vologda-Perm Leningrad (PSRL.-T. 26) and Nikanorovskaya L. (PSRL.-T. 27). It was based on the Novgorod-Sofia code, edited by the Grand Duke's chronicler (who excluded, in particular, the mention of Novgorod liberties). A more radical revision of the previous chronicle was carried out by the grand ducal archers in the late 70s. XV century: The Novgorod-Sofia arch was connected with the arch close to Troitskaya L. (with censored processing of the material from both sources), and with other monuments. The Grand Duke Moscow chronicle of 1479, which reflected this revision, formed the basis of all official chronicle writing at the end of the 15th-16th centuries. It has been preserved in an unpublished list of the 18th century. (in the Hermitage collection in the National Library of Russia), and its later edition, brought to 1492, was published in the 25th volume of PSRL